Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Verdigris (n)

During the pandemic, I acquired (and fortunately discarded relatively quickly) the unfortunate habit of writing down the Word of the Day from Merriam-Webster (it appeared on my phone as a notification until I had the good sense to put a stop to it) for future development into context clues worksheets. I have finally finished developing these materials and will begin now to post them on this blog.

This worksheet on the noun verdigris is one of the fruits of this dubious enterprise. The word means “a green or bluish deposit especially of copper carbonates formed on copper, brass, or bronze surfaces.” You know–like on the Statue of Liberty. I doubt very much that this is a word–despite its charms–that high school students need to know. On the other hand, after my maternal grandfather taught me the word one evening while we stood before the verdigris-covered statue of a seated Abraham Lincoln on Bascom Hill at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I have been pleased to be able to use the word to understand the phenomenon.

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.

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Prepare

Here, in the final documents post of 2023, is a worksheet on the verb prepare as used with an infinitive. I prepared to jettison a wide array of useless curricular materials.

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.

Contraction

“Contraction (noun): The shortening of word or phrase by omitting a letter or letters, especially within the word, and a curtailment reflected in its pronunciation; an internally truncated word or phrase, with the omitted letter or letters usually indicated by an apostrophe. Adjective: contractional, contractive; Verb: contract.

‘The word that excited Swift to greatest fury was mob, a vulgar contraction of mobile vulgus.’ Ernest Gowers, Plain Words.”

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

Cultural Literacy: Split Infinitive

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the split infinitive as an issue in grammar and style. This is a half-page document with a reading of four sentences and three comprehension questions.

At this point, I’ve read a sufficient number of grammar manuals which have argued, to my satisfaction, that splitting an infinitive is not only permissible, but even necessary in some instances to specify meaning. Even the Modern Language Association (MLA) has said that split infinitives are “generally” allowed. Nonetheless, as the reading in this worksheet observes, “Some people consider it poor style, or even incorrect style, to split an infinitive.” I expect there are educators somewhere who counsel students to avoid split infinitives. When I worked in three different college writing centers in the 1990s, occasionally a student would wander in with a paper in which their professor had issued the imperative “avoid split infinitives!” The first question these students raised was “What is a split infinitive?”

Hence this worksheet.

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 Weekly Text, 29 December 2023: A Lesson Plan on the Greek Word Root Psych/o

The final Weekly Text for 2023 is this lesson plan on the Greek word root psych/o. It means “mind,” “soul,”, and “mental process.” You already know that this root produces many shoots in English–many in our own profession–like psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychobiology.

I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the adjective mendacious. It means “given to or characterized by deception or falsehood or divergence from absolute truth.” A useful synonym is dishonest. As I prepare this post, I wonder what moved me to land on mendacious as a useful do-now word for this lesson. In any case, here, finally, is the scaffolded worksheet that is the work for 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.

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Plan

Finally, this morning, here is a worksheet on the verb plan as followed by an infinitive. I plan to continue posting these documents until they are all gone.

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: Spoonerism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the linguistic concept of spoonerism. This is half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. I can’t remember now why I prepared this; I suspect it will have relatively low utility in most classrooms, but who knows? I cannot in good faith argue that high school students, my own purview, need to understand what a spoonerism is, let alone know or care about William Archibald Spooner.

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 Weekly Text, 22 December 2023: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Root Port

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Latin word root port. This is a very productive root in English and the Romance languages, and for the latter there is a list of cognates at the top of the worksheet to illustrate port’s movement across languages. Port means “to carry” and forms the basis of many high-frequency English words like import, export, deport, portable, and report, all of which appear on this worksheet, as well as transport, which does not–but which you can add to the document should you so choose, as this worksheet is formatted Microsoft Word and open to your editing.

I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the verb convey. For the purposes of this context clues exercise, convey means “to bear from one place to another,” “to transfer or deliver (as property) to another, ” and “to cause to pass from one place or person to another.” I hope it’s obvious that this do-now is meant to hint at the meaning of port. Finally, here is the scaffolded worksheet that is the principal work of 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.

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Pay

OK, finally this morning, here is a worksheet on the verb pay when used with an infinitive. It doesn’t pay to write daft curricular materials.

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.

Comma Spice

“Comma Splice: Improper use of a comma, above all between clauses requiring either a conjunction or a full stop (semicolon, colon, or period). Also COMMA BLUNDER, COMMA FAULT.

‘Mr. Mudrick is rude, contentious, incorrigible comma spliced, headlong, raunchy, scornful and know-it-all.’ John Leonard, The New York Times.”

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