Grammar Review Document

Here it is

TEWWG - Socratic Seminar Discussion Questions

Here they are.

TEWWG - Examining Quotations

TEWWG - Examining Quotations Closely - Ch 12-18

Quotations - For your group’s quotation, go back to the text and think about the significance of the quotation.  How is this quotation significant?  What human tendency or theme does it illustrate and/or what important character traits does it illustrate?

1. It was hard to love a woman that always made you feel so wishful.  (116)

2. If Ah ever gits tuh messin’ round another woman it won’t be on account of her age.  It’ll be because she got me in de same way you got me--so Ah can’t help mayself.  (121)

3. He pinched her in the side and ignored what she said.  (122)

4. “You musta thought yo’wife was powerful ugly...You neve even ‘lowed me tuh git dat close.”  (124)

5. It was part of him, so it was all right.  She rather found herself angry at imaginary people who might try to criticize.”  (126)

6.  “When Ah ain’t got nothin’ you don’t git nothin.’” (128)

7. Only here, she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to.  (134)

8. All gods who receive homage are cruel....Real gods require blood.  (145)

9. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession.  (147)

10. “It’s so many people never seen de light at all.”  (159)

Revision of Compare/Contrast Essay

Consider the following as you revise your essays:

-Your beginning - what tone (sarcastic, condescending, nostalgic, ironic, biting, sincere, reflective, regretful, etc.) do you want to establish?  Do you establish this tone from your very first few sentences?

Reexamine the first few lines of the two model essays.  How do they establish a clear tone from the beginning?

Do you maintain this tone throughout your essay?

Diction - do you make conscious choices about the words you are using?  Examine your verbs and adjectives in particular.
Ex: I drank it in, in a speechless rapture.
Ex:When these narrow fellows spring at me, I quiver in my toes.

Imagery - do you create a few memorable images that relate to one or more of the five senses?
Ex: A broad expanse of the river was turned to blood; in the middle distance the red hue brightened into gold, through which a solitary log came floating, black and conspicuous.

Details - have you carefully selected details that contribute to your tone?
Ex: If God was up there, fat people could have two doughnuts and a big orange drink anytime they wanted it.

Language - what is your overall language like?  Is it consistent?  Does it adhere to a certain style (formal, conversational, slang, etc.)?
Ex: There were graceful curves, reflected images, woody heights, soft distances, and over the whole scene, far and near, the dissolving lights drifted steadily, enriching it every passing moment with new marvels of coloring.

Syntax - have you thought about the way that your sentences are constructed?  Have you made choices about punctuation, repetition, etc.?  Do you have a variety of short and long sentences for effect?
Ex: Their good intentions, bony torsos, tight ships, neat corners, cerebral machinations, and pat solutions loom like dark clouds over the loose, comfortable, spread-out, soft world of the fat.

Look at the last paragraph of "That Lean and Hungry Look" and examine the diction and the syntax.
Look at the last paragraph of "Two Ways of Seeing a River" and examine the syntax and the details.

TEWWG - Quotation Analysis

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Quote Analysis - Ch 4-5

When we analyze significant quotations from a novel, we want to be on the lookout for big ideas/themes/connections to real life, as well as what the quotes may signify about a character, a situation, or a truth that the author wants us to understand.  We want to consider particular comparisons that a quotation makes, particular word choices, the tone of the quote, and the images it evokes.  Examine the following quotations.   Note the context for each quotation, and then consider what sorts of larger issues/ideas/human truths they bring up.  For each one, make a connection to something outside of the book.  Also, consider elements of DIDLS if any stand out.

1. “That irritated Hicks and he didn’t know why.  He was the average mortal.  It troubled him to get used to the world one way and then suddenly have it turn different.  He wasn’t ready to think of colored people in post offices yet” (39).

2. “It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off of things” (43).

3. “But any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate” (48).

4. “They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down” (50).

Hurston Essay

Read this essay, "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" by Zora Neale Hurston and discuss the following questions in your groups.

1. Hurston uses a number of extended metaphors in this essay.  What extended metaphor does she use in paragraph 3?  For what purpose?  How does it help to establish the tone of her essay?
   
2. How does Hurston indicate that paragraph five is the end of the introduction to the essay?
   
3. What do you think Hurston moves by the phrase "tragically colored" in line 38?  Why is the choice of this adverb significant?
   
4. What does Hurston mean by the metaphor, “The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said, ‘On the line!’ The Reconstruction said, ‘Get set!’ and the generation before said, ‘Go!’”
   
5. Examine the paragraphs in which she discusses when she feels the "most colored" which begin at line 61 and continue through line 91.  What language choices does she make in these paragraphs and to what purpose?  Consider comparisons she makes, specific word choices, sentence structure, etc.
   
6. Explain the main metaphor in the last paragraph of the essay. 
   

Comparing and Contrasting

Here are three articles that compare American schools to schools abroad.

Why the World is Smarter Than Us

A Hop Across the Pond

Born Well

In each article, notice the different elements that are being compared and contrasted.  Also, notice how each writer organizes his/her piece.