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Word Rogues |
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On English and Writing: Leon Lanzbom |
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 Southwestern College Spring 2007—ENGLISH 105 (01) :Introduction to Composition 1/17/07-5/21/07  instructor: Leon Lanzbom email: lanzbom@yahoo.com class: M,W, F: 8:00AM-8:50AM, RM226 F Lab 9:00AM-9:50AM, RM422  Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a belly full of words and do not know a thing. The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education.” I hope you’re here for more than the means of an education. One of the great benefits of college is we’re allowed do-overs! Every semester places you in a new class with new people and a new professor. No one knows you. You can start over, fresh and new. You can be anyone you want to be. So decide now that you’re going to fall in love with writing, starting from this class. You’ll be amazed at the results. COURSE MATERIALS/TEXTS: Required: Kolin, Philip C. Successful Writing at Work. 8th ed. Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Handouts, distributed by me during the semester Notebooks, three-ring prefered College level dictionary (recommended) CD’s or floppy disks for saving lab sessions. Large blue books (test writing booklets) ______________________________________ NOTA BENE You are responsible for bringing your textbook to every class meeting; bring paper and pens to every class meeting as well. Coming to class without the appropriate materials or without having completed assigned readings is equivalent to being absent for that day. You will have your book by our second class, having completed the readings, or please do not walk into class. _____________________________________  ASSIGNMENTS:-In class writing projects. Most of these will be collaborative group projects. -Two at-home and in class group projects. One of these will be 750 words minimum and require basic research in the library to locate information on a workplace topic or occupational field -Five unannounced, in-class, startle-response quizzes. -In-class participation -Portofolio and portfolio demonstration _____________________________________ Startle-response quizzes and missing class: There will be 5 in-class Startle-Response quizzes, otherwise known as "check that you did the reading carefully and on time quizzes." You can expect these quizzes from time to time, and they will come unannounced throughout the semester. The quizzes will primarily focus on the reading assignments and homework, providing me with a chance to see how well you are doing with the readings and documentation technique, though any area of the course may provide material for quizzes. The whole point of these quizzes is to help us work together, to convert what might be a boring classroom into a chaotic, unpredictable and exciting intellectual laboratory where everyone is involved. Portfolio: Your portfolio will be all of your work that you’ve done throughout the semester. It will consist of real-world projects from memos to business E-mails to business mail to your resumé. By classes end, you will present your portfolio as if you were on a job interview. *You must submit ALL essays, exams, and the research paper in order to pass this course.* Grading of assignments: Seven Projects: 5 short 250-500 words 10.0% (10 pts. each = 50 pts.) 1 long 750 words 10.0% (50 pts = 50 pts) 1 research 750 words 20.0% (100 pts = 100 pts) Portfolio 40.0% (200 pts.) five Startle-Response quizzes 10.0% (10 pts each = 50 pts) Participation 10.0% (50 pts) (Percentages are approximations) 100.0% = 500 pts. My goal is to keep you excited and enthusiastic about our work. Considering this class relies on dynamics, our  syllabus may be subject to change--the addition or subtraction of material--depending on how many hazy eyes I notice. Any changes will not only be announced in class, but will be placed on our active website, so please use this hard copy as a base but check our website daily.Disclaimer: You may find the language, or the sexual or violent content of some of the material submitted or assigned in this class offensive. I generally do not censor class reading material. Please see me if you feel offended. I will offer alternatives for any assignment. Weeks 1–3: Writing and Your Career Week 1: 1/17-1/19  Wed: intro to class: handouts, expectation. Fri: Reading: Chapter 1 “Getting Started” Fri: Lab: Memos 120-27 Chapter one PDF
Week 2: 1/22-1/26 Mon. finish chapter 1; bring memo to class Wed and Frid: Reading: Chapter 2 “Writing Process at Work” Friday Lab: Writing: Begin “Additional activity: Contact a professional in your field of study” with email Chapter two PDF
Week 3: Letters: 1/29-2/2 Reading: Chapter 5 “Letters: Basic for Audiences Worldwide” & Chapter 6 “Types of Letters”Writing: Complete “The Case of the Unavailable Software” case study Chapter Five: Letter Writing 
Weeks 4–6: How to Get a Job Mon. 2/5: Project 2 due Frid. 2/9: continute letter writing Reading: Chapter 7 “How to Get a Job” Some good resume samples: click HERE
______________________________ Week 6: 2/19-2/23
Chapter seven Class: continue review of chapter 7 Lab Project #3 & #4 Continues: Writing: Résumé & letter of application Weeks 7-9: Doing Research, Documenting Sources, & Writing Proposals Week 7: 2/26-3/2Monday: Talk about Career Packet: Letter of application, résumé, emails, memos. You should start to get this together. Reading: Chapter 14 “Writing Winning Proposals” In class: Begin grammar, writing review.
