Assignments for 1539
(This page was last updated on March 4, 2010.)

W Jan. 13 (rough draft): Paper #1: Write an Advice Letter, and read "The Purpose of Marriage"

Th Jan. 14: Discussion of "The Purpose of Marriage", and take-home vocabulary quiz is due.

T Jan 19 (finished copy): Paper #1: Write an Advice Letter.  The journals are also due today.

W Jan 20:  Lab Session

Th Jan 21:  Corrections of the first paper are due, and a reading will be distributed.  Bring your dictionary.

M Jan 25: Read "Same-Sex Marriages Pay Off."  Look up unfamiliar words in your dictionary.  Bring your dictionary to class.  Journals are due again.  For some ideas of how to have fun in the journal, browse on this page.

T Jan. 26:  (Remember that underlined words are links to the things they refer to.)  Complete the vocabulary quiz on verbs in the "Same-Sex Marriages" article.  (There is an error in it:  The last verb should be "amend," not "entitle."  "Entitle" is on the list twice.)  Reread the article and be prepared for a quiz on its content.

W Jan 27:  Finish the dictionary exercises.

M Feb. 1:  A rough draft of a new paper is due, a position paper expressing your opinion about whether to grant or deny a divorce to Alice Srp.  Click here for instructions.  Click here for a transcript of the testimony.   Remember that I need to HEAR your rough draft, so you will need to read it to me.  I may offer you the chance to do this in the classroom, but if you prefer to read it privately, I will be in my office after class.   Journals are due on Mondays as well.

T Feb. 2:  No new reading or writing is due today.  Students who read their rough drafts to me today will be revising them.  Others will have to wait to revise until after they have read them to me and received my advice.

W Feb. 3:  The finished draft of the position paper on the Srp v. Srp divorce case is due.  I will ask each student in turn to take a break from the lab work to read the draft to me

Th Feb. 4:  Position papers were returned.

M Feb. 8:  Position papers are due again with corrections.  Over the weekend you are to have someone read to you the dictation you will find by clicking here.  It is the same dictation you wrote in class.  Write it down again.  It will be collected.
        Journals will also be collected.
       Also, this is the time to catch up in the lab work.  On Wednesday, Feb. 4, the class started on the sixth suite of lessons in grammar: "Word Groups: Phrases and Clauses, the Basics." More than half, however, turned out to need some background lessons, so they began with #5: "Analyzing the Sentence: Verbs, Subjects, Direct Objects." My hope is that every student will have completed the grammar exercises up through the sixth suite of lessons.  These lead then into punctuation, and that is where I would like you to be next Wednesday.

T Feb. 9:  Use this time when there are no new assignments to catch up on your paper-writing.  I expect all papers to be corrected by you according to my critique and in my hands by Wednesday so that I can return them to you on Friday.  On Tuesday we will have a day on the uses of the apostrophe

W Feb. 10:  In lab you are expected to complete the two punctuation exercises that round out the sixth sequence of grammar exercises: Word Groups: Phrases & Clauses, the Basics.

Th Feb. 11:  You will take a test on the placement of periods and commas.  Then the next paper will be assigned.  It is to write the script for a radio advertisement. The following spoofs on radio commercials were played in class: New Shimmer, Speed, Safety Grape Lozenges.

M Feb. 15:  We will hear ads brought in by students and will examine the formatting of radio scripts.    If you have the ability to record sound and can bring to class an actual radio ad that you think might serve as a model, please do so.  The more examples we have, the better.  Click here to read specific instructions on how to prepare your rough draft.  Click here to read and listen to a real radio ad for Lindsay Olives and here to listen to one for Hooked on Phonics. 

T Feb. 16:  We listened to ads and discussed how to tailor them to specific audiences.  Click here to see the planning guide and listen to some amusing examples.

W Feb. 17:  Today the class learned in lab how to recognize words that introduce subordinate material, the bulk of any sentence which, when mentally cleared away, will leave standing the bone structure of the sentence, the words that make it a sentence.  This activity, it is hoped, may enable you to punctuate better.  Click here to reach the set of exercises.  The rough drafts of the radio ads were read aloud and recorded and then submitted along with answers to the questions on the planning guide.

Th Feb. 18:  Apply what you have learned in lab to distinguish independent from incomplete units as you apply the comma rules to this exercise.  It will be checked in class.

M Feb. 22:  You will be given a list of the major prepositions, words that begin phrases of no structural importance.  You will work in pairs to arrange the prepositions into an order that will make them easy to memorize, and then you will memorize them, taking a test on them at the end of class.

T Feb. 23:  A test will be given on identifying statements, questions, commands, exclamations, and fragments. 

W Feb. 24:  Lab exercises will be individualized.  Corrections of Paper 3, the radio ad, are due. 

Th Feb. 25: Parallelism.

M Mar. 1:  You must submit one of the first three papers for a grade: the advice column, the position paper on the divorce case, or the radio ad.  The paper must be typed.  A final proofreading will be performed in class after an editing exercise.

T Mar 2  Correlative constructions.

W Mar. 3:  Lab exercises will be individualized.

Th Mar. 4:  Midterm Examination.   You may compose on paper or on a laptop computer if you have one, submitting your exam paper either on paper or on my flash drive.  Bring whatever writing implements you may need, including your dictionary; no tools or supplies will be provided in the classroom.  White-Out and pencil are permissible. 

M Mar. 15:  Submit and read aloud the rough draft of a letter inviting current subscribers to a magazine to resubscribe.  You are to impersonate the subscription editor of the magazine in question. Click here to read the assignment itself and examples.  The class meeting will be devoted to learning about repetition of words and structures, the goal being to improve the style of your letters.

T Mar. 16:  Read Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  The class meeting will be devoted to examining its use of repetition.  Three professional readings of it will be heard: by Johnny Cash, by Melvyn Douglas, and by Charles Laughton.

W Mar. 17:  The paper about renewing the magazine subscription is due in final form in the lab, where you will work on punctuation briefly and then on parallel structure in correlative constructions and parallelism in lists.

Th Mar. 18:  The final comma rule (Set off parenthetical elements and elements out of their normal position) was formally introduced, and the first of many specific applications was demonstrated.  This can be reviewed online at this link.

M Mar. 22:  The final copies of your subscription-renewal letters, which were returned on Thursday, are to be corrected for Monday.  Students who are behind are urged to catch up promptly. On Monday a new paper topic will be introduced.  Please do not miss Monday's class, or you will be much further behind than you are now, and since the paper will depend not only on what is presented to you on Monday but also on what you and your classmates say to one another when discussing it, you will have great difficulty in catching up.

T Mar. 23:  There will be a vocabulary quiz on words the following words in the new writing assignment:  moorings, assertion, option, speculation, synthesize, indulge, mope, relevant, unintelligible, feasible.  You will have an opportunity to ask Rosie and her boyfriend questions for fifteen minutes, after which there will be a punctuation lesson.