Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Common Errors in English Usage: Methodology/Method

Once more, from the pages of Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage (to which he–amazingly–allows free access on his Washington State University Web page), here is a worksheet on the use of the nouns methodology and method. This is a full-page document with a reading of three sentences and ten modified cloze exercises.

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.

Discourse

“Discourse (noun): Verbal expression or interchange of ideas; discussion or conversation; a formal address or paper on a subject. Adjective: discoursive; adverb: discoursively; noun: discoursiveness; verb: discourse.

‘He is not so amused, however, at the disclosure of my having temporarily “lost” my papers in the forest. He gives me a discourse on carelessness. It is a short discourse, but it weighs about four tons.’ Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction”

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

Cultural Literacy: Melodrama

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on melodrama. This is a half-page document with a reading of one sentence and three comprehension questions. Short, sweet–and somehow thorough.

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, 31 July 2026: Introduction to Writing Sentences Lesson 8, Writing the Imperative Sentence

Another Friday, another Weekly Text from Mark’s Text Terminal: this one, as the header indicates, is the eighth lesson plan from the Introduction to Writing Sentences unit, on writing the imperative sentence. This worksheet on parsing sentences worksheet to find nouns opens this lesson as a do-now exercise.

This scaffolded worksheet on writing the imperative sentence stands as the principal work of this lesson; students will benefit in their work on this material by using learning support on the concept of an imperative.

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 Errors in English Usage: Media/Medium

Moving right along this morning, here is a worksheet on the nouns media and medium. This is a full-page document with a nine-sentence reading and ten modified cloze exercises. Professor Paul Brians, from whose book Common Errors in English Usage this work is excerpted and adapted, (and who allows access at no cost to that book at his Washington State University web page) does a nice job of explaining the formation of plurals of English nouns which have their roots in classical languages.

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: Non Sequitur

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a non sequitur. This is a half-page document with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension questions. A good basic introduction to a Latinism that means “does not follow” and worked its way into the English language beginning in the 16th century.

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, 24 July 2026: Introduction to Writing Sentences Lesson 7, Writing the Interrogative Sentence

This week’s Text is the seventh lesson plan of the Introduction to Writing Sentences Unit, this one on writing interrogative sentences. This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the transitive verb; this is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension questions.

This scaffolded worksheet is the centerpiece of this lesson. However, to complete it, and to understand interrogative sentences, students will need this learning support on the concept of interrogation and this one on modal and auxiliary verbs to perform 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.

A Learning Support to Accompany Stephanie Ericsson’s Essay “The Ways We Lie”

One of the most consistently downloaded items since I published it in 2021 is this set of documents on Stephanie Ericsson’s essay “The Way We Lie.” Last year, I developed this learning support to abet deeper thinking (I hope) and further written work on this essay.

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.

Dozens (Playing the)

Dozens (Playing the): In the culture of American blacks, a contest of mutual insults concerning relatives, especially the opponents mothers, sometimes in rhymed couplets and often graphically sexual or scatological (the ‘dirty dozens’). See also SIGNIFYING.

‘His broad cultural approach to prizefighting is also illuminating. A discussion, for example, of the style of black boxers invokes jazz, “bad n****r” folk figures and form of insult known as “the dozens.” Diane McWhorter, The New York Times”

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

A Lexicon of Igbo Words to Accompany a Reading of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Novel Purple Hibiscus

I don’t know why, but for some reason, when I published this blog post several years ago, with a trove of materials I developed to accompany a reading of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Purple Hibiscus, I didn’t include this lexicon of Igbo words, names, and phrases. So here it is now.

This is where I usually ask for feedback on a document, especially for alerts on typos. But since I know nothing of Igbo orthography, I must ask you to trust, as I do, the unnamed author or authors of this document.