Language Arts Enrichment = A Logical Life

By Marlene Caroselli, Ed.D.

In this blog, we'll explore another grammatical concept that can help you lead a more logical life. We will look at pronouns and the words that govern their usage. Let's begin by looking at two types of pronouns:

Subject case pronouns: The pronouns "I, he, she, we, they" must be used if the verb that governs their usage is a weak verb. The weak verbs are any form of the verb "to be." Most of those have the word "be" or "been" in the verb (and so, are very easy to recognize). But five forms must be memorized because the verb is an irregular one--you can't see "be" or some form of it. Those five are "am, is, are, was, were."
 
Object case pronouns: The pronouns "me, him, her, us, them" must be used whenever a preposition governs their usage. These are the most common prepositions: "about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, but, by, concerning, down, during, except, for, from, in, into, like, of, off, on, over, past, since, through, throughout, to, toward, under, until, unto, up, upon, with, within, without."
 
With your child--perhaps even the whole family--read and re-read the above two paragraphs until you all have a solid understanding. Discuss the concepts presented and then......proceed to the quiz that will test your collective understanding. (Hint: Encircle the weak verb or preposition in each sentence as a first step.)
 
Pronoun Directions:  The following sentences may or may not contain errors. If you feel corrections are needed, indicate where pronouns should be changed.
1.   I can’t say with certainty, but the former committee head may have been her.
2.   Between you and I, word has it that Nancy is resigning.
3.   I predict the next general manager will be she.
4.  We’d be behind schedule without Lundy and he.
5.   It will no doubt be them who complain about the pay raises.
6.   The one who raised all that money was him.
7.   Mr. Brizend distributed the reports to we engineers.
8.   In the past, the culprits have been them.
9.   The boss sent out a memo about you and I and the volunteer work we’ve done.
10. For Secretary’s Day, Mr. Allison prepared a special event for Tami, Yolanda, and she.
 
If you didn't have a perfect score, our local SAT prep and Language Arts tutors can help. So can websites like the following. AP Stylebook, AskOxford.com, and the Chicago Manual of Style Online.

By the way, none of the sentences are correct, except #3. Here are the correct pronouns: 1. she; 2. me; 4. him; 5. they; 6. he; 7. us; 8. they; 9. me; 10. her.

Language Arts & A Logical Life: Part I

By Marlene Caroselli, Ed.D.

It's been said that the grammatical man leads a logical life. The rules of grammar are indeed logical. They bring structure to our sentences and afford a readability that would not be accessible without them.

Of course, there are reasons other than logic for being well-versed in grammatical precepts. For high school students, one of the most important reasons is relates to the SAT. More than 70% writing section is based on a knowledge of grammar.

In this blog, we will explore one rule and then test your (and your child's) understanding of it.

 Possessive pronouns never use an apostrophe.

So, "ours," "hers," "his," "theirs," and "its," when used to show possession, never require an apostrophe. It's pretty simple. But, the errors associated with this rule are frequent and--to a grammarian--horrifying. If you understand the rule, you are bound to do well on this test. (Take it at the same time your child takes it. Then compare your score with hers. A little bit of competition goes a long way toward making grammar fun.)

Encircle the word in parentheses that correctly completes the sentence.

1. The company announced (its', it's, its) new president.
2. I've completed my essay. She is late with (hers, her's, hers').
3. The school was proud of (its', it's, its) cheerleading team.
4. Our lunchroom serves great food--unlike (there's, theirs, their's).
5. If (there's, theirs, their's) lightning, (its', it's, its) probably going to rain.

Answers: Were you fooled by the one sentence that had no possession, but only contractions? That was the last sentence, the answers for which are "there's" and "it's,"

The first four sentences had possessive pronouns and therefore, according to the simple rule, should not be spelled with apostrophes. The answers:

"its," "hers," "its," "theirs."

Now, understanding this, isn't your life a wee bit more logical?


Check out  www.squidoo.com for more fun information on pronouns and call us at KnowledgePoints to see how we can help your child improve his/her grammar, both spoken and written.

SAT Prep: Improve Writing Scores With Expanded Vocabulary

It may surprise you--nay, it may even dishearten you--to learn about SAT research conducted by Dr. Les Perelman. In March 2004, he undertook an analysis of scored sample essays contained in the College Board's ScoreWrite book. He learned that, more than 90% of the time, the score could be predicted--just by counting the number of words in the essay.

Unthinkable, you say? Consider this. Dr. Perelman next trained high school students to write essays with "big words" in them. Those students who employed less-frequently used words received scores of 10 or higher, making their essays fall into the 92+ percentile.

The lesson is clear--at least according to Dr. Perelman's research: the better your child's vocabulary, the better he will do on the writing section of the SAT.

At KnowledgePoints, our tutors train students to do more than use arcane words--they also develop new appreciation for language and the beauty of both its concrete and abstract expressions. You can reinforce SAT preparation at home as well. How? Let us count the ways.

