Warm Ups for the week of February 13, 2017
1. Model Sentence: Twisting and punching and kicking, the two boys rolled across the floor.
Lois Duncan, A Gift of Magic
a. The winning team was laughing and yelling and celebrating.
b. The team cavorted.
c. The cavorting was inside the locker room.
Putting it together: _________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Making one for scratch: ______________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain the rules:
1. When a participle (ing verbs used to describe a noun) starts a sentence, it must be followed by a comma. We
talked a little about what would happen by reading the model sentence without the comma, making the
sentence sound as if the two boys were getting beat up until dissolving into confusion.
2. When using a participle( ing verbs describing a noun), you must place it next to the noun the participle is
describing. You may wish to explain how misplaced and dangling participles create confusion. The classic
example I like to use is Bob saw the house on fire while running down the street. You can also break the
second model sentence by saying something to the effect of: Laughing and yelling and celebrating, the locker
room was filled with the cavorting, winning team.
3. When a FANBOY (and, but, so, etc.) connects individual items, no commas are used. For example, Bob and Sue
and Bobby Sue were thrilled to learn about polysyndeton!
2. Model Sentence: As Seabiscuit broke from the gate, he was immediately bashed inward by Count Atlas, a
hopeless long shot emerging from the stall on Seabisucit’s right. Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American
Legend
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Something happened as the car backed out of the space.
What happened was that it was suddenly hit sideways.
The hit was by an oncoming truck.
The truck was a delivery pickup.
The pickup was coming from the alley behind the market.
Putting it together: _________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Making one for scratch: ______________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain the rules:
1. An introductory dependent clause (a clause that begins with an AAAWWUUBBIS) must be followed by a comma.
If you’re lucky, you get to learn usage rules.
2. Appositives ( words that follow a noun and rename the noun) are always set off with commas. Deer Park, the
second happiest place on Earth, has no deer.
3. Singular nouns show possession by adding an apostrophe s. ( The possessive case is not in the putting it together
sentence, so you may not need to discuss the rule, but you certainly can, particularly since so many of our
students continue to struggle with this rule.
4. Proper Nouns ( specific names of brands, titles, and individuals) are always capitalized.
Another Warm up Activity using Appositives
An appositive is a noun phrase that renames or further identifies a noun. Appositives always go immediately before or
after the noun it is identifying and are always set off with commas. Alliteration Alert! Appositives almost always begin
with an article (a, an, or, the) or a possessive pronoun (his, her, their)
Using the model sentence as your guide, combine each of the short sentences to form a single sentence that exactly
matches the syntax of the model sentence. Next, write an imitative sentence matching that also matches syntax of the
original. Also, underline the appositives in the model sentence, the putting together sentence and the making from
scratch sentence. Finally, answer the question at the end of the exercise. The first one has been completed for you.
1. Model: Gilly gave little William Ernest the most fearful face in all her collection of scary looks, a cross between
Count Dracula and Godzilla.
Katherine Paterson—The Great Gilly Hopkins.
Putting it together:
a. Stephen gave his big sister Karen something.
b. He gave her some tasty candies.
c. They were from his birthday party at the mall.
d. They were an assortment of creams and caramels.
Stephen gave his big sister Karen some tasty candies from his birthday at the mall, an assortment of creams and
caramels.
Making one from scratch:
Jim Bob gave crazy Sally Johnson the least awful painting from his gallery of bad ideas, a portrait of a poodle and a
beagle.
Why are poodle and beagle lowercase? Dog breeds are not capitalized. Only when a dog breed is named after a specific
location is it capitalized. German shepherd, English bulldog, etc.
2. Fudge, a portly little man in a long, pinstriped cloak, looked cold and exhausted.
JK. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
a. Nora was a sickly gray-haired woman in a shabby blue blouse.
b. She seemed surprised.
c. However, she was grateful.
Putting it together: _________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Making one for scratch: ______________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain the commas. What rule applies? _________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Why is there no comma before the and? ________________________________________________________
Making two more appositives.
Finally, he found what he was looking for, ______________________________________________________.
__________________________________________________________, he took little interest in troublesome
things, preferring to remain on good terms with everyone.