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LinguaPhile, November 2004
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, the INPEC
conference, the IDA conference, and the Meet Me in St. Louis Book
Festival.
IN THIS ISSUE . . .
About These "Monthly" Newsletters
For several months now I've been thinking that "next month" I'd be back on my regular publishing schedule. I have now accepted the reality that that isn't likely to happen. For the foreseeable future LinguaPhile will continue to be published sporadically. I appreciate your patience and encouragement.
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Upcoming Conferences: NABE in San Antonio, CABE in Los Angeles
Hands-On English is currently being piloted with intermediate
English learners in the Orange (CA) Unified School District.
Teachers' initial response is enthusiastic.
In order to introduce these materials to more educators who work
with people learning English as a subsequent language, Fran will
be exhibiting at the following conferences:
National Association of Bilingual Educators (NABE), Booth #141, San Antonio,
January 19-22, 2005
California Association of Bilingual Educators (CABE), Booth #906,
Los
Angeles, February 23-26, 2005
If you know people who are involved in bilingual education,
please suggest that they consider Hands-On English for their
students.
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Happy Holidays to You and Your Family
Best wishes to you and your family for happy holidays. For suggestions of ways to share family stories when you're together, see http://www.grammarandmore.com/edu/archive/issue16.htm#facts
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Help with Your Holiday Shopping
Consider doing some of your holiday shopping at the
GrammarAndMore website. Not only can you order Hands-On
English and its companion products, you can also read about
seventy-five of Fran's favorite books and -- for most of them --
link immediately with the page on Amazon.com where you can make
your purchase:
http://www.grammarandmore.com/resources/books.htm
* * *
Hands-On English products (especially the handbook, the card
game, the "Package," and the T-shirt) make wonderful
holiday gifts for any of the following:
• any student 4th grade or older
• anyone who teaches English at any level
• an education student, student teacher, or beginning teacher
(in any subject)
• a homeschooling family
• any family with school-age children
• people learning English as an additional language
• people trying to strengthen basic skills in order to improve
their employment options
• anyone wanting quick access to English fundamentals
Think of your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friends,
neighbors, employees, baby-sitters, dog walkers. The list is
endless!
Orders are generally filled within twenty-four hours of their
receipt, so a prompt order should guarantee holiday delivery. You
could even have your gift sent directly to the recipient. You can
order directly from http://www.GrammarAndMore.com
or call 1-888-641-5353.
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Quote of the Month: Sentence Length
A sentence may be as long as the writer pleases, provided that
he confines it to a single connected range of ideas, and by
careful punctuation prevents the reader from finding it either
tedious or confusing.
--Robert Graves and Alan Hodge, British writers
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Sharpen Your Vocabulary: ellipsis
Sometimes people wonder what to call the "three
dots" or "three periods" that indicate an omission
of words, as in the following example:
Original: TV, though sometimes informative, can reduce a person's
ability to think.
Quoted: "TV . . . can reduce a person's ability to
think."
These "dots" are called an ellipsis, more
precisely ellipsis points or points of ellipsis
since other punctuation marks, such as a dash, can also indicate
an omission.
Sometimes people use an indefinite number of points in an
ellipsis. This is incorrect. Three points indicate the omission;
if the omission occurs at the end of a grammatically complete sentence, a fourth point should be added immediately after the
last word:
Original: (the Quote of the Month above)
Quoted: "A sentence may be as long as the writer pleases. .
. ."
(This abridgment distorts the meaning of the original, a practice
that should be avoided.)
The term ellipsis can also refer to words that are implied
in a grammatical construction even though they are not stated:
He likes Tom better than me.
The ellipsis in the previous sentence is he likes (between
than and me).
Hands-On English includes more than 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: Those Weird Underlines
Question: Why do you put an underline before and after book
and newsletter titles, such as _LinguaPhile_? It looks so weird.
Answer: Yes, it does look weird. I don't really like it and at
first resisted using it. When considering the alternatives,
however, it seems like the best choice. Here is the rationale:
1. Titles of major works (books, magazines, newspapers, movies,
etc.) should be italicized or underlined.
2. Many people are unable to receive e-mail messages with
underscoring or italic type.
3. Titles could be set off by using all caps. However, e-mail
convention says that is the equivalent of shouting.
4. We, therefore are forced to choose between using the
"weird underlines" or not setting the titles off at
all. The former seems preferable.
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:
Fran@GrammarAndMore.com
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Review: Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss
Eats, Shoots & Leaves is delightful -- and it seems
to have drawn an audience far beyond the "sticklers,"
the "punctuation vigilantes," for whom it was
originally written.
The voice of author Lynne Truss resounds on every page -- lively,
witty, unmistakably British. (I’m grateful that she
acknowledges that always tucking commas and periods inside
closing quotation marks is an American convention. Even so,
having an abundance of examples to the contrary in an authoritative volume such as this
will almost certainly increase the threat to a sorely endangered
punctuation rule.)
Truss recognizes punctuation marks -- beginning with the
overburdened apostrophe -- as living entities. They were created
centuries ago by printers, and their roles are constantly
evolving.
Truss explains correct (and incorrect) uses of punctuation marks,
even venturing into "murky" areas and interpreting
differences of meaning that occur with the addition of an
optional comma. Eats, Shoots & Leaves is not primarily
a punctuation handbook, however.
In addition to Truss’s wit, one of the things I like best about
her book is the history it includes: the origin of punctuation
marks, excerpts from famous writers’ essays on punctuation,
illustrations of punctuation use from literature of previous
centuries. Truss includes an extensive bibliography for readers
who want to venture further into the realm of punctuation.
As Lynne Truss says, "If there is one lesson to be learned
from this book, it is that there is never a dull moment in the
world of punctuation." And that is a lesson that most of the
world can well stand to learn.
© 2004 McGraw-Hill. 235 pages.
Available from Amazon.com: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
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Cat Punctuation by Janet M. Goldstein
Cat
dashes
into the room
sits up
straight
an exclamation point
of imperious
desire
then
with a lazy stretch
descends
a series of commas
to rest
parenthetically
against my knees
and curl
into a period
of sleep.
Originally published in Cats magazine, July 1975.
Reprinted with permission of the author. In addition to being a
poet, cat lover, and former English teacher, Janet M. Goldstein
is Executive Editor at Townsend Press in New Jersey and the lead
author of Voices and Values: A Reader for Writers.
http://www.townsendpress.com
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Puzzler: An Escher-esque Paragraph
You've probably seen ambiguous drawings that can be two different
things, depending on how you look at them. The following
paragraph, part of the opener of the Mechanics section in Hands-On
English, is the verbal equivalent. Can you find two different
ways to punctuate the following paragraph -- so that you have two
completely different meanings? (Hint: A sentence needn't begin
with the subject.)
Memorable Students
they are the memorable students in any class they participate
fully in any mischief they see no point in volunteering for extra
jobs they delight in distracting their classmates they take no
pleasure in learning they are never satisfied
Answer to September Puzzler (Common Bonds)
1. motion poke down [slow]
2. made cuff left [hand]
3. painting bowl nail [finger]
4. house village golf [green]
5. man wheel high [chair]
6. blue cake cottage [cheese]
7. stool powder ball [foot]
8. card knee rope [trick]
9. snow hole police [man]
10. spelling line busy [bee]
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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!
© 2004 Fran Santoro Hamilton
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