Dead words; be verbs; transitions; grammar,

Here are some useful and necessary forms/documents for your use and help. Let me know if you need me to post other "pertinent" information here that will help you succeed in class--that's important to me--your success! Note: Dead Words/Be Verbs list and more. All of these were created to assist you on your English journey!

REMEMBER: If you forget something or I haven't posted it, you can email me until 8pm and I can usually upload it here for you! Thank you!

Spartan Power!!

The Dirty Dozen.doc

Dead Words.doc

Dead Words!!!!

We do not use the following words during FORMAL WRITING. Avoid them at all cost! The elimination of the following words will help you become a stronger, more effective writer. Get Really Got Getting Contractions SadAlways Hard You Your Bad ThingSomething Anything Nothing Everything Very OkayGood That The End Just Fine a lot Slang Terms: nice/cool/neat/hip/great etcLike Love (to be) (to do) (to go) Be Verbs Stictly FORBIDDEN: is/are/was/were/be/being/been! IN ORDER—you are not ordering…this is unnecessary fill…lose in order! Titles and Quotations! (your other classes)Italicize the Following:Title of book, magazine, motion picture, play, musical composition, painting, ship names. Italics:Title of a short story; television program, poem, report, article, chapter of a book Italics:simple italics for all titles, etc. Makes it easier. HEADINGS! Your name My name Course Name Date (in this format) 23 March 2021 LAST name and page number at the top of each page (Vinson 23)

Transitions and Intro Phrases

Information:Varying your phrasing helps increase your writing competency and prevents writers from starting two sentences (or paragraphs) with the same word. Use these with abandonment—they will assist you in writing! -Ly WordsInitially Frequently Finally Similarly Gladly Happily Rightfully Abhorrently Abundantly AccessiblyConsistently Purposefully Threateningly Thriftily ThroatilyThickly Typically Personally Obviously NeedlesslyEffortlessly Surprisingly Jubilantly Joyously AblyTremendously Theoretically Tenaciously Intuitively FullyVehemently Regretfully Gleefully Mightily CuriouslyViolently Meticulously Abusively Abstractly DutifullyTemporarily Thoughtlessly Intellectually Intelligently MerrilyMiraculously Mercilessly Merely Noiselessly DeliberatelyHumorously Ultimately Distinctly Hopelessly NecessarilySimultaneously Prepositions:about above across against after along duringamong around at before behind below exceptbeneath beside between beyond by down forinside near of off on out fromover since past through throughout to intoward under until up upon with intowithin without Adverbs not ending in –ly:already quite together then rather out farhere most away nearby today often notnow soon there over sometimes toofast well late tomorrow yesterday Transitions:in addition soon notwithstanding further accordingly againmoreover while equally important besides instead of as a resultunderneath first on the other hand between however hencefarther third otherwise finally consequently althoughsimilarly last as though first of all to conclude thusequally yet to begin with unfortunately therefore though

Grammar Rules!

1. Subject and verbs AGREE in number. If the subject is singular, the verb is singular, too EX: A girl in my class sings in the city chorus (singular verbs end in “s”) If the subject is plural, the verb is plural, too EX: Many girls in my class sing in the city chorus. The following words usually take SINGULAR verbs: (They are ONE class/illness/etc.) (Measles, Mumps, Mathematics, Physics, Economics, Civics, etc.) 2. “And RULE”: ALWAYS plural If two subjects are connected by AND the verb is ALWAYS plural. EX: Rain and Snow are predicted for today Exception: EVERY mother and father (was, were) invited. (individually) Exception: The owner and driver (was, were) --“the”= 1 person Singular (spaghetti and meatballs, macaroni and cheese, cake and ice cream)—1 dish 3. OR/NOR Rule: ALWAYS REFER TO THE LAST SUBJECT The verb needs to agree with just the LAST subject. Ex: Neither the players nor the coach (was, were) absent from class. Ex: Neither the coach nor the players (was, were) absent from class. (Cross out everything to the LEFT of “OR” or “NOR”) 4. “THROW AWAY” Rule: One (of my friends) (has, have) the flu. Phrases or clauses that come between the subject and its verb….THROW THEM AWAY! Exception: Refer to Rule #7 5. WORDS THAT ARE ALWAYS SINGULAR: A. ALL words ending with BODY, ONE, or THING: Everyone (was, were) present today. Ex: anybody, anyone, anything, somebody, someone, something, nobody, no one, nothing, everybody, everyone, everything. B. EACH, EVERY, EITHER/NEITHER—when used as subjects—not with or/nor… C. Pronoun and its antecedent—agree. EX: Neither of the girls took her… D. ONE OF—ordinary use a plural verb in a clause following one of those. 6. WORDS THAT ARE ALWAYS PLURAL (Both, Few, Many, Several) Exception: Many a is singular. 7. WORDS EITHER SINGULAR OR PLURAL (All, Any, Most, None, Some) Are you ready for this? You really get to go inside the preposition phrase to determine if the verb is singular or plural with just these 5 words! Ex: Some of the students (is, are) going to the pep assembly. Ex: None of the money (was, were) mine. 8. HERE and THERE—are never, never, never, ever subjects….honest and truly They are Adverbs! 9. OTHER Rules: Doesn’t (singular) Collective Nouns :(class, family, group) singular if 1 unit Don’t (plural) Titles—if referring to 1 book—verb is singular You (always plural) Words referring to 1 item—use singular verbs THE number (singular) (dollars, pounds, time, fractions, measurements, volume) A number (plural) Compound subjects, but 1 idea: (Ham and Eggs) IS (singular) The 9 MOST COMMON Prepositions (and we don’t look inside the prepositional phrases, except Rule #7): at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, with

