S-V-O Sentences and Such

In Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place, we discover how colonization has affected the identity of Antiguans, and how the people who are not from the colonized countries function as outsiders. Kincaid explains that outsiders try to gain an insider’s viewpoint by becoming tourists. However, when they become tourists they embrace, sometimes inadvertently, the distorted identities of formerly colonized countries.
Many people choose to go to tropical islands for an exotic, romantic, and relaxing experience away from the hum-drum of the everyday routine. Before going, tourists do research to learn about the culture of the people they are visiting. They read travel guides and research the country on the internet. However, they unfailingly learn about their destinations from sources created by people who want their money, and who advertise with the desire to draw them in. Tourists fail to see that what they read in the tourist guides is not the real thing. Huge hotels with swimming pools, adventure packages, and 4-star restaurants, advertising the beauty of the island and the quaintness of the people, only tell half the story. In all actuality, these hotels and descriptions are products of colonization and unsuccessful decolonization. In A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid explores the different consequences of colonization and decolonization, and illustrates how the exotic island tourists envision is far from the one in existence; the one that is still suffering from the abuse of years of domination by a foreign power and the subsequent loss of identity.

Those Slightly Perplexing Brushstokes

She had just successfully dozed off, which was no mean feat, when she felt someone poking her. She pretended not to notice. However as it persisted, ignoring it obviously wasn’t going to work. She pretended to be in one of those fits of sleep, when one is unconscious of physical movement. Julie turned rather violently and with a big moan, which she felt characterized deep slumber, she slapped at the perpetrator. She then quickly nestled back into sleeping position and she was finally glad that for once being asleep on school property was working in her favor. Through cracked eyelids she caught sight of Alice Braider, her 12 year old neighbor. A red haired, freckled face, brat

Please, please go away! Julie thought to herself. Alice Braider was notorious for being a busybody. She was always into other people’s business and Julie had no desire to explain whatever gaps were left in the “why” of her present predicament.

Julie determined at that second prodding that Alice Braider would not have the satisfaction of waking her up. So she continued to sleep as she was poked again and again and again. By this time Julie was seething and pretty sure she had at least three bruises, maybe four. Determined that she would have her revenge she continued to pretend to sleep. When she had gotten a pretty good idea of Alice’s poking rhythm she waited and as Alice Braider reached her hand out once more, Julie reached up quickly and grabbed her, slowly turning so that she was face to face with the little punk.

She had just successfully dozed off, which was no mean feat (appositive), when she felt someone poking her. She pretended(participle) not to notice. However as it persisted, ignoring it obviously wasn’t going to work (participle). She pretended to be in one of those fits of sleep, when one is unconscious of physical movement. Julie turned rather violently and with a big moan, which she felt characterized deep slumber (appositive, absolute), she slapped at the perpetrator. She then quickly nestled back into sleeping position and was finally glad that for once being asleep on school property was working in her favor (participle). Through cracked eyelids she caught sight of Alice Braider, her 12 year old neighbor(appositive), a red haired, freckled face, brat(adjectives out of order).

Please, please go away! Julie thought to herself. Alice Braider was notorious for being a busybody. She was always into other people’s business and Julie had no desire to explain whatever gaps were left in the “why” of her present predicament.
Julie determined (participle) at that second prodding that Alice Braider would not have the satisfaction of waking her up. So she continued to sleep as she was poked again, and again, and again. By this time Julie was seething (participle) and pretty sure she had at least three bruises, maybe four (appositive). Determined that she would have her revenge she continued to pretend to sleep. When she had gotten a pretty good idea of Alice’s poking rhythm she waited and as Alice Braider reached her hand out once more Julie reached up quickly and grabbed her, slowly turning so that she was face to face with the little punk.

I'm a little confused on the absolutes. Help would be appreciated!! Thanks.

