Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 3 (January 27)

 Greetings!

This week's Quick Write prompts were taken from the list that the students in Writing 1 and Writing 2 contributed to last fall.  Here are the prompts for today’s Quick Write:

• What is a favorite childhood memory?

• What is one of the best days of your life?

• What was a highlight of your week?

• Whatever …..

Our Words of the Day came from Megan, Ike, and Grace:  and Kaylynn:

hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia  -- an extension of sesquipedalian (long words) with monstrum (“monster”) and hippopotamus (intended to exaggerate the length) and phobia -- the fear of long words

defenestration -- fr. Latin de, "down from" and fenestra, "window" -- to throw someone out of the window

kakorrhaphiophobia-- fr. Greek, kakos, "bad and evil," and phobia, "fear" --  a fear of failure

Students have handed in the Pre-Writes and Rough Drafts of their Narrative Essays.  Most of them enjoyed writing these because they could write about personal experiences.  I look forward to reading them.

We are 4 chapters into our book, The Thirty-Nine Steps, and most of the students are enjoying the story line.  Some aspects are unfamiliar because it was written for another time and place.  I reminded the students to look up unfamiliar words.  I divided the class into small groups to discuss these 2 questions:  Was Hannay a good or bad spy? and Why does he keep telling his story to people?

For the Grammar portion of class, we worked again on simple and compound sentences.  We reviewed the basic elements of a sentence (subject + verb + complete thought).  Many times students write sentence fragments and run-on sentences and comma splice sentences because they don't have a strong sense for these sentence elements.  We took time to do a few of the sentences on each worksheet.  [Note:  Remember to correct your grammar worksheets and to clearly mark that they've been corrected.]

Assignments for Next Week:

• No writing -- I'm correcting rough drafts this week

• Read Ch. 5 & 6 of The 39 Steps

• Week 4 – 3 Study Guide Questions

• Grammar – Compound Subject

• Grammar – Compound Predicate

• Grammar – Compound Subject & Predicate

 

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 3 (January 27)

The Thirty Nine Steps audiobooks

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

What is a Sentence?

A sentence is a group of words that has a subject (a noun), a verb, and a complete thought.  This same combination of words is an independent or main clause.  (Note:  Not all groups of words with a noun and a verb are sentences.)

In the sentences below, identify which ones are complete sentences (S) and those that are not (INC).

_____ 1.  When Columbus left Spain with his three books.

_____ 2.  What he wanted to do most this summer.

_____ 3.  The ringing of the bells woke the whole village.

_____ 4.  Just before the beginning of the war.

_____ 5.  My father fought in Paris during World War II.

_____ 6.  The most important city in the Philippines.

_____ 7.  Keith hurried to the station to catch his train.

_____ 8.  Because we were tired after the journey.

_____ 9.  Grass, vegetables, and berries grow in the garden.

_____ 10.  We all celebrated the end of the war.

In the sentences below, underline the subjects of the sentences once and the verbs of the sentences twice.

_____ 1.  We drove the car to Florida.

_____ 2.  Our vacation lasted ten days.

_____ 3.  The resort prepared great meals.

_____ 4.  Every morning we swam in the ocean.

_____ 5.  My favorite meal was shrimp and mangoes.

_____ 6.  In the evenings we built a fire on the beach.

_____ 7.  My suitcase was filled with shells and postcards.

_____ 8.  Next year we will drive to California.

Sentence Review Worksheet

Complete Subjects and Complete Predicates

 A complete subject is the subject with all of its modifiers.

A complete predicate is the verb with all of its modifiers.

                        Complete Subject             Complete Predicate

EX:  Most of the students | went on vacation over the long weekend.

 Simple Subject and Simple Predicate

A simple subject is the subject without its modifiers.

A simple predicate is the verb without its modifiers.

                                            S           V           

EX:  Most of the students | went on vacation over the long weekend

Exercise #1:  In the following sentences, draw a line between the Complete Subject and the Complete Predicate.  Underline the simple subject once and the simple predicate (verb) twice.  Label S for Subject and V for Verb.  Put all prepositional phrases between parentheses.

                    S           V                

EX:   Williamsburg | is a restored colonial town (in Virginia.)

                                    

1.      At this tourist attraction, costumed guides show visitors around their town.

2.      In the springtime, gardens are filled with daffodils and tulips.

3.      Hungry tourists enjoy dinners in candle-lit taverns and restaurants.

4.      In 1765, Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech in the Williamsburg Capitol.

5.      English colonists chose the site for its good soil drainage and pleasant climate.

6.      At first, residents call the colony Middle Plantation.

7.      Later, colonists renamed the town Williamsburg in honor of King William III.

8.      John D. Rockefeller, Jr., supported the town’s restoration during the 1920s.

9.      A historic plantation is located just outside Williamsburg.

10.  Even the streets are brick and cobblestone instead of modern asphalt.

Compound Subjects and Predicates

A compound subject is composed of two or more simple subjects.

                                               S                 S            V

            EX:  Most of the students and teachers went on vacation over the long weekend.    

A compound predicate is composed of two or more simple predicates.

                                             S           V                                 V

            EX:  Most of the students went on vacation and relaxed over the long weekend.      

Exercise #2:  In the following sentences, draw a line between the Complete Subject and the Complete Predicate.  Underline the compound subject once and the compound predicate (verb) twice.  Label S for Subject and V for Verb.  Put all prepositional phrases between parentheses.  Do not underline any conjunctions or modifiers.

                                                 S                          S              V

                             EX:  Companies and corporations | sell shares to stockholders.

1.      Stocks usually increase or decrease in value over time.

2.      Profits and losses by a company affect its stock’s value.

3.      Good times and good management increase a stock’s value.

4.      Bad management hurts or sometimes destroys a company.

5.      Stockbrokers check prices and make trades for buyers.

6.      Millionaires and ordinary people trade stocks worth million dollars.

7.      Prosperity and rising prices bring about a bull market.

8.      New York and Tokyo are sites of stock exchanges.

9.      Investors still want and need the help of stockbroker now.

10.  On any given day, the price of a stock rises or falls.

Subject Complements

Linking Verbs—such as be, appear, become, feel, grow, seem, smell, sound, and taste—always need a subject complement to complete their meaning in a sentence.

There are two kinds of complements: predicate nominatives (nouns that follow linking verbs) and predicate adjectives (adjectives that follow linking verbs).

            Predicate nominatives rename, identify, or refer to the subject of the sentence.

                        Those people are tourists. (predicate noun)

                        This magazine is mine. (predicate pronoun)

            Predicate adjectives modify the subject of a sentence.

                        The food is spicy. (predicate adjective)

           

            Predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives can be compound.

                        Those people are tourists and explorers.  (compound predicate nominative)

            The food is spicy and hot. (compound predicate adjective)

Exercise #3:  In the following sentences, underline the subject once and the verb twice.  Label S for Subject and V for Verb.  Circle the subject complements, labeling predicate nominatives PN and predicate adjectives PA.

Put all prepositional phrases between parentheses.

 1.      The author C. S. Lewis has been an amazing writer and teacher.

2.      The main characters in his books are two brothers and two sisters. 

3.      The central character is Aslan, a lion.

4.      Aslan is not at all tame.

5.      Lucy, the youngest sister, seems adventurous.

6.      The oldest brother seems at times bossy.

7.      Edmund is the younger brother.

8.      Mr. Tumnus, Lucy’s first friend in Narnia, is afraid of the White Witch.

9.      The Beavers are life savers for the Pevensy children.

10.  An empty wardrobe can be an amazing place.