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Portico Books |
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© 2000-2011 Portico Books |
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LinguaPhile, November 2003
A monthly e-mail newsletter nurturing the development and enjoyment of English language arts at home and at school.
We welcome new subscribers from the IBIDA conference!
IN THIS ISSUE . . .
New Contact Information for Portico Books
Portico Books has moved! Our new address is
P.O. Box 6094
Chesterfield, MO 63006
Our new phone/fax number is 636-527-2822. Our toll-free number (1-888-641-5353) and e-mail address (Fran@GrammarAndMore.com) remain the same.
We appreciate your patience during this
transition time.
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November Conference Schedule
If you will be attending any of these conferences, please stop
by the Portico Books booth to say hello. If you know others who
will be attending, invite them to do the same. If you want an
introduction to Hands-On English products before you see them in
person, visit
http://www.GrammarAndMore.com/product/hoe.htm
November 7-8: Learning Disabilities Association of Oklahoma. Holiday Inn Select, Tulsa. Fran will present "Making Grammar Visual" Friday at 10:15 a.m. and Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
November 12-15: Annual Conference of the International Dyslexia Association. Town & Country Resort and Convention Center, San Diego, CA. Booth #437. Fran will present "Making Grammar Visual" Friday at 4:30 p.m.
November 24-25: Southern California Regional Conference of the
Association of Christian Schools International. Anaheim
Convention Center. Booth #433.
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No December LinguaPhile
Due to the heavy November conference schedule -- and the move of both Fran Hamilton and Portico Books -- there will be no December LinguaPhile. Best wishes for happy holidays and a wonderful 2004!
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I Love to Write Day November 15
Remember that the second annual I Love To Write Day is
November 15. For more details see last month's LinguaPhile
and the I Love to Write website:
http://www.grammarandmore.com/edu/archive/issue39.htm#reader
http://www.ilovetowrite.com
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Writing Family Stories
For information on writing family stories -- and expressing
your thoughts about family members in writing -- see the November
2001 LinguaPhile:
http://www.grammarandmore.com/edu/archive/issue16.htm
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Quote of the Month: Choosing a Topic for Writing
Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel
others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your
games with language, which will be the most compelling and
seductive element in your style.
--Kurt Vonnegut, U.S. novelist and satirist (b. 1922)
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Expand Your Vocabulary: #
Have you ever wondered what to call this symbol (variously
known as a "pound sign," a "number sign," and
-- musically -- a "sharp")? When it entered the
telecommunications world in the early 1960s, it became known as
an "octothorpe" -- "octo" because of the
eight points created by the lines and "thorpe" because
the Bell Labs supervisor who created the term was also active in
a group trying to get Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals returned from
Sweden. For the full story, see
http://www.sigtel.com/tel_tech_octothorpe.html
Of course, the symbol was around long before it had this particular application. Does anyone know another name for it?
Hands-On English includes nearly 200 morphemes, along
with their meanings and examples. Knowing the meanings of
morphemes can help you unlock hundreds of words the first time
you encounter them. Reviewers of Hands-On English have
said that the vocabulary section alone is worth the book's modest
purchase price. Learn more -- and place your order -- at
http://www.GrammarAndMore.com/product/hoe.htm
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Q and A: "Absolute Phrase"
Question: What is an "absolute phrase"? How is it different from a "participial phrase"?
Answer: An absolute phrase is a participial phrase (sometimes
with a subject) that is grammatically unconnected to the rest of
the sentence. The phrase does not modify a specific word in the
sentence (as a participial phrase does); sometimes it modifies
the sentence as a whole rather than a specific word in the
sentence. Here are some sentences with absolute constructions:
The bell having rung, the teacher began class. [opening absolute
phrase; includes a subject]
Speaking of the election, which candidate do you prefer? [opening
absolute phrase; no subject]
The Cardinal fans hoped for a victory, a miracle being needed for
their team to make the playoffs. [absolute phrase; includes a
subject]
The Cardinals, generally speaking, are a strong defensive team.
[absolute phrase in the middle of the sentence; no subject]
Notice these examples that include participial phrases. Not
only do the phrases modify specific words, an opening participial
phrase must modify the subject of the sentence. If it does
not, we have a "dangling modifier."
Blaring loudly, the bell summoned the students to class. [Opening
participial phrase modifies the subject "bell."]
Blaring loudly, the students were summoned to class. [Unless the
students (subject of the sentence) are blaring, this sentence has
a dangling modifier and needs correction.]
Regularly exposed to harsh weather, my bike soon lost its new
shine. [opening participial phrase (past participle) describing
the subject "bike"]
Hands-On English will put a wealth of information at your fingertips so that you can quickly find what you need to know about grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and more. Get details -- and place your order -- at http://www.GrammarAndMore.com/product/hoe.htm
We invite your questions for this feature: mailto:Fran@GrammarAndMore.com
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What a Find!
While cleaning out my family home in Iowa last month, I found a book more than 100 years old titled Our Hero General U.S. Grant: Where, When, and How He Fought. Near the bottom of the cover was added "In Words of One Syllable"! Words of more than one syllable were used (with hyphens between syllables) only when necessary -- for proper nouns and for words without synonyms (railroad, for example).
After I mentioned this in a recent issue of Acu-Write,
Char Tierney, a subscriber from New Mexico, wrote that the book
was one of several such books made for first readers. Char has a
similar book about George Washington in words of one syllable.
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Puzzler: Cryptoquote
Each letter in the following quotation stands for some other
letter. Each A represents the same letter, each B represents the
same letter, etc. However, there is no relationship between the
letter represented by one letter and the letter represented by
another letter. (For example, if A represents S, there is no
reason to think that B will represent T.) To solve this type of
puzzle, look for patterns -- within words and within sentences.
Warning: Cryptograms can be addictive! If you want more
cryptograms, check the LinguaPhile index:
http://www.GrammarAndMore.com/edu/archive/archiveindex.htm
XN NAKWWXRINN XR NWYYMC MSGNYO ZE XPRKTSRMY KT SWSUCE? X OKR'U VRKJ SRO X OKR'U MSTY.
-- JXAAXSH NSBXTY
Answer in January's LinguaPhile
Answer to October Puzzler: widow (a word that derives its
masculine form from the feminine)
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Thank you for reading. If you find LinguaPhile helpful and interesting, don't keep it a secret! Consider which of your friends would also enjoy it, and send them information about subscribing. Those receiving this forwarded message can subscribe at http://www.GrammarAndMore.com . People who have e-mail but do not have Internet access can subscribe by clicking on this link and requesting to subscribe: mailto:LinguaPhile@GrammarAndMore.com .
We welcome your comments and suggestions: mailto:LinguaPhile@GrammarAndMore.com
The index to LinguaPhile, which is updated monthly, is now
available in either a text or .doc format on the GrammarAndMore Web site:
http://www.GrammarAndMore.com/edu/archive/archiveindex.htm
This makes the information from previous issues readily accessible. You are encouraged to print the index for your convenience or to share it with friends. Why not send them the URL of the text version?
http://www.GrammarAndMore.com/edu/archive/index.txt
It's a gift you can give, yet still have for yourself!
© 2003 Fran Santoro Hamilton
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