WUP for Thursday, 4/17

[Tolerance] is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle. --Helen Keller

Vocab
austere (adj.) severe or stern in manner; without adornment or luxury, simple, plain; harsh or sour in flavor
The austere clothing and conduct of the Puritans expressed their religious humility.
SYNONYMS: rigorous, puritanical, unadorned
ANTONYMS: luxurious, flamboyant

Lit Term
ARCHETYPE A very old imaginative pattern that appears in literature across cultures and is repeated through the ages. An archetype can be a character, a plot, an image, a theme, or a setting. The plot in which a man sells his soul to the devil, as in “The Devil and Tom Walker” (Collection 2), is a recurring pattern in folk tales and other literature from around the world. The tragic hero is an example of an archetypal character that appears again and again in literature. The pattern of the journey, or quest, is a plot that recurs repeatedly in American literature.

Usage
and etc. Etc. stands for the Latin words et cetera, meaning “and others” or “and so forth.” Always avoid using and before etc. In general, avoid using etc. in formal situations. Use an unabbreviated English expression instead.

EXAMPLE

We are studying twentieth-century American novelists: Ernest Hemingway, Margaret Walker, Jean Toomer, and others [or etc., but not and etc.].

WUP for Wednesday, 4/16

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one that gets burned. --Buddha

Vocab
mitigate (v.) to make milder or softer, to moderate in force or intensity
I had hoped to mitigate her anger by offering an apology.
SYNONYMS: lessen, relieve, alleviate, diminish
ANTONYMS: aggravate, intensify, irritate, exacerbate

Lit Term
ANTHROPOMORPHISM Attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object. Writers often anthropomorphize animals or objects in order to achieve humorous or satirical effects.

Usage

being as, being that Avoid using either of these expressions in place of since or because.

EXAMPLE

Because [not being as or being that] Ms. Ribas is a gemologist, she may know what these stones are.

Homework

1. Read chapters 8 & 9 and answer the questions in your notebook.
2. Quiz Monday on WUPs and Chapters 1-10.

WUP for Tuesday, 4/15

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965). The Waste Land. 1922.

		APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
		Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
		Memory and desire, stirring
		Dull roots with spring rain.

Vocab
desecrate (v.) to commit sacrilege upon, treat irreverently; to contaminate, pollute
The search continues for the vandals who desecrated the cemetery.
SYNONYMS: profane, defile, violate
ANTONYMS: revere, honor, venerate, consecrate

Lit Term
AUTOBIOGRAPHY An account of the writer’s own life. Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography (Collection 1) is one of the most famous autobiographies in American literature. An excerpt from Richard Wright’s autobiography, Black Boy, is on page 969.

Usage

affect, effect Affect is a verb meaning “to influence.” Effect may be either a verb meaning “to bring about or accomplish” or a noun meaning “the result [of an action].”

EXAMPLES

How did the House of Usher affect the narrator?

Renewed interest in Moby-Dick during the 1920s effected a change in Melville’s reputation.

What effect did the war have on Paul Berlin?

WUP for Monday, 4/14

Andy Warhol 1927 - 1987
1964
"In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes."

Vocabulary
disabuse (v.) to free from deception or error, set right in ideas or thinking
He thinks that all women adore him, but my sister will probably disabuse him of that idea.

Lit Term
Memoir: A type of autobiography that often focuses on a specific time period or historical event.
Elie Wiesel's Night is a memoir about the author's harrowing experience in a concentration camp.

Grammar/Punctuation
accept, except Accept is a verb meaning "to receive." Except may be either a verb meaning "to leave out" or a preposition meaning "excluding."
Ex. I will accept another yearbook assignment. [verb]

Should the military services except women from combat duty? [verb]

I have read all of Willa Cather’s novels except My Ántonia. [preposition]

Classwork/Homework

• Discuss the quotes you selected from chaps. 1-5 with your team. (The same team that you did the "Winter Survival" exercise with)
• Answer questions for the chapters you were assigned. (In your groups; in your notebooks)
• Read chapters 6 & 7 for homework
  

WUP for Friday, 3/28

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."

