Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

World War I

Last but not least this morning, here is a reading on World War I along with its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. This is a good general introduction to the Great War.

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: Colloquialism

“Colloquialism: A word or expression appropriate to informal conversation but not usually suitable for academic or business writing. They wanted to get even (instead of they wanted to retaliate).”

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

Word Root Exercise: Sect

Alright then, as the great thespian and pet detective Ace Ventura would say, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root sect. It means, as you will quickly see, to cut. You’ll also see that it is a productive root in English, particularly for words in the sciences. So the next time your students are required to dissect something, they will know something about the family of words that sprouts from this root.

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.

A Lesson Plan on the Fastest Animals on Earth from The Order of Things

Here is another reading and analysis lesson from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s The Order of Things, this one on the fastest animals on this planet. You’ll need this list and comprehension questions to work kids through 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.

Derelict (adj)

It’s the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster today, so here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective derelict. As an adjective, it means “abandoned by the owner or occupant.”

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.

Appearance and Reality

Last but not least on this hot Saturday afternoon, here is another one-off that I wrote in response to the request of one student, then never used again. Maybe you have a philosophically-minded student whom this reading on appearance and reality and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet might interest.

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: Clause

“Clause: A group of related words that contains a subject and predicate. Moths swarm around a burning candle. While she was taking the test, Karen muttered to herself.”

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

Adhere (vi/vt)

If you can use it, here is a context clues worksheet on the verb adhere. It’s used both intransitively and transitively. It seems like a word students ought to know by the time they walk the stage at their graduation.

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: Munich Pact

Several years ago, during a round of professional development at the school in which I was serving, a group of social studies teachers reviewed the results of our students’ performance on the New York State Global Studies and Geography Regents Examination. They found a high incidence of error on questions related to Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Adolf Hitler in 1938. I took that as my cue to develop materials to address this issue–the first document was this context clues worksheet on the transitive verb appease.

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Munich Pact, which is a short and general introduction to Chamberlain’s pandering to Hitler may also be useful in ensuring students understand this key moment in global 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.

Mien (n)

OK, last but not least this afternoon, let’s deal with Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for today by way of this context clues worksheet on the noun mien. It means “air or bearing esp. as expressive of attitude or personality.” Not a word students necessarily need to know, but a nifty noun I’ve always liked, and certainly a nice synonym of demeanor, appearance, or the polysemous aspect.

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.