Tag Archives: Writing
Resources: Passive Voice a la Geoffrey Pullum
A recent LingEducator post on passive voice provided a number of links to sites that offered help for those trying to learn to identify this verbal inflection. LingEducator isn’t the only grammar blog with concerns about the way that passive voice … Continue reading
Classroom Activities: Ambiguous Language
Language is full of ambiguity. Not only do we have words with two different meanings, but we have sentences which–because of structural ambiguity–can have multiple meanings. One of the more famous examples that illustrates these issues is the following sentence: … Continue reading
Language Fun: Hyperbole and a Half
A humorous take on the typos and text speak that drive most English teachers crazy: Hyperbole and a Half. While many lament the “u” for “you” and “alot” for “a lot” spellings that have become even more common with the … Continue reading
Resources: Implementing language policy: Exploring concerns of school principals. – Google Search
Although there is a plethora of research on language acquisition, public confusion about the meaning of this research often leads to poor educational policy. Below is a link to an article written for a general audience which summarizes this topic … Continue reading
Classroom Activities: Wordle – Beautiful Word Clouds
In order to teach students to write, we must raise their metalinguistic awareness. When students are having trouble staying on topic, it’s sometimes useful to make them closely examine the subjects and verbs in every sentence to see what kinds … Continue reading
Classroom Activities: Kinetic Typography of Stephen Fry’s Language
Stephen Fry (as featured in the previous post with House‘s Hugh Laurie) has eloquently written on the subject of language, and Matt Rogers has set Fry’s voice in motion through a process called Kinetic Typography. The mesmerizing combination of Fry’s … Continue reading