Mahatma Gandhi
Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 - 1948)

Incidents like the one that took place on the subway platform at 13th and Market that has been in the news for the last couple of days can make it difficult to maintain faith in humanity. Write your reaction to those events, and how can you be part of the solution to the violence.

Lit Term

A mixed metaphor is a metaphor that fails to make a logical comparison because its mixed terms are visually or imaginatively incompatible. If you say, "The president is a lame duck who is running out of gas," you've lost control of your metaphor and have produced a statement that is ridiculous (ducks do not run out of gas).

Vocab Word

cajole (v.) to coax, persuade through flattery or artifice; to deceive with soothing thoughts or false promises
SYNONYMS: wheedle, inveigle, soft-soap, sweet-talk
ANTONYMS: coerce, force, strong-arm

Grammar/Punctuation

Voice is the form a verb takes to indicate whether the subject of the verb performs or receives the action.
A verb is in the active voice when its subject performs the action.
Ex. Julia Alvarez wrote "Daughter of Invention."

WUP for Thursday, 3/27

"What you really value is what you miss, not what you have." --Jorge Luis Borges

Think of someone who is no longer here--a teacher, a coach, a family member, or friend--whom you miss. What do you value most about your memory of this person? If this person were standing in front of you, what would you say to him or her?

Lit Term

An extended metaphor is a metaphor that is extended or developed over a number of lines or with several examples. Dickinson's poem beginning with "Fame is a bee" is an extended metaphor: the comparison of fame to a bee is extended for four lines:
Fame is a bee.
It has a song--
It has a sting--
Ah, too, it has a wing.

Vocab Word

vicarious (adj.) performed, suffered, or otherwise experienced by one person in place of another.
SYNONYMS: surrogate, substitute, imagined, secondhand
ANTONYMS: real, actual, firsthand

Grammar/Punctuation

Avoid unnecessary shifts in tense.
Inconsistent Tim marries Lisa and then abandoned her.
Consistent Tim marries Lisa and then abandons her.
Consistent Tim married Lisa and then abandoned her.

WUP for Tuesday, 3/25

"You can't change the world. You can only change yourself." --Beatrice Wood

Beatrice Wood was 102 years old when she gave the above advice! If you could change one thing about yourself today, what would it be? If you could change one thing about the world today, what would it be?

Lit Term

An implied metaphor does not state explicitly the two terms of the comparison: "I like to see it lap the Miles" (Emily Dickinson) contains an implied metaphor in which the verb lap implies a comparison between "it," which is a train, and some animal that "laps" up water.

Vocab Word

extricate (v.) to free from entanglements or difficulties; to remove with effort
SYNONYMS: disentangle, extract, disengage
ANTONYMS: enmesh, entangle, involve

Grammar/Punctuation

Use a colon (:) when a list of items is to follow. A colon is not necessary after most uses of "is," "am," "are," "was," "were."
Ex. For safety, follow these rules: do not run, do not push or shove, and be sure to leave the area by 8:00 P.M.

Reflection

1. What was Douglass's purpose in writing this narrative? Explain.
Stop and Talk about your answer to someone sitting next to you.

2. When you hear the term human rights what does it make you think about? Why?
Stop and Talk

3. What is the main idea of Douglass's narrative?
Stop and Talk

Homework

Read "from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" --Harriet A. Jacobs pp 407-410
Answer questions 6-9

WUP for Monday, 3/24

Welcome Back!!!
"We don't ask a flower to give us any special reasons for its existence. We look at it and we are able to accept it as being something different, and different from ourselves."
--Gwendolyn Brooks (poet)

Substitute the word "person" for "flower." What deeper issue do you think Gwendolyn Brooks is talking about?

Lit Term
A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles. There are several kinds of metaphor:
1. A directly stated metaphor states the comparison explicitly: "Fame is a bee" (Emily Dickinson).

Vocab Word
affable (adj.) courteous and pleasant, sociable, easy to speak to
SYNONYMS: genial, amicable, agreeable, cordial
ANTONYMS: surly, cantankerous, dour, inhospitable

Grammar/Punctuation
The Adverb Clause
An adverb clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. An adverb clause tells how, when where, why, to what extent, or under what condition. An adverb clause is introduced by a subordinating conjunction.
Ex. William Cullen Bryant wrote the first version of "Thanatopsis" when he was a teenager.
Ex. Thomas can explain naturalism to you better than I can.

