Week Ten—Quotations and Quotation Marks

Day 1

Quotation Marks

Titles Short stories, poems, essays, articles, songs, TV episodes, and chapters and parts of books and periodicals are placed inside quotation marks. (Titles of books, long poems, and long musical works are italicized. But this entry is about quotation marks.)

Ex: One of my favorite Annie Dillard essays is called “This Is the Life.” This essay was printed in the fall issue of Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion.

Practice—Week 10, Day 1

Put quotation marks around the titles that are short stories, poems, essays, etc., and underline any title you know to be a book, long poem, etc.

  1. I’ve heard of Pride and Prejudice, but have you ever heard of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?
  2. The Tell Tale Heart was a gruesome tale. I guess that’s true for most of Poe’s short stories.
  3. My 8th-grade English class read To Kill a Mockingbird; I loved it.
  4. Hot for Teacher is a dumb song title (ew), but it’s the first Van Halen tune I learned to play on the drums.

Week Ten—Quotations and Quotation Marks

Day 2

Quotation Marks

Onweek 6, day 2, I lied. Periods don’t ALWAYS go inside quotation marks. When you are researching and cite a source, the period goes after the parentheses rather than inside the quotation marks.

Ex: The best first line of any book I’ve ever read came from Anna Karenina: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” (Tolstoy 1).

The same is true if it’s a paraphrase or summary: the period goes after the parentheses even though there are no quotation marks. (I know this is a digression; this entry is about when quotation marks are present, not absent. Still you should at least see what it looks like.)

Ex: Original text from Graceanne DeCandido’s dissertation: “In the third season, Giles was officially relieved from his Watcher duties, but he ignores that and continues as Buffy’s trainer, confidant, and father-figure” (44).

Paraphrase: Despite his termination, Giles maintains his “trainer, confidant, and father-figure” role for Buffy (DeCandido 44).

Here’s a twist on the digression, however. If the quotation is a block quote (longer than 4 lines—we’ll talk about this on Day 3), the period DOES go on the inside. (And still, we’re talking about NO quotation marks.)

Ex: At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, Ralph and the other boys realize the horror of their actions:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (Golding 186)

Note: This is NOT the correct spacing for a block quote. It’s indented 1” on the left, and MLA papers are double spaced throughout, including block quotations. The above example is for periods.

Practice—Week 10, Day 2

Teacher will provide practice materials as they apply to classroom work and teaching the research paper.

Week Ten—Quotations and Quotation Marks

Day 3

Exceptional Circumstances for Quotations

If something inside a quotation already has quotation marks, you need single quotation marks inside the double quotation marks.

Ex: According to Andreas Hale, “Witnessing Floyd Mayweather completely dismantle Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero…brought to the realization one very important thing: Floyd Mayweather had the potential to be called the greatest boxer of all-time but won’t be.”

In MLA, if a quotation is longer than four lines, it is indented 1” from the left margin, quotation marks are removed, and it is still double spaced (like the rest of the paper).

For this example, I’ll leave the margins as is so you can see what it looks like on a normal page:

At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, Ralph and the other boys realize the horror of their actions:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (Golding 186)

Practice—Week 10, Day 3

Teacher will provide practice materials as they apply to classroom work and teaching the research paper.

Week Eleven—Ellipses, Brackets, Parentheses

Day 1

Ellipses

Ellipses show when something has been omitted in a quotation.

Sample quotation: According to Time magazine, “Michael Jordan, who is now retired, was the greatest basketball player of all time. Shaq was a close second. He moved to Miami to close out his career” (Johnston 89).

Ex: According to Time magazine, “Michael Jordan…was the greatest basketball player of all time” (Johnston 89). *

*Notes on ellipses: Use three periods (…) when at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence. Use four periods (….) when at the end of a sentence (unless there’s a parenthetical citation after—then use only three periods). Also, if the author you’re quoting is also using ellipses, you must put brackets around the ellipses you’ve added. (See Brackets on Week 11, Day 2.)

