12/16 Gerund/Infinitive Reinforcement

Gerund or Infinitive – Fill in the correct form.

1. Mary enjoys ___________________ to music. (listen)

2. I don’t mind ___________________ the washing up. (do)

3. Irregular verbs are not easy ___________________ . (remember)

4. Mathew is really good at ___________________ . (cook)

5. She waited ___________________ a movie ticket. (buy)

6. The doctor encouraged his patients ___________________ healthy food. (eat)

7. My flat is easy ___________________ . (find)

8. She is interested in ___________________ a doctor. (become)

9. He is saving money ___________________ a new car. (buy)

10. When I met her I couldn’t help ___________________ her. (hug)

11. My favorite hobby is ___________________ . (cook)

12. My father helped me ___________________ my homework. (do)

13. I’m sick of ___________________ hamburgers every day. (eat)

14. It is important ___________________ the net for more information. (surf)

15. She advised me ___________________ a doctor as soon as possible. (see)

16. I don’t feel like ___________________ English today. (study)

17. Isabel got Mike ___________________ her car (wash)

18. ___________________ sport every day is good for your health. (do)

19. At last they decided ___________________ the apartment. (rent)

20. I pretended ___________________ asleep. (be)

21. Sheila stopped ___________________ hello to her friends. (say)

22. It’s no use ___________________ over spilt milk. (cry)

23. The following questions are easy ___________________ . (answer)

24. She told us where ___________________ the necessary material. (find)

25. Would you mind ___________________ this letter for me? (post)

26. They suggested ___________________ by bus. (travel)

27. We plan ___________________ to Europe this summer(go)

28. It was hard for her ___________________ smoking. (quit)

29. We were all happy about ___________________ the New Year in Vienna. (celebrate)

30. It seems difficult ___________________ everything about the topic. (know)

31. Just avoid ___________________ unnecessary mistakes. (make)

32. Can you imagine ___________________ my car before we leave? (finish)

33. We are used ___________________ up early in the morning. (get)

34. She enjoys ___________________ . (paint)

35. I forgot ___________________ the door when I left. (lock)

36. I regret ___________________ you that your application was rejected. (inform)

37. We intend ___________________ you next spring. (visit)

38. I decided ___________________ more often. (exercise)

39. Mary keeps ___________________ about her problems. (talk)

40. Ireland doesn’t allow ___________________ in bars. (smoke)

41. Nancy seemed ___________________ disappointed. (be)

42. I can’t bear ___________________ so much responsibility. (have)

43. She is fond of ___________________ picnics. (have)

44. She promised ___________________ smoking. (stop)

45. They urge their citizens ___________________ more waste. (recycle)

46. John is thinking about ___________________ abroad. (study)

47. She considered ___________________ to New York. (move)

48. The aquarium needs ___________________ . (clean)

49. Tom agrees ___________________ me. (help)

50. She warned him ___________________ late. (not be)

12/15 Gerunds and Infinitives

Today, students watched the following video and completed the two exercises in the video.  They then went on to complete a worksheet on gerunds and infinitives.  You will find the questions below.  

In the blank space, insert the gerund or the infinitive form of the verb in parentheses.

1) I don't fancy  (go) out tonight.

2) She avoided  (tell) him about her plans.

3) I would like  (come) to the party with you.

4) He enjoys  (have) a bath in the evening.

5) She kept  (talk) during the film.

6) I am learning  (speak) English.

7) Do you mind  (give) me a hand?

8) She helped me  (carry) my suitcases.

9) I've finished  (cook) - come and eat!

10) He decided  (study) biology.

11) I dislike  (wait).

12) He asked  (come) with us.

13) I promise  (help) you tomorrow.

14) We discussed  (go) to the cinema, but in the end we stayed at home.

15) She agreed  (bring) the pudding to the dinner.

16) I don't recommend  (take) the bus - it takes forever!

17) We hope  (visit) Amsterdam next month.

18) She suggested  (go) to the museum.

19) They plan  (start) college in the autumn.

