Tuesday, 1/8 - The day formerly known as "Cheesy Tuesday"!

"The grammar force is strong with you, young Jedi."

A long time ago in a galaxy . . . in which you now dwell, certain English teachers used to call Tuesdays, "Cheesy Tuesdays," in honor of Pleasure Pizza's $1 slice of cheese pizza, offered exclusively on Tuesdays. This moniker soon became known as "Cheeseday," the day on which, due to a shortened schedule, we would engage in studying the rustic, gentle, yet powerful ways of the English Jedi and their insistence upon acquiring a force called grammar. These Jedi ways we want to bring back in full force every Cheeseday. Hence, today we introduce G.U.M.S.--Grammar, Usage, Mechanics, and Style--to help you hone your Jedi writing skills at the most basic level. 

Today we want you to (re)learn the art of the apostrophe, both when to use them and when to abstain (we decided this with the woeful misuses on your Hamlet ICEs . . . note that there is no apostrophe in ICEs since ICE is merely plural and not possessive). 

• Grammar

• Read and take notes (in the Grammar section of your binder) on Bedford 36:   
• copy all numbered rules in blue and write one example of your own
• do Exercise 36-1 (the exercise at the end of rule 36e)

• Usage (copy down in the Grammar section of your binder and write out a sentence of your own for each word below) 
• there, their, they’re
• There is an adverb specifying place (There has the word here in it); it is also an expletive. 

• Adverb: Han Solo is lying there unconscious in the clutches of carbonite.
• Expletive: There are two light sabres left.  
• Their is a possessive pronoun (An heir is someone who possesses a future fortune).  
• As Han Solo descended into the carbon freezing chamber, he and Princess Leia finally confessed their love:
• Leia: "I love you!"
• Han: "I know"   
• They’re is a contraction of they are (They're has the word they in it). 
• They’re stronger in the force than we originally thought.
  

With any time remaining, begin reading and taking notes on John Milton's Paradise Lost. See link from yesterday's blog entry.

HW: Finish grammar assignments above (Apostrophe rules and Ex 36-1) - due block day