Week 8 3/5-3/9 Reading: Chapter 9 “Documentation” F 3.9 Modification, review: hand in projects 3 and 4 Week 9 3/12-3/16 W 3.14 Simple, Compound. Complex sentences F 3.16 Complex sentences continued; subjects and verbs Project #5 due on 3/16
________________________________________ 3.21 Prepositions and prepositional phrases; review imbedded phrases in subject-verb agreement. Week 11 3/26-3/30 __________________________________________
Reading: Chapter 12 “Designing Successful Documents and Web Sites” Weekend Homework: Watch An Eye of Annai and The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside, and write out, in one sentence, the common theme that threads through both films. For the rest of your essay, I want you to comment on your theme, using both movies as references. Also write a works cited page on both of these films. Use Hacker or Perdu or our book to help you cite. This will be due Monday 4/16/07.
Week 14 4/16-4/20 Monday: 4.16 Bring in Works Cited sheets and your paper on the two films Writing: Construction of collaborative short report/topics will vary Weeks 16-18: Presentations Week 16: 4/30-5/4 presentations Articles
Contractions, interrogatives, adjectives, adverbs, and modification: Contractions Two parts of speech in one word. Contractions are built out of pronouns and linking verbs. You + are = you’re She + will = she’ll Interrogative Sentences An interrogative sentence asks a question. A sentence that asks a question separates the helping verb from the main verb. Did Crandall run into the shack? Did = helping verb Run = main verb Adjectives Many adjectives have antonyms: Big/small Tall/short Happy/sad Adjectives will make sense between articles and nouns that are places, persons, or objects. The tiny lake The happy boy A red thermos Many adjectives are found to the left of nouns. This is not always the case because they can also be found to the right of linking verbs. Memorize this: Adjectives will answer one or more of the following questions. Which_____________? What kind of_____________? How many______________? Adverbs Adverbs often deal with time. Adverbs can be moved to another place in the sentence. Adverbs often end in –ly Memorize this: Adverbs will answer the following questions: When? How? Where? To what extent? Why? Won’t is a contraction of will not. Not is an adverb for will. It answers “how” or "to what extent" you will do something in the contraction “won’t.” Modification Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns. Adverbs modify or describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
Simple Sentences A simple sentence is built of a single subject-verb unit. Ron runs. The chicken flew the coop. The unicycle has been riden by several sad circus clowns. Yet, a simple sentence can have more than one subject or verb. multiple subjects: Ron and Aryeh run. The chicken and the rooster flew the coop. The unicycle and the ostrich have been riden by several sad circus clowns. multiple verbs: Ron runs and trips. The chicken flew and buzzed the coop. The unicycle has been stolen and riden by several sad circus clowns. We can even have multiple subjects and verbs: The unicycle and the pogo stick and the Schwinn Airdyne had been stolen, ridden, and returned by several sad circus clowns. Compound Sentences A compound sentence is built out of two or more simple sentences.  These are two complete sentences with a subject and verb hooked up together, and they are usually connected by a comma plus a word to join the two sentences.The joining words are called coordinating conjunctions because they coordinate the two sentences. the coordinating conjuncions: and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet. Carl opened the door, and the ants made their break to freedom. Lois loves to go shopping at Sacks, but Superman can never find anything to match his costume there. Billy loved his asparagus garden, for he was not your average boy. You see? Each of the above can be separated into two sentences, but the coordinating conjunction coordinates them together. Consider the coordinating conjunction as the camp councilor of the word world. The words and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet, are always trying to hook their sentence campers together. There will usually be something in common between the first sentence and the second sentence. In other words, the ideas of both sentences should be related. Complex sentences: A complex sentence is made up of a sentence with a complete thought and a statement of an incomplete thought (one that begins with a dependent word). We are talking about an dependent clause and an independent clause hooked up together. Remember: an independent clause tells a complete thought; a dependent clause tells an incomplete thought. Here's an example of a dependent clause: When I get those P.F. Flyers... Do you feel the tension in the above dependent clause. It's incomplete. It needs more, more, MORE! When I get those P.F. Flyers, I'll be the most popular kid in school. A dependent clause begins with a dependent word. Let's look at a few. Dependent words:
When do we use complex sentences?  When we want to emphasize one idea over another. Before I left the house, I fed my pet cockatiel. What we want to emphasize here is this guy fed Cessna. I fed my pet cockatiel is a complete thought. Before I left the house is subordinated to the complete thought. This technique of giving one thought more emphasis than another is called subordination. With subordination, the part of the sentence starting with the dependent word or the subordinator will always be the less emphasized part of the sentence. But if you want to emphasize leaving the house you would write: After I fed my pet Cockatiel, I left the house. Do you see how the use of the the word after causes the first half of the sentence to emphasize I left the house? Read it again. This is important stuff and will give your writing a tremendous boost. It depends on what you’re trying to express. If you want I left the house as the emphasis of the sentence, you would leave that clause independent. But, like all the grammar we've learned in this class, it depends on context. Check out the context in the following sentence: After I fed my pet cockatiel, I left the house. But when I got to my office, I realized I had forgotten my keys for the third time this week. And in this one: Before I left the house, I fed my pet cockatiel. Cockatiels are very picky eaters, and if Cessna does not find a piece of mango in her birdseed, she gets into a huff. Can you feel the difference between the above two sentences? One emphasizes the forgetting of the keys; the other emphasizes the feeding of Cessna, the cockatiel A very important point to remember is to make the last part of your sentence the emphatic part. Emphasize your main thought at end of your sentence and pick up that thought in the beginning of your next sentence. On Subjects and Verbs  Words that come between subjects and verbs should be handled with care. Take this sentence for example: The pie for the guests is not as tasty as I thought. The subject pie is singular, so the verb must be singular as well. We must use the verb is for the verb and subject to agree. The words,for the guests, which come between the subject and the verb, do not affect agreement. Don't be fooled by the object of a preposition--learn what a prepositional phrase is. By identifying the prepositional phrase, you can avoid subject-verb agreement problems. Remember this rule: the subject will never be found in a prepositional phrase.  Indefinite PronounsIndefinite pronouns always take singular verbs.
