Thursday, 3/18/04 -- Eighth Grade
By the end of the period, you should: a) be able to ID fragments and run-ons.  b) be able to define and recognize a gerund and a participle. c) recognize and fix a dangling participle. d) get 6/8 correct on the reading for information practice.
Warm Up I. Copy.
  1. * student : class :: ___________ : conspiracy
  2. * "away pull" = _________
  3. * can't : contraction :: Kino : _______
  4. * "together to place" = ________
Warm Up II. FRO? Fragment" Run-on? Correct as is?
  1. Then I attended Morris Junior High. A junior high that was a bad experience.
  2. He talked for fifty minutes without taking his eyes off his notes. Like other teachers in that department, he did not encourage students' questions.
  3. Within each group, a wide range of features to choose from. It was difficult to distinguish between them.
  4. It can be really embarrassing to be so emotional. Especially when you are on your first date, you feel that you should be in control.
  5. I didn't know which job I wanted and I was too confused to decide.
  6. They were all having a good time. Until one of Joe's oldest and best friends had a little too much to drink.
  7. As Christmas grows near, I find myself looking back into my childhood days at fun-filled times of snowball fights. To think about this makes me happy.
  8. They weren't dangerous criminals they were detectives in disguise.
Gerunds and Participles. (Collect Blue Sheet.)
I. Verbals. Gerund vs. Participle vs. Verb.
Gerund: Verb ending in ing that acts like a noun.
Participle: Verb that acts like an adjective. (Present: -ing, Past: ed, en, weird)
  • He was laughing all summer
  • The laughing man did no work.
  • The man enjoyed laughing.
  • Verb (past part.)
  • Adjective -- Participle
  • Noun -- Gerund
II. Practice. ID the verbal, and say whether it is a gerund or a participle.
  1. Joe bought all the stuff for building a boat.
  2. He said the spotted owl tasted like chicken.
  3. Flunking English was a mistake.
  4. Mr. Coward was disappointed in the flunking student.
  5. He called the neighbors on Maple Street a bunch of frightened rabbits.
  6. My mom didn't deliver the promised reward.
III. Dangling Participles. a) What's the participle? b) Fix the sentence. If it's correct as is, write correct.
  1. Having arrived late again for school, a note was needed.
  2. Not having studied the instructions, the lab experiment was a failure.
  3. Having read the directions carefully, I did fine with my experiment.
  4. Freed from the responsibilities of school, my home should be a place I can relax.
Reading for Information II.
A) Read p388 with tips for answering multiple choice questions. Do the reading check on the margin of p388. B) "Miners, Ranchers, and Cowhands" Read p352-353 and do what it says.  C) Then CLOSE YOUR BOOK, and do the questions below:
  1. The Great Plains was the area... a) from the Mississippi River to what is now California.  b) from Tennessee to Kansas.  c) from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains.  d) west of the Mississippi.
  2. Nat Love... a) was a rodeo star.  b) was a former slave.  c) claims to have been shot 14 times.  d) was a cowhand. e) all of the above.  f) none of the above.
  3. True or False. The frontier of the mid-1800s was not populated at all.
  4. True or False. Nat Love's story was typical of cowboys who settled in the West.
  5. Name one of the "jumping-off places" for settlers going west.
  6. True or False. Settlers were attracted by the wide open spaces of the Great Plains.
  7. (In) the area west of the Rockies...a) settlers followed miners streaming into California after the 1849 gold rush.  b) settlers filled the empty coastline.  c) was the scene of the frontier.  d) was full of cowboys.
  8. Miners, ranchers, and cowhands settled in the West because they were looking for... a) freedom from.  b) economic opportunity.  c) land.  d) lack of laws.