Practice—Week 11, Day 1

Teacher will provide practice materials as they apply to classroom work and teaching the research paper.

Week Eleven—Ellipses, Brackets, Parentheses

Day 2

Brackets

Brackets show when something has been added to a quotation.

Using the sample text from Week 11, Day 1, and assuming there were ellipses in the original Time article: According to Time magazine, “Michael Jordan […] was the greatest basketball player of all time. Shaq was a close second. He [Shaq] moved to Miami to close out his career” (Johnston 89).

Using the sample text from Week 10, Day 3: According to Andreas Hale, “Witnessing Floyd Mayweather completely dismantle Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero…brought to the realization one very important thing: Floyd Mayweather had the potential to be called the greatest boxer of all-time [sic] but won’t be.” *

*FYI: [sic] means “as it appears” or “in this manner.” This is usually inserted into citations when the writer finds discrepancy, misspelling, or poor grammar in the material he/she is quoting. Don’t use sic to make fun of a writer, their grammar, or their style.

Practice—Week 11, Day 2

Teacher will provide practice materials as they apply to classroom work and teaching the research paper.

Week Eleven—Ellipses, Brackets, Parentheses

Day 3

Parentheses

Parentheses are used for two things: 1) to separate nonessential information and 2) to indicate parenthetical citation. You’ve already seen several examples of parenthetical citation:

Ex: “That’s all I have to say about that” (Gump 2).

Let’s think about nonessential information. On Week 4, Day 1, we learned about nonessential commas. Nonessential information can also be set apart with parentheses or dashes. Each method has its own reason: commas are used as more of an interruption: the included information doesn’t change the meaning. Parentheses are used more like an aside in theatre: it’s nice information to have, but it’s not necessary. Dashes are used when you want to call attention to the nonessential: “look at me, look at me, look at me!” This is not a tone or volume you’ll take very often in an academic papers. Let’s look at the hierarchy in a visual way:

Ex: The most common nonessential, which doesn’t change the meaning, uses commas.

This nonessential (more like a secret or an aside) is nice information to have, but barely worth a mention, and the least emphatic choice of the three.

The nonessential here—pay attention!—is very noticeable, but also must be used very sparingly in academic writing. *

Now, let’s look at real sentences:

Ex: My best friend, Sally, is nice.

The population of Lincoln (now over 265,000) has doubled in 50 years.

The Guthrie’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream—my all-time favorite—used all red costumes and a red, Plexiglas stage.

*Dashes are typed by using two hyphens, no spaces, or by using option+shift+hyphen

Practice—Week 11, Day 3

Insert parentheses, commas, or dashes around the following nonessential elements.

  1. Those who produce and distribute clothing for pre-teens not just the “tweens” themselves need to realize the current styles are more appropriate for an older age group.
  2. For more than twenty years 1990-present “sagging” has been in fashion.
  3. Levi’s which introduced denim and riveted pockets to the world were designed for miners who were carrying heavy gold in their pockets.
  4. According to Elle magazine a fashion magazine “Crop tops and overalls are here to stay” for Spring 2014.

Week Twelve—Agreement

Day 1

Noun-pronoun agreement (actually called noun-antecedent agreement; an antecedent is just the noun or pronoun to which it refers—in case you’re trying to look it up elsewhere) is making the noun and pronoun agree in person, number, and gender.

Ex:Lonnie Lindell brought his son to the annual company banquet.

Bad ex:Someone left their books on my desk.

This indicates that “someone” is plural, but we know that isn’t the case. (See Week 12, Day 3.)

**When we don’t know the gender, we use gender neutral “his.”

Someone left his books on my desk.

**“And” always indicates plural

Matt and Chris gave their parents an anniversary gift. (plural)

** With “or” and “nor,” the pronoun must agree with the nearer part.

Neither Sarah nor Tiffany bought her movie ticket ahead of time. (singular)

Neither Sarah nor her daughters want their seats to be too close to the screen. (singular and plural)

** Collective nouns, such as groups, teams, committees, voting delegations, etc., use a singular pronoun when they act as a unit and a plural pronoun when they act independently.

