Week 9

Good morning, everyone. Hope you had a good . . . two weeks! since last we met.


Today we have class time to work on the essay on The School of Life video series, by Alain de Botton.  Two of my favorites here and here, funny and smart (imo). As these are very short instructional videos designed for personal development, they differ from feature films, whose main intent is to show and tell a good story.  Of course, a little or a lot of charm is necessary in teaching, so one criteria you might use in evaluating the effectiveness of whatever selection you have made is whether the lesson is made clear and palatable (that ole spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down), and if so, how?   What are the elements that draw our attention?  How are we made to feel?  Do we laugh, feel touched, stimulated by the subject? What have we been shown or invited to consider?  What value have you or others (readers' comments section) found in the piece?  Our individual responses will be different from the next person's and that personal view/opinion is crucial to any essay.  At the start, include the film title, provenance, and author's name just as you see them above.

As always, I will return any graded work and review the homework assigned and grammar exercises.  Next week is our last meeting before the final. We will spend it reviewing and rewriting and presenting your best work.  

The final will be much like the previous assigned pieces, 350 words, titled, multi-paragraphed (introduction, body, conclusion), but it will have to be completed during class. Any makeups must be submitted by next week, also, of course.

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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/
and an exercise on verbs, reposted: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/index.php?category_id=2&sub_category_id=1&article_id=39 , and to clarify, voice and mood:  https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/07/

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, semi-colons, and conjunctions if needed in the following sentences. Be on the lookout for occasional run-ons and comma-splice errors.

1. Today is Monday May 21 2018.

2. Students and teachers will be busy in the coming weeks many will be 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 particularly those concerned about performance on upcoming finals have been eager to review coursework.

5. Mr. Fish a math teacher is working as hard as he can to keep up with 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 as a matter of fact, many hold full-time jobs in addition to their course loads and get overwhelmed by the various pressures and demands they face.

10. Fortunately, the Internet is being used as a platform for teaching sharing and showcasing the work and ideas of people around the world it offers students means of connecting with and learning from others wherever they may be living and at whatever hour of the day or night.