Sentence Pattern 4: A series of balanced pairs
Ex.: ''God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, surfeit and hunger.'' Heraclitus
'' Micheal Clayton'' is a story of money and power, passion and obsession, love and hate. ''
Sentence Pattenr 5: Introductory series of appositives, with dash – and summarizing subject (Each, all, these, what.)
Ex.: The Monalisa, Michealangelo's David, the ceiling of The Sistine Chapel – such are the wonders of renaissance.
Combination of both pattern
This morning, I had for breakfast toast and jam, eggs and ham, fruits and coffee—each element composes a healthy breakfast.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Edgar Allan Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart
In the tell-tale heart, Edgar Allan Poe’s shows his ability to portray and describe the disperse aspects of paranoia. It tells the story of a man, obsessed and frightened by the eye of an old man which he refers to as a vulture eye. Poe has us questioning the protagonist’s sanity throughout the story.
The story begins with the paranoid man trying to convince us– but maybe more himself, that he is sane. He then goes on describing his past actions. Fearing but also obsessing about the vulture eye, he went every night, while the old man was sleeping, with a ray of light, tried to look at the eye. But, one night, the old man woke up, suspecting an intruder in his house. Not going back to sleep, the old man sadly provoked his own death as the protagonist, afraid to be seen, killed him.
After killing the old man, he hid the body under the flooring of the room, under the bed, after dismembering the body, feeling satisfied and in peace. But his peace of mind was quickly disturbed by three police officers who came to the residence, after being notified by neighbours of unusual noise. Still at ease however, with the police’s questioning, it is when he believes to be hear the old man’s heart beat through the floor planks that, no longer in control of the situation, he reveals his murder by wildly ripping the flooring and uncovering the body in front of the three men.
The story begins with the paranoid man trying to convince us– but maybe more himself, that he is sane. He then goes on describing his past actions. Fearing but also obsessing about the vulture eye, he went every night, while the old man was sleeping, with a ray of light, tried to look at the eye. But, one night, the old man woke up, suspecting an intruder in his house. Not going back to sleep, the old man sadly provoked his own death as the protagonist, afraid to be seen, killed him.
After killing the old man, he hid the body under the flooring of the room, under the bed, after dismembering the body, feeling satisfied and in peace. But his peace of mind was quickly disturbed by three police officers who came to the residence, after being notified by neighbours of unusual noise. Still at ease however, with the police’s questioning, it is when he believes to be hear the old man’s heart beat through the floor planks that, no longer in control of the situation, he reveals his murder by wildly ripping the flooring and uncovering the body in front of the three men.
Friday, September 19, 2008
SENTENCE PATTERN 2 (2 ICs) : (COLON)
The colon gives an explanation. It gets a sentence from general to specific.
Ex.: Darwin's ''The Origen of Species'' a harsh truth: only the fittest survived.
We explain, give more details, about the first clause in the second. The second clause specifies the first, more general clause.
Ex.: Obama made an important announcement: Hilary will not be my Vice President.
Ex.: Shaw told a writer there are three things I dislike about your story: they are the begining, the middle and the ending.
Ex.: There is one key rule in my life: never underestimate the people around you.
The words in bold caracter are the general aspects of the sentence that we clarify in the second clause.
The colon gives an explanation. It gets a sentence from general to specific.
Ex.: Darwin's ''The Origen of Species'' a harsh truth: only the fittest survived.
We explain, give more details, about the first clause in the second. The second clause specifies the first, more general clause.
Ex.: Obama made an important announcement: Hilary will not be my Vice President.
Ex.: Shaw told a writer there are three things I dislike about your story: they are the begining, the middle and the ending.
Ex.: There is one key rule in my life: never underestimate the people around you.
The words in bold caracter are the general aspects of the sentence that we clarify in the second clause.
Sentence Pattern 1, 1a, and 1b:
Complete the sentences: (Sentence Pattern 1)
1. It was eight; the city was deserted and burning.
2. The old man slowly got into bed; he fell asleep.
3. The cat's tail began to switch back and forth; the mouse ran towards a bush.
Complete each sentence using an appropriate conjunctive adverb: (Sentence Pattern 1a)
4. The crisis had passed; he was feeling better however, we decided to bring him to the hospital.
5. Robert would never admit his crime; however, he was definitely guilty.
6. Jean was older than Grace; therefore his knowledge of life was more diverse.
Complete each sentence using an appropriate subordinating conjunction: (Sentence Pattern 1b)
7. Edgar Allan Poe was primarily an author of horror stories; he wrote many poems, however, was better known as a horror writer.
