Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Cultural Literacy: Riot Act

If you want students to learn idioms, this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Riot Act, or more specifically being read the riot act, might help.

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.

Ball (n) and Bawl (vi/vt)

Here are five worksheets on the homophones ball and bawl. Respectively, they are a noun and a verb with both intransitive and transitive uses.

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: Metonymy

“The figurative or symbolic use of the name of one thing for that of another with which it is associated, or of an attribute for the whole, e.g., ‘brass’ for military officers. Adjective: metonymic, metonymical; adverb: metonymically; noun: metonym.

‘A full set would also have included the brazen Perelman pun (‘My choler wilted’ for ‘My anger subsided’)…the Perelman micro-metonymy (‘Hanna listened to the veins throbbing in my temple’ for ‘I was speechless with anger at Hanna’) and the Perelman extrapolation of cliché into metaphor (‘The whole aviary in my head burst into song’ for ‘I was bird-brained’).’” Tom Wolfe, The New York Times

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

Sham (n/adj)

Here are two context clues worksheets on the word sham, used as both a noun and an adjective.

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.

Independent Practice Worksheet: Peter the Great

Here is an independent practice worksheet on Peter the Great that I use in sophomore global studies classes. It’s a short reading with a few comprehension questions. Make sure to use it on days when you’re studying Russian history.

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.

Exuberant (adj)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective exuberant that’s hot off the press. I just wrote it.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Rembrandt

A couple of days ago, on June 15th, Rembrandt’s birthday passed while I was away from my computer. Since the day gave me an opportunity to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Rembrandt, I observe it now both retrospectively and retroactively.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Neo-

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root neo-, which means new and recent. In fact, this is a root that is often simply attached to existing nouns, as in the au courant locution “neoliberal.”

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.

Pope (n) and Papal (adj)

Here, hot off the press, are two context clues worksheets on the noun Pope and the adjective papal.

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.

Excommunicate (vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb excommunicate. It is used only transitively, so don’t forget your direct object: you (or the Church) must excommunicate someone.

It has taken me no small amount of time and cognition to render this word accessible to struggling learners. I remain unconvinced that I’ve done an adequate job of it. Nonetheless, this verb shows up in social studies classes and texts with sufficient regularity that students need to know it.

That said, this word also turns up as an adjective. If you use it that way, be advised that unlike the verb, which pronounces as it looks (i.e. excommuni-kate with a long a), the adjective pronounces as excommuni-cut–with a short a in the final syllable.

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.