Tuesday, 16 January 2024

EF5 Wr567 Class 36

 

Good afternoon, everyone.

We will get started at 12:00

 

Today’s agenda

·      Snowfall warning for tomorrow

Listen to the radio or TV tomorrow morning. Check vsb.bc.ca. The board will post by 6:30-7am.

·      Literacy Exam/Numeracy Exam for non-grads

·      Return Test#5

Optional RW for bonus point

·      Review paragraph writing “Writing a Good Paragraph”

·      Continue working on descriptive presentations

Teach how to use a microphone

·      Begin sentence combining

 

IF TIME

·      Identifying simple, compound, and complex sentences

·      Continue review of verb tenses- present perfect

 

Wednesday- David Morita will visit our class

·      Descriptive writing, presentation

·      Sentence combining

 

Thursday

·      Decriptive writing, presentation

·      Sentence combining

 

Friday, Jan 19

·      Begin essay work

·      Sentence combining quiz

 

 

Final week

Monday

·      Essay work

 

 

Tuesday

·      Essay work

 

Wednesday

·      Essay to pass in

·       

 

Thursday

·      Optional replacement quiz or test

·       

 

Friday- final day, January 26th

·      Marks day

·      One-on-one conferences

 

 

 

Test#5

Write a process paragraph (at least 150-250ww) on the topic you chose for homework.

You chose a topic to explain how to do something, how to cook something, how to make something, etc.

 

Writing a Good Paragraph

 

Writing well is a big challenge for everyone. Good writing is very difficult.

It comes with lots of practice over months and years. There is no replacement for practice, with concentration and focus.

 

PROCESS – What to do?

 

PREWRITING- Plan what you going to write.

1.     Analyze the topic – Read the question carefully a few times. Read every word. Make sure you understand what the teacher is asking you to do.

2.     Generate ideas- Brainstorm the topic. Write down key words as they occur to you. With luck, the vocab will start to flow. Don’t veer off topic- stick to the topic. Getting 3-4 ideas is enough.

3.     Organize TIME SPACE IMPORTANCE Put your ideas in order. You may not need all of the ideas you brainstormed. New ones may occur to you as you arrange your ideas.

 

WRITING- Write what you planned.

4.     Rough copy- Now we start to write sentences: simple, compound, complex.

Begin with a grabber.

Write a clear topic sentence that addresses the topic.*

Then write a sentence or two for each of the points you brainstormed and organized.

End with a concluding sentence.

5.     Proofread and correct your sentences**. Check the things that you have trouble with, e.g. sv agr, vt, vf, punc, sp.

6.     Good copy Pass in the legible rough copy. You probable won’t have time to rewrite a pristine good copy.

 

 

*The topic sentence is the first sentence after the grabber. It refers directly to the question/writing prompt.

HINT: Use some of the vocab in the writing prompt or synonyms.

 

**Sentences! Every sentence has to be SIMPLE, COMPOUND, or COMPLEX.

 

Grabber

Topic sentence

Supporting sentences

Concluding sentence

(150-250 words approx)

 

Simple

Compound

Complex

Every sentence you write must be a high-quality sentence like the ones we have been studying.

 

 

 

microphone

 

Shure SM58

-high-quality

-rugged

-strong

 

-invisible ball surrounding the microphone head

-your mouth must be inside that ball

 

-two to three finger away from  the screen

-hold it upright just below your mouth

-when you turn your head, the mic has to go with it

 

When you do your presentation, you can use the microphone. That will be excellent practice.

 

 

 

SENTENCE COMBINING – culmination of all of sentence work

culmination – using all the sentence knowledge that we have accumulated so far

put it all into practice

 

Next level of work for sentence writing –

 

IDIOM where the rubber hits the road- practical, real-life

 

SENTENCES:

*simple                SV   SSV   SVV   SSVV

*compound        SV, SOBA SV.

*complex             - adverb clauses

                               - noun clauses

                               - adjective clauses

 

You have to know these. You must be able to write them.

 

MY ADVICE- Practice these styles. Follow the patterns.

If you follow these patterns, your writing will probably be ok.

If you don’t follow these patterns, your writing will likely be substandard.

When you are writing , use these styles. Stick to these styles.

 

Sentence combining

-very effective way to get better at sentence writing

-practical, useful

 

IMO (in my opinion)- the best way to get better at sentence writing

-at all levels – absolute beginner, beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert

start at very basic level----- very high university-level exercises

 

Based on the sentence styles- simple, compound, complex

foundation of all writing and speaking in English

sentence combining – puts all of this knowledge into use

                                        

William Strong – university professor – taught university students how to be better writers, not ESL EAL, mostly native English speakers

GOAL- LEARN TO WRITE

o   higher-level sentences

o   more prestigious English ‘prestige English”- sounds professional and competent

o   prestige English- sounds high-level

o   maybe even beautiful, elegant, stylish writing

o   sounds good, reads well, smooth and beautiful to read

 

*** Sentence combining books are available if you dig for them. Keep your eyes open for this kind of sentence combining exercise books.