20) I don't want  (leave) yet.

12/8 - 12/10 Parallel Structure

Today students watched this video in class that will help them understand parallel structure.

I then had them look at the rules that they should follow when trying to identify if a sentence has parallel structure or nonparallel structure.

They then worked collaboratively, with a partner, to correct the sentences on a worksheet that I gave them.

Here are the rules:

For Finding and Fixing Errors in Parallel Structure

Understand the problem.

For a list of actions or items, you must maintain parallel structure. To do this, use equal grammatical units. If the first item is a noun, then the following items must also be nouns; if the first item is a verb, then make the other items verbs as well.

Nonparallel structure looks like this:

At the garden store, Larissa bought  ,  , and .

At the garden store, Larissa bought plastic pink flamingos, ceramic gnomes, and then she impulsively added a concrete mermaid to her cart.

Parallel structure, the correct way to write, looks like this:

At the garden store, Larissa bought  ,  , and .

At the garden store, Larissa  ,  , and .

At the garden store, Larissa bought plastic pink flamingos, ceramic gnomes, and a concrete mermaid.

At the garden store, Larissa bought plastic pink flamingos, rescued ceramic gnomes from the sale bin, and impulsively added a concrete mermaid to her cart.

Know the solution.

Once you discover a nonparallel item, you have two options. First, you can make it conform to the other grammatical items in the sentence. Look at this example:

We spent the hour in the waiting room reading old magazines, eating stale cookies from the vending machine, and we wiggled on the hard plastic chairs.

Reading old magazines and eating stale cookies are participle phrases; we wiggled ..., however, is a main clause. If we fix the nonparallel item, the sentence looks like this:

We spent the hour in the waiting room reading old magazines, eating stale cookies from the vending machine, and wiggling on the hard plastic chairs.

Or we can alter the first two items and have this version instead:

In the waiting room, we read old magazines, ate stale cookies from the vending machine, and wiggled on the hard plastic chairs.

Recognize these special cases.

Not only ... but also, either ... or, and neither ... nor all require special attention when you are proofreading for parallelism. These correlative conjunctions require equal grammatical units after both parts of the conjunction. You can have two main clauses like this:

Not only did Jerome buy flowers for his mother, but he also purchased a bouquet for Yolanda, his wife.

For a shorter sentence, use two prepositional phrases:

Jerome bought flowers not only for his mother but also for Yolanda, his wife.

Or you can have two nouns as this version does:

Jerome bought flowers for not only his mother but also Yolanda, his wife.

Here is the worksheet:

Name Date
Parallel Structure – Exercise 1

Directions: Determine whether the sentences below contain errors in parallel structure. Fix any
problems that you find.

1. Monica brewed espresso, steamed milk, and told jokes as she prepared Mike’s latte.

2. Natasha tried holding her breath, chewing a piece of gum, and poking her belly, but she could not quiet her empty stomach, which rumbled during the chemistry exam.

3. In the restroom, Tishena was brushing her hair, freshened her lip-gloss, and took deep breaths, trying to work up the courage to walk to her first speech class.

4. Celine looked behind the toilet, in the laundry basket, and checked under the bed, but she could not find Squeeze, her nine-foot albino python.

5. Not only did Dennis apply an extra layer of deodorant to his armpits, but he also polished each tooth with special care. He did not want to offend Malinda with any unpleasant odors.

6. For his first date with Malinda, Dennis bought not only a dozen roses but he also purchased a box of chocolates.

7. Not only did Malinda squeal at the sight of the beautiful bouquet, but she also was tearing open the box and eating chocolates all the way to the restaurant.

8. Dennis tried to be thoughtful and generous, yet Malinda refused to give him not only a kiss good night but also a single chocolate from the nut and caramel sampler.

9. Chelsea had to paddle past a school of jellyfish, kick a small sand shark in the nose, and untangle seaweed from her surfboard before she reached her favorite point break.

