Good day. I hope you are feeling well, and that you enjoyed yourself over the weekend.
Today we have several things to do: review the essay work assigned last– using process description or cause/effect as means of approach and organization; review the use of conditional and subjunctive verb tense and go on to address some matters of pronoun use; practice use of summary and quotation. Finally, I will have you write a short essay in class on one of the topics listed below.
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Midterm essay: compose a one-paragraph essay of about 200 words. The main idea or topic sentence should be clear. Readers expect you to make a clear point and not to wonder if they have missed something. If the main idea is stated directly (explicitly) in the essay, underline it. If it is implicit (i.e. not stated anywhere but clearly implied from all you've written), write it below the finished essay. The bulk of the paragraph should develop the topic idea by means of description, specific details and examples, brief narration, commentary and observation (your thoughts on the matter), and so on. Provide enough support to carry your point well. The opening sentence should provide a smooth lead-in and/or statement of the essay's central idea (topic idea). The final sentences should be winding up the discussion to provide a sense of finish.
To summarize and practice using quotation:
Title the essay.
Here are the prompts for the essay, with the final one open to your own inclinations. Choose only one of the topics. Remember, you will have one major point to make and support, building the essay around this point (topic or thesis).
1. Walking Home–description and narration.
2. An unwelcome guest–description and narration.
3. A challenging moment–description and narration.
4. A healthy diet–definition and description.
5. Going out on a limb–the risks and rewards.
6. An inspiring person or idea.
7. A recent discovery.
8. Any topic you would like to explore in this one-paragraph essay.
I will collect the papers at the end of the class. Do not use the Internet for content in this essay.
Homework Essay #6: In 350 words (or more), you are to explore a hypothetical situation, which will require using the subjunctive mood and conditional (modal) tense forms. Imagine that you had been born under or into circumstances other than those you were born into; for example, a different place and/or historical era, a different family, a different body (or species), and so on. Describe what your childhood would have been like, what your present life might be like, and what you imagine happening in your future in these changed circumstances. Three paragraphs: one to the past, one to the present, and one to the future you will here envision.
You might start in this way: Had I been born an only child, instead of being born the fifth child of six, I might have got more attention than I did. I might have been spoiled! My parents, particularly my mother, had little time and attention to spare, afterall . . .
Review the class handout and verb tense sequencing here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/1/ and here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/07/
