Final Grammar Practice

Put commas where necessary.

The man in the long black coat stood somberly in the corner.

Robert is a warm gentle father.

People who obtain a college degree tend to earn more money than those that don't.

Langston Hughes who was a poet during the Harlem Renaissance wrote poetry that was concerned with racial pride and social justice.




Put commas, colons, and semicolons where necessary.


The weather this week may include hailstorms sun showers and overcast skies.

I am eager to read a number of books this summer The Ministry of Bad Taste by Jonathan Franzen Wolfe Hall by Hillary Mantel and Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre.



Are the following sentences grammatically correct?  If not, fix them.

Most lions at night hunt for medium sized prey, such as zebra.

Many students graduate with debt from college totaling more than fifty thousand dollars.

Though not eligible for the clinical trial, John was still able to gain access to an experimental drug.



Identify the verbal phrases in the following sentences.

To live without health insurance is risky.


Last night we saw a play, written with profound insight into the lives of immigrants, that affected us deeply.

The girls swimming in the Atlantic were stung by jellyfish.

Rationalizing a fear can eliminate it.

Lizards usually enjoy sunning themselves.

TEWWG - 15-17

Here is a document with questions.

Final Exam Review Document

Here is a review document for your final exam.


Here is a document with reading practice.

Grammar Review Document

Here is a document to review the Q4 grammar.

TEWWG: The Tea Cake Chapter

Tea Cake is a complex character.  What are three distinct adjectives you would use to describe him?  Identify a specific incident with a direct quotation from Chapter 13 of 14 to support your claim.


What is an adjective that you would use to describe Janie and Tea Cake's life together?  Again, cite a specific quotation from Chapter 13 or 14 that supports your claim.



Do you think Janie is happy she ran off with Tea Cake?  What evidence do you have to support your idea?

IXL Work for Review

10H English IXL Grammar Work

username:  firstnamelastname651 ex: laurentarantino651

Password: 1234

Under Grade 9:

participles N1

gerunds N2

restrictive/nonrestrictive info (same as essential/nonessential) B1 B2

semicolons, colons, commas C1 C2 C3

Under Grade 10:

misplaced modifiers W1

parallel structure U1

TEWWG - Quote Analysis

Here are some quotations for analysis.

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Opening Questions

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Getting Acquainted with the Text

How do the porch sitters in TEWWG reflect society’s views at the time?  What specific social mores do they reflect?

How do Janie and her grandmother reflect different visions of women at the time?  Identify a quote that establishes each character’s view.

At the end of Chapter 3, Hurston writes, “Janie knew now that marriage did not make love.  Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (25).

According to this passage, what does it mean to be a woman?

What was Janie’s first dream?  Are her expectations unrealistic?

Real Life Connections

Read the following article from the New York Times that discusses real world implications for characters and themes from Othello.

Literary Essay: Intro and Conclusion

Here is a document that explains some strategies for introductions and conclusions.

Literary Essay: Body Paragraph Guide

Use the following document to help you craft the body paragraphs of your literary essay.

Grammar Practice: Misplaced Modifiers

Here is a document to help you practice identifying and fixing misplaced and dangling modifiers.

Othello Performance Packet

Click here for the performance packet.

Othello Literary Essay

Click here for the descriptor and due dates.

Reading Act 4 of Othello: Signposts

Click here for an explanation of signposts and how they help us in our reading.

Ideas for Othello Literary Essay

Click here for some note taking ideas for a literary essay on Othello.  As you complete future log entries, you may want to begin to focus your logs on some particular aspect of the play.

Close Reading of Othello 1.3

Click here for a close reading activity for 1.3.

Background Information for Understanding Othello

We will explore the following topics as a means of better understanding the conflicts and characters in Othello.

-Black Africans in Renaissance Europe
What were the stereotypes?  How many were there?  How much social/economic/job related mobility did they have?
-Turks during the Renaissance
Who were they?  What facts and details are most significant to know/understand?  What was their relationship to Europeans?  What were they like as a military power?
-Cyprus during the Renaissance
Find basic facts and images.
-Venice during the Renaissance
Find basic facts and images.  What was Venice like as a military power?
-The Moors
Who were they?  Where did they come from?  How were they received?  Images?
-Women during the Renaissance
How were women regarded?  Was there equality?  What role did women play?

Odyssey/Cold Mountain Compare/Contrast

Click here for an explanation and model for how you draw comparisons between the two texts.


Here is the rubric for the compare/contrast essay.

Odyssey Reading

Book 4 "The King and Queen of Sparta" pages 129-133,  lines 185 - 331

Telemachus, son of Odysseus, has arrived at the palace of King Menelaus of Sparta, seeking clues to his father's whereabouts.

Important thing to remember: Telemachus has grown up without knowing his father. Athena has inspired him to travel abroad to find out news of his father.  He has doubts whether he is the famed Odysseus's son; he's been bullied and disgraced by suitors who question his birthright and who seek his mother's hand in marriage.  Meeting this royal couple, hearing their stories of Odysseus, being recognized as looking like Odysseus--all make a deep impression on the young man.

In this excerpt, King Menelaus and Queen Helen (yes, that Helen) rejoice in meeting Odysseus' son. But the presence of Telemachus causes the king to grieve the many losses suffered in and as a result of the Trojan War. Notice that Helen drugs the wine to keep everyone's spirits on an even keel. She then launches on her own story about brave Odysseus.

Book 5 "Odysseus - Nymph and Shipwreck" lines 1-102
Odysseus is stranded on Calypso's island.  At this point, he has been away from home for almost twenty years.

In Book 5, we first meet Odysseus.  What state is he in?  How does his state compare/contrast to how we first find Inman?

Book 10: The Bewitching Queen of Aeaea - read in its entirety 

We readers last encountered Odysseus in Book 6. In this book, he was rescued from his nakedness and starvation by Princess Nausicaa on the island of Phaeacia, where he'd washed up after his raft was wrecked at sea. Nausicaa's father, King Alcinous, promises to deliver Odysseus back home to Ithaca; it has been 20 years since he set out for Troy.  On the eve of his homeward voyage, Odysseus recounts his adventures to his hosts: where he's been; what he's suffered; how he incurred the wrath of Poseidon; how his crew came to an untimely end. Books 9-12, then, are a series of flashbacks that enthrall his listeners. King Alcinous is so impressed with the tale that he offers to make Odysseus his son-in-law, something Nausicaa would be very much in favor of! Odysseus respectfully demurs, saying he must return to Penelope.

In Book 10, in addition to the many examples of sanguine and lethal forms of hospitality, we have Circe, who serves as temptress and then as guide. Book 10 has many parallels with Cold Mountain. Your task is to make note of them.  Please note: your book has a "pronouncing glossary" of character and place names (pp. 521-41).

Book 11: The Kingdom of the Dead - excerpts on Achilles: pp. 265-266 [lines 541-573]; and of other famous figures from Minos to Heracles: 268-270 lines 650 - end].

It wouldn't be an epic without a journey to the underworld. Here, Odysseus gleans wisdom from the dead. Parallels with Cold Mountain?

Book 23 The Great Rooted Bed: read in its entirety. 

The suitors have been slaughtered by Odysseus and Telemachus. The palace floor has been scoured of the carnage. Order is restored. But "circumspect Penelope" does not immediately embrace her long-lost husband. Why? What does she fear? Do you see any parallels with the character of Ada? What does the book offer in the way of commentary on marriage?