Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Devious (adj)

Given the state of ethical life in the United States, I’d like to thing that this context clues worksheet on the adjective devious would bring the word into more frequent usage. It means, as the context clues in this document point toward, “not straightforward,” “cunning,” and “deceptive.” Since there is a lot of this going around, we should supply students a word to use to describe 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.

Reproduction

OK, science and health teachers, here is a reading on reproduction along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. As is generally true of the readings from the Intellectual Devotional series, this one-page reading is a remarkably thorough introduction to reproduction in the plant and animal kingdoms.

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.

Lean Surface

“Lean Surface: The matte surface produced by painting with a minimum of oil; essential in underpainting.”

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

Elision

Elision: In speech and writing, the omission or slurring (eliding) of one or more vowels, consonants, or syllables, as in ol’ man old man, gonna going to, wannabe want to be, and the usual pronunciation of parliament (‘parlement’). Although in speech there is no direct indication of elision, in writing it is often marked by an apostrophe: didn’t did not, I’d’ve I would have. Elision is common in everyday speech and may specially marked in verse to ensure that readers keep the meter, and in th’empire. Foreign students often have trouble coming to terms with elisions created by the stress-time rhythm of English, which may make word sequences sound nonsensical, It is no good at all sounding like Snow good a tall.

Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Common Errors in English Usage: If I Was/I Were

Once again, from the pages of Paul Brians’ usage manual Common Errors in English Usage (to which he allows access at no charge at the Washington State University website, here is a worksheet on if I was and if I were. In other words (as you have no doubt already deduced), this document aims to help students make sense of the subjunctive mood.

This is a full-page worksheet with Professor Brians’ five-sentence reading, then my own lengthy instructions on the sentence analysis work that I conceived of as the principle work of this exercise. In any case, this is a Microsoft Word document, so you may manipulate it for your needs.

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.

Axiom

“Axiom (noun): A generally or universally accepted truth or incontestable principle; self-evident or fundamental proposition; verity. Adj. axiomatic; adv. axiomatically.

‘He recalled a slang axiom that never had any meaning in college days: ‘Don’t buck the system; you’re likely to gum the works.’ John  O’Hara, Appointment in Samarra”

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

Word Root Exercise: Iso-

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.

Cultural Literacy: Nobel Prizes

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.

The Normal Curve

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.

Bromide (n)

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.