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Curriculum Guide Day One. Baseline writing directions. First things first: Let’s write our baseline piece. Paper Plate Players. Paper Plate Players. Is a clause always a complete sentence? a. Yes b. No c. Maybe. THE BIKE. How Sentences Work.
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Curriculum Guide Day One
Baseline writing directions First things first: Let’s write our baseline piece.
Paper Plate Players Is a clause always a complete sentence? a. Yes b. No c. Maybe
THE BIKE How Sentences Work
This short presentation will show you how sentences work. What was once confusing will become clear. What once seemed difficult will become easy. Enjoy!
SENTENCES Which of the following do you think are sentences? • Autumn leaves twirled gently to the ground. • The park district will open an outdoor ice skating rink in November. • He smiles.
A SENTENCE HAS 2 PARTS If you thought all three were sentences, you’re right. Length does not determine what is and is not a sentence. Regardless of how long or short a group of words is, it needs two parts to be a sentence: a subject and a predicate. • The subject tells us who or what. • The predicate tells us what about it.
THE 2 PARTS CONNECT The subject and predicate parts connect to form a basic sentence, also known as an independent clause. Subject Predicate Who or what? What about it? He smiles. Autumn leaves twirl gently to the ground. The park district will open an outdoor ice skating rink in November.
Another way to describe a sentence is to compare it to a bike… The subject is one wheel; the predicate is the other wheel. These two parts connect to form a stable structure.
A SENTENCE HAS 2 WHEELS We can have just one word in each wheel… Children play. Students studied.
2 WHEELS But most of the time our ideas include more details. We add extra words to the wheels. The neighborhoodchildren playbasketball at the community center. Studentsin the biology labstudiedcells under an electron microscope.
2 WHEELS Regardless of how much detail we add, the wheels give the same kind of information. The subject tells us who or what. The predicate tells us what about it. Subject Predicate Who or what? What about it? Randy loves pizza. Companies benefit from customer loyalty. Efficient train service will decrease traffic congestion.
Review A sentence needs two wheels. Front wheel Everyone on our block Everyone on our block has joined a citizen watch group. Front wheel back wheel
Review Here’s another example: Front wheel The new manager at the restaurant Front wheel back wheel The new manager at the restaurant wants to lower prices.
Review The subject and predicate can be short. The baby sleeps. But most of the time we add more details. The four-month old baby now sleeps through the night.
Review A subject tells us who or what. The predicate tells us what about it. Who or what What about it Someone has sent us flowers. How you play the game makes all the difference. What goes around comes around The children’s dreams have come true.
It is true that… It is true that… (Declarative) Sentence Completeness Test 1: Children like Girl Scout cookies. Like Thin Mints, Tagalogs, Do-Si-Dos, and, most of all, those ones with the hole in the middle, coconut, and chocolate stripes.
Don’t they? Aren’t they? Didn’t it? Isn’t it? Don’t I? Have I? (Declarative) Sentence Completeness Test 2: The “tag” question: Frogs catch flies. With their sticky tongues. Frogs are amphibeans. This frog started life in the water as a tadpole. That’s an interesting fact. I like frogs. I have never, to my knowledge, eaten a fly.
Do frogs catch flies? Are frogs amphibeans? Did this frog start life as a tadpole? Is this an interesting fact? Do I like frogs? Have I ever, go my knowledge, eaten a fly? (Declarative) Sentence Completeness Test 3: The yes/no question: If a group of words form a complete (declarative) sentence, you can convert it into a yes/no question. Frogs catch flies. With their sticky tongues. Frogs are amphibeans. This frog started life in the water as a tadpole. That’s an interesting fact. I like frogs. I have never, to my knowledge, eaten a fly.
Go back to your baseline writing piece. • How many sentences do you have? • How many clauses? • Are you sure that all of your sentences are complete? • How do you know?
My Noun Palette Proper Nouns: Concrete Nouns: Abstract Nouns: -tion,-sion,-ism,-ence, -ance, -ness, -ment, -itude
ADJECTIVES One of the ways to add detail is to use adjectives. Adjectives are words that describe a person, place, or thing. I love cookies with crispy edges and chewy centers. The annual seminar explains how to start a small business. Meditation helps create a peaceful mind and healthy body. We saw a quiet gentleness hidden beneath his smile.
