“Aleck Woollcott once joined Corey Ford at the Ritz Men’s Bar and informed him, ‘Ford, I plan to spend three days at your house in New Hampshire next week.’ Not overly pleased at the prospect of hosting such a demanding guest, Ford uttered a meek ‘That will be swell.’
‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Woollcott warned.’”
Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.
Posted in English Language Arts, New York City, Quotes, Reference
Tagged humor, literary oddities
“Finance, n. The art or science of managing revenues and resources for the best advantage or the manager. The pronunciation of this word with the i long and the accent on the first syllable is one of America’s most precious discoveries and possessions.”
Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities
“Orton-Gillingham approach: A multisensory approach to reading, writing, and spelling born of a theory of reading disabilities devised by Samuel Orton, Anna Gillingham, and Bessie Stillman in the 1930s. Their approach was based on the idea that the brain stores information in both hemispheres; when the connection between the two hemispheres is not fully developed, individuals may read words in reverse.
People with dyslexia have the potential to be accomplished readers and adequate spellers. The ability to achieve this potential depends on two variables: the instructional approach and the amount of practice. The Orton-Gillingham approach to reading and spelling ensure success by developing multisensory techniques for memory and retrieval. This practical teaching technique emphasizes the reading-decoding process.
The teacher introduces the elements of the language systematically, and students are taught letter-sound relationships using all senses: seeing the letter (visual), saying the letter (auditory), and writing the letter (kinesthetic). In this respect, Orton-Gillingham differs from traditional phonics instruction. Once letters are mastered, letters are grouped into blends, and short, structured passages are used for reading and dictation, Infinitely flexible, it is a philosophy rather than a system. The student learns the elements of language-consonants, digraphs, blends, and diphthongs in an orderly fashion.
As students learn new material, the continue to review old material until it becomes automatic. The teacher addresses vocabulary, sentence structure, composition, and reading comprehension in a similar, structured, sequential, and cumulative manner.
At best, the teacher tries to understand how an individual learns and to devise appropriate teaching strategies. In every lesson, the student experiences success and gains confidence as well as skill. Learning becomes a happy experience, The Orton-Gillingham approach is appropriate for teaching individuals, small groups, and classrooms. It is appropriate for teaching in the primary, elementary, and intermediate grades, and at the secondary and college level, as well as for adults.
An Orton-Gillingham approach, while not the only program available, is probably the best-known for helping children with dyslexia learn to read. The fundamental principles on which it is based, including developing phonemic awareness, and suing a multisensory approach, are consider essential components in reading instruction today.
The Orton-Gillingham approach has proven successful with students who have struggled in learning to read and spell through traditional classroom methods, despite normal intelligence, hearing, and vision. It is the program most recommended by experts in the field of dyslexia.
Modern research has continued to confirm Dr. Orton’s theories about the physiological differences experienced by people with dyslexia. Early remediation is most effective; however, these methods have been successfully adapted for use with older students and adults. The result is the development of lifelong language skills and the wonderful feeling of success in the world of written language.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
Here is a learning support on using that and which in declarative sentences from Paul Brians’ book, Common Errors in English Usage, which he has helpfully and generously published on the Washington State University website.
I confess that I don’t find this short passage particularly helpful in using these two words, bound up as they are with restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses in sentences (a lesson on which is forthcoming on this blog). That said, this document, like several others of its type, contains only a couple of short paragraphs. So, as a Microsoft Word document with a lot of open space, it is yours to do with as you wish or need.
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.
“Germanic Art: Art of the migrating Germanic tribes from the 4th to the 9th centuries. Characterized by the near absence of the human figure and preference for animal forms (zoomorphic ornament) and lacertine. Metalwork and jewelry were specialties. Also called barbaric art. See VISIGOTHIC ART.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
“Business for Right. ‘He has no business to go there.’”
Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.
“Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.”
Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class ch. 4 (1899)
Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities, united states history
“Stative Verb: A category of verb that contrasts with dynamic verb in the aspect system of a language, and relates to state and not action: in English such verbs as belong, love. Syntactically, these verbs are used in simple rather than progressive tenses and generally not in the imperative (not Belong!, but occasionally Love me!). Semantically, stative verbs refer to states of affairs (belong, know, own) in contrast to dynamic verbs that refer to actions (buy, learn, jump). In practice, the boundary between stative and dynamic verbs is sometimes fuzzy and it is generally more useful to talk of stative and dynamic meaning and usage. In most varieties of English, some verbs are normally stative (therefore not I am owning this car, Know how to give first aid!), but others are partly stative and partly dynamic (not She is liking to help people, but How are you liking your new job?; not I am forgetting their address, but Forget it!). Some verbs belong to both categories but with distinct meanings, as with have in She has red hair and She is having dinner. In Indian English, the stative/dynamic distinction described above is considered standard, but it is widely ignored, so that expressions like I am owning this car and She is liking to help people are commonplace.”
Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
“Regency Style: The English counterpart to the Directoire and Empire styles of French architecture and decorative art. Seen in the late years of the 18th century to about 1830, Greek, Roman, Rococo, oriental, Gothic, and Egyptian elements and motifs were used in a style that profoundly affected British and American tastes.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
“Upon the publication of Leaves of Grass, who wrote to Walt Whitman, ‘I greet you at the beginning of a great career.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1850. The complete salutation is: ‘I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere for such a start.’ Whitman was thirty-six at the time of the book’s publication.”
Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
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