grammar

I am pro-digging for explanations about anti as a preposition.

Digging in the Dark
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Wessex Archaeology via Compfight

Prior to recently, I have only ever thought of anti as a prefix. However, it recently showed up on a list of “frequently used prepositions” for my AP English and Literature students. One of my students noticed it hanging out in the “A” section of the list and asked, “Is anti really a preposition?” I told her that I hadn’t ever used it as a preposition, but that I would look into it.

We were right in the middle of my model grammar lesson–the one I alluded to in my post about how grammar instruction is a big fat challenge for me–so we carried on with the lesson. The problem was that I couldn’t really think of an example of how I might use anti as a preposition. Call it a brain fart. Call it a knowledge block. Call it a lapse in the thinks. Whatever you want to call it, I couldn’t, at that moment, think of it in those terms. So, I turned to a web search. It didn’t take long to come up with a basic definition and an example sentence for how to use anti. I must sheepishly admit that it was the first entry that popped up in my search.

I sent my students this email at the end of the school day:

One of you asked about the preposition anti … I had never thought of it as a preposition before, so I did some digging. (I didn’t have to dig very far.) I found this via our friend Google –>
preposition: anti
opposed to; against.

Example: “I’m anti the abuse of drink and the hassle that it causes.”

To me this seems like an awkward say that “I’m against the abuse of drink and the hassle it causes,” but I suppose some people may use this as a way to add variety to their phrasing.

My student responded later that evening with the following message:

Interesting, thanks for looking into it! However, I am still confused on how is it a preposition. If you take that part of the sentence out, it doesn’t make sense.

I felt like she was right, until I thought about it for a while. (Here is where diagramming MAY have come in handy …) I also realized my explanation was too … first-entry-on-Google-searchish, so I responded with this:

Actually … now that I’ve pondered this a little longer I realized that it actually does (technically) make sense … I’m anti the abuse of drink and the hassle that it causes.

Really the sentence I’m … or I am can stand alone. Technically “anti the abuse …” modifies (describes) what “I am.”

For instance, look at this sentence … I’m under the table.

The subject is I and the verb is am. The prepositional phrase is under the table. It modifies where I am … Does that make sense?

I did research this further after your observation though and it seems that anti is more of a British preposition than an American one … which probably why it sounds weird to us.

My hope is that, henceforward, if you, dear reader, are ever confused about why anti is on a list of frequently used prepositions that this post will pop up on a web search and that you will dig deeply enough to find it.

Posted on by morgetron | Leave a comment

The Lament (and Plea) of a High School Grammar Teacher

YouHadMe-400x280

When I was in high school, I diagrammed exactly ZERO sentences. In fact, I didn’t even know what diagramming was until college, when I took a Linguistics class well after declaring secondary language arts as my major. I remember doing grammar worksheets in elementary school, junior high, and high school. I remember learning tricks like FANBOYS (which maybe isn’t even a thing anymore???) and being confused by when to use commas. I also know that until I became an English teacher and researched it on my own, the semicolon was an enigma. (Now it’s my favorite.)

I also remember learning more about grammar in French class than in English class. I, without a doubt, learned more about how to apply grammar to my writing as a school newspaper staffer than I ever did in any English class. Newspaper staff is where I learned how to use a style guide too. Even though it was the AP Style Guide, it still set the foundation for using MLA and APA in college in the sense that it was a place to go when I wasn’t sure about something.

I’ve also sort of been blessed with excellent grammar genetics. I’m a good speller and have a good gut for the rules. Reading was a big deal in my household growing up too, so I’m certain I picked up on the rules of Standard English Grammar because of how much reading I did as a child and young adult. (Thanks for setting that foundation for me, Mom.)

During my language arts methods classes in college, we didn’t learn any techniques for teaching grammar explicitly. We were told that students should learn grammar through their own writing and that we should address grammar issues prescriptively. In other words, when we noticed an ailment, we should offer the student a cure at that time, rather than taking preventative measures, because discrete grammar instruction was supposedly ineffective.

So, it should come as no surprise that I really don’t know the best way to teach grammar. There. I admitted it.

I have some ideas, but I’ve been using the prescriptive method for nearly 15 years now and I’m not convinced it’s the right way to go about it. However, drill and kill doesn’t sit quite right with me either.

It is also less than unexpected that when I seek advice on best practices for teaching grammar from other teachers via social media that I get a whole bunch of cricket chirps in response. I have also done some poking around on the web and there are some good lessons out there … creative, engaging, helpful … but they are few and far between, and random. There isn’t that much stuff out there to help teachers teach grammar (in an engaging way). For example, when you type in “Romeo and Juliet Lesson Plans” in a search engine, something in the neighborhood of six magjillion lesson plans come up and a good number of them are effective. Not so with a search of “high school grammar lesson plans.”

Hear my cry, internet!

How do you approach grammar in your high school English classrooms?

I tried something new in the grammar department today and the lesson will continue tomorrow. (It may bleed into next week for all I know) … and I will document the experiment here.

What I really want to create is a bank of awesomely engaging lessons that teach something that is not usually categorized as “awesome” or “engaging” (in the eyes of most students anyway). If you have an awesomely engaging grammar lesson for high school students, will you share? Please?

Also, if you would, please share this post and respond in the comments below. (Please don’t share this with any crickets though.)

Posted on by morgetron | 3 comments

iTeach AP English and Literature: Timed Essay Taking Tips

Dearest AP English Students,

I am so proud of your analyses of Hamlet! Now I have some advice that I hope you can apply to the next timed essay exam to which you are subject. I know that the time-element of the exam adds an unavoidable element of nerve-wracking stress. My hope is that this practice paired with your practice runs will mitigate some of your tension regarding this exam. You all have the tools and talent to pull this off. I have no doubt about that. I can’t wait to see your results in July.