Homework
Read "from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" pp 399-403.
Answer questions 1-7 on p 404.

WUP for Thursday, 3/13

"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her." --William Wordsworth

What does this quote say about the relationship between humans and nature? Present an incident that shows nature's betrayal. What role, if any, did human actions have in that betrayal?

Lit Term

Denotation: the literal meaning of a word; there are no emotions, values, or images associated with denotative meaning. Scientific and mathematical language carries few, if any emotional or connotative meanings.

Vocab Word

aggrandize: (v.) to increase in greatness, power, or wealth; to build up or intensify; to make appear greater
SYNONYMS: augment, amplify, enhance, exalt
ANTONYMS: reduce, decrease, diminish

Punctuation

Use a semicolon (;) to separate items in a sentence in which there are already numerous commas.
Ex. At the banquet there was Whitey Ford, a former Yankee pitcher; Bob Cousy, a former professional basketball player; and Jack Jones, the toastmaster and comedian.

Is man evil or good by nature?

Cooperative Learning Groups:


Steps:

1. Groups of four.
2. Two people in the group come up with examples of man as evil by nature, and explain what these examples prove about man.
3. Two people in the group come up with examples of man as good by nature, and explain what these examples prove about man.
4. Write your examples in two columns on the yellow poster paper.
5. What conclusions can you draw about mankind, and based on your conclusions what is the outlook for the future.
   

WUP for Wednesday, 3/12

Friendship with oneself is all-important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.

Eleanor Roosevelt
US diplomat & reformer (1884 - 1962)

Explain why you need to be friends with yourself before you can be friends with someone else.

Lit Term

Parody: A work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the writer's style. Parodies often achieve their effects by humorously exaggerating certain features in the original work.

Vocab Word

affable: (adj.) courteous and pleasant, sociable, easy to speak to
SYNONYMS: genial, amicable, agreeable, cordial
ANTONYMS: surly, cantankerous, dour, inhospitable

Punctuation

Use a semicolon (;) to separate two main clauses joined by the adverbs however, nevertheless, therefore, moreover, and consequently.

Ex. He played the best game of his life; however, his opponent played better.
Ex. The judge said that the sympathized with the man; nevertheless, he found him guilty.
Note the semicolon before and the comma after the adverb.

WUP for Tuesday, 3/11

Mark Twain wrote that we have only "one really effective weapon--laughter. Power, money, persuasion, supplication--these can lift a colossal humbug--push it a little--weaken it a little, century by century; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast."

Why do you think that laughter is a powerful weapon when it comes to getting people or institutions to change their ways? (Satire)


Writer's Purpose
In general, a writer's purpose can be to describe, to inform, to narrate, to entertain, to analyze, or to persuade.

Satires are usually exaggerated and humorous, but the true satirist intends to do more than simply make you laugh. Real-world change; reform; honest reexamination of values; the development of new goals, attitudes, and perspectives--these are the satirist's deeper purposes.

transcend: (v.) to rise above or beyond, exceed
SYNONYMS: surpass, outstrip

Use a semicolon (;) to separate two related main clauses if the word and, for, or but has been left out.
Ex. The attack was launched as planned; the enemy was defeated.
Ex. Allison, go to your room; this is not the first time that you have been disobedient.

Homework:
Finish reading (if necessary) pp470-473; read pp474-475; answer questions 1-7 on p476.

WUP for Friday, 3/7

"I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people." --Indira Gandhi

Define your idea of a leader. Put yourself in the position of someone who leads and then of someone who is being led. Does the change in roles change your definition of a leader? How?

Lit Term

FORESHADOWING

An author’s use of hints or clues to suggest events that will occur later in the story. Not all foreshadowing is obvious. Frequently, future events are merely hinted at through dialogue, description, or the attitudes and reactions of the characters.

Foreshadowing frequently serves two purposes. It builds suspense by raising questions that encourage the reader to go on and find out more about the event that is being foreshadowed. Foreshadowing is also a means of making a narrative more believable by partially preparing the reader for events which are to follow.

