Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Abominable (adj)

It was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day yesterday, so here today is a context clues worksheet on the adjective abominable. It strikes me as a good word to use to demonstrate English morphology by pointing out to students its forms as a noun (abomination), a verb (abominate) and an adverb (abominably).

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: Addendum

“Addendum (noun) Something added or to be added, as a subsequent comment, note, or insertion; appended supplement. Plural: addenda.

‘The public is probably not deceived about the quality of most of these books. If the question of quality is brought up, the answer is likely to be: not, they are not ‘literature.’ But there is an unexpressed addendum: and perhaps they are all the better for not being imaginative, for not being literature—they are not literature, they are reality, and in a time like this what we need is reality in large doses.’ Lionel Trilling, The Liberal Imagination.”

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

Cultural Literacy: Acronym

I’m not sure is there is much of a demand for it, but if there is, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet the concept and practical application of the acronym.

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, January 4, 2019: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Root Bell

The first Text for the New Year is this complete lesson plan on the latin word root bell-. It means war. Here is the context clues worksheet on the noun conflict with which I begin this lesson. Finally, this vocabulary-building worksheet on this root is the mainstay of 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.

A Learning Support on Using Semicolons in Sentences

Here, finally, on an unseasonably warm morning in early January, is a learning support on using semicolons in sentences.

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 Peace of Westphalia

While I’m not sure why I prepared it in the first place–this isn’t something even touched upon, let alone covered in depth, in the global studies classes I co-taught in New York City–here in any case are a reading on the Peace of Westphalia and the comprehension worksheet that accompanies it.

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.

Garment (n)

It’s not a word one hears used much anymore–although New Yorkers still call part of Manhattan the Garment District–but here, nonetheless, is a context clues worksheet on the noun garment.

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.

George Orwell on Language

“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.”

George Orwell

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

A Learning Support on the Parts of Speech

OK, here is a short glossary of the parts of speech adapted from The Elements of Style.

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.

Heart of Darkness

Here is a reading on Joseph Conrad’s masterpieceHeart of Darkness, with the comprehension worksheet that accompanies it. This novel was part of the curriculum in the school in which I served the longest, though it may in retrospect have been for Advanced Placement English.

In any case, this is both an introduction and an overview of the novel–and its critique of colonialism belongs in every classroom, I submit.

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.