You should be thinking of how you will develop your own “Why I Like X” Essay over the weekend. Remember that I will be looking for a clear thesis sentence, ideally one with a blueprint; i.e., “I like X because of a, b, and c.” The a, b, and c parts will form the 3 body or central paragraphs between the Introductory paragraph and the Concluding Paragraph.
Try to plan your essay, possibly using some sort of topic outline, in advance. I cannot allow topic outlines to be used during the in-class essay on Monday, July 6, but it will help if you prepare one in advance. It does not have to be detailed.
If you have your own paperback dictionary, you may use it during the essay. I will also provide 3 paperback dictionaries for the class to share.
Now, please review the sample 5 paragraph essay that we looked at in class (at 780 words, it is much longer than yours needs to be. Remember that I want you to let me initial your rough draft before you leave class Monday. On Wednesday, please staple your initialed draft to your final word-processed essay at the beginning of class.)
Growing Children Can Be Humorous [see The Practical Writer, 7th Ed, Bailey et al]
Do you realize that newly born children are not even aware that parts of their bodies belong to them? I learned this fascinating fact in my psychology course from a book that says a baby "lies on his back, kicking his heels and watching the little fists flying past his face. But only very slowly does he come to know that they are attached to him and he can control them" (Mary Ann Pulaski, Understanding Piaget, p. 21). Children have a lot of learning to do before they can see the world— and themselves— through grown‑up eyes. As children pass through this remarkable process of growing up, they often do humorous things, especially in learning to speak, in discovering that all objects do not have human characteristics, and in trying to imitate others around them.
Not surprisingly, one area in which children often are unintentionally humorous is in learning to speak. I remember one time I was talking to a friend on the phone while my little sister, Betsy, seemed to be playing inattentively on the floor nearby. After I hung up, Betsy asked me, "Why is the teacher going to give Janet an old tomato?" At first I couldn't figure out what Betsy was talking about. When I asked her what she meant, she said, "You said if Janet doesn't hand in her homework, the teacher is going to give her an old tomato." Finally I caught on. The word I had used was ultimatum!
Children also can be funny in the way they humanize the objects around them. According to my psychology book, "Up to four or five years old, the child believes anything may be endowed with purpose and conscious activity. A ball may refuse to be thrown straight, or a 'naughty' chair may be responsible for bumping him" (Pulaski, Understanding Piaget, p. 45). I, myself, still can remember one vivid and scary afternoon when I was sure the sun was following me around, just waiting for the right moment to get me. I also can remember a time, not scary, when Betsy stood at the top of the stairs and yelled to her shoes at the bottom, "Shoes! Get up here!"
Another way in which children are sometimes funny is in their attempts to imitate what they see around them. All children look pretty silly when they dress up like their mothers and fathers and play "house." My psychology book tells of a more interesting example, though. The famous psychologist Jean Piaget wrote of the time his sixteen‑month‑old daughter quietly watched a visiting little boy throw a tantrum in trying to get out of his playpen. Piaget's daughter thought it would be fun to try the same thing: "The next day, she herself screamed in her playpen and tried to move it, stamping her foot lightly several times in succession. The imitation of the whole scene was most striking" (quoted in Pulaski, Understanding Piaget, p. 81). Little children are funny creatures to watch, aren't they? But as we laugh, we have to admire, too, because the humorous mistakes are but temporary side trips that children take on the amazingly complicated journey to maturity‑along way from the beginning, when they lay in wonder, silently watching the strange, fingered spacecraft passing back and forth before their infant eyes.
Now let's look at an outline of that essay:
Introduction
Motivator: Children have many things to learn and adjust to as they grow up—including awareness of the parts of their bodies. Thesis: Children often do humorous things . . . Blueprint ... in learning to speak, in discovering that all objects do not have human characteristics, and in attempting to imitate others.
First Central Paragraph
Topic sentence: Children often are unintentionally humorous in learning to speak.Specific support: Betsy mistook ultimatum for old tomato.
Second Central Paragraph
Topic sentence: Children humanize the objects around them.Specific support: Book says children blame balls and chairs as though the things were conscious.Specific support: I thought the sun was out to get me.Specific support: Betsy ordered her shoes to climb the stairs.