Vocab

aura: (n.) that which surrounds (as an atmosphere); a distinctive air or personal quality
SYNONYMS: ambiance, atmosphere

Punctuation

Underline (or if typing use italics) each word in the title of a book, movie, or a television show.
Ex. I had read Jurassic Park before I saw it in the movies.
Ex. Family Guy is the funniest show on television.
Ex. He gave me the book The Complete Poems of Robert Browning.

For the title of individual poems, short stories, or episodes in a television series put the title in quotation marks.
Ex. My favorite poem is "The Road Not Taken."
Ex. In the Collected Short Works of Poe, I liked the short story "The Cask of Amontillado" the best.
Ex. Of all the Star Trek shows I liked "The Last Warrior" the best.

WUP for Thursday, 3/6

"People who live in glass houses shouldn't walk around in their underwear." --Bill Cosby

Bill Cosby took a cliche and made a new saying out of it. Create a new and humorous saying out of one of the following cliches: a) The early bird catches the worm, or b) It's no use crying over spilled milk.

Lit Term

TONE/MOOD

Tone
The author’s attitude, stated or implied, toward a subject. Some possible attitudes are pessimism, optimism, earnestness, seriousness, bitterness, humorous, and joyful. An author’s tone can be revealed through choice of words and details.

Mood
The climate of feeling in a literary work. The choice of setting, objects, details, images, and words all contribute towards creating a specific mood. For example, an author may create a mood of mystery around a character or setting but may treat that character or setting in an ironic, serious, or humorous tone.

Vocab

resilient (adj.) able to return to an original shape or form; able to recover quickly
SYNONYMS: springy, elastic, buoyant, bouncy
ANTONYMS: avow, affirm, aver, avouch

Punctuation
When a person is directly addressed the name is set off with a comma.
Ex. Larry, pay attention. (The teacher is addressing Larry directly, so use a comma.)
Ex. Larry never pays attention. (The teacher is talking about Larry, not to him. No comma is used in this situation.)
Ex. Put your hand down, Frank. (Direct address at the end of a sentence.)

WUP for Wednesday, 3/5

"It is far easier to start something than it is to finish it." --Amelia Earhart (first woman aviator to fly the Atlantic solo)

Do these words strike a chord with you, or do you disagree with them? Explain your response. From your own experience, describe a project that was much easier for you to start than to finish.

Lit Term

Point of view: the perspective from which the story is told.

• The most obvious point of view is probably first person or "I."
• The omniscient narrator knows everything, may reveal the motivations, thoughts and feelings of the characters, and gives the reader information.
• With a limited omniscient narrator, the material is presented from the point of view of a character, in third person.
• The objective point of view presents the action and the characters' speech, without comment or emotion. The reader has to interpret them and uncover their meaning.

Vocab

amorphous: (adj.) shapeless, without definite form; of no particular type or character; without organization, unity, or cohesion
SYNONYMS: formless, unstructured, nebulous
ANTONYMS: definite, well-defined, clear-cut

Punctuation
Use a comma to set off an introductory clause. (The sentence will usually begin with the word since, because, as, although, if, when, or similar words.)
Ex. Because he was going to be late, he took a key with him.
Ex. Since it stopped raining, she no longer needed an umbrella.

If the clause comes at the end of the sentence, it is not introductory, so no comma is used.
Ex. He took a key with him because he was going to be late.
Ex. She no longer needed an umbrella since it stopped raining.

WUP for Tuesday, 3/4

"Good fences make good neighbors." --Robert Frost

What do you think Frost meant? If you were building a house, would you put a fence up between you and your neighbors? Why or why not?

Lit Term
Euphemism. The substitution of a mild or less negative word or phrase for a harsh or blunt one, as in the use of "pass away" instead of "die." The basic psychology of euphemistic language is the desire to put something bad or embarrassing in a positive (or at least neutral light). Thus many terms referring to death, sex, crime, and excremental functions are euphemisms. Since the euphemism is often chosen to disguise something horrifying, it can be exploited by the satirist through the use of irony and exaggeration.

