Word Root Exercise: Spect, Spec, Spic

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word roots spect, spec, and spic. This productive root in English means “to look” and “to see.” You’ll find it in such high-frequency words as aspect, prospect, respect, and inspect–all of which you’ll find on this worksheet; you’ll also find specious, a less-used adjective but a useful one nonetheless. It means “having deceptive attraction or allure” and   “having a false look of truth or genuineness.”

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.

Bessie Smith

“Bessie Smith: (originally Elizabeth) U.S. blues and jazz singer, one of the most distinctive stylists of classic blues and the most successful black entertainer of her time. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Smith sang popular songs as well as blues on the minstrel and vaudeville stage. She began recording in 1923 and appeared in the 1929 film St. Louis Blues. Her interpretations represent the fully realized tradition of the rural folk tradition of the blues to its urbane structure and expressiveness. A bold, supremely confident artist with a powerful voice and precise diction, she became known as ‘Empress of the Blues.’ She died from injuries sustained in a car crash, having apparently been refused treatment for reasons of racial prejudice.”

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

The Weekly Text, 17 June 2022: Summer of Soul Lesson 3

If you’ve been following along for the past couple of Fridays, then here is the third lesson plan of the Summer of Soul unit I wrote last spring to take advantage of high interest in that superb documentary and the events it records and assesses. To carry out this lesson, the third of four, I begin with this short reading with three comprehension questions on the Baby Boomer generation as a do-now exercise. The primary work of this lesson involves this truncated reading on Woodstock and its accompanying discussion guide and note-taking worksheet.

If you would prefer longer-form materials on Woodstock, you’ll find those here. Otherwise, that’s it for another week.

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.

The Prophet Muhammad on Education

“Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.”

Muhammad (571?-634?)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Consider

Last but not least this morning, here is a worksheet on the verb consider as it is used with gerunds. I hope you will consider looking at it.

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.

Write It Right: Commit Suicide

“Commit Suicide. Instead if ‘He committed suicide,’ say, He killed himself, or, He took his life. For married we do not say ‘committed matrimony.’ Unfortunately most of us do say ‘got married,’ which is almost as bad. For lack of a suitable verb we just sometimes say committed this or that, as in the instance of bigamy, for the verb to bigam is a blessing that is still in store for us.”

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

Chasten (vt)

This context clues worksheet on the transitive verb chasten was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day at some point. This isn’t a particularly high-frequency word in English–nor is its noun, chaste–which is too bad, as these are useful words. For the purposes of this document, chasten means “to correct by punishment or suffering.” Remember that this verb is used only transitively, so don’t forget your direct object: the subject of your sentence must chasten something or someone.

(Incidentally, if you’re interested, chasten also means “discipline,” “purify,” “to prune (as a work or style of art) of excess, pretense, or falsity,” “refine,” “to cause to be more humble or restrained,” and “subdue.”)

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.

Rhetorical Irony

“Rhetorical Irony: A form of irony in which the attitude and tone of the speker or writer is the exact opposite of what is expressed. Such irony is common in the work of Swift, Voltaire, Samuel (Erewhon) Butler, and Antatole France.”

Excerpted from: Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 1992.

Cultural Literacy: Synonym, Antonym

Here is another pair of Cultural Literacy worksheets that belong in the same post: the first on synonyms, which is a half page worksheet with a reading of two short sentences and two comprehension questions. The second, on antonyms, also has two short sentences as a reading, and two comprehension questions.

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.

Linear

“Linear: Stylistic term used to describe a work of art in which contour, rather than masses of colors and tones, is the primary means of compositional definition. Compare painterly.”

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