Sentences 7-9

7.  During his first four years in the Navy, Seaman Miller complained about military life almost constantly. This is why everyone was so shocked when he reenlists last month.

8.  My phone's plan gives me 250 text messages per month, last month I sent over 500.

9.  Mom used two pumpkin's to make the pie. [This issue may not be on the list I gave you, but it's an important one we've mentioned several times in class.]

Final Exam Practice

Throughout the week, I'll be posting sample exam questions here.  Your job is to answer them as quickly as possible.  Once one set of questions is answered, I will post the next.  When the class successfully answers fifteen questions, everyone who participated will receive full credit.

The following sentences may contain one or more of the errors discussed in class.  For each sentence, name the type of error (e.g. comma splice, incorrect title format, wrong word) and then rewrite the sentence (without changing its meaning) so that the error no longer exists.  If a sentence contains no error, simply respond, "no error."

Sample question: My brother borrowed my car yesterday, and he drives it into a stop sign.

Sample answer: Lack of verb tense consistency.
My brother borrowed my car yesterday, and he drove it into a stop sign.

Here are the first three questions.  Please respond in this post's comments area.

1.  Senator Henderson lost he spent seven million dollars on his campaign.

2.  The meteor penetrated well below the moon's surface - over seven miles deep.

3.  One of Groucho Marx's most famous quotations is, "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members".

Good job on the first three.  Here are three more.

4.  Any member of the Cleveland Browns who does not attend practice will lose their starting position.


5.  The literary critic David Tabachnick claims that "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is the greatest novel ever written in English.


6.  The dalmatian lost three inches of it's tail in the oven door.

Final Essay Assignment

Choose any aspect of current U.S. culture which has existed for at least fifty years.  We’ll discuss suitable subjects in class.  Once you’ve discovered your topic, begin making yourself an expert on it.  In class, we’ll discuss research techniques you can use to discover newspaper, magazine, and scholarly sources.  Direct your research towards discovering and understanding how your topic has changed over time.

The essay’s goal is to understand how changes related to your topic reflect trends in society in general.  Your essay should not only demonstrate that changes have occurred, but, more importantly, make some claim about changes’ relationship to society overall.  In other words, what do the changes mean?  Sure, many young people today get tattoos, but so what?  Tattoos are now largely acceptable in certain socioeconomic groups which in the past would not have condemned the practice.  True again, but what can we learn about ourselves by making this observation?   

As you develop your thesis, think about different types of claims: Is your trend a good thing?  A bad thing?  Is it the result of particular events?  Will it have unexpected consequences?  Should society make certain policy decisions related to your trend?  Remember, also, that your essay’s claim should be arguable. 

Your essay should demonstrate effective research using credible print sources, and/or sources located by using the library’s electronic databases.  You may not use sources from the World Wide Web without instructor approval (we’ll discuss this in class).  Sources should be documented in MLA style.

The final draft of this essay is due at the time of the final exam.  Please ask questions in class or post them in the comments section below.

Final Exam Review

Because global writing issues like paragraph development, paragraph focus, and essay focus are evaluated through your essays, the final exam will focus mainly on sentence level issues.  To ensure thorough preparation, be sure you understand the following issues:

• Verb tense consistency
• "They" and "their" as plural pronouns
• Title format
• End punctuation with quotation marks (inside or outside)
• Passive voice versus active voice
• Wrong word errors: there/their, its/it's, everyday/every day, quote/quotation
• Indicating numbers (using numerals or text)
• Pronoun-antecedent agreement
• Vague pronoun reference
• Comma splices
• Run ons
• Independent versus subordinate (dependent) clauses
• Compound sentences with commas and coordinating conjunctions
• Compound sentences with semicolons
• Hyphens versus dashes
• Dashes, commas, or parentheses with non-restrictive elements
• Commas after introductory elements
• The serial comma 

You will have an opportunity to ask questions about any of these concepts during our final two meetings.  Furthermore, this week's online assignment will serve as a review of some of these concepts.

Keep in mind that you will be able to use your handbook during the final exam, so don't spend too much time memorizing every rule.

I'll have some practice questions for you in class.  

Clarification

Hi, everyone.

I just want to make sure people are clear about certain expectations regarding the submission of written work.

Unless you've made other arrangements, written work is expected at the beginning of class on the day it is due.  In exceptional circumstances, professors will sometimes accept an emailed copy as a placeholder until a hard copy can be delivered.  These circumstances include sudden illness or other emergency; excuses like running out of printer ink or file compatibility problems will not be accepted by most professors.

When an electronic copy of an assignment is submitted in lieu of a hard copy, a student should: 1) Submit the electronic version by the assigned due date, and 2) Deliver the hard copy as soon as possible.

I've been pretty lenient so far about deadlines, and I'm afraid I'm giving some people the wrong idea about what other professors will expect.  Now that I've made this clarification, I'm going to be a bit more strict about accepting late work.

Let me know if you have any questions.  See you tomorrow.

PS: Please don't forget to arrive at least five minutes early for your scheduled conference.

Target Commercial Article

For October 29, please follow the link below, watch the video, and read the article.  Think about what the author's thesis is and the evidence he uses to support it.  Do you agree with this thesis?  Why or why not?  Be prepared to discuss the essay in class.  A quiz is possible.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/scocca/archive/2010/10/19/target-despises-homemade-halloween-costumes.aspx

ESSAY II ASSIGNMENT--PERSUASION

For this assignment, each member of the class will write an essay based on the same hypothetical situation.  Please imagine the following scenario:

You work for a corporation that owns several amusement parks.  Last week, you were sent to Ferretland--a ferret-themed amusement park in Zanesville, Ohio, which has been losing money for years.  The purpose of your visit was to inspect the park and decide whether it should remain open.  Zanesville residents are against closing the park because it has been a Zanesville landmark for over 85 years, and because the closing would cost the city over one hundred jobs.  You interviewed dozens of employees and local residents and found many of their stories very moving.  Upon completing the inspection, however, you determine that the park is riddled with problems that will make it next to impossible to keep open.  These problems include: 1) the buildings and grounds are very old and in need of costly repairs, 2) the rides have been poorly maintained and their operators are not very well-trained, 3) the ferret theme does not generate enough interest to draw people to the park.

Your assignment is to write your report to your bosses, detailing a specific course of action.  The bosses expect you make a final decision on the fate of the park, and provide reasons to support this decision.  You will need to invent the details you use to support your conclusion.

Remember to use the skills we've discussed in the class so far: strive to write clear sentences, and well-developed paragraphs that provide focused support for the essay's thesis.  Your essay should also demonstrate awareness of your rhetorical situation; your language, tone, and examples should be appropriate for your purpose and audience.  You may choose to acknowledge and refute any counterarguments.

Length should be between 800 and 1000 words.  Although a real business report would not be formatted according to MLA guidelines, please use MLA for this assignment.  

This essay is due on Friday, October 29.  Please post any questions about the assignment in the comments field.

Have fun!