Vocabulary

Jan 13

In Frankenstein The first four letters and the preface I read weren't mainly about the story it covered the intention of the writing and background of the narrator the book starts with an exploration of the narrator and covers a lot of topics through his letters. For example loneliness risks taken by discovery of new knowledge, and etc it seems like the letters are foreshadowing whats coming up in the future of this book. -- Try for 3 sentences. There is a possibility of a colon AND a dash.

In Frankenstein, the first four letters and the preface I read weren't mainly about the story: it covered the intention of the writing and background of the narrator the book starts with an exploration of the narrator and covers a lot of topics through his letters. For example, loneliness risks taken by discovery of new knowledge. It seems like the letters are foreshadowing what's coming up in the future of this book. -- Try for 3 sentences. There is a possibility of a colon AND a dash.

Jan 11

__The Heart of Darkness,__ written by Joseph Conrad, presents numerous teleological evidences to support the fact that Uqbar exists--a sophism.

December 1

This pattern is the simplest form of the series types. Just separate the items by commas. No conjunction links the final two items. Omitting this conjunction is effective because it gives your sentence a quick, staccato sound.
 * Explanation**

Read the series aloud so you can hear whether the items flow together WITHOUT the conjunction before the last item. Remember that tone and sound and fluency are important here. Also, remember that each item should receive equal emphasis.

Develop your ear!

It took courage, skill, knowledge -- and he had them all. Their friendship has endured, in spite of arguments, boyfriends, distance. I have come to you without sin, without guile, without evil, without a witness against me." - The Book of the Dead
 * Examples**

EXERCISE -- Copy and paste this entire exercise into your own page. Write your answers in a different color or font. We will chose two people's in class to go over. 1. Look carefully at the following sentence. Does it work? If so, why? If not, where can the sentence be broken into two or shorter ones that are not overwhelming. Robert Mondavi's father, Cesare, came from Sassafarento near Ancona, on the Adriatic coast of the Marches -- not a particularly rich or fertile part of Italy even now, nor, except for Verdicchio, much of a wine-growing region, and a good deal less so. No doubt, in 1883, when Cesare was born, the son of a large, simple family and possibly the first member of it, I have read somewhere, to be able to sign his name. -- by Cyril Ray "Robert Mondavi of the Napa Valley"

2. Does this sentence work? If so, why? If not, please correct. The typical teenage user of snuff is white, active, and athletic, and subjected to very heavy peer pressure.

Yes it does work. I think it sounds perfectly fine the way it is.

3. Same instructions -- The children gathered around the clown wishing for a balloon, angling for a smile, bowing before the childhood consumerism.

Nov 10, 2009

-- The following sentence has a lengthy series joined by repeated possessive pronouns. Do you think the sentence is effective or weak? What feature contributes strength or detracts from the rhetorical effectiveness?

"Walled off from the roaring traffic of the Embankment and Fleet Street and High Holborn, each Inn is a self-centered community with its own gardens, lush with cherry and magnolia, camelia, and crocus; its own library; its own dining hall; its labyrinth of walks and lawns; its blocks of offices and flats let out mostly to barristers." Robert Wernick, //Smithsonian//, May 1992

The sentence is weak because it starts out strong with description of each part of the house but goes on to list. Listing weakens the author's point greatly. Yet, the sentence still contains it's merits because of the beautifully crafted semi-colons as well as description in the beginning.

But to consider the sentence's rhetorical effectiveness, the vagueness as well as its, seemingly, analogous descriptions seems to be very effective in raising questions in my head.

Nov 4, 2009

Mary Shelly begins the story in a unique way: letters. Through a series of letters, she narrates the story through her eyes and how she came upon the story. Not only that but also there were many parallels to be found between Frankenstein and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Especially when the boat of Mary Shelley gets caught in the ice, the scene made me realize why you (Ms. Porter) made us read the poem beforehand.

Nov 2, 2009

COMPOUND SENTENCE WITH ELLIPTICAL CONSTRUCTION (comma indicates the omitted verb)

S V DO ; S, DO We like classical music; those guys , rock.

We leave out the verb in the second clause BECAUSE AND ONLY IF it would needlessly repeat the verb of the first clause. Notice also, you may have a direct object (DO), which receives the action of the verb; or you may have a subject complement describing the verb.