The faculty voted on its new lounge.

The family are likely to squabble over their different property lines.

Practice—Week 12, Day 1

Circle the correct antecedent.

  1. Every athlete deserves (his or her/their) own locker.
  2. All athletes should buy padlocks for (his or her/their) lockers.
  3. The Huskers and (its/their) coach are excited for (its/their) new basketball facility.
  4. The Boomerang and The Patriot are roller coasters known for (its/their) speed, height, and steep drops.
  5. Either The Boomerang or The Patriot drops (its/their) riders 12 stories! I can’t remember which.
  6. Someone left (his or her/their) backpack on the bench outside the rollercoaster ride the last time I went to Worlds of Fun.

Week Twelve—Agreement

Day 2

Subject-verb agreement—making the subject and verb agree in number

Ex: The data are collected. (singular form of data = datum)

The media is a greedy group. (This refers to a single unit.)

The media are wrong. (This refers to multiple members of the media.)

**“And” always indicates plural

Matt and Chris drive too fast. (plural)

** With “or” and “nor,” the pronoun must agree with the nearer part.

Neither Sarah nor Tiffany eats meat. (singular)

Neither Sarah nor her daughters wantto go out for pizza tonight. (plural)

** Collective nouns, such as groups, teams, committees, voting delegations, etc., use a singular verb when they act as a unit and a plural verb when they act independently.

The committee likes to sit together.

The old gang are going their separate ways.

Practice—Week 12, Day 2

Circle the correct verb.

  1. Neither child psychologists nor parents (has/have) yet figured out how children work
  2. Of course, the family (has/have) tremendous influence on the development of a child in its midst.
  3. Each of the members of the immediate family (exerts/exert) his or her unique pull on the child.
  4. Genetics and physiology also (influences/influence) the development of children.
  5. Just about everyone (has/have) his or her strong opinion on these issues, often backed up by evidence.
  6. Neither the popular press nor scholarly journals (devotes/devote) much of their space to the wholeness of the child.

Week Twelve—Agreement

Day 3

Now that we’ve learned about nouns and pronouns and subjects and verbs, we must look at how indefinite pronouns affect both noun/pronoun agreement and subject/verb agreement. Indefinite pronouns don’t refer to specific people or things; thus, they can be singular, plural, or both (depending on the prepositional phrase that follows). Here’s a list of indefinite pronouns:

singular pluralcan be either

each bothmost

everyfewsome

eithermanyall

neitherseveralany

someone/bodyenough

anyone/bodynone

no one/bodyplenty

everyone/body

nothing

By definition, then, indefinite pronoun agreement is making the indefinite pronoun agree in number with its antecedent and its verb

Ex: Each of the students is missing his or her free pie.

Many of the teachers broughttheir pie to share.

Most of the pie is gone.

Most of the students are sad about that.

Practice—Week 12, Day 3

Circle the correct verb.

  1. Everyone I know (talks/talk) like a pirate on Pirate Day.
  2. All of the chickens (is/are) lost forever.
  3. Either of the iguanas (is/are) unfriendly.
  4. Each of the girls (enjoys/enjoy) roller derby.
  5. Few of her friends (is/are) leaving town.
  6. Both of her friends (has/have) a broken arm.
  7. Most of the wigs (looks/look) good on me.
  8. One of the animals (has/have) been caught.
  9. Somebody in the car (knows/know) the answer.
  10. Nobody in the first three rows (has/have) a parking pass.

Week Thirteen—Agreement, Spelling

Day 1

Verb tense agreement—making the verb tenses agree with each other. The basic rule here is don’t change needlessly from one tense to another.

Bad ex: Cara fielded the ball and throws the runner out.

Ex: Cara fielded the ball and threw the runner out.