10. Spiders that bite, hissing snakes, and squealing rodents fill the aquariums in Desmond’s basement.

11. Class with Dr. Rogers was a nightmare: the clock seemed stuck in place, the air conditioner blew inadequate cool, and a fluorescent bulb buzzed overhead.

12. Ernie is too noisy as a seatmate. Crunching on apple slices, slurping hot coffee, and the rings of his notebook snapped open and shut all contribute to the cacophony.

13. Neither the scowls from her neighbors nor the disapproval of her husband will deter Larissa from painting her house hot pink with orange and white trim.

14. Larissa will either add a flock of plastic pink flamingos, or she will purchase a family of ceramic gnomes for the front lawn.

15. Until the Weavers arrived home at 5 p.m., the clock ticked, the refrigerator hummed, and the dog snoring in the otherwise quiet house.

16. Jessica has found that neither background music nor potato chips make writing her research essay any easier.

17. Mark looked under the bed, in the hamper, and he even searched his brother’s closet, but he could not find his favorite University of Florida T-shirt.

18. After you eat tuna salad from the campus cafeteria, not only will your stomach rumble, but you will also sneeze for hours from the generous addition of MSG.

19. Natalia blinked her eyes, she wiped her glasses, and then squinted at the screen, but she could not decipher the small text crammed onto the presentation slide.

20. Neither the unhappy man with the cold soup nor the irate woman with an empty glass of iced tea could get Gloria’s attention, for this waitress was too busy flirting with Jose.

©1997 - 2014 by Robin L. Simmons

All Rights Reserved.

On 12/10 we exchanged papers and corrected them.

12/3-5 "The Street" by Ann Petry

Today we read more about figurative language from our grammar books.

 Students were to write three similes or metaphor or any combination of the two using one word from column A and one word from Column B.  They can use the words more than once.

Students read the story in pairs and then completed Exercise 4 #s 1-5.

Students then were given a worksheet on writing an essay on this article, using examples from the text.  You will find it below.  

This is how one would write an essay analyzing this text.  Students are not expected to write the Introduction and Conclusion as they are already given.  Instead, they will concentrate on the body paragraphs.  There are a few corrections for the worksheet though.  In the fourth paragraph...it mentions figurative language, specifically metaphors and similes, well, there are no metaphors or similes in this excerpt.  Instead, students will write a second paragraph using imagery.  The first imagery paragraph, I wrote...students should use this as a reference.  

     Petry uses visual imagery to describe the violent nature of the wind, “as it rattles the tops of the garbage cans.”  With the use of this imagery, the reader imagines the intense danger the pedestrians are encountering.  Further illustrating the wind’s fury, Petry makes “the wind wrap newspapers around the pedestrian’s feet” making it challenging for the people to continue with their daily lives. 

This is the first body paragraph for the essay.  Students will compose body paragraphs 3 and 4 for this essay.  The first should discuss and give two examples of personification used by the author and how each example affects the reader.  

The second body paragraph (since there are no similes and metaphors) should be another paragraph on imagery.  Students should choose different examples and different affects on the reader.  

12/2 Reading practice

I was out today, but students completed a reading assignment where they read and article and then answered questions.

12/1 Revisiting Antigone Anticipation Guide

Today I gave students the questions from the Anticipation Guide that we did at the beginning of the unit.  I asked them to look at the questions again, and re-answer, them using strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree.  Then I returned their original Anticipation Guides to them and they compared and contrasted them.  They looked to see if any of their opinions had changed and reflected on why they changed.  If none of their answers changed, they were to choose one of the questions and use examples from the text to support their claim.

Here are the questions again:

_______________1. Doing what you think is right is more important than following the

                                     law.  

 

_______________2.   It is impossible to change your fate.

_______________3. Being loyal to your family is more important than your loyalty to the

 government.

 

_______________4. It is okay to lie if telling the truth will hurt someone.

  

_______________5. Deliberately breaking the law is necessary.

_______________6.  A leader is only as good as he is popular and liked.

 

_______________7.  You should never go back on your word or promise.

_______________8. A good citizen is patriotic, loyal and never questions the government’s

                                      authority.