You need parallel wording in both clauses, and the verb must be exactly the same.

Examples: The mother and son each had a goal; hers, educational; his, recreational. For many of us, the new math teacher was a savior; for others, a pain.

"Thought is the blossom; language, the bud; action, the fruit." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson


 * Be sure that each sentence really has two independent clauses in it (even thought the second has an unexpressed verb).
 * Be sure that the verb omitted in the second clause matches exactly, in form and tense, the verb in the first clause.
 * Use a semicolon if there is no conjunction; if there is a conjunction, many writers use a comma. A semicolon does not go with a coordinating conjunction.

1. Which of the following doesn't work? Why. __//**a. Bill played a musical number by Bach; Joan, Beethoven.**//__ b. Lou Williams was in for adultery; John Jones for gambling. c. His mother told him to rent a car; his sister, to pack the suitcases.

2. Write your own original example.

I love soccer; Jennifer, cheerleading.

3. Find one from something you have read (this may take a couple of weeks).

"The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very mist on the Essex marsh was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the wooded rises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds." - Heart of Darkness

October 23, 2009 Parallelism Repetition Preposition

Prepositional repetition: For the people, by the people, of the people

Dependent Clause: Of all the people, she is the prettiest.

Repetition: It's not the situation, it's your reaction to the situation.

October 12, 2009 emissary - a person sent on a special mission, usually as diplomatic representative cipher - encode

The venerated emissary traveled a long way in order to negotiate economic details of the deal. But upon arriving at the meeting place, he realized that the contract was encoded in such a way that he could not understand a single word on the sheet.

October 9, 2009 mizzen - mast veneration - respected varnished - disguise or gloss over sepulchre - a small room or monument

October 5, 2009 diaphanous: light, delicate, translucent rapaciously: aggressively greedy or grasping

September 24, 2009 epicurean: a person devoted to sensual enjoyment iniquity: immoral or grossly unfair behavior

September 23, 2009 - castration: internalization of sexual difference inculcate: instill by persistent instruction

In the article written by Griffths, the visual rhetoric, which is presented through wrestling, represents the male-dominant society as well as how our society evolved that support the theory. With the advent of televised media, the spectacle became only natural to the society. What matters is the size, ideology, and inversion of the event. In early days of televised media, women were portrayed as "erotic" material that men 'spectated.' Gaining more status in the society, women sought to be illustrated not as erotic objects on the screen but as equal beings. So, women entered the ring. But instead, even the women pinning each other down represent the male-dominance that they are exercising on each other.

September 14, 2009 - endemic: regularly found among particular people or in a certain area
 * Masturbation is not endemic
 * Gregor represents both homosexuality and masturbation
 * Death of metaphor, the "melting pot"
 * Teleological dehumanization of Gregor

September 10, 2009

→Vocab -- Please correct the following sentence: the boston common a public area in downtown bosteon is the main settin for the shrot story the patriot which is about a man who argues to such an extent that it became _ __(vocab word).__

September 8, 2009 - Sophism: a fallacious argument

→The whole concept of Uqbar is sophism because Bioy is arguing that Uqbar exists in the Cyclopedia, when it actuality it doesn't exist in the world.

September 1, 2009 - Teleological: moving forward in a manner that is expected

→Every chapter of __How To Read Literature Like a Professor__ seems to be moving in a teleological way. The reader knows what's going to be expected just from the title of the chapter.

August 28, 2009 - Pinguid: oily or greasy

→Although 'samgyupsal' is **pinguid**, I love the food.

August 26, 2009 - Inveterate: settled or confirmed in a habit, practice, feeling, or the like

→**inveterate** smoker

August 25, 2009 - Gambit: any maneuver by which one one seeks to gain an advantage; a remark to to open or redirect a conversation.

→In the short story __The Fly__, the boss and the old man is found sitting down across from each other. The readers can instantly tell from the author's narrative that the two men are not close friends. He makes remarks such as that there were short silences in which neither talked, commonly known as awkward silence today. To get past the silence, gambit was constantly needed to introduce new topic between them. Unfortunately the old man introduces the wrong topic of the boss' dead son. As the boss ushers the old man out of his office, a fly enters his room and a simulacrum between the boss' life and the fly's struggle to overcome it's hardships is evident in the author's narrative.