Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Byword

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Byword (noun): A common saying of proverb, or a much-used word or phrase; widely familiar term; epithet; something or somebody personifying a type, quality, or the like; exemplar or paragon.

‘This, I did not need telling, was Anthony Blanche, the “aesthete” par excellence, a byword of iniquity from Cherwell Edge to Somerville, a young man who seemed to me, then fresh from the somber company of the College Essay Society, ageless as a wizard, as foreign as a Martian.’ Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited”

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

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Cultural Literacy: Balkan Peninsula

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Balkan Peninsula. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three compound sentences and three comprehension questions. Nota bene, please, that the compounds in these sentences contain lists of geographical particularities and the many nations and nationalities that crowd this relatively small piece of real estate. If you’re looking for something to begin a lesson on this region–particularly just about anything on World War I, empires, colonialism, or the horrorshow that ensued in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union–this short worksheet might be a good place to start.

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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Glitch (n)

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun glitch. It means “a usually minor malfunction,”  “a minor problem that causes a temporary setback,” and “a false or spurious electronic signal.” The context clues in this sentence point mostly to the first two definitions; the first sentence on the worksheet–“Arleny’s phone has developed a glitch that causes a delay in the delivery of text messages”–might, with some revision, supply context for the first definition.

Parenthetically, would you be surprised to hear this word comes to the English language from Yiddish? It does sound like it might; in Yiddish, glitsch means “a slippery place”; the verb glitshn means “to slide, glide.” 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.

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The Weekly Text, 29 July 2022: A Lesson Plan on Correlative Conjunctions (Part 2)

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is the second of two lessons on using correlative conjunctions. The first was published here last Friday. If you scroll down eight or so posts below this one, you’ll find it.

I open this lesson with this Everyday Edit worksheet on Charles R. Drew, the surgeon and researcher on blood transfusions. (And don’t forget that you can help yourself to a yearlong supply of Everyday Edit worksheets over at Education World.) If the lesson spills over into a second day, here is a second do-now worksheet on the homophones peace and piece.

This scaffolded worksheet is the center of this unit, and I expect that this teacher’s copy of the worksheet will make delivering the lesson a bit easier for you.

That’s it. I’ll post the final lesson in this unit–and the final lesson of all the Parts of Speech Units on this blog–next week.

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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Buzzword

Posted on July 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Buzzword (noun): A vogue term with a catchy or seemingly impressive cachet, especially one form the jargon of technology, business, or government.

‘The phrase is everywhere…it is, in part, modish nonsense following a direct linguistic line from such buzzwords as ‘buzzword,’ ‘synergy,’ and ‘stonewall.’” Sam Vaughn, The New York Times

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

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Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Practice

Posted on July 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

If you can use it (and I remain skeptical of the utility of these materials, whose manufacture I nearly abandoned several times), here is a worksheet on the verb practice when used with a gerund. I  practice deprecating worksheets which are of dubious value.

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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Euclid

Posted on July 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a reading on Euclid along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. This is, as so many of the readings from the Intellectual Devotional series tend to be, a nice one-page conspectus on the author of The Elements, and the influences that led to the creation of this, essentially the world’s first first geometry textbook–which is, unsurprisingly, available across the internet in a variety of PDFs. The first one that pops up (under that hyperlink) is from a physicist named Richard Fitzpatrick at the University of Texas; it’s free of advertising clutter and, to the extent of my limited knowledge of the subject, well organized.

Also, in researching this post, I learned that the first of the five volumes in the Intellectual Devotional series is available as a free e-book under that hyperlink (at least at the time of this post’s publication), should you be interested.

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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Cultural Literacy: Balance of Trade

Posted on July 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the balance of trade. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two compound sentences and three comprehension questions. A concise introduction to a fundamental concept in the economics of trade. If I had been paying attention, I would have paired this document into one post with this worksheet on the balance of payments as a concept in trade and economics I that posted about a week ago.

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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Fraternize (vi)

Posted on July 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb fraternize. It means “to associate or mingle as brothers or on fraternal terms,” “to associate on close terms with members of a hostile group especially when contrary to military orders,” and “to be friendly or amiable.” The context clues in the sentences in this worksheet point to the first and third of these definitions, the middle definition not at all. I thought trying to include that would make the worksheet a bit too busy. Also, I remember thinking the middle definition might require its own set of context clues sentences, and might be best pegged to a lesson where the definition comes into play.

Also, this is one of those verbs used only transitively. So don’t bother with your direct object; you don’t need 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.

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Write It Right: Custom for Habit

Posted on July 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Custom for Habit. Communities have customs; individuals, habit—commonly bad ones.”

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

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