Notice the extra details that adjectives give to these sentences: He explained it with logic. He explained it with cold, chilling logic. –Joseph Marshall, Jr., Street Soldier Dinner was a time of dishes and activity. Dinner was a noisy time of clattering dishes and endless activity. –Leo Buscaglia, “Papa the Teacher”
Here’s the sentence from Chapter 1 of Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome: And there were other sensations, less definable but more exquisite, which drew them together with a shock of silent joy; the cold wet sunset behind winter hills, the flight of cloud-flocks over slopes of golden stubble, or the intensely blue shadows of hemlocks on sunlit snow.
First adjective pair Both adjective pairs modify Lars Ebbling. Second adjective pair: Note that commas are not necessary after and. Note the set of commas separating the adjective pair. Here’s another sentence from “On the Gulls’ Road.” This time, Willa Cather uses two adjective pairs to modify her character, Lars Ebbling, but between them she sets a participial phrase (wearing a white uniform): As I was going down to dinner that evening, I was stopped by Lars Ebbling, freshly brushed and scented, wearing a white uniform, and polished and glistening as one of his own engines.
Formal Informal
Informal and Formal briefcase dress shoes sit-down restaurant football on the team lunch cooking, baking, roasting backpack flip-flops McDonald’s frisbee on the lawn snack zapping/nuking
Code-Switch Your Message to Suit the Audience Situation: You witness an altercation in a parking lot. Describe it in speech and writing to two different audiences.and purposes. I’m describing the altercation that I saw to my friend. Purpose: to inform my friend about how a person that we know acted like a real jerk. I’m describing the altercation that I saw to a police officer. Purpose: to assist the police officer in understanding what happened so that she may write an accurate and fair report
HIS HIS The THEIR Solution: The HIS Test Their/there There were no more cookies in the cookie jar.
they are they are What about THEY’RE? They’re They’re/there the parents of twins .
it is it is his his it’s / its The cat chased its / it’s tail. its
Morphology Chart Nouns answer the question: What? or Who? Verbs answer the question: What is it doing, having, feeling, or being? Adjectives answer the question: What kind? (They may also answer the questions Which one? and How many? but those kinds of adjectives do not fit into the frame of The______truck. Adverbs answer any of these questions: Where? When? Why? To what extent? How?
This “Morphology Kit” is a great way to expand vocabulary because most of the words created by these suffixes express abstract ideas. Morphology Kit Adverb-making suffix: -ly 5
The Sentence-Making Kit Fold a 5 x 8 index card in half, width-wise: It is true that… Tag Question Yes/no question 2. 3. 1.
The Sentence-Making Kit On the inside of the card: AAAWWUBBIS: although, as, after while, when until because, before if, since If a sentence begins with any of these words, it must have two parts. Place a comma between the two parts if one of these words begins the sentence. These words, plus the comma, may join two sentences. Writers sometimes begin sentences with these words if they are doing so for emphasis. ,and ,but ,so Use as many ACTION VERBS as possible. Flip the switch into formal English: a lot = a great many or a great deal gonna= going to wanna= want to hafta= have to get,got = become, became, receive received, obtain, obtained gotta: must These words will help you give detail in your sentences: Try beginning some of your sentences with these words: Use words and groups of words that answer the ADVERB QUESTIONS: When? Where? Why? How? To what extent? How often? IN FOR ON WITH AT
The Sentence-Making Kit On the back of the card: Substitutions for homophones and spelling problems: their = his there = here they’re = they are your = his you’re = you are its = his it’s = it is; it has woman = man women = men I before E except after C Or when sounded as A As in neighbor or sleigh
Common Hitching Devices Coordinating Conjunctiions Subordinating Conjunctions Conjunctive Adverbs Relative Pronouns That Which Who, whom What Where Why How Whichever Whatever, etc. As, although, after While, when Until Because, before If AAAWWUBBI However Moreover Therefore Furthermore And But So Or/nor Can join clauses Warning: Many sentence fragments begin with these words. Usually, you must hitch these words and the clauses that they introduce to your previous sentence. Can join two independent clauses to make a compound sentence. Warning:You must use a comma with these when they join independent clauses. Can hitch up to an independent clause, creating a subordinate (dependent) clause, forming complex sentence. Can appear after main clause (no comma) or before main clause (needs a comma) Can move within own clause; Requires commas on both sides Warning: If you wish to use these to join clauses, you must use a semicolon.