Third Central Paragraph
Topic sentence: Children attempt to imitate what they see.Specific support: They dress like their parents.Specific support: Piaget’s daughter imitated a tantrum that a visiting child threw.
Conclusion
Reworded thesis: Children are funny creatures to watch.Clincher: Reminder of the motivator that children have a lot of learning and adjusting to do.
Definitions: the Foundation of Sentence Strength and Punctuation
If you understand the following terms, learning to punctuate a sentence will be easy, for punctuation is not really mysterious. In fact, once you understand these terms, you probably will be surprised just how easy punctuation can be. The catch is that you must work hard to understand them. Skimming this unit once, or even reading it through carefully once, will not suffice. You will have to memorize a few terms. All of this material is essential, however, so please spend some time with it now.
#1 Clause. A clause is a group of words containing a subject (S) and a verb (V).
Clause: Sharon ran in the New York Marathon.Sometimes people are fooled into believing a group of words is a clause simply because it contains something like a verb.Not a clause: Running in a marathon.The above group of words cannot be a clause for two reasons: (1) it has no subject; (2) it has no verb. Words that end in ing and seem like verbs are actually verbals. Just remember that an ing word can never function by itself as a verb, and you will stay out of trouble. To be a verb, the ing word must have a helper:
Rosemary is running along the beach. The word is is a helping verb. Because we have added a subject and a helping verb to the ing word, we now have a clause.
Definitions: the Foundation of Sentence Strength and Punctuation
If you understand the following terms, learning to punctuate a sentence will be easy, for punctuation is not really mysterious. In fact, once you understand these terms, you probably will be surprised just how easy punctuation can be. The catch is that you must work hard to understand them. Skimming this unit once, or even reading it through carefully once, will not suffice. You will have to memorize a few terms. All of this material is essential, however, so please spend some time with it now.
#1 Clause. A clause is a group of words containing a subject (S) and a verb (V).
Clause: Sharon ran in the New York Marathon.Sometimes people are fooled into believing a group of words is a clause simply because it contains something like a verb.Not a clause: Running in a marathon.The above group of words cannot be a clause for two reasons: (1) it has no subject; (2) it has no verb. Words that end in ing and seem like verbs are actually verbals. Just remember that an ing word can never function by itself as a verb, and you will stay out of trouble. To be a verb, the ing word must have a helper:
Rosemary is running along the beach. The word is is a helping verb. Because we have added a subject and a helping verb to the ing word, we now have a clause.
Clauses are either independent or dependent.
#2. Independent clause (IC). An independent clause is a clause that makes a complete statement and therefore may stand alone as a sentence.
Independent clauses: The monkey is brown.
The automobile runs smoothly.
Marilyn knows her.
(You) Close the door.
In the final example above, you is an unstated but understood subject. That is, readers understand the subject to be present in the sentence, even though it isn't actually there. Such understood subjects are common in imperative sentences—sentences that give commands or directions.
#3. Dependent clause (DC). A dependent clause is a clause that makes an incomplete statement and therefore may not stand alone as a sentence.
Dependent clauses: Although the monkey is brown . . . .
If the automobile runs smoothly . . . .
. . . whom Marilyn knows.
After you close the door . . . .
Dependent Clause [also known as Subordinate Clause]
Notice that a dependent clause is not a sentence by itself. That is why it is dependent—it depends on an independent clause to make a complete, or even an intelligible, statement. By itself, a dependent clause doesn't make any sense.
This definition and the one above for independent clauses—though fairly standard—may not satisfy you. Fortunately, we can offer another definition that works almost all the time (and you don't need to worry about the exceptions). A dependent clause almost always contains a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun (both covered later in this unit); we've italicized them in the examples of dependent clauses above so you can see where they are. The subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns are like red flags signaling dependent clauses. You can recognize an independent clause, then, because it contains no subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun.
#4. Sentence. A sentence is a group of words that contains at least one independent clause.
Sentences (independent clauses) are bolded once:
Marilyn knows her.
Although Marilyn knows her, she does not know Marilyn.
