Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins: Aborigine

Posted on September 12, 2025 | Leave a comment

“aborigine [M19th] This is a shortening of the 16th-century plural aborigines ‘original inhabitants,’ which in classical times referred to the early people of Italy and Greece. The word comes from the Latin phrase ab origine ‘from the beginning.’ Now both Aborigines and Aboriginals are standard plural forms when referring to Australian Aboriginal people, a specialized use that dates from the 1820s.”

Excerpted from: Creswell, Julia. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

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The Weekly Text, 12 September 2025: A Lesson on the Latin Word Roots Duc and Duct

Posted on September 12, 2025 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is a lesson on the Latin word roots duc and duct. They mean “to lead” and grow such high-frequency English words as abduct, aqueduct, induct, deduct, deduce, and seduce, all of which are included on the scaffolded worksheet, complete with Romance language cognates. I open this lesson with this context clues on the verb guide. I’d like to think that short do-now points toward the meaning of the two Latin roots under analysis in this lesson.

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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Multiples

Posted on September 1, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Multiples: Works of art theoretically made in unlimited numbers—in contrast with works made in traditional editions—which are slightly altered in style from their originals. Multiples by Alexander Calder, Claes Oldenburg, and others were introduced in the 1960s, when they were promoted by private art galleries.”

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

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Common English Verbs Followed by an Object and a Gerund: Witness

Posted on September 1, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the verb witness when used with an object and a gerund.

Several people witnessed the train arriving.

The students witnessed a lion stalking its prey.

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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Capital

Posted on September 1, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Capital: 1. Man-made material resource used or available for use in production, for example machinery. This is also referred to as physical capital. See also HUMAN CAPITAL. 2. Material or financial wealth, accumulated by an individual or a company, that can be used to generate income. See also HUMAN CAPITAL.”

Excerpted from: Black, John, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth Miles. Oxford Dictionary of Economics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

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Cultural Literacy: SAT

Posted on September 1, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the SAT. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and four comprehension questions. This document may be a bit crowded in this half-page formatting. But since this document (as just about everything here on Mark’s Text Terminal) is in Microsoft Word, you can adjust it to your students’ needs.

And, editorially, I must say once again that the editors of The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy have done a nice job with their modest but effective critique of the SAT in this reading. And I like their use of purportedly in the first sentence.

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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The Doubter’s Companion: Biography

Posted on September 1, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Biography: Respectable pornography, thanks to which the reader can become a peeping tom on the life of a famous person.

Biography has increasingly replaced the novel as the most popular form of serious reading. While in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the novel provided the reader with a reflection of him or herself, today the biography encourages the gratuitous pleasures and self-delusion of voyeurism.”

Excerpted from: Saul, John Ralston. The Doubter’s Companion. New York: The Free Press, 1994.

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The Weekly Text, 5 September 2025: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Coeducation

Posted on September 1, 2025 | Leave a comment

The Weekly Text for 5 September 2025, for some reason, is this reading on coeducation and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I have only the faintest idea of why I developed this material; I vaguely recall a class that didn’t believe me when I told them that men and women were–and are (e.g. Smith, Mount Holyoke, both part of the Five College Consortium, which includes my alma mater, Hampshire College)–educated separately in many colleges and universities in the United States.

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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Write It Right: Dilapidated for Ruined

Posted on August 22, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Dilapidated for Ruined. Said of a building, or other structure. But the word is from the Latin lapis, a stone, and cannot properly be used of any but a stone structure.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.

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Common English Verbs Followed by an Object and a Gerund: Spend

Posted on August 22, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the verb spend when used with an object and a gerund.

The students spent time researching their project.

The tourists spent the afternoon riding around in a tour bus.

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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