Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Cultural Literacy: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby (the appeal of which is squandered on this reader) remains a staple in high school English classes, so this short reading and comprehension exercise might serve well to introduce the book’s author.

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.

Qualm (n)

It is a gorgeous day in Manhattan, so this context clues worksheet on the noun qualm in no way reflects my state of mind. As soon as I can get out of this grim, windowless building (about which I do have a serious qualm or two), I’m going for a walk through Hudson River Park.

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.

Coarse (adj) and Course (n)

Here are five homophone worksheets on the adjective coarse and the noun course that may well have a place in your classroom.

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.

Spurn (v)

You might be able to use, if you think your students should know this word (I think mine should, which is why I wrote it) this context clues worksheet on the verb spurn.

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.

Manifesto

A public declaration of advocated opinion, intent, viewpoint, etc., especially a political exhortation or proclamation of aesthetic principles; avowal; credo. Plural: manifestos, manifestoes.

‘How often he had seen her, as they sat together in the evening lamplight, with a pad of it propped on her knee as she drafted a letter to her Congressman, or flaming manifesto for one or another of the ecological causes into which she threw herself, and sometimes him.’” Peter De Vries, Madder Music

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

Cultural Literacy: Napoleon Bonaparte

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Napoleon Bonaparte if you need something to introduce the little Corsican quickly.

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, June 15, 2018: Two Context Clues Worksheets on the Noun Prologue and Epilogue

This week’s Text is a quick one, after a week of testing. Here are two context clues worksheets on the nouns prologue and epilogue.

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: Portmanteau Word

“A completely new word combining parts of two or more words. The word thus created expresses a combination of the meanings of its parts, as in the now common word brunch, created by combining the ‘br’ of breakfast with the ‘unch’ of lunch. Lewis Carroll introduced portmanteau words in Through the Looking Glass; he says slithy means lithe and slimy, mimsy means flimsy and miserable, etc. Carroll called the them portmanteau words because in them two meanings were ‘packed up’ in one bag, as it were. Modern writers have made liberal use of such words, notably James Joyce in his Finnegan’s Wake.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

Cultural Literacy: War Crimes

It seems to me that if you’re teaching any sort of global studies or world history course that includes the twentieth century in its chronology, this Cultural Literacy worksheet on war crimes will be of some use to you.

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.

Criterion (n), Criteria (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet that focuses on two words, to wit, the nouns criterion (singular) and criteria (plural). I developed this earlier this year for a unit on argumentation I started. I have another one on datum and data that I’ll pass along shortly.

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.