I have amassed a small collection of sentence combining books over the years.

 

VPL   Amazon   used book stores

William Strong

 

BTW I have mountains of sentence combining exercises. I would happy to give you some.

 

 

BASIC IDEA OF SENTENCE COMBINING

Sentence combining – taking several short sentences and combine the most important parts of them into one sentence

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easy example of sentence combining -

a.     Bill felt hungry.

b.    Bill had no lunch today.

 

COMBINE a and b into one sentence

What kind of sentence would be best? simple   compound   complex

a.     Bill felt hungry.

b.    Bill had no lunch today.          because – complex, adv cl

 

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Bill felt hungry because Bill he had no lunch today.         

Because Bill had no lunch today, he felt hungry.

Bill had no lunch today so that he felt hungry. COMPLEX – adv cl

 

Bill had no lunch today, so he felt hungry.   COMPOUND   , SOBA

Bill had no lunch today; therefore, he felt hungry.   COMPOUND ;

 

Bill who had no lunch today felt hungry. COMPLEX- adjective clause

Bill who felt hungry had no lunch today. COMPLEX- adjectice clause

 

Bill had no lunch today. Bill felt hungry. SIMPLES

Bill had no lunch today and felt hungry. OK  SIMPLE SVV

 

 

Many options- many varieties to choose from if we have the knowledge.

The knowledge: SIMPLE, COMPOUND, COMPLEX

Stick to the basics. Get back to basics.

 

The goal is to write a rich variety of sentences. We can do that by sticking to the basics.

 

GOALS of sentence combining

-sentences that are dense with information, but not too much information (tricky balance)

-sentences that are as compact as possible (short, few words as possible), not too short (another tricky balance)

 

*** balancing competing interests/impulses- lots of information, compact sentences

- VERY CHALLENGING

We are up for the challenge!

 

 

*PERSONAL ANECDOTE*

My first year in university-

I learned how to write well by working with style books.

 

CONSIDER WORKING THROUGH A GOOD STYLE BOOK

HIGHER-LEVEL WRITING – for the future, college

The Elements of Style Strunk and White CLASSIC

Style: Ten Levels in Clarity and Grace Williams ***

*These changed my writing world. The scales fell from my eyes.

https://www.thriftbooks.com/

Dig! Keep looking!

 

 

BASIC SENTENCE COMBINING PROCESS

Beginner-level sentence combining – good for a little kid

 

 

 

 

 

Kai has a hat.

The hat is red.

The hat is for baseball.

 

1.    Start with the KERNEL - usually first sentence

2.    Choose the important new elements in each following sentences

3.    Combine all of the element together into one sentence- simple, compound, complex

 

Kai has a hat. KERNEL – centre, hub Usually the first sentence in an exercise

FIND JUST NEW INFORMATION IN THE OTHER SENTENCES, AVOID REPETITION

The hat is red.

The hat is for baseball.

 

Kai has a hat, and the hat is red. REP, NOT A GOOD STYLE

 

ELEMENTS to be combined

Kai has a hat

red

for baseball

 

Choose what kind of sentence do you want to write to include all of these elements? simple compound complex?

-gut reaction, trust your instinct, feeling

You should have a feeling about it.

Make the decision.

You have to decide.

 

 

 

 

ELEMENTS to be combined

Kai has a hat

red

for baseball

 

*SIMPLE

Kai has a red baseball hat. MY CHOICE

Kai has a red hat for baseball.

 

*COMPOUND

Kai has a red hat, and it is for baseball. SEEMS LIKE TOO MUCH FOR SUCH A BASIC IDEA, A BIT OVERWRITTEN

Kai has a red hat; in fact, it is for baseball. SEEMS OVERWRITTEN

We don’t need that elaborate structure for such a simple idea.

 

*COMPLEX

Kai has a baseball hat that is a red colour red. ADJ CL  Overwritten?

because  since  SEEMS LIKE A LOT

Kai has a red hat which is for baseball. Maybe he has several special hats.

Jun has a nice suit which is for job interviews.

 

NOTE: prefix is the beginning part of a word ‘un’ unkind ‘im’ impossible

suffix is the end part of a word  ‘tion’ education  ‘ment’ employment

 

DETAILS OF THE STRUCTURE

META- level, above, higher level

Birdseye view of sentences

Next level of thinking about sentences

**

 

PROCESS:

Find the kernel.

Identify new information.

Choose our sentence style.

 

 

Quiz#5

Write a sentence with an adjective clause for each. Pass it in by 12:45.

1.    which         music

2.    who            noise

3.    that             burning

4.    that             chair

5.    which         weather

6.    who            system

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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