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Frequently Asked Questions: This page contains answers to common questions of
students and parents.
- What grading program will Mr. Livingston use?
- Sentence structure?
- What is a complex sentence?
- What is a compound sentence?
- What are proper writing techniques?
- What is a Bibliography?
What grading program will Mr. Livingston use? Mygradebook.com-This is an interactive program whereby Parents & students
can access their grading information.
Sentence structure? Sentences
A sentence is a group of words that says a complete thought. It must contain
a subject and a predicate.
The subject is the person or thing a sentence is talking about. "Elvis is
still alive." (Elvis is the subject.)
The predicate is what the sentence is saying about the subject. "The baby
played the piano." (played the piano is the predicate.).
There are four kinds of purposes for sentences:
Declarative, interrogative, and imperative, and exclamatory.
A declarative sentence makes a statement or declaration. It ends with a
period. "The aliens landed and took my dog's supper dish away with
them."
An interrogative sentence: asks a question and ends with a question mark.
Sometimes it's in transposed order. "Is that my left elbow or yours?"
An imperative sentence commands or requests and ends with a period. (The
subject is usually the word "you," which is not said but is
understood.) "Go
to your room."
An exclamatory sentence expresses strong and sudden emotion. It does not
follow rules for sentence structure, may look like a question or a command,
ends with an exclamation mark.
Simple subject: The main word of the subject. "The rough-hewn woodsman, who
liked to dye his hair blue, leapt over the cliff's edge and disappeared."
("Woodsman" is the simple subject, though all the words in brown
make up the
whole subject.)
Simple predicate (verb): the main verb of the predicate. "Sally barked
loudly, rumpling the rug as she spun in place." ("Barked" is
the simple
predicate, though all the words in brown make up the whole predicate.)
Expletive: something that fills out the sentence. "There" in the
sentence "There is a fire in the fireplace" is an expletive, a
signal that
the sentence is transposed. The structure of the sentence is "A fire is in
the fire place."
Verb phrase (verb string): a verb consisting of more than one word ("is
breaking," "has been learning") using auxiliaries (helping
verbs) ("is, has,
will, has been"). It may be interrupted by other words. "The poem
has often
been quoted."
Auxiliary verbs (helping verbs) include is, has, has been, will, shall, may,
might, can, could, must, ought to, should, would, used to, need. They are
used with main verbs to create verb phrases which express a particular time
or mood. A list: do, does, did, may, might must; can, could, shall, should,
will, would (the previous combine with the naming form of the verb); am,
are, is, was, were (combine with the present participle); have, has, had
(combine with the past participle).
Compound: Having more two or more parts. Subjects and predicates may be
compound, using the conjunctions and, or, and but. "Ronald and Gandalf
whimpered noisily." ("Ronald and Gandalf" is a compound
subject) "My elderly
mother rose from her bed and danced a jig." (compound predicate) A compound
sentence unites two or more clauses which are equal in importance, using the
coordinate conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so (FANBOYS). "Mr.
Dabney wondered what the noise was, but he never found out."
Complement: a word that completes the predicate (the "object").
Anything
that answers the question "what?" after a verb. Many verbs require
complements to make sense. "Elbert gave his sister a magic box."
("a magic
box" is the complement. What did Elbert give his sister? A magic box.)
A transitive verb requires a complement, while an intransitive one does
not. "The construction worker yawned. ("Yawned" is an
intransitive verb. You
don't say someone "yawned the door," or "yawned the
mouth." They
just "yawned.")
Phrase: any short group of words, usually lacking a subject or a
verb. "whistled a tune" "the energetic cat"
Prepositional phrase: a group of words combining a preposition with the
object of the preposition. ("to the house"). The preposition
indicates a
relationship, often in time or place. "I wandered under the bridge."
("Under
the bridge" is a prepositional phrase.)
When "to" is used with a form of a verb, the construction is an
infinitive
and not a prepositional phrase. "I plan to bungee-jump." ("To
bungee-jump"
is an infinitive.)
What is a complex sentence? Complex Sentences
A complex sentence has a main clause and at least one subordinate clause,
which is joined to the main clause with a subordinating conjunction such as:
after, although, as, as if, as long as, as though, because, before, even if,
even though, if, if only, in order that, now that, once, rather than, since,
so that, though, till, unless, until, when, whenever, where, whereas,
wherever, while
Below are some complex sentences. Can you pick out the subordinate clause?
1. Because he already had horns and a forked tail, Sheldon decided to dress
up as a devil for Halloween.
2. Even though Norbert hadn't done it, he told his friends he was the one
who stole the cookies.
