Saturday, October 12, 2013

SENTENCE COMBINATION

Learning to combine ideas into more complex sentences is an important skill in writing. There are many ways to do this--many possible bonus points! Try to combine the following three sentences.

Sentence 1: Because the price of gasoline has increased so much in the past few years, more people are now using public transport.

Sentence 2: Many blame the increase in the cost of gas this week on the upcoming long weekend when many people will be travelling.


Sentence 3: There always seems to be one excuse or another for raising the price of gasoline, and this cost impacts so many other costs.

TIME CHANGE

When I took my vacation early last month, I toured the mountain parks in Alberta. I started by driving to Waterton Lakes National Park, and then I drove north through Kananaskis Country to Banff National Park, and then I continued north to Jasper National. The weather was good, so I enjoyed hiking in the mountains, and I certainly enjoyed the views.


Change the time of this paragraph—you will need to change the verb tense and any time clues. Each student should choose a different time change.

THE PASSIVE

Write two sentences using the word believe. In the first sentence use the verb in the active voice, in the second sentence use it in the passive voice.

SYNONYMS

We can describe something that is a mixture or parts as having heterogeneity. Provide a synonym for this word--each student should write a different word.


VOCABULARY

Vocabulary building is important for both reading comprehension and writing. Use the following two words (note the part of speech) in one sentence.

Predictability (noun) + biodegradable (adjective

To further improve your vocabulary, check Word of the Day every day! There are also word games and puzzles on this site.


COMPLETE THE SENTENCE

Use the type of clause, phrase, or grammar indicated to complete the following sentence; you can add the phrase or clause before or after (not both) to the clause below:

 ...I always look forward to the fall...

1. Use a phrase            2. Use a dependent clause      3. Use an independent clause

AFFIXES

The word stem -mort-(meaning death)--occurs in many words. Add an affix (either a prefix or a suffix) to this stem to make another word. Each student should add a different word to the list.

ALL CHANGE!

Change the words in the sentence below as indicated. You can only change the exact word in the sequence given; after someone else has posted the next change, then you can post another change. For instance, student 1 writes #1 Subject Noun, and changes the subject noun; Student 2 writes #2 Direct Object Noun, and changes that noun. Each student only makes one change at a time and keeps to the order indicated. If you complete all 7 changes, then start making more changes again from 1 to 7. Each student should build on the changes that the previous students make

The old man quickly paid the overdue bill to the newly trained bank teller.

Changes:      

1. subject noun 
2. direct object noun                
3. indirect object noun                       
4. adjective(s)  
5. adverb(s)         
6. verb name           
7. verb tense

IDIOMS

There are three idioms that use the word dog:


Watch this video and then write a sentence of your own that uses one of these three idioms.

PUZZLE

Note that the first student with the correct answer gets the bonus point. If there are alternative answers, they will also be considered.

Previous puzzle: Suggested answers


original word (a)
original word (b)
new word (a)
new word (b)
burn
bead
bun
bread
rid
tripe
ride
trip
grove
rout
groove
rut
charm
rush
harm
crush
cream
sweep
scream
weep



New Puzzle:  

Without changing the order of the letters, place the four letter words on the dashes to form eight letter words.
Veto, Rake, Hilt, Clam, Tile

1. __ um__ __ i __ y
2. Pro __ __ __ i __
3. __ err __ b __ __
4. __ __ xa __ i __ n
5. Ove __ t __ __ __



GRAMMAR QUESTION

Correct the errors in the following sentence:


Peter and me are needing knowing to who to address the letter before its written in it's envelope and than being posted by us too the company in the states.

CINQUAIN POEM

A cinquain poem is a five-line poem that is diamond-shaped. Start with a theme word (noun) and then use the pattern 1 noun, 2 adjectives, 3 gerunds, 1 full sentence, and finally a synonym for the first noun.
SNOW
.....................Snow.........................
.................Cold, white......................
..........Falling, freezing, numbing..............
..........It chills fingers and toes..............
.....................Ice..........................

Write a cinquain poem based on one of the following “Thanksgiving” themes:


THANKSGIVING, TURKEY, PUMPKIN, STUFFING, HORN OF PLENTY, or FALL COLOURS.

ACROSTIC

In an acrostic, you start with a theme word and use each letter of that word to start another word or phrase that describes the theme word. The acrostic below is based on the theme word SNOW.

……………S     Slippery
……………N     Numbing
……………O     Obliterating
……………W     Wintery


Write an acrostic based on one of the following “Thanksgiving” themes: THANKSGIVING, TURKEY, PUMPKIN, STUFFING, HORN OF PLENTY, or FALL COLOURS.

Previous Grammar Question

If you shouldn't mind me to ask where you are going when me and my sister’s seen you last week as you had been getting on bus on the Main street.

1. Question form: use “do” as the auxiliary verb to make a negative question (…don’t mind …).
2. Infinitive/Gerund: After the verb “mind” use the gerund (asking) not the infinitive.
3. Verb tense/question form: The questions is about something that happened in the past, so use the past progressive tense instead of the present progressive. Because this is a question and not a statement, the word order needs to reflect that (were you going).
4. Pronoun usage: “me” is an object pronoun, but the verb “see” requires a subject--“I” is the subject pronoun.
5. Verb tense: “Seen” is the past participle; it is used to help make the perfect tense or the passive voice. Here, we need the simple past “saw”.
6. Verb tense: “had been getting on” use the past perfect progressive tense, but there is not reference to another time in the past, so use the past progressive tense (were getting on).
7. Article usage: We need to specify “bus”; here because it is not any specific bus, it is better to “a”. However, we don’t use articles with streets, so omit “the”, but see point 9 for more information
8.  Capitalization: Either use all capitals (Main Street) if that is the name of the street; however, if it’s not the proper name of the street, then you do need the article “the” before “main street”.
9. Punctuation: There are three important situations here: 1) After an “if” clause (conditional clause) use a comma--place after “asking”; 2) This whole sentence is an example of direct speech; as a result quotation marks are needed. 3) The sentence is a question, so use a question mark.

Sample Answer: “If you don’t mind me asking, where were you going when I and my sister saw you last week as you were getting on a bus on Main Street?”

WHAT’S NEW


Check your grammar: http://phras.in/

You get to choose between two alternatives that you type in: if one of the alternatives has “no hits” and the other one has more, then you should assume that the answer with more hits is the correct one.

A tongue-in-cheek look at word confusion:


WHAT'S HAPPENING?

Canadians will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Oct. 14th. What is special about Canadian Thanksgiving?

There are Thanksgiving celebrations in many parts of the world. Check out some of the festivals (scroll to the bottom for information on Canadian Thanksgiving).

WELCOME

Welcome to the English 155 Blog. This course may be taken separately or as part of the English Language Proficiency Program. The goal is to increase the communication between students and instructors,to provide you with an opportunity to communicate with each other, and to practice the grammar and mechanics taught in this course. If you post general questions about the assignments or the course, they will be answered in the blog. If you have detailed questions you want answered, then e-mail your instructor.
We hope you will also post your general comments and suggestions for how to improve this blog. Click here for the course syllabus.

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Next blog: October 23, 2013 (tentative)

Friday, October 11, 2013

NUMBER CHANGE

When my friends went fishing at various lakes these last few months, sometimes they were lucky and actually caught several local varieties of fish, but at other times they just enjoyed the weather, some quiet times, and the views they had of nature.