8 Sentence Paragraph Format

The following eight-sentence format is very useful in achieving all the basic necessities of information presentation for the purposes of writing about literature or any other topic in high school. This structure will be the basis for all future writing assignments, so study, practice, and learn it well. Sentence #1= Topic Sentence: (TS) This introduces the topic or theme, contains an opinion, acts as a sub-thesis in a longer paper, and should include the title of the literature being discussed. Example: Against the Great Divide focuses on the division between the various races in a suburban St. Louis High School. Sentence #2= Concrete Detail (or quote): (CD)Contains a piece of quoted text, and often begins with “For example…” or another demonstrative phrase. Example: Author Brian Jarvis states, “at my high school, the black students sit on one side of the commons while the Hispanic students sit in another area and the white students on another side” (14). Sentence #3= Commentary: (CM)Offers your view of the information you are presenting, and may include the phrase “This shows…” or something similar. Example: This exclusivity within the various racial groups reveals a school with great tension and lack of cohesiveness…a concern in any modern, comprehensive high school. Sentence #4=Commentary: (CM) Further discusses your critical view of the information you are presenting. Example: Because the various racial groups have little, if any, interaction with one another, each remains suspicious of the other groups and this division spills into the classrooms. Sentence #5=Concrete Detail (or quote) (CD) Presents another piece of concrete information for you to discuss and comment on, and may start with the phrase “In addition…” or something similar. Example: “One of the school groups, SOAR, attempted to force the various groups to interact by moving a soda machine from one side of the commons to another” (14). Sentence #6=Commentary: (CM) Offers your view of the information presented in y our second concrete detail. Example: This is just like sentence #3 but about your 2nd concrete detail. Sentence #7=Commentary: (CM) Further discusses your critical view of the information presented by CD #2. Example: This is just like sentence #4 but about your 2nd concrete detail. Sentence #8=Concluding Sentence: (CS)Finish your paragraph by reaching a conclusion and reiterating your opinion. Example: In closing, Brian Jarvis’s admirable observations don’t address the real problem at his high school as teachers should teach all students how to interact with each other, regardless of race or economic status. Things to Note:Pay careful attention to how to FORMAT the Concrete Detail (CD) paying attention to the punctuation as it’s written above for you: “text” (page #) end mark. There are ONLY 8 sentences total in an eight-sentence paragraph…don’t work so hard. David L. Vinson (your name) Mr. Vinson (teacher name) English (name of class) 9 July 2019 (Date—in the proper format—note this) Sentence #1—you need to have the TITLE of the book and the AUTHOR along with your main Idea EX: The main character, Migagi in Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen annoys and detracts from the reading due to her incessant whining and belittling of herself. Sentence #2—this is TEXT. While it serves as “one” sentence, your text might be 1-3 sentences. Regardless, the text needs to support your main idea/thesis and show/reveal/portray/support this main idea. EX: “I had to move my bed into the kitchen because otherwise I would never sleep again. Friends told me I would heal, but I didn’t think they understood the depth of my anguish” (23). (Note—the “ “ and page number and period) Sentence #3—Explain how sentence #2 works with sentence #1 Sentence #4—FURTHER explain how sentence #2 works with sentence #1The key to these support sentences (3 and 4) are to prove that your point is relevant, to convince the reader (me) that what you’re writing about is spot on. Sentence #5—this is TEXT. While it serves as “one” sentence, your text might be 1-3 sentences. Regardless, the text needs to support your main idea/thesis and show/reveal/portray/support this main idea. Sentence #6—Explain how sentence #5 works with sentence #1 Sentence #7—FURTHER explain how sentence #5 works with sentence #1The key to these support sentences (6 and 7) are to prove that your point is relevant, to convince the reader (me) that what you’re writing about is spot on. Sentence #8—Conclusion—wrap it up—“Why do we care” or “why does this matter”