8. The Silence of the Lambs is one of the most macabre movies ever produced; yet it is one of the most popular.
9. The "Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe; it was published in a Boston magazine in 1843, however
Complete the sentences: (Sentence Pattern 1)
1. It was eight; the city was deserted and burning.
2. The old man slowly got into bed; he fell asleep.
3. The cat's tail began to switch back and forth; the mouse ran towards a bush.
Complete each sentence using an appropriate conjunctive adverb: (Sentence Pattern 1a)
4. The crisis had passed; he was feeling better however, we decided to bring him to the hospital.
5. Robert would never admit his crime; however, he was definitely guilty.
6. Jean was older than Grace; therefore his knowledge of life was more diverse.
Complete each sentence using an appropriate subordinating conjunction: (Sentence Pattern 1b)
7. Edgar Allan Poe was primarily an author of horror stories; he wrote many poems, however, was better known as a horror writer.
8. The Silence of the Lambs is one of the most macabre movies ever produced; yet it is one of the most popular.
9. The "Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe; it was published in a Boston magazine in 1843, however
Friday, September 12, 2008
THE SENTENCE
Sentence (Clause, Phrase)
Subject
Verb
Connector
Preposition
Modifier
Direct Object
Id
Subject Complement
A simple sentence is composed of a subject and a verb.
Maria eats
Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students.
Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 talented students.
Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 talented students in different programs.
The fragment ''in different program'' is considered a phrase because it is not a complete idea. The beguining of the sentence is a sentence in itself because it is complete. A phrase has no verb.
''Cegep St-Laurente has 3150 students'' is a independant clause. It has a subject and a verb and is a complete idea.
Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 talented students in different programs, which are interesting.
''which are interesting'' is a dependent clause because it containes a verb but is not a complete idea.
PATTERN 1
1) Compound: A combination of 2 independent clauses.
Ex.: Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students; many are smart and talented.
The semicolon could be replace by a simple period since these are two independent clauses.
Ex.: Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students. Many are smart and talented.
1A) Compound, semicolon (2 ICs) with conjunctive adverb
Ex.: Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students; however, some will drop out.
or: Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students; therefore it is not too crowded.
Conjunctive adverbs: Thus, then, therefore, hence, however
1B) Compound, semicolon, coordinating conjunction
Ex.: Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students; many are taking music, but some are studying dance.
''but'' is the coordinating conjunction. We could use: And, yet, so, or, etc...
Subject
Verb
Connector
Preposition
Modifier
Direct Object
Id
Subject Complement
A simple sentence is composed of a subject and a verb.
Maria eats
Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students.
Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 talented students.
Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 talented students in different programs.
The fragment ''in different program'' is considered a phrase because it is not a complete idea. The beguining of the sentence is a sentence in itself because it is complete. A phrase has no verb.
''Cegep St-Laurente has 3150 students'' is a independant clause. It has a subject and a verb and is a complete idea.
Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 talented students in different programs, which are interesting.
''which are interesting'' is a dependent clause because it containes a verb but is not a complete idea.
PATTERN 1
1) Compound: A combination of 2 independent clauses.
Ex.: Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students; many are smart and talented.
The semicolon could be replace by a simple period since these are two independent clauses.
Ex.: Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students. Many are smart and talented.
1A) Compound, semicolon (2 ICs) with conjunctive adverb
Ex.: Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students; however, some will drop out.
or: Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students; therefore it is not too crowded.
Conjunctive adverbs: Thus, then, therefore, hence, however
1B) Compound, semicolon, coordinating conjunction
Ex.: Cegep St-Laurent has 3150 students; many are taking music, but some are studying dance.
''but'' is the coordinating conjunction. We could use: And, yet, so, or, etc...
FORMATIVE WORK 1 (September 26th)
COURSE 1: Essay Writing Practice: Persuasive
a) I did the persuasive essay test because I wanted to evaluate myself and find out my English level, especially in that type of writing.
b) I guess the difficulty level was average. It wasn't hard to do but it asked for a certain effort.
c) I didn't learn much about persuasive essays, but I learned that there were a lot of online resources on that site to improve my English writing skills, lessons and tests. I also learned, by reading the subject of my essay that American teens are falling behind in sciences and that educators blame the teachers for their lack of pedagogical tools.
d) I got a score of 4 out of 6, which put into percentages gives me a fairly bad grade of 67%. I should keep practicing.
COURSE 2: GED Language arts essay writing I
a) I chose the GED Language arts essay writing I. It was the first one in the GED category so I thought I could give it a shot.
b)The difficulty level was again average because it was a simple text that I had to write about family.
c) Again, I didn't learn much about writing essays, but I did learn the importance of organizing a text and using the right begin to make a better essay.
d)My grade was 4 out of 4 which is logically better than last time, but the criteria do not appear to have been the same. The scoring guide however is more practical than last time. It describes the level of competency I had to reach to get the grade.
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