Week 10

Monday class, welcome back.  I hope you had no great difficulty in accessing or understanding last week's assignment.  In any case, we will have time in class tonight to address any remaining work/assignments and to review for next week's final.

Please check the grades posted at ecompanion to see what you may be missing and that my record is consistent with yours.

Wednesday and Thursday classes, if you have elected to take the final this week, and next week will be reserved for rewrites, as needed.

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I have posted below material from an earlier post to allow for review of English syntax and basic punctuation principles.  I also include the following link to an article featuring discussion and review of the use of commas:  http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/the-most-comma-mistakes/

Sentence Type 1: The simple sentence has one subject and one predicate, the base of which is always a verb or verb phrase. And in English, the subject usually comes up front, followed by the verb and other predicate elements such as direct and indirect objects. This subject-verb combo is called a clause, an independent clause, because it expresses a grammatically complete, stand-alone thought.  Examples follow here:

Jesus wept. 

Style has meaning.

Choices resonate.

What is the subject in each of the three preceding sentences?  Jesus.  Style.  Choices.  And the verbs?  Wept and has and resonate, and some form of the "be" verb":  is, was, are, were . . .

And in the following?

The house is surrounded by razor wire.

He and I fight too often. We cannot be good for one another. 

After spring sunset, mist rises from the river, spreading like a flood.

From a bough, floating down river, insect song.  (Sentence fragment here . . . no verb).

They slept on the floor. 

The girl raised the flag. 

Note:   inverted syntax order: Subject follows the verb instead of preceding it.  Lovable he isn't.  Tall grow the pines on the hills.

Normal order: A fly is in my soup. With an expletive (which delays the subject) it looks like this: There is a fly in my soup.

Sentence type 2: The compound sentence has at least two independent subject and verb combinations or clauses, and no dependent clauses. Each independent clause is joined by means of some conjunction or coordinating punctuation:

Autumn is a sad season, but I love it anyway. (coordinating conjunction but preceded by a comma)
Name the baby Huey, or I'll cut you out of my will.
The class was young, eager, and intelligent, and the teacher delighted in their presence.
The sky grew black, and the wind died; an ominous quiet hung over the whole city. (semi-colon used, no coordinating conjunction required)
My mind is made up; however, I do want to discuss the decision with you. (semi-colon required with adverbial conjunction however)

Any of the seven short coordinating conjunctions can be used before the comma to join independent clauses:  for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so:  they can be remembered as FANBOYS.

*A semi-colon (;) must be used before adverbial conjunctions joining independent clauses:  however, indeed, therefore, thus, in fact, moreover, in addition, consequently, still, etcetera.

Sentence Type 3: The complex sentence is composed of one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.  

My man left me, though it was I who begged him to go.

Those who live in glass houses should not cast stones.

Many people believe that God does not exist.

Sentence Type 4:  The compound-complex sentence has at least two independent clauses and one dependent clause.

As I waited for the bus, the sun beat down all around me, and I shivered in my thoughts.

Because she said nothing, we assumed that she wanted nothing, but her mother knew better.

She and her sister Amina are dancers, and they work at parties around town when they can. 

While John shopped for groceries, two armed men forced their way into his home; fortunately, his wife and children were away.

Examples of subordinating conjunctions––those used in from of dependent clauses–– include the following:  because, that, which, who, when, while, where, wherever, though, as though, although, since, as, if, as if, unless, et al .

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Exercises:  Place commas where needed in the following sentences.

1.  Today is June 4 2012 and a Monday.

2.  Students and teachers will be busy this week for many are taking or administering final exams and projects.

3.  The lab teachers including Mr. Fish and Mrs. Bird have seen an influx of students in recent weeks.

4.  Many of the students concerned about performance on upcoming finals have been eager to review fundamentals of course material.

5.  Mr. Fish a math teacher is working as hard as he can to keep up with student requests for tutoring which tend to rise during the weeks leading up to finals.

6.  Introduction to Math and Introduction to Composition are two courses many students must take each course is designed to build basic skills needed in general college courses.

7.  Schools across the nation have seen an increasing demand for courses that prepare students for upper level work, school administrators have responded by increasing the number and range of preparatory courses.

8.  To facilitate student success they have also increased the number of hours tutors are available to help students with work.

9.  Students today are often time-pressed indeed they often hold full-time jobs in addition to their course loads.

10.  Increasingly, the Internet is being used as a new platform for teaching sharing and showcasing the work and ideas of people around the world and it offers students an unprecedented means of connecting with and learning from their peers wherever they may be living.

Week 8

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else. –Joseph Campbell
 

Good day to you all. I hope you had a nice weekend.  

Today we will spend some time reviewing classwork and exercises before turning to the week's assignment, which is described below, and due in class when you return week 10.  If we do not get to it today, we will address it next week.  It is not due until week ten, at the beginning of class.  Our final is scheduled for week 10 also, although we can push it ahead to week 11, to allow for more review.

Note:  To all of you in Monday night's class, as indicated on the syllabus, we will not be meeting next week as it is the Memorial Day holiday. 

 

Essay #7:  In 350-500 words address address an idea that you hold as an article of faith or philosophical belief, using narrative or descriptive examples to support and flesh out the basis of that belief.  I have several examples to give you from a book collection called This I Believe II:  The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, but more can be found at thisibelieve.org.  The site supports a public forum on personal belief, and opportunity to upload your essay for publication.  It also allows you to explore topics and examples going all the way back to the 1950's, when the project itself first began. 

 The guidelines for writing the essay are much like those we have been following in class, keeping to 350-500 words in a voice that is personal and original.  The following URL within the site describes in detail what the editors want in terms of style and development:   http://thisibelieve.org/guidelines/.   You may summarize and quote from any one of the published essays as a lead-in to your piece, or structure the piece as a response to any of the examples, though neither summary nor response is a required element of the essay.  The topic you address should reflect your particular experience and corresponding beliefs or concerns–whether of religion, money, virtue, vice, growing up, growing old, love, death, sickness, health, the meaning of life, the nature of existence, the human condition, the fate of life on this planet, etcetera.  Your statement of belief should be articulated in a sentence or two.