Everyone in the line screams (not scream) for their money back. Nobody, out of thousands of volunteers, twists (not twist) the way she does. Each of the students has (not have) a beautiful sandwich for lunch. Verbs must agree with subject no matter their placement in a sentence: Near my closet hides Chris Ware. *here the famous illustrated novelist, Chris Ware, is the subject; the verb he comes after must be singular. Near my closet hide Chris Ware and Quimby the Mouse. *here we use a plural verb because we have a plural subject: Chris Ware and Quimby the Mouse. Interrogatives are sentences with different verb placement: Where are those sea anemones? *the word anemones is the subject here, so we must use the plural verb are. Watch your subject-verb placement with sentences that begin with the words there, here, who, which, what, and where.  Compound SubjectsWhen the word and joins subjects a plural verb should be used: Chris Ware and Quimby the Mouse are a demanding couple. Esther and Haman are the life of the party. When subjects are joined by or or nor or contain either. . .or, neither. . .nor. the verb agrees with the subject closest to the verb: After the last incident, neither Cha Cha nor her cousin eats BBQ. Neither the barista nor her helpers make a decent soy mocha latte extra hot no whip. On Subjects and Verbs Words that come between subjects and verbs should be handled with care. Take this sentence for example: The hamburger with the double order of french fries (is/are) not as tasty as I thought. The subject hamburger is singular, so the verb must be singular as well. We must use the verb is for the verb and subject to agree even though it feels wrong. The prepsositional phrase, with the double order of french fries, which comes between the subject and the verb, does not affect agreement. Prepositional phrases are real trouble makers. Don't be fooled by the object of a preposition--learn what a prepositional phrase is. By identifying the prepositional phrase, you can avoid subject-verb agreement problems. The hamburger with the double order of french fries is not as tasty as I thought.  A preposition is usually a word that will show position or time. Imagine a bird flying toward a tree. Anything that bird can do to the tree will be a preposition: in the tree, around the tree, through the tree, over the tree, under the tree, at the tree, along the tree, from the tree, onto the tree, etc. As far as time goes: at noon, during the siesta, in the fall, until tomorrow etc. There are other prepositions that do not fit in these catagories: the words for, of, or like are examples. So watch out for these guys, especially the word of. You might try placing parentheses around the prepositional phrase, reading the sentence without the phrase. This way, you'll be sure of the subject. The taste of peaches has/have always attracted me. The taste (of peaches) has always attracted me. A prepositional phrase is a prepostion and the noun that follows it plus any modifiers that might find their way in between. The noun that follows the preposition is called the "object" of the prepositition. Prepostion + noun at home. At= preposition / home=noun(object of preposition) Preposition + modifier(s) + noun in the old car in=preposition/the=modifier (article)/ old=modifier(adjective)/ car=noun (object of preposition) Remember this rule: The subject will never be found in a prepositional phrase. ______________________________________________ Indefinite Pronouns Indefinite pronouns always take singular verbs.
Everyone on the beach screams (not scream) at the mud shark. Nobody twists (not twist) the way she does. Each of the students has (not have) a beautiful sandwich for lunch.  Verbs must agree with subject no matter their placement in a sentence:Near my closet hides Chris Ware. *here the famous illustrated novelist, Chris Ware, is the subject; the verb he comes after must be singular. Near my closet hide Chris Ware and Quimby the Mouse. *here we use a plural verb because we have a plural subject: Chris Ware and Quimby the Mouse. Interrogatives are sentences with different verb placement: Where are those sea anemones? *the word anemones is the subject here, so we must use the plural verb are. Watch your subject-verb placement with sentences that begin with the words there, here, who, which, what, and where. Compound Subjects When the word and joins subjects a plural verb should be used: Chris Ware and Quimby the Mouse are a demanding couple. Esther and Haman are the life of the party. When subjects are joined by or or nor or contain either. . .or, neither. . .nor, the verb agrees with the subject closest to the verb: After the last incident, neither Cha Cha nor her cousin eats BBQ. Neither the barista nor her helpers make a decent soy mocha latte extra hot no whip. |
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2/19 no class: Presidents day
Week Ten: 3/19-3/23
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