“Conflation (noun): A combining or blending or two or more versions of a text; confusion or mixing up. Adjective: conflated; Verb: conflate.
‘Big, heavy textbook….They aim to take in a typical freshman, gawky and clueless, process him cover to cover, and turn out a conflation of Walter Pater and George Orwell.’ Richard Lanham, Style.”
Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Gallicism raison d’etre. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences–the first a short compound separated by a colon and containing quoted material, the second a phrase giving the this term’s meaning, i.e. “reason for being.” There are three comprehension questions, the third of which asks students to compose a sentence containing raison d’etre.
Yes, I stipulate that this isn’t exactly a high frequency word in the English language. But educated people do use the word because it is useful in its place. Enough said.
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.
Once again, from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s sublime reference book The Order of Things, here is a lesson plan on motion picture genres. To deliver this lesson (and bear in mind that any lesson under the heading of The Order of Things on this blog was designed for emergent and struggling readers as well as students of English as a new language) you will need this worksheet with reading and comprehension questions.
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.
Here is a worksheet on the verb hate when used with an infinitive or a gerund.
I hate to publish subpar work.
I hate publishing subpar work.
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.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worsheet on the Romanovs. This is half-page worksheet with a reading of two simple sentences and two comprehension questions. I don’t know how deep a dive your social studies classes take into the history of the Romanov dynasty, but if yours are like mine, this short introduction ought to be plenty.
If its not on the Regents test, it didn’t happen (or something like that).
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 at Mark’s Text Terminal for 19 July 2024 is this lesson on the Latin word roots terr, terra, and terri. They mean “earth” and “land.” The do-now exercise for this lesson, this context clues worksheet on the noun real estate attempts to point students in the direction of these roots and make the connection between the nouns earth, land, and the vernacular real estate.
This scaffolded worksheet, replete with a cognate list from the primary Romance languages (not Romansh, alas, though perhaps Romansh isn’t a primary language?) is the principle 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.
OK, finally this morning, here is a worksheet on the verb forget when used with an infinitive or a gerund.
I forgot to publish blog posts this morning,.
I forgot publishing this morning’s blog posts.
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.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the rhetorical question. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one, longish compound sentence (that might be best recast for struggling and emergent readers as well as learners of English as a new language) and three comprehension questions. Once again, the editors of the The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy come through with an introduction to a relatively difficult concept that is stylish and easily understood.
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.
Epistemology, officially (from Merriam-Webster, of course!), simply defined, is “the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity.” Unofficially, and for the consumption of secondary-school students, it means “how we know what we know” and “how we validate what we know.” In many respects, along with reification (to reify is “to regard (something abstract) as a material or concrete thing”) teachers are in the epistemology business.
In any event, some years ago, I had a student who had conceived an interest in Western Philosophy. His grandmother had one of those Great Courses on cassette tape, and he listened to it with her. This was a tough Bronx street kid–I later heard he’d been arrested for attempted murder; but he had an acute interest in philosophy. Among the number of things I worked up to keep him engaged is this reading on epistemology along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.
I hope you are enjoying the summer break.
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.
“Confession (noun): Admission of acknowledgement, especially of personal sin, wrongdoing, responsibility, etc; a public disclosure of one’s misconduct or fault in a matter; declaration of faith or love; candid, often soul-searching or remorseful memoir or autobiographical discourse. Plural: a spiritual autobiography or book of frank reminiscences or revelations. Adjective: confessional; Adverb: confessionally; Noun: confessionalism; Verb: confess.
‘I’m catching her up on the details only to make a point about bad confessional writers (the Voice is full of them): they’ve got their eye on the effect their making. Far too often they confess something only to make us admire their anguish, their courage, their honesty; or they squeeze a little bit of experience until it’s dry, hoping to make in yield up some grand historical truth.’ David Denby, The New Republic”
Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.
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