Category Archives: Reference

These are materials for teachers and parents, and you’ll find, in this category, teachers copies and answer keys for worksheets, quotes related to domain-specific knowledge in English Language Arts and social studies, and quotes on issues of professional concern. See the Taxonomies page for more about this category.

Peter Ustinov on Experts

Posted on October 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

“If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done.”

Peter Ustinov

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007

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Common Errors in English Usage: Ironically (adv), Coincidentally (adv)

Posted on October 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on differentiating the use of the adverbs ironically and coincidentally. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of two compound sentences and ten modified cloze exercises.

As with any post under the header of Common Errors in English Usage, the text that drives this document is excerpted from Paul Brians’ fine book of the same name. He has made it available at no cost on his page at Washington State University.

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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Mandorla

Posted on October 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Mandorla: An almond-shaped glory that surrounds the whole figure.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Term of Art: Spatial Orientation

Posted on October 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

“spatial orientation: The ability to maintain a sense of orientation in a physical space. Difficulties in spatial orientation may be part of a larger pattern of visual-spatial skills deficits that are linked with a learning disability in some cases. These problems may have a profound effect on an individual’s ability to follow physical directions or to locate information or objects within a space.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Charles Schultz on Misanthropy

Posted on October 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

“I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand.”

Charles Schultz

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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Book of Answers: Arsenic and Old Lace

Posted on October 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Who wrote Arsenic and Old Lace? The 1941 play was written by Joseph Kesselring. The 1946 movie adaptation was directed by Frank Capra.”

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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Censorship

Posted on October 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Censorship (noun): Suppression of literature considered objectionable, especially for moral, political or religious reasons. Adjective: censorious; adverb: censoriously; noun: censor; verb: censor.

‘I glanced at an ancient baroque door and asked him about censorship on television. He giggled happily. “Oh it is wonderful! It is the wildest, silliest little game! The censors take out what they think the people think the censors think they should be taking out.’ Chandler Brossard, The Spanish Scene.”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

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Aristides Agramonte y Simoni

Posted on October 14, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Aristides Agramonte y Simoni: (1868-1931) U.S. (Cuban-born) physician, pathologist, and bacteriologist, Reared in New York City, he received his MD from Columbia University. He was a member of the U.S. Army’s Reed Yellow Fever Board, which discovered in 1901 the role of mosquitoes in transmitting yellow fever. As a professor at the University of Havana, be became an influential leader of scientific medicine in Cuba.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Mt. Aconagua

Posted on October 14, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Mt. Aconagua: Mountain, western Argentina, on the Chilean border. At 22,834 feet (6,690 meters) high, it is the highest peak of the Andes and of the Western Hemisphere. It is of volcanic origin, but is not itself a volcano. The summit was first reached in 1897.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Pablo Picasso on His Cultural Role

Posted on October 14, 2022 | Leave a comment

“[I am] only a public entertainer, who has understood his time.”

Attributed to Wash. Post 30 Nov. 1952. The Post article is quoting an article in Quick Magazine from the summer of 1951. According to a letter by William S. Rubin in New York Times 5 Jan. 1969, this is ‘a trumpery originated in Il Libro Nero published by Giovanni Papini in 1951.’”

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

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