Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Idealism

I prepared this reading on philosophical idealism and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet  for one student. I used it once (so did he, then moved on to philosophical materialism), then never thought about it again until I found it just now in the back reaches of my warehouse. I doubt readers of this blog will find further use for it either, but who knows? Since I have metaphorical acres (gigabytes, to the literal-minded) of storage space on this website, I put it out on offer.

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.

Inculcate (vt)

It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day, so, accordingly, here is a context clues worksheet on the verb inculcate. N.B. that it is only used transitively. It’s clearly a word students and teachers ought to know; for some reason, I had some difficulty writing context clues for it. Anyway, as always, this document is in Microsoft Word, so you can alter it to suit the needs of your classroom.

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.

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.