Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Word Root Exercise: Iso-

Posted on January 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root iso-. It means equal and same. It’s at the root of a number of frequently used words in mathematics and the sciences; the two words I recognize from the list on this document (which were chosen, as the book from which they were drawn emphasizes, because of the frequency with which they appear on college admissions tests like the SAT) are isosceles and isotope.

Otherwise, as you will quickly perceive, the words on this worksheet are not high-frequency words in everyday discourse.

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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Cultural Literacy: Nobel Prizes

Posted on January 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Nobel Prizes. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of three compound sentences and six comprehension questions. Unless students need a deeper dive into a specific prize category or laureate, I submit that this is a complete introduction to the topic of this global honor.

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 Normal Curve

Posted on January 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a reading on the normal curve along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. If statistics are your bailiwick, I would appreciate a comment on whether or not you think this is a good general introduction to the subject. Even for an innumerate dolt (with, I concede, not much interest in the subject) like myself, this reading makes sense.

But what do you think?

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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Bromide (n)

Posted on January 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun bromide. It means both “a commonplace or tiresome person : BORE” and  “a commonplace or hackneyed statement or notion.” The context clues supplied in this document are keyed to the second definition.

And while I stipulate that this isn’t a high-frequency word in English, it is nonetheless a very useful word, especially given the state of our contemporary economic, political, and social discourse.

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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Word Root Exercise: Heli/o

Posted on December 30, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root heli/o. It means, simply, sun. Like many Greek roots, this one forms the basis of a number of scientific words like heliograph, heliotrope, and helium. I understand these are not exactly high-frequency words in English, but these words, if the book that animated this series of worksheets is accurate, will show up on the SAT and other gatekeeping instruments for post-secondary institutions and graduate programs.

In any case, it’s hard to imagine a global studies or world history course (or whatever your school district calls it) that wouldn’t mention heliocentrism.

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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Common Errors in English Usage: Historic (adj), Historical (adj)

Posted on December 30, 2021 | Leave a comment

From Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage (to which he generously allows full access at no charge at the Washington State University website), here is an English usage worksheet on differentiating the adjectives historic and historical. This is a full-page worksheet with Professor Brians’ four-sentence reading augmented with some definitional text I worked up to complement it. There are ten modified cloze exercises for students to complete.

However, this worksheet, like most others on Mark’s Text Terminal, is formatted in Microsoft Word. So you may do as you wish with this document.

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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Cultural Literacy: Mercantilism

Posted on December 30, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on mercantilism. This is a full-page worksheet with a four-sentence reading and five comprehension questions. In general, upon review, this worksheet’s reading wants a bit for an explanation and analysis of the trade strategies mercantilist states use to keep their treasuries full. If you want to take your students on a deeper dive into this essential topic in the social studies (yeesh to that term incidentally) curriculum, this lesson plan on mercantilism might be more useful.

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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Fanciful (adj)

Posted on December 30, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective fanciful. The context in these sentences seeks to elicit the definition “marked by fancy or unrestrained imagination rather than by reason and experience.” This is not, I stipulate, a high-frequency word in English. At the same time, when you’re reaching for its definition when writing prose, few other words will do.

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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Saturday Night Live

Posted on December 30, 2021 | Leave a comment

If you or your students can use them, here is a reading on Saturday Night Live along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. The show is soon to arrive, amazingly, at its fiftieth anniversary. As a friend of mine once put it, it gave us a reason to stay home on Saturday nights when we were young–which was probably a good thing in terms of our financial and physical (and perhaps moral) health. The reading, for all that, is relatively short.

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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Common Errors in English Usage: Humanism (n), Humanist (n/adj)

Posted on December 27, 2021 | Leave a comment

OK, last but not least today, here is a worksheet on using humanism and humanist adapted from the pages of Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage (to which he allows free access at his Washington State University website). This is a full-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and ten modified cloze exercises. Professor Brians nicely explains the caution one should use when using these words (e.g., they are not synonymous atheism and atheist). The worksheet is a simple usage exercise, with the context of the cloze exercises indicating which noun to use, or if the adjective humanist is called for by the 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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