EVERYTHING YOU
NEED TO ACE
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
ARTS
IN ONE BIG
FAT NOTEBOOK
Flexibound paperback
5⅞" x 8" • 496 pages
$14.95 U.S. • Higher in Canada
978-0-7611-6091-5 • No. 16091
Coming
August
2016
CLAUSES
A
CLAUSE is a group of words that includes at least a
subject and verb. A clause always contains a subject that acts
through a verb. That’s a pretty wide category! But clauses are
categorized into two groups to help us work with them.
How to tell
clauses and phrases apart
* A phrase doesn’t have a subject that acts
through a verb.
* A clause DOES have a subject that acts
through a verb.
Independent Clauses
INDEPENDENT CLAUSES are clauses that stand alone.
Example:
I went to the bonfire after the game.
"I went to the bonfire” is a stand-alone sentence, and thus
an independent clause.
Dependent Clauses
DEPENDENT CLAUSES are clauses that can’t stand alone.
Example:
When the circus gets to town,
we’ll go to see the elephants.
TYPES OF DEPENDENT CLAUSES
Examples:
PHRASE
In the nick of time
NO V ERB, SO IT’S A P HRASE
Tripping merrily along
NO SUBJ ECT, SO IT’S A P HRASE
26
" W H EN TH E
CIRCUS G ETS TO
TOWN ” IS NOT
A SENTENCE.
There are three types of dependent clauses:
CLAUSE
NOUN CLAUSE:
a dependent clause that acts like a noun
before the summer ended
TH E “SUMM ER ” IS DOING SOM ETHING—
IT’S EN DING—SO IT’S A CL AUSE.
Because the wolf hid out in
the forest
TH E WOLF IS DOING
SOM ETHING—IT’S HI DING—
SO IT’S A CL AUSE.
A CL AUSE
N EV ER
ACTS L IKE
A V ERB.
ADJECTIVE CLAUSE: a dependent clause that
acts like an adjective
ADVERB CLAUSE: a dependent clause that acts
like an adverb
27
Chapter 10
FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
Example:
Instead of writing, “It’s
raining hard out there,” we
might write, “It’s raining
cats and dogs.” We don’t
mean that puppies and
kit tens are
LITERALLY
falling from the sky.
So why would we write it that way?
Well, it’s more interesting. People
will pay more at tention to what
we’re saying . . . and be more likely to
remember it. That’s called RHETORICAL
FORCE: the way we use words to make
our points interesting and memorable.
But it’s important to be able to recognize
FIGURES OF SPEECH
A FIGURE OF SPEECH is when we use language that isn’t
LITERAL, straightforward, or factual. A figure of speech is
the difference between figurative and literal language,
otherwise we might think cats and dogs are literally falling
from the sky.
the opposite of LITERAL LANGUAGE, which states the facts,
Personification
and nothing but the facts.
PERSONIFICATION is a figure of speech that pretends
that something that isn’t human has human qualities.
84
85
CHRONOLOGICAL
STRUCTURE
One way to differentiate between the types of text is to
look for these signal words:
organizes events by
when they happened.
PROCESS STRUCTURE
explains the series of actions or
how they happen.
Text Type
This structure
often overlaps with
chronological and
cause and effect
structures.
Purpose
Signal Words
in comparison
by contrast
COMPARE
Shows how two
similarly
AND
or more things
but
CONTRAST
are similar and/
on the other hand
or different
on the contrary
CAUSE AND EFFECT
STRUCTURE
yet
describes an action or event
however
and its consequences.
despite
as opposed to
PROBLEM AND SOLUTION
STRUCTURE
explains a problem and
offers a solution.
A piece of
writing can
blend or
combine these
structures as
well.
first
next
CHRONOLOGICAL
Shows the order
then
OR
or ranking of a
before
PROCESS
series of actions
after
number labels
DESCRIPTION STRUCTURE
last
gives an account of something
finally
by offering the relevant details,
let ter labels
characteristics, and information.
314
315
Major Sections
In an
ARGUMENT, the major sections are:
The major sections of a piece of writing are the big pieces
that make up the whole.
In a
INTRODUCTION OF THE ARGUMENT
NEWS ARTICLE, the major sections are:
HEADLINE: the big title that appears above the article
LEAD (or LEDE): the first lines of the article,
which contain the main idea
MAIN POINT
TWO
The number of
main points
can vary
BODY: contains the elaboration and details of the
MAIN
POINT
ONE
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
SUPPORTING
EVIDENCE
Some teachers call this warrants
or the explanation of the evidence that
connects it to the grounds.
CONCLUSION
main idea
In a
BIOGRAPHY, the major sections often are:
Generally, news articles are structured like this:
INTRODUCTION
OF THE PERSON
DESCRIPTION OF
HIS/HER EARLY LIFE
HIS/HER MOST IMPORTANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS/
MAJOR EVENTS IN LIFE
HIS/HER EFFECTS OR IMPACT ON SOCIETY
AND HISTORY
318
319
Chapter 29
WRITING
PRACTICES
Development
There are three questions to think about to develop an idea
1. TASK: What do you want to write? (Or what have
you been assigned to write?)
EXAMPLE: write a
business plan for your
soccer team fundraiser
2. PURPOSE: Why do you want to write it?
You want to write something, but
EXAMPLE: to get enough money from your friends,
where do you start?
family, and community to rent a van to travel to a
You start with
DEVELOPMENT.
state competition
There are two stages of
development:
1. Planning: laying the initial plans
writing to?
2. Revising: going over the initial plans and making
EXAMPLE: your friends, family,
any necessary changes
and local business owners
DEVELOPMENT
the planning that goes into
a writing project before you
begin writing.
354
3. AUDIENCE: Who are you
Just think of these
three key question
words when you are in
development to focus
your task, purpose,
and audience:
WHAT?
WHY?
WHO?
You may even want to jot down the answers to these
questions before starting to write. You can keep the answers
in front of you as a reminder of how you must write.
355