**Note: When discussing literature, it’s as if the events in the book are happening now because you are currently reading or thinking about them. Use present tense throughout.

Practice—Week 13, Day 1

Change the verb to make the tenses consistent. These sentences will read as a complete paragraph.

  1. To my surprise, Nancy Chang has decided to drop by about 5:00 last Friday.
  2. What she wanted is a fishing companion.
  3. She has been thinking about going fishing all week.
  4. As I was getting my gear together, I have become excited and, in my imagination, see the fish on my line.
  5. On our way out to the lake, clouds begin to form, and we knew we are in for trouble.
  6. It rains all right, for the whole weekend; the fish were safe for another week.

Week Thirteen—Agreement, Spelling

Day 2

Everyone knows the “i” before “e”rule.

ex: achieve, fiend, brief, priest, grievance, patience, pierce

But here are the exceptions:1) except after “c”

ex: deceive, received, receipt

2) except in words that sound like “a”

ex: eight, neighbor, weigh, sleigh, feint, freight

3) except in words from this sentence:

The weird foreigner neither seizes leisure nor forfeits height.

Practice—Week 13, Day 2

Insert ie or ei.

  1. Br___f
  2. Dec___ve
  3. Rec___pt
  4. S___ze
  5. For___gn
  6. Pr___st
  7. Gr___vance
  8. F___nd
  9. L___surely
  10. Ach___ve
  11. Pat___nce
  12. P___rce
  13. H___ght
  14. Fr___ght
  15. F___nt
  16. S___ve

Week Thirteen—Agreement, Spelling

Day 3

Forming pluralssounds easy enough. You just add “s,” right? (ex: chickenchickens)

Here are the exceptions:1) except when the word ends in x, z, s, sh, ch; then add “es”

ex: boxes, churches, kisses, buzzes, dashes

2) except when the word ends in “o”; add “s” if the letter before the “o” is a vowel; add “es” if the letter before the “o” is a consonant.

ex: echoes, potatoes, tomatoes, zoos, boos

3) except when the word is classified as “irregular”

ex: fish, teeth, mice, children, men, women, moose, feet, geese, data, criteria, deer, cacti, cupfuls, miles per hour, sisters-in-law

4) except when the word ends in “f” or “fe” (then change the “f” or “fe” to “ve” and add “s”)

ex: lives, leaves

5) except when the word ends in “y” and the letter before the “y” is a consonant; then change “y” to “i” and add “es”(otherwise, just add “s” as the rule states)

ex: monkeymonkeys, partyparties, MurphyMurphys

Practice—Week 13, Day 3

Make the following words plural.

  1. Pile
  2. Beauty
  3. Day
  4. Donkey
  5. Beach
  6. Summary
  7. Box
  8. Switch
  9. Thief
  10. Goose
  11. Hiss
  12. Folly
  13. Supply
  14. Minsky
  15. Appendix

Week Fourteen—Spelling

Day 1

The seed ruleis practically like getting a day off! The idea is to notice how “seed” words end. There’s only one “seed,” one “sede,” and three “ceed.” Everything else is “cede.”

seed- seed

sede- supersede

ceed- proceed, succeed, exceed

cede- precede, secede, etc. (i.e., everything else!)

Practice—Week 14, Day 1

Like I said, take the day off.

Week Fourteen—Spelling

Day 2

Doubling consonants

When a word ends in a single consonant with a single vowel in front of it, double the consonant. A good way to remember this is that the vowel sound is usually “short.” Here’s the caveat: if it’s more than one syllable, the accent must be on the LAST syllable.

Ex: drip + ing = drippingshop + ed = shopped

allot + ed = allottedadmit + ance = admittance

propel + er = propeller

Otherwise, simply add the suffix.

Ex: conceal + ed = concealed claim + ed = claimed

repair + ed = repaired accommodate + ed = accommodated

Practice—Week 14, Day 2

Combine the following words and endings, doubling final consonants as necessary.