Vocab
infringe (v.) to violate, trespass, go beyond recognized bounds
SYNONYMS: encroach, impinge, intrude, poach
ANTONYMS: stay in bounds

Punctuation
Use a comma to separate three items in an address, and/or to separate a city from a state.
Ex. He lived at 21 Main St., Denver, Colorado.
Ex. He lives in Denver, Colorado, but he is moving to Bradford, Florida, next month.

WUP for Monday, 3/3

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." --Chinese proverb

How does this proverb express the difference between giving something to someone and teaching something to someone? Apply its wisdom to a situation in your life.

Lit Term

Style: manner of expression; how a speaker or writer says what he says. Notice the difference in style of the opening paragraphs of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms and Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. In the bed of the river there were pebbles and boulders, dry and white in the sun, and the water was clear and swiftly moving and blue in the channels. Troops went by the house and down the road and the dust they raised powdered the leaves of the trees. The trunks of the trees too were dusty and the leaves fell early that year and we saw the troops marching along the road and the dust rising and leaves, stirred by the breeze, falling and the soldiers marching and afterward the road bare and white except for the leaves.

A Farewell to Arms

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Vocab

callow: (adj.) without experience; immature, not fully developed; lacking sophistication and poise; without feathers
SYNONYMS: green, raw, unfledged, inexperienced
ANTONYMS: mature, grown-up, polished, sophisticated

Punctuation

Use a comma in dates where you have three or more items together.
Ex. The allies invaded Europe on June 5, 1944.
With two items no comma is required by may be used.
Ex. June 5 was the day to remember.

Homework Due Wednesday 3/5
In a brief essay (TAG 3), compare and contrast one of Dickinson's poems with one of Whitman's poems. Before you write, collect your points of comparison and contrast (subject matter, theme, tone, figures of speech).

WUP for Friday, 2/29/08

"There is no substitute for hard work."
"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." --"Thomas Alva Edison

How are these two statements related? Tell about an accomplishment of your own (a drawing, a project for school, playing in a concert, learning to catch a fly ball, etc.) that was achieved only after lots of perspiration on your part.

Slant rhyme: is a close, but not exact, rhyming sound. Word pairs like society/majority or nerve/ love are examples of slant rhymes.

stringent: (adj.) strict, severe; rigorously or urgently binding or compelling; sharp or bitter to the taste
SYNONYMS: stern, rigorous, tough, urgent, imperative
ANTONYMS: lenient, mild, lax, permissive

"No," "yes," "well," and "however" will generally be set off with commas when they are the first words in a sentence.
Ex. No, I will not go.
Ex. Well, I might think about it.

Homework
Read "Because I could not stop for Death" on p. 347
Answer questions 1-9 on p. 352

SABIRAH

Scences Of America

The city workerkeeps the city clean
Without them there would be trash for miles
Even though we talk bad about them
Ourlives would be hectic without the
Even when you see nature don't think that they play apart
but ,they make the nature that we see
more beautiful to me

The beautiful sunshine days of summer,
The incredible starlite nights makes me wonder,
of different time and different places,
And a new life that awakens'
the peaceful person inside me,
All the things that make America Beauty

WUP for Thursday, 2/28/08

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." --Mark Twain

How do you feel about reading? Compare the advantages and disadvantages of not reading with those of not being able to read. How do the comparisons affect your views about reading?

An idiom is an expression, that is a term or phrase whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use.

Baker's Dozen
A regular dozen is twelve, but a baker's dozen is 13.
Close but no Cigar
If you come close to achieving success but reach a disappointment due to failure you are 'close but no cigar'.

Examples of idioms

tenuous: (adj.) thin, slender, not dense; lacking clarity or sharpness; of slight importance or significance; lacking a sound basis, poorly supported.
SYNONYMS: flimsy, insubstantial, vague, hazy
ANTONYMS: strong, solid, substantial, valid

Punctuation
In a direct quotation use a comma to set off expressions such as--he said, she stated. The direct quotation is enclosed with quotation marks. Periods and commas go inside quotes.
Ex. He said, "What a lot of rain we're having."
Ex. "Tomorrow," she stated, "I will begin to think about that."
Remember: The first word of a direct quotation is capitalized.

Homework
Read "Apparently with no surprise" on p. 344
Answer questions 1-6 on p. 346 on this poem