Category Archives: English Language Arts

This category contains domain-specific material–reading and writing expository prose, interpreting literature etc.–designed to meet the Common Core standards in English language arts while at the same time being flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse and idiosyncratic learners.

Rotten Reviews: Ulysses by James Joyce

Posted on July 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

“I finished Ulysses and think it is a misfire…. The book is diffuse. It is brackish. It is pretentious. It is underbred, not only in the obvious but in the literary sense. A first rate writer, I mean, respects writing too much to be tricky.”

Virginia Woolf, in her diary

“That the book possesses literary importance, except as a tour de force, is hard to believe. If we are to have the literature of mere consciousness there are numerous examples from the later Henry James to Virginia Woolf which import to consciousness a higher intrinsic value and achieve the forms of art.”

Springfield Republican reviewing the American edition 1934

Excerpted from: Bernard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.

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Mediocre (adj) and Mediocrity (n)

Posted on July 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here are two context clues worksheets on the adjective mediocre and the noun mediocrity. I probably shouldn’t own up to this, but I wrote these so my students in Manhattan would have words to describe their experience as students in the New York City Department of Education.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Term of Art: Gerund

Posted on July 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

“A traditional term for a VERBAL NOUN, in English a word ending in –ing: visiting in They appreciate my visiting their parents regularly. Like a noun, it can be introduced by the genitive my (compare I visit their parents). Some object to the non-genitive usage and avoid at least for names and pronouns, preferring They appreciate Bill’s visiting their parents to They appreciate Bill visiting their parents and They appreciate my visiting their parents to They appreciate me visiting their parents.”

Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference

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A Midsummer Text, July 2018: Five Worksheets on Using the Homophones Two, Too, and To

Posted on July 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here are five worksheets on the homophones two, too, and to, which I am confident you have noticed that are frequently confused–sometimes to hilarious effect (i.e. Dumb and Dumber To), but more often just, well, confusing effect.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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The Algonquin Wits: Heywood Broun Completes a Questionnaire

Posted on July 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

“One morning, finding a self-analysis questionnaire on his desk, Broun included some of the questions in that day’s column:

‘What is my occupation? Newspaperman.’

‘Am I making a success of it? There seems to be a decided difference of opinion.’

‘What is my character and reputation? Unreliable and charming.’

‘What do other men think of me? Unreliable.’

‘What do I think of myself? Charming.’

‘Am I cleanly? Very much so in the summer.’

‘Punctual? No.’

‘Courteous? To a fault.

‘Have I any object in life? Yes, I want to be a writer.’

‘Am I on my way? Not precipitately.'”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

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Posted in English Language Arts, New York City, Quotes, Reference

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A Learning Support on Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Clauses

Posted on July 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here’s a learning support for differentiating between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses that I use when I teach this particular element of good style in writing.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Euphemism (n)

Posted on July 8, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun euphemism, which I think high school students, particularly in the media environment which we currently occupy, really ought to know and be able to use.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Wee Willie Keeler on Where to Hit the Ball

Posted on July 8, 2018 | Leave a comment

“Hit ’em where they ain’t.”

William Henry “Wee Willie” Keeler (U.S. baseball player, 1872-1923)

Quoted in Brooklyn Eagle, 29 July 1901

Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

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Babe Ruth

Posted on July 8, 2018 | 3 comments

Here is a reading on Babe Ruth and the comprehension worksheet that accompanies it. Not much to say about this other than it tends to be high-interest material.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Independent Practice, Worksheets

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William Empson on Ambiguity

Posted on July 8, 2018 | Leave a comment

“The intentional or unintentional expression of a word or idea that implies more than one meaning and usually leaves uncertainty in the reader. William Empson, in his Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930), outlined and defined seven different kinds of verbal nuance. He maintained that language functioning with artistic complexity connotes as much and often more than it denotes.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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