Remember this: I am already proud of you.

Read on.

RESPONDING to the PROMPT

1.  Read the prompt once just to get the ideas pumping in your brain.

TIP: For the poetry and prose prompts, you will be responding to a passage they provide and  there may be a chance that it will be a “cold read,” meaning it may be a text you have never read before, OR it may be one you have read. It’s a literary lottery! No matter what it will be a work of literary merit (a work that has withstood the test of time and is accepted by the academic community as a worthwhile literary text).

2.  Read the prompt again, focusing in on what it is asking you to do. Identify key words such as analyze, synthesize, compare, evaluate, symbol, or theme.

TIP: For the free response (like the one you did in class) you will be asked to select a piece (or more than one piece) of literature to analyze in essay format. However, you will be free to choose the work you want to choose. You won’t have a teacher standing over your shoulder saying, “Please choose Hamlet” and you won’t get to choose among several options.

3. Formulate a thesis.

TIP: Some students will prefer to read the passage first, then the question, while others will prefer just the opposite. You have to decide what works best for you.

4. Develop evidence to support your thesis.

5. Of course, you should try to write a HOOK in your intro, and a nice tidy concluding statement in your conclusion, smooth transitions between paragraphs, but in a timed essay setting, don’t allow any one of those items trip you up or stop you from delivering content. CONTENT is king.

6. Don’t forget what DiYanni taught us in the first few weeks of school. The three methods of attack are through experience, interpretation, and evaluation. These three lenses will give you an entry point into whatever analysis-level question they throw at you.

7.  Once you have written your essay, you MUST go back and EDIT for grammar and spelling and REVISE for style and content. It’s okay to correct errors right there in your initial draft because THIS IS IT! You don’t get the luxury of setting it down and walking away, or handing it to a trusted friend or teacher for feedback. The AP readers will be used to seeing corrections in the final copy and would rather see corrections than errors.

TIP: You must budget your time wisely. The College Board will provide you with suggested time frames for each section, but it is up to you to determine the time-range that works best for you. I suggest taking advantage of the time given. Do not rush.

GRAMMAR CONCERNS
After reading your initial attempt at a timed essay, I wanted to address some issues that I saw over and over in multiple essays.

POV –> It’s okay to use first-person perspective (but you don’t have to as third-person is also acceptable). However, avoid second person (you).

Contractions –> Avoid them. Favor the formal for this essay.

Apostrophes –> Know the difference between plural, (more than one) possessive,(belonging to one person/thing) and plural-possessive (belonging to more than one person/thing).

EXAMPLES

Plural: Both the elder and the younger Hamlets loved to to drink ale and listen to the court jester’s hilarious jokes.

Possessive: Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia was out-and-out abusive.

Plural-Possessive: Both the elder and younger Hamlets’ love for fancy clothing, neatly coiffed hair, and well-manicured hands made them favorites with the ladies.

Paragraphing –-> new idea = new paragraph

Comma Splices –> They are NOT our friend. Avoid them! Seriously! If you have trouble with these, you should be practicing avoiding them. CHOMPCHOMP.COM is a good place to practice this. I strongly urge you to go there, if you are regularly being called out on using comma splices.

UM … THIS –> Use could have, should have, would have–NOT could of, should of, would of. Like it or not, breaking this rule will make you look sorely unskilled in grammar, despite how simple an error it is. It is a huge pet peeve of many a grammar curmudgeon.

Guess who “reads” for AP? Mostly grammar curmudgeons, or at the very least people who can become riled by simple errors. (This make sense. They want people with low thresholds for grammar errors because they want the standards to be high!)

Did you already say something? Let it stand. Avoid redundancy. You don’t have very much time to get things done, so make sure every word counts and every word is there for a purpose.  Favor brevity in timed essay writing.

Pronouns –> If you use a pronoun make sure it is clear to whom or what the pronoun refers. For example, if you write a sentence about two men–let’s say Hamlet and Claudius–if later in the sentence you refer to him or his make sure that it is easy to distinguish if you are referring to Hamlet or Claudius.

EXAMPLE of CONFUSING USE OF A PRONOUN

All of these shenanigans furthered Claudius’s betrayal of Hamlet, Gertrude, and the Nation of Denmark, but now it even extended to his friends.

“It” clearly references Claudius’s betrayal, but why is the use of “his” confusing here? It’s because “his” could refer to Claudius OR Hamlet. Because we know the context of this sentence is most likely referring to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, we could reasonably decipher that “his” is most like referring to Hamlet, but when an AP reader is reading many essays, he/she will not want to spend too much time deciphering what you meant, so clarity of language is paramount. Remove all doubt, by making plain what you mean, by rearranging your sentence, OR replacing said pronoun with a repeat of the person or thing’s name.

REVISED EXAMPLE

All of these shenanigans furthered Claudius’s betrayal of Hamlet, Gertrude, and the Nation of Denmark, but now it even extended to Hamlet’s friends.

Pronouns (continued) —> Also, an antecedent is the word the pronoun replaces, which means that the antecedent and pronoun must “agree”.  Therefore, if the antecedent is plural, so must be the pronoun you choose to replace it. Check out this resource for further explanation: Pronoun Antecedent Agreement.

Abbreviations –> Do not use them–no make-shift ampersands (&) or shortening of especially to esp. Save that for Twitter!

These are just some of the “greatest hits” I noticed. I, of course, made some individual notes on your essays, so pay attention to those too, please. If you have questions about this, hopefully, I have answers, so ask!

Sincerely,

Mrs. M.

Posted on by morgetron | Leave a comment