After you close the door, Susan will turn on the record player, and Sally will get the potato chips.
#5. Phrase (P). A phrase is a group o f two or more related words that does not contain both a subject and a verb.
Phrases:
in the submarine
running along the beach
Remember, ing words are not verbs.
#6. Subordinating conjunction (SC). A subordinating conjunction is a kind of word that begins a dependent clause.
You should memorize the italicized words (which are quite common) in the following list of subordinating conjunctions.
After how though
Although if unless
As in order that until
as if inasmuch as when
as long as now that whenever
as much as provided that where
as though since wherever
because so that whether
before than while
Here are examples of subordinating conjunctions beginning dependent clauses (the dependent clauses are bolded):
Because your horse is properly registered, it may run in the race.
The race will be canceled if the rain falls.
Sign up for the trip to Montreal while vacancies still exist.
#7. Relative pronoun (RP). A relative pronoun is a kind of word that marks a dependent clause.
However, unlike a subordinating conjunction, a relative pronoun doesn't always come at the beginning of the dependent clause, although it usually does. You should memorize these five common relative pronouns:
who, whose, whom, which, that
Here are examples of relative pronouns in dependent clauses (the dependent clauses are bolded):
The woman who runs the bank is registering her horse.
The man whose car lights are on is in the grocery store.
The woman whom I met is in the broker's office.
The schedule with which I was familiar is now obsolete.
The schedule that I knew is now obsolete.
Sometimes, unfortunately, these same five words can function as other than relative pronouns, in which case they do not mark dependent clauses:
Not relative pronouns: Who is that masked man?
Whose golf club is this?
Whom do you wish to see?
Which car is yours?
That car is mine.
As a general rule, unless they are part of a question, the four words in our list that begin with w (who, whose, whom, and which) are relative pronouns. The other word, that, is trickier, but we can generally say that unless it is pointing out something, it is a relative pronoun. In "That car is mine," that points out a car, so it is not a relative pronoun.
#8. Conjunctive adverb (CA). A conjunctive adverb is a kind of word that marks an independent clause.
Many students make punctuation errors because they confuse subordinating conjunctions (which mark dependent clauses) with conjunctive adverbs (which mark independent clauses). You should memorize the italicized words (which are quite common) in the following list of conjunctive adverbs.
Accordingly, as a result, consequently, first, for example, furthermore, hence, however, indeed, in fact, instead, likewise, meanwhile, moreover, nevertheless, next, nevertheless, nonetheless, otherwise, second, still, therefore, thus, unfortunately
Transition Words
A conjunctive adverb serves as a transition, showing the relationship between the independent clause it is in and the independent clause that preceded it. A conjunctive adverb may not seem to mark an independent clause, but it does. The following examples are perfectly correct as sentences because they are independent clauses:
Therefore, (CA) I am the winner.
However, (CA) the car is red.
Often a conjunctive adverb begins the second independent clause in a sentence because that clause is closely related in meaning to the first independent clause:
I finished in first place; therefore, (CA) I am the winner.
You thought your new car would he blue; however, (CA) the car is metallic brown.
Sometimes a conjunctive adverb appears in the middle or even at the end of a clause (that clause, of course, is still independent):
I finished in first place; I am, therefore, the winner.
I finished in first place; I am the winner, therefore.
#9. Coordinating conjunction (CC). A coordinating conjunction is a word that joins two or more units that are grammatically alike.
You should learn these seven coordinating conjunctions:
And, but, for, nor, or, so, yet. A mnemonic device for memory—Mnemosyne was the Greek goddess of memory—FANBOYS.
A helpful learning aid is that the coordinating conjunctions are all two or three letters long. A coordinating conjunction can do the following:
Join two or more words: Bill and (CC)Mary
Join two or more phrases: in the car and beside the horse
Join two or more dependent clauses: after the dance was over but before the party began
Join two or more independent clauses: He won the Victoria Marathon, for he had been practicing several months.
Remember: Unlike subordinating conjunctions, relative pronouns and conjunctive adverbs, the coordinating conjunction is not a marker for either an independent clause or a dependent clause. It simply joins two or more like items.
