Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Common Errors in English Usage: Tenant and Tenet

Christopher Nolan, the director of numerous high-gloss speculative fiction (i.e. science fiction) movies has a new film called Tenet awaiting release, which is to say awaiting the day when people return to movie theaters.

So now seems like as good a time as any to offer this English usage worksheet on the nouns tenant and tenet.

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: Rasputin

If you can use it, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Russian mystic Rasputin, the debauched monk who hastened the exit of the Romanov Dynasty from the stage of history.

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.

Write It Right: And So, And Yet.

“And So. And Yet. ‘And so they were married.’ ‘And yet a woman.’ Omit the conjunction.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.

Mesmerize (vt)

Because it’s the Word of the Day today at Merriam-Webster’s, here is context clues worksheet on the verb mesmerize. It’s used only transitively, so don’t forget your direct object.

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.

Independent Practice: Plato

Alright, last but not least today, here is an independent practice worksheet on Plato if you can use 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.

Word Root Exercise: Pod, -Pode

OK, esteemed colleagues, here is a worksheet on the Greek word roots pod and pode. They mean foot and feet. These are a couple of very productive roots in English, and sometimes morph into pede–e.g. centipede. Any student with an interest in the healthcare professions would probably benefit from a look at 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.

Term of Art: Compound Subject

“Compound Subject: Two or more simple subjects joined by a coordinating or correlative conjunction. Hemingway and Fitzgerald had little in common.”

Excerpted from: Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000.

Anomaly (n)

It’s the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster today, so here is a context clues worksheet on the noun anomaly. This is surely a good word to know, with use in several domains of knowledge.

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.

Sperm

After typing that header, I have to ask myself what I’m thinking. Well, health teachers and health sciences teachers, I’m thinking maybe you can use this reading on sperm and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. That is all.

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.

Term of Art: Compound Sentence

“Compound Sentence: Two or more independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction, a correlative conjunction or a semicolon. Caesar conquered Gaul, but Alexander the Great conquered the world.”

Excerpted from: Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000.