Thoughts on "Aaawwubbis" and introductory clauses

It was really helpful to learn about conjunctions. Whenever I use to think of conjunctions I would think “and, but, or.” So this lesson was really interesting, and I really think it was beneficial to learn about subordinating conjunctions and “aaawwubbis” (after, although, as, when, where, until, before, because, if, since). In some papers, I use subordinating conjunctions a lot. So, it was good that as a writer I learned exactly what I was doing. That happens so often, we learn how to do something after years of writing, but we don’t know what we are doing. Thankfully, knowing what structures we’re using isn’t necessary to write.
After learning about subordinating conjunctions we got to learn the names of clauses: independent versus dependent, main versus subordinate, and sentence versus dependent clauses. I think that in essence there are really two types of clauses. So it was neat to learn that, although they can be called by different names in different contexts, they are really the same thing.
I asked a question about the difference between “though” and “although.” Barbara had told the class that we tended to use them in the wrong places, and mix them up. Since I tend to use “although” a lot, I wanted to know if I was using it wrong. I learned that “although” is an “aaawwubbis” and that “though” is an introductory element. We also learned that subordinating clauses are different from introductory clauses, and that introductory clauses require a comma.
Shannon and Stephanie gave a good lesson on introductory elements. I have used introductory clauses for a long time and, while I don’t think I have used them wrong, I can now say with certainty that an introductory element, or clause, is not crucial to the sentence and is not a complete thought.
I really enjoyed the week. I learned about “aaawubis” and introductory elements. In the future I hope to continue to have questions answered that I may not know I have. I would never have thought to have asked about “though” and “although” had the subject not come up in class.
Question: What is the difference between saying “you did really well”, to “you did really good.” I believe good is wrong, why?

That Punctuating Mechanism

I enjoyed the second half of reading about Dora, and the research done on children’s growth as writers. I liked the idea that if we pay attention then we can see what our students have, or have not learned. In addition, learning the idea of sentence structure is such a long and difficult process. I learned that it is going to take students a long time to put their finger on just what it is that they are trying to do, and that it is the teacher’s responsibility to help them do this. However, as teachers we are also in a difficult position. Much of this learning process seems like it needs to be learned by the students in their own time and each individual student will have their own way of responding to the idea of sentence structure.
I don’t remember very much of my own learning process, except for bits and pieces of what I learned each year. However, there is that “punctuating mechanism” within me that makes me want to put a comma here, and not right there. It’s interesting to think of all that now, because everyone has that punctuating mechanism that makes us want to punctuate something the way that we do but each person’s is probably quite different.
One of the reasons that I choose to use a comma in a sentence is because of the pause I hear as I silently read it. Though, there are times that I read a sentence out loud and then choose to take the comma out. I’m honestly not that sure of what makes the mechanism tick, but learning the technicalities now makes me more confident in my punctuating choices.
I’m glad that we were able to briefly go over semi-colons. That was a neat idea to go through the text we were reading and make a lesson out of the writers’ punctuation techniques. I hope we can go over them more in the future, as well as the colon, but it was a good start.

Question: If you had a student who had a tendency to make run-on sentences, what technique could you teach them to help them notice their mistake, and to stop?

Continuing Thoughts

I thought it was great that we were able to go over prepositions. The review helped me a lot and I enjoyed the example Barbara used of the plane and the cloud. A picture like that helps with any basic questions a person might have, reminding you of those prepositions dealing with location and direction.
I thought the second Socratic circle was a great success. Just about everyone had something to add to the conversation, and it was a lot easier I felt to participate. The atmosphere was more laid back. I didn’t feel like if I didn’t say something right away that I wouldn’t have the time to add something later. I also enjoyed the reading that we were given.
The reading was pretty controversial. Some people thought it was great, while others were much more skeptical. At the very least I liked how we got to read a fictional story about a kid that was going through the process of learning how to form sentences. I had no idea that it was such a long process. It was kind of funny that we were a little disbelieving of the story and how Dora seemed to be at such a beginning phase and was trying to master punctuation at the same time. There were many of us who wondered why she would be working on punctuation if she couldn’t even spell decently. At the end of the class Barbara explained that the phases that Dora was going through were accepted steps to mastering the sentence. I thought that was really interesting.
In going forward with the class I hope we continue to learn more about the different parts of the sentence. I think that we have learned a lot so far. We have learned about nouns, verbs, and adjectives. In addition we’ve also learned about adverbs, prepositions and pronouns. I’m not really sure what else is out there, but I feel it has been extremely beneficial to learn these details so that we are, as teachers, hopefully the best informed in the class. I dread getting up in front of the class and being told by a student that I am wrong. As a teacher I think you want to know when you’re wrong, but I would like to minimize the possibilities and hopefully not be told by a fifteen year old that I am incorrect.