3. Wherever he went, Johnny Cucumberseed planted cucumbers.
4. Don't push that button unless you want something dreadful to happen.
5. I could get all As in English if only I could remember to study before
the test.
6. Once I figured out how to ride a unicycle, riding a bicycle was easy.
7. Spring can't be far behind now that winter's here.
8. Henry can do his homework as long as he has music blasting from the
speakers.
9. Whenever the cat screamed in the back yard, the dog began to howl.
10. Although I look like a human being, I am actually a goblin king.
When you combine two or more simple sentences to write a complex sentence,
you have to decide what your main clause should be and which conjunction is
the best. Sometimes you have to rearrange the sentences or use pronouns.
Here are some ways to form complex sentences:
Originial sentences: I want to clean my room. / It is messy.
I want to clean my room because it is messy.
Since it is messy, I want to clean my room
Whenever my room is messy, I want to clean it.
Original sentences: Edward will be a rock star when he grows up. / He can't
play a musical instrument.
Although Edward can't play a musical instrument, he will be a rock star when
he grows up.
Edward will be a rock star when he grows up, even though he can't play a
musical instrument.
Original sentences: Pat walks. / He leaves muddy footprints behind him.
After Pat walks, he leaves muddy footprints behind him.
Whenever Pat walks, he leaves muddy footprints behind him.
Try making up and combining some sentences using the other subordinating
conjunctions!
What is a compound sentence? Compound Sentences
A compound sentence is made up of two or more independent clauses, joined by
a coordinating conjunction.
The coordinating conjunctions are: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. The
acronym for remembering these is FANBOYS.
An independent clause has the same definition as a sentence.
contains a group of words
includes a subject and a predicate
expresses a complete thought.
In a compound sentence, the first clause starts with a capital letter and
ends with a comma.
I am going home,
then you add the conjunction, and the second clause.
and I intend to stay there
If that is the end of the compound sentence, add a period, question mark, or
exclamation mark. The final product looks like this:
I am going home, and I intend to stay there.
More examples:
Marvin waited for the train, but the train was late.
I do not like apples, nor do I enjoy bananas.
English is a gruesome language, yet even a toddler can speak it.
I couldn't find a hammer, so I banged the nail in with my head.
Study hard for the test, for Dr. Turner will torture you if you don't.
You can play squash, or you can sign up for fitness.
What are proper writing techniques? Writing
The ability to write well is important for success. In English class, you
write every day in your journals, you write on the Danas, and you write
assignments at home and in class.
Regular routine:
We follow a regular routine with writing projects. After the project is
introduced in class:
Start writing. Quiet talk is all right, but don't let it distract you.
When you have finished your draft, proofread it, being most careful to check
your common writing problems. Ask yourself if you are getting across the
main idea of your paper.
Then take it to two classmates. They will offer suggestions to improve your
project.
Go back and use their suggestions to improve your project.
Hand in your draft to Dr. Turner.
Dr. Turner will conference with you. She may suggest reorganizing your
thoughts, adding details, taking details out, making your writing clearer,
adding ransitions, or improving your introduction and conclusion.
When you have used her suggestions to improve your project, return for
a "nitpick" edit--spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and
appearance.
Proofread carefully. Print out your final draft.
Purdue University's Online Writing Lab is really the best source for writing
compositions. Especially the handouts
(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/)
What is a Bibliography? Bibliography
Every time you use a book, article, or web site to help you find facts for
something you are writing, you must have a "bibliography." A
bibliography
is a list of all your sources. This helps your reader look for more
information if they like your topic, and it gives credit to other people for
the work they did. It also makes it easy to see that you did not copy your
words from somebody else, which is called "plagiarism." You'll be
putting a
bibliography in every paper you write from now on.
Here's how you write the list:
Format for books:
Name of the author, last name first.
Title of the book, underlined or in italics.
Place of publication (usually a city)
Publisher
Year of publication
So a listing for a book would be:
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic,
2000.
Format for Internet sources:
Name of the author, last name first.
Title of the page, in quotations.
Title of the whole Web site, underlined (if different from the page title)
Date of the page or of the latest update
Date accessed
URL (the whole thing)
So a citation for my web site would be (if I looked at it today when I'm
writing this):
Turner, Delia Marshall, "Haverford School 6th Grade English,"
September 14,
accessed September 14, 2003, http://www.dmturner.org/English/index.html
Format for an interview with a person:
"Interview with," followed by:
1. Name of person
2. Person's occupation (in other words, why they are a resource)
3. Date of interview
So if you interviewed Mr. Greytok about being a Middle School Head, a
citation would read:
Interview with James Greytok, Head of Middle School, February 15, 2004
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