Assignment #2

Everyone did a great job today -- pat yourselves on the back! We discussed some common grammar errors, and put our focus on word order and the present tense today. Everyone wrote about the ingredients for their own perfect day in class, and in lab put in corrections on the "Best and Worst" essays from last week.

This week:
1) Do the take-home handout on sentence word order, and bring it to class next week.

2) Write about at least one of the following topics:
- Your pet peeve. What is your pet peeve? Explain, and give an example. The beginning of the essay might be, "Life in the US is great, but I do have one pet peeve: ________________" or "I don't usually get upset, but there is one thing I hate: ________"
Here is Liz's example:
I am usually an easygoing person. Really, I take pride in my ability to not let others bother me.  But there is one thing that drives me crazy: Drivers who don't use their blinkers.  When I am sitting at a corner and waiting for a car to go by, and then the car ends up turning instead, I feel really irritated. It is not the fact that I have just wasted 5-10 seconds of my very precious time waiting for nothing. It is not even a problem, really, of the person being a bad driver.  What it comes down to is that I feel snubbed - like a friend has walked by and not said hello.   Don't they see that I was waiting for them?  Even though it is quite unreasonable, something inside of me feels distressed by this. I want to shout, "Hello! Don't you see me?" I know it will continue to happen, and that somehow I must find the strength inside to keep driving, in spite of the fact that, at any moment, on any given day, at any time, someone see me waiting, make me wait longer, and turn without signaling.  Ah.  Such is life for the easily injured.


- A folktale: either a retelling of a story from your country, or your own original folktale. Folktales are usually written in the past tense. They often start with, "Once upon a time," or, "Long, long ago..."To see an example of what a student from another class wrote, see Oanh's Blog, "How to Get Rich Quick".

3) Do the quia grammar practice activities - WEEK TWO. (See link on the right)

4) Spelling by grades: LISTEN to the Grade One words and practice spelling them. NEXT WEEK you can take the Grade One spelling test in class!

5) Practice typing - let me know when you finsih one lesson and go on to the next. (Send me an email.) Do this 3 times, 20 min. each time.
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Our inspirational quote for the week, shared by Victoria in class:
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” (-Author Unknown)
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To answer our question about using "etc." at the end of the sentence:

According to Wikipedia, at the end of a sentence it should be followed by a period as in ", et cetera." or ", etc." or indicated by three periods (an ellipsis) as in:
We need a lot of fruit: apples, bananas, oranges...

SUMMARY: ONE dot or THREE dots are OK, but not TWO!

Good luck, writers - I'm looking forward to reading what you write. Email me with any questions: efalconer@rtc.edu.