Showing posts with label Parts of Speech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parts of Speech. Show all posts

Monday, May 18, 2015

Words of the Week—Responsibility

Hello,


     Here are your Words of the Week; the theme is "responsibility" this week, as all the words relate to that topic. Learn them, including parts of speech, by Thursday. They are, in alphabetical order, as follows.






Word (Origin)
Part of Speech
Definition
1. complete (L)
adj.
v.
having all necessary or appropriate parts
to finish something, or to make something whole or perfect
2. diligent (L)
adj.
having or showing care and conscientiousness in one’s work or responsibilities
3. plagiarize (L)
v.
to take someone else’s work or idea and pass it off as your own
4. responsible (L)
adj.
being the primary cause of something, or being accountable for something
5. sluggard (ME)
n.
a lazy, sluggish person


Apply these to today's Make a List assignment, and study them, including spelling and part of speech, for the Thursday Think.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Monday, May 4, 2015

Words of the Week—Difficulty

Hello,

     Here are your Words of the Week; the theme is levels of difficulty. Each word, regardless of its part of speech, indicates a level of difficulty or a problem. They are, in alphabetical order, as follows.







Word (Origin)
Part of Speech
Definition
1. arduous (L)
adj.
involving or requiring great, strenuous effort; very difficult
2. elementary (L)
adj.
basic; easy to deal with; uncomplicated
3. tricky (OF)
adj.
requiring care and skill because it is difficult or awkward
4. problem (G)
n.
a situation considered unwelcome or harmful that needs to be dealt with
5. problematic (G)
adj.
presenting a challenge or difficulty; doubtful or questionable


Apply these to today's Make a List assignment, and study them, including spelling and part of speech, for the Thursday Think.

     I will stay after tomorrow to help any students with work who need it. If you are missing assignments or do not understand some material, stay for help. This is not, however, social time for you to waste with friends; I expect results. Let me know if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Monday, April 13, 2015

Words of the Week—Concern

Hello,

     Here are your Words of the Week; the theme is levels of interest or "concern." Each word, regardless of part of speech (and they are all adjectives), indicates a level of concern or interest held by the subject about an object. They are, in alphabetical order, as follows.






Word (Origin)
Part of Speech
Definition
1. ambivalent (G)
adj.
having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas
2. attentive (OF)
adj.
paying close attention to something; polite or courteous
3. fascinated (L)
adj.
irresistibly drawn or attentive to something
4. indifferent (L)
adj.
having no particular interest or sympathy; neither good nor bad
5. interested (L)
adj.
showing curiosity, concern, or a desire to know more

Apply these to today's Make a List assignment, and study them, including spelling and part of speech, for the Thursday Think.

     I will stay after tomorrow to help any students with work who need it. If you are missing assignments or do not understand some material, stay for help. This is not, however, social time for you to waste with friends; I expect results. Let me know if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Monday, April 6, 2015

Words of the Week—Relations

Dear Students,

     This week, the Words of the Week are organized on the theme of "relations." Each word, regardless of part of speech, concerns the relationship of one thing to another. These things may be people, places, objects, or ideas, but they connect or fail to connect to others. They are, in alphabetical order, as follows.





Word (Origin)
Part of Speech
Definition
1. acquaintance (OF)
n.
a person one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend; or your knowledge or experience of something
2. cleave (OE)
v.
  1. to split or separate
  2. to adhere or attach strongly to
3. cohesive (L)
adj.
characterized by or causing the formation of a united whole
4. disparate (L)
adj.
essentially different; not allowing comparison
5. unique (L)
adj.
unlike anything else; the only one of its kind

     Apply these to today's Make a List assignment, and study them, including spelling and part of speech, for the Thursday Think. Remember that "to cleave" something is far different from "to cleave to" something…that is an important distinction to make!

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Prepositions and Conjunctions

Hello All,

     For your convenience, here is every single preposition out there:

about
above
according to
across
after
against
along
along with
among
apart from
around
as
as for
at
because of
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
but*
by
by means of

concerning
despite
down
during
except
except for
excepting
for
from
in
in addition to
in back of
in case of
in front of
in place of
inside
in spite of
instead of
into
like
near
next
of
off
on

onto
on top of
out
out of
outside
over
past
regarding
round
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
underneath
unlike
until
up
upon
up to
with
within
without

     * "But" is usually used as a coordinating conjunction; it is only used as a preposition when used in the place of "except." For example, consider these sentences:

I ate everything but the Doritos.
Everyone is wrong but me.

In this case, you are speaking about all times but once, or all locations or items but one. I just used "but" as a preposition twice in that sentence, too.


     Now, concerning conjunctions, there are three categories:  coordinating, correlative, and subordinating. Here is the breakdown by category.

Coordinating Conjunctions:  For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
     You can use the acronym FANBOYS to remember all seven of them.

Correlative Conjunctions:  both, and; not only, but also; either, or; neither, nor; whether, or; as, as; such, that; scarcely, when; as many, as; no sooner, than; rather, than.
     Correlative conjunctions work in pairs to connect related ideas. There are many combinations.

Subordinating Conjunctions:

Common Subordinating Conjunctions

after
although
as
because
before
even if
even though
how
if
in order that
no matter
once
provided that
rather than
since
so that
than
that
though
unless
until
what
when
whenever
where
whereas
wherever
whether
while
why



Subordinating conjunctions start dependent clauses, and they answer the questions when, why, and if, or they show opposition.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris



Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Quiz Tomorrow!

Dear Students and Parents,

     Tomorrow, February 4, we have a quiz on Parts of Speech. These are all the different categories of words. You need to differentiate between each type to communicate clearly about more complex ideas than just simple sentences and basic thoughts. If you don't already have the notes, the terms are listed below with definitions.

  1. Article - tells you which noun (thing) you are talking about
  2. Noun - person, place, object, or idea (thing)
  3. Pronoun - general word that replaces a noun
  4. Adjective - describes a noun or pronoun (may be color, shape, size, age, origin, etc.)
  5. Verb - action
  6. Adverb - describes a verb; usually ends in -ly
  7. Conjunction - connecting word
    1. Coordinating Conjunction - connects equal ideas or clauses; FANBOYS
    2. Correlative Conjunction - connects related ideas; works in pairs
    3. Subordinating Conjunction - starts dependent clause; answers why, when, if, or opposition
  8. Preposition - identifies time or location relative to another noun (thing)
  9. Interjection - a word or phrase used to exclaim, protest, or command

     The first half of the quiz involves picking the proper definition out of multiple choices for each part of speech. The second half of the quiz involves reading a paragraph and correctly identifying at least one example of each part of speech from it. Today in class the students practiced this with one paragraph; we will use another for the quiz. Students will not be allowed to use notes for the quiz.

     For your convenience, I have included a list of examples for each category below.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

  1. Article - a, an, the
  2. Noun - Mr. DeMaris, chairs, table, thought, dream, cat, dinner, steak
  3. Pronoun - he, it, they, we, she, them, us, her
  4. Adjective - red, blue, green, fuzzy, cold, ancient, new, frozen, American
  5. Verb - run, jump, think, fall, cry, repair, stand
  6. Adverb - quickly, clumsily, carefully, foolishly, noisily, successfully, abruptly
  7. Conjunction
    1. Coordinating Conjunction - for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
    2. Correlative Conjunction - either, or; neither, nor; if, then; but, so
    3. Subordinating Conjunction - because, after, when, if, rather than, though
  8. Preposition - before, during, after, on, in, beside, for, from, to
  9. Interjection - Breakfast time! Stop! No! Wait! Sit down! Well, Um,