Question: Are you allowed to list more than three things at a time? I don’t think you’re supposed to, but what if I need to list five things?
For example: pigs, horses, sheep, cows, and dogs

Week 3 with Socrates and Bill

I enjoyed learning about the Socratic circle. It was a new way to get discussion going and to delve deeper into the text. I liked that there were the two groups because as the inside group discussed the outside group was able to listen to what was said and then prepare their own questions and notes. I believe that this enabled us to delve even deeper into the different topics of the text.

The Socratic circle got people to talk. When everyone participates then you’re more likely to have a more interesting conversation because all those different viewpoints are out there. That’s what I enjoyed the most, hearing different people talk about what interested them the most. It helped lead to quite an interesting conversation and let me see what other people focused on as they read. It was a surprising result of the Socratic circle as we learned about different people’s reading techniques. It helped me find out that I needed to read more closely as I read even a short text like that.

I was kind of nervous when I saw that for Wednesday we would be looking at different aspects of the verb. Verbs always seem so self-explanatory but when you have to begin to classify what kind of verb is in the sentence and the sentence pattern used it can get scary.

The three main subcategories of Main Verb are intransitive, transitive, and linking verbs. I learned that intransitive verbs can be modified or stand alone, transitive verbs have to have a direct object, and linking verbs link a subject to a description. I think I need a little more work but I have a good foundation.

What really helped me to learn the different verbs was the way we practiced using them in sentences, the magnets and the boards. I have always found grammar to be a little mind-boggling so when I got to study the verbs using Shakespearean magnets it made the learning process much more interesting. It was also helpful that I had a partner because I was able to discuss my doubts and explain what I knew which made it more concrete to me.

Question: What are some techniques we could use to help younger students, like middle school students, engage in meaningful conversation?

Thus Far and for the Future

The most important lesson that I have learned thus far is that grammar is not something to drill into students’ heads but is something that they will eventually pick up. This wasn’t an idea that I had ever heard before but I do like it. I do not know the ins-and-outs of grammar and have felt a little unprepared for a career in teaching because of this. So it was a comforting thought to know that as student that was okay. I do not feel like it has been a huge hindrance to my writing a well written paper but I know that with this knowledge I am likely to be an even more successful writer and teacher.

Some specific things that I have learned lately include how to make words plural and the use of apostrophes. Although I have known for sometime to add an apostrophe to a singular noun ending in -s to show possession, I now have it more solidified in my mind. However, I hadn’t ever heard to add –es to a family name like Jones to make it plural. That is really interesting to me because in the past I would have just added an apostrophe. It has been good to go over these things because they seem simple but then again many people just don’t know how to do these seemingly “simple” things.

The pronoun was another thing made clearer to me in English 326. I had learned about “its” versus “it’s” a short time ago but it is rather confusing and I know that it was never explained to me in high school. On the purple sheet we were given there are also examples of other possessive pronouns. I don’t remember having ever before seen them written out and remember times that I have been writing a word like “whose” and have wondered whether or not I need to add an apostrophe to make “who’s.”

I have learned a lot so far, but I hope to learn more about things like semi-colons, dashes, and even commas. I use commas way too often in my writing and though we have gone over them a little hopefully as the class progresses I become better at knowing when and when not to use them.

Semi-colons and dashes are two types of punctuation I just never use. I think it would help my writing to know how to use them because punctuation can help to make a strong statement, or paper, stronger. I don’t really know the first thing about them, although I am more likely to attempt a semi-colon rather than a dash. My belief is that a dash can be used to set a statement apart for emphasis, but I have never looked it up.

Question: What is the purpose of a dash and how might I use one in a sentence?