1. Find some appropriate blogs that will expose your child to new words and new appreciation of language. We can recommend "Schott's Vocab - A miscellany of modern words and phrases," appearing in the NY Times online publication. For example, in his November 10, 2010 post, guest blogger Jonathon Keats (he writes the "Jargon Watch" column for Wired magazine) explores concepts like "sexualized nouns" and "epidemic conjugation."
2. Discuss with your child a historical figure whom she really admires. Then, find a speech that individual wrote. Study the construction of sentences and the precise selection of "les mots justes," the words chosen, instead of their synonyms, for their ability to convey exactly what the author meant.
3. At least once a month, review an essay your child has written. Together, look for synonyms in a Thesaurus and debate why one word is preferable to another. Stop long enough in your synonym-search to look up the meanings of words that are new.

And, take to heart the words of motivational speaker Jim Rohn, "Vocabulary enables us to interpret and to express. If you have a limited vocabulary, you will also have a limited vision and a limited future."

Can Your Child Meet the College Challenge?

By Marlene Caroselli, Ed.D

Many a parent worries about his or her child getting in to college. Then, the worry becomes, "Can my child get out of college?" In other words, is the child sufficiently prepared to handle the college curriculum for four years and wind up with an undergraduate degree?

Unfortunately, in all too many cases, the answer to both questions is a resounding no. In her blog of October 19. 2010 "Cutting Shakespeare for Stephanie Meyer,"  author Stephanie Porowski bemoans the fact that students are not being challenged. In fact the average readability for the top 40 texts read by high school students shows those texts are on a middle school level!

What's a parent to do?

You know what the classics are.  At Think Tutoring, so do we. In fact, when we work with high school students to improve their reading ability, we use challenging material. Our tutors are not afraid of high standards. And for those students who accept the challenge and complete the program, there is an average 1.5 grade level improvement and an average reading speed of 80 words a minute.

These results are obtained by studying the classics from authors such as Mary Shelly and Edgar Allen Poe. They are more challenging, of course, than reading about vampires, but colleges expect incoming students to be able to handle such challenges.

In addition to giving your child the opportunity to work with our highly trained tutors, you can encourage your child to read the classics on his own, if his school curriculum has more Meyer than Melville. You may wish to start with smaller books or even passages from the longer ones. (The Internet will easily provide lists of the greatest books ever written.) As you discuss the passages (and, in time, the books in their entirety), try to draw parallels to situations facing us today.

Another option: you can always work with your child's school in the hope the English teachers will offer more classics. After all, you have your child's future to think about and that future, ideally, will not include having her take remedial classes once she gets to college.

Football great Terry Bradshaw acknowledges that "when you've got something to prove, there's nothing greater than a challenge ." Your child will need to prove to his college professors that she can meet their academic challenges. Start challenging her today in preparation.

The Think Tutoring High School Reading Program provides students in the Florham Park area, which includes East Hanover, Whippany, Morristown, Livingston and Madison, with a challenging, literary-rich curriculum, expertly delivered by state-certified teachers.  Call 973-593-0050 to learn more.

Improve Reading Comprehension Through Expanded Vocabulary

Famed mystery writer Elmore Leonard, asked about his sparse style, explained it this way: "I try to leave out the parts that people skip." Indeed, whole sections of fiction can be omitted....IF one is reading for pleasure. On the other hand, if one is reading a fictional passage and will be tested for comprehension of it, speed reading or passage-skipping is not the best way to go.

At Think Tutoring, we teach students about the various types of reading matter they encounter and the attention to be paid to the various types. Tutors in our reading programs help students make such assessments so they read carefully and comprehensively when the material demands they do.

Of course, the more vocabulary words a reader knows, the more quickly he can read through the material and the better he can understand it. In a blog  titled Vocabulary Study: Conscious Study and Unconscious Learning on October 21, 2010, the author talks about conscious and "unconscious" absorption of information. Often we make intuitive leaps about knowledge because we have had some exposure to the new material before. In other words, we are able to make an educated guess as to meaning, or an intuitive leap of intellect in our understanding of the passage.

For example, a reader can sometimes understand a totally new word because of the context in which it appears. To illustrate, it's not really hard to tell what the word "quidnunc" means in the following (even though you don't know what it means as you read it in this paragraph).

Because of his incessant willingness to gossip, Kyle
has rightfully earned the title of a "quidnunc."

On other occasions, we can assume the meaning of a word--especially when we hear it--if we possess a full understanding of a particular form of the word. One of the best things you can do to expand your child's vocabulary is to help her move effortlessly among the parts of speech for a given word. For example, your child may not know the word "concision." However, if you present it like this, the meaning is clear.

Adjective:  precise
Noun:       precision
Adjective: concise
Noun:       concision

Readers with limited vocabularies have to stop and analyze words--or skip them entirely. Either way, their speed and comprehension of a given passage will be negatively impacted.

Listen and look for interesting (nda somewhat rare) forms of a given word. Help your child realize that "tornadic" (tor NAD ic) comes from a word he already knows: "tornado." Your examples will build the confidence that makes reading pleasurable and readers proficient.

KnowledgePoints, located in Florham Park, and serving surrounding towns of Madison, East Hanover, Livingston, and Whippany offers  curriculum-based reading programs for students of all grade levels.