Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

The Problem of Evil

Posted on January 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

This seems like as good (or the best) a time as any to post this short reading on the problem of evil and vocabulary building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies it. This has tended to be high-interest material for the students I’ve served in my career, particularly high school juniors and seniors.

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.

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Gratify

Posted on January 8, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here’s a context clues worksheet on the verb gratify, which is apparently only used transitively. This is a word students should know–it’s that simple.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: Wounded Knee

Posted on January 7, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy exercise on Wounded Knee and the tragic events that occurred there. It is short, so it serves only as an introduction to the subject, which absolutely warrants greater scrutiny and analysis.

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.

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Independent Practice: Charlemagne

Posted on January 7, 2019 | Leave a comment

At the start of another work week, here is an independent practice worksheet on Charlemagne. I’m hard pressed to imagine he isn’t a part of most if not all world history or global studies (or whatever your district of school calls this area of inquiry.

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.

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Posted in Essays/Readings, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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Write It Right: Conclude for Decide

Posted on January 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

Conclude for Decide: “‘I concluded to go to town.’ Having concluded a course of reasoning (implied) I decided to go to town. A decision is supposed to be made at the conclusion of a course of reasoning, but it is not the conclusion itself. Conversely, the conclusion of a syllogism is not a decision, but an inference.”

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

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Transcontinental Railroad

Posted on January 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

If you teach United States History, this reading on the transcontinental railroad and its attendant comprehension worksheet might be something you could assign to struggling readers and English Language Learners.

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.

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Pore (n/v), Poor (adj), and Pour (v)

Posted on January 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

On a rainy Saturday morning (aside: should it be pouring rain in New England on January 5th? Shouldn’t this be snow?), Mark’s Text Terminal is humming right along. Here are five worksheets on the homophones pore, poor, and pour. A few notes about these words: pore as a verb is apparently only used intransitively, and in its most common application in English is used with the adverb over; as a verb, pour can be used both intransitively and transitively. While these worksheets don’t address it, pour can also be used as a noun, and can mean the action of pouring,  and instance of pouring or an amount poured, and a heavy fall of rain: DOWNPOUR.

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.

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Abominable (adj)

Posted on January 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

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.

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Term of Art: Addendum

Posted on January 4, 2019 | Leave a comment

“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.

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Cultural Literacy: Acronym

Posted on January 4, 2019 | Leave a comment

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.

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