“One of my greatest pleasures in writing has come from the thought that perhaps my work might annoy someone of comfortably pretentious position. Then comes the saddening realization that such people rarely read.”
Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, philosophy/religion
[If you need this as a learning support in Microsoft Word it’s under that hyperlink.]
“10. Use the proper case of pronoun.
The personal pronouns, as well as the pronoun who, change form as they function as subject or object.
Will Jane or he be hired, do you think?
The culprit, it turned out, was he.
We heavy eaters would rather walk than ride.
Who knocks?
Give this work to whoever looks idle.
In the last example, whoever is the subject of looks idle; the object of the preposition to is the entire clause whoever looks idle. When who introduces a subordinate clause, its case depends on its subject in that clause. (N.B. The first two sentences are incorrect, the second two are correct.)
Virgil Soames is the candidate whom we think will win.
Virgil Soames is the candidate who we hope to elect.
Virgil Soames is the candidate who we think will win [We think he will win.]
Virgil Soames is the candidate whom we hope to elect. [We hope to elect him.]
A pronoun in a comparison is nominative if it is the subject of a stated or understood verb.
Sandy writes better than I. (Than I write.)
In general avoid “understood” verbs by supplying them.
I think Horace admires Jessica more than I.
I think Horace admires Jessica more than I do.
Polly loves cake more than me.
Polly loves cake more than she loves me.
The objective case is correct in the following examples.
The ranger offered Shirley and him some advice on campsites.
They came to meet the Baldwins and us.
Let’s talk it over between us, then, you and me.
Whom should I ask?
A group of us taxpayers protested.
Us in the last example is in apposition to taxpayers, the object of the preposition of. The wording, although grammatically defensible, is rarely apt. “A group of us protested as taxpayers” is better, if not exactly equivalent.
Use the simple personal pronoun as subject. (N.B. The first sentence is incorrect, the second sentence is correct.)
Blake and myself stayed home.
Blake and I stayed home.
Howard and yourself brought the lunch, I thought.
Howard and you brought the lunch, I thought..
The possessive case of pronouns is used to show ownership. It has two forms: the adjectival modifier, your hat, and the noun form, a hat of yours.
The dog has buried one of your gloves and one of mine in the flower bed.
Gerunds usually require the possessive case.
Mother objected to our driving on the icy roads.
A present participle as a verbal, on the other hand, takes the objective case.
They heard him singing in the shower.
The difference between a verbal participle and a gerund is not always obvious, but note what is really said in each of the following.
Do you mind me asking a question?
Do you mind my asking a question?
In the first sentence, the queried objection is to me. As opposed to other members of the group, asking a question. In the second example, the issue is whether a question may asked at all.”
Excerpted from: Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000.
“Dido and Aeneas * Helen and Paris * Layla and Majnoun * Antara and Bala * Prince Khosrow and Shirin * Pyramus and Thisbe * Romeo and Juliet * Abelard and Heloise * Tristan and Isolde
Only the saddest stories live forever.
Aeneas would betray his lover, Dido, the queen of Carthage (who had generously offered hospitality to his refugee-party from Troy) in order to follow his political destiny, while Paris would unwittingly start the whole gory cycle of the Trojan War by receiving the love of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, as reward from the Goddess Aphrodite.
The love of Majnoun (literally the ‘possessed’ or ‘mad one’) for his beloved friend from school, Layla, is perhaps the most influential of all the Arab world’s tales. The pair were separated by a family feud and after his beloved had been given to another man, Majnoun wasted his life away in the desert, a virgin ascetic composing love songs to his impossible dream. Scholars have traced fifty-nine variations of this tale, including the cycle of Antara and Abla; the Persian story of this love of Prince Khosrow for Princess Shirin; Pyramus and Thisbe; and the most famous spin-off of all—Romeo and Juliet(‘A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows, Do with their death bury their parents’ strife’).
Medieval European love was equally unpromising. The story of Abelard and Heloise begins with the elderly male canon-scholar seducing his brilliant but poor young pupil in twelfth-century Paris. Once pregnant she is sent away to give birth in Brittany and then tricked with a ‘secret and private’ marriage before being consigned to a nunnery. Only after Heloise’s many admirers take their revenge on Abelard by castrating him does his proper love grow, and it is as chaste monk and nun that they enjoy the correspondence that would later be published.
Tristan and Isolde has inspired countless tellings, including Sir Thomas Malory’s creation of L’Morte d’Arthur. It has been traced to a twelfth century text but clearly looks back to a much older Celtic tradition in which the dashing young Tristan is sent to Ireland to bring back the beautiful Isolde for his uncle Mark, King of Cornwall. However, during their journey the two mistakenly drink a love potion destined to be consumed during the marriage ceremony. Thereafter their lives are full of deceit and romping adventure as they aspire to be good and dutiful to King Mark, yet stay true to their love. They can only break out of their fateful destiny by taking their own lives.”
Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.
“Q.E.D. (quod erat demonstrandum): Which was to be demonstrated: used to indicate that something has just been showed or proved. ‘By making this call—which reduces both characters to still more tears—Vito miraculously learns to “stop hating himself.” He then decides, Q.E.D., that the time has come to quit his ad-agency job and settle down with Theda to collaborate on hit plays.’ Frank Rich, The New York Times”
Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.
“Black Elk: In a work entitled Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux (1932; repr 1988), Black Elk (1863-1950) recounted his life to John G. Neihardt (1881-1973), conveying important insights into Native American culture, religion, and life on the Plains, as well as a firsthand account of the destruction of that way of life. Black Elk witnessed both Custer’s defeat at Little Big Horn and the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890, in which the U.S. Army killed over a hundred men, women, and children. The massacre marked the end of the Indian Wars.
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
“White-Collar Crime: A term introduced by Edwin Sutherland in the 1940s in order to draw attention to the illegalities and misdeeds of ‘captains of industry’ and other middle-class members of the business world (see his ‘White-Collar Criminality,’ American Sociological Review, 1940, or White-Collar Crime, 1949). The great value of the idea was to redress the imbalance in criminology’s obsession with crimes of the working class. The concept tends to be used very broadly, to include both activities carried out by employees against their employer (embezzlement, pilfering), and activities undertaken by corporate executives on behalf of the corporation itself (such as violation of anti-trust regulations or stock-market rules). Strictly speaking the latter should more accurately be designated corporate crime.”
Excerpted from: Marshall, Gordon, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences, Worksheets
Tagged readings/research, term of art, united states history
“Evangelist, n. A bearer of good tidings, particularly (in a religious sense) such as assure us of our own salvation and the damnation of our neighbors.”
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, philosophy/religion
“Mrs. Parker once collided with Clare Boothe Luce in a doorway. ‘Age before beauty,’ cracked Mrs. Luce. ‘Pearls before swine,’ said Mrs. Parker, gliding through the door.”
Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.
“Folk Art: The arts of peasant societies, both past and present. Characterized by naïve subject matter and a vivacious style, folk art both perpetuates very ancient decorative traditions and draws selectively from art forms of sophisticated cultural traditions, e.g. the adaptation of 18th-century Rococo motifs in European folk art. Paintings, sculpture, ceramics, metalwork, costume, needlework, implements and tools all may be folk art. See NAÏVE and OUTSIDER ART.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
Posted in Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
“atypical learner: A general term for a child who is different from the typical student in physical, intellectual, social, or emotional development, and who differs in mental characteristics, sensory abilities, communication abilities, or social behavior to the extent that special education services are required for that child to develop.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
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