Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Cultural Literacy: Tokyo

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Tokyo. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and five comprehension questions. The first sentence in the reading is a compound separated by a semicolon–in other words, ready-made to be edited for any striving readers you may serve.

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: Teheran

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Teheran. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two compound sentences, both of which are quite long and should absolutely be edited or adapted for striving readers, 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.

The Weekly Text, 2 May 2025, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Karma

May, as the cognoscenti are aware, is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island Heritage Month, which, for the purposes of blog post headers of reasonable length, has been shortened to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month for this website.

Let’s begin this blog’s observation this year with this reading on karma with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Karma is, of course, an important concept in Indian religions.

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 Object and an Infinitive: Hire

OK, last and possibly least this morning, here is a worksheet on the verb hire when used with an object and an infinitive.

The school hired the instructor to teach Russian to high school sophomores.

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: Humanist

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the humanist as, well, a human concept. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two long, compound sentences–yes, you will probably want to shorten them for striving readers–and three 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.

The Weekly Text, 25 April 2025: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Root -Cide

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Latin word root -cide. It means, to kill, which is why you’ll find it in such relatively high-frequency English words as germicide, insecticide, and genocide–all present on this scaffolded worksheet. This lesson opens with this context clues worksheet on the noun mortality  which, I hope, points the way toward the meaning of the word root that is under analysis in 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 Errors in English Usage: Let Alone

From Paul Brian’s book Common Errors in English Usage, here is a worksheet on the use of the conjunction Let alone, as in “I can’t finish this do-now exercise, let alone write a research paper.” There are no structured exercises on this worksheet, which calls upon students simply to compose sentences in which they properly use the conjunction let alone–as well as much less and never mind, two similar conjunctions.

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: Individualism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on individualism. This is half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading (the last one is longish, which may need to be shortened) and three 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.

The Weekly Text, 18 April 2025: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the Second Great Awakening

The other morning, one of my favorite shows on National Public Radio, On the Media ran a repeat show on Christian Nationalism, the latest scary manifestation of religious lunacy in the United States. The guest, Matthew Taylor, explained well this latest manifestation of what is basically a form of aggressive Protestant cultural militancy with something of a long history in this country.

So, now seems like a good time to post this reading on the Second Great Awakening along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. And if you are so inspired, you might familiarize yourself with the term “Burned-over district.”

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.

Credo

“Credo (noun): A statement of belief, faith or doctrine; a religious, social, political or artistic principle or body of principles; dictum.”

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