Monday, October 08, 2012 Review Session and Intro to the Rules Governing Subject-Verb Agreement

1. Sign in and homework review in groups 2. Review of subjects & verbs; subject- verb Agreement 3. Indefinite pronouns: The devil is in the details! 4. Preview there sentences: tricky! 5. Case in pronouns: we will review this again on Weds. 6. Homework Preview for October 10 th

 Place your name placard on your desk so I can learn your names.  Take your completed homework out and work with one or two other people to check your work. Take turns answering each question.  Mary will circulate around the room, check off your homework, and answer questions.  More questions? See Mary after class.

 Please reflect and write about what you remember about how to find the main verbs and their subjects in sentences.  Two ways of finding the main verb in a sentence: marking out prepositional phrases and the tense test.  What is most difficulty about this?  Forming new tenses can be problematic if you’re not familiar with complex tenses.

 What seems most difficult about this?  Lack of familiarity with how to form different tenses for helping verbs.  Notes:  We will learn how to conjugate verbs on Weds!

 We will spend all of this week on this topic.  English has lots and lots of rules that govern subject-verb agreement.  We will learn rules bunched because they seem to go together.  If you have problems with these tricky rules, please see me either during my drop-in office hours or in a scheduled time outside of my regular office hours.

 Review of Homework: What sentences gave you grief?  Discussion:  Seems easy: Plural subjects take plural verbs, right? The devil is in the sentence details and the intent of what the writer wants to say! (p. 52) WE BEGIN HERE ON WEDNESDAY  Conjugating verbs: A practical demonstration! (Take notes, Scholars! )  Now you are truly ready to tackle subject-verb agreement—or at least mostly.

 Pls see me to schedule a 20 minute conference this week or early next week.  We will review your Diagnostic Assessment, your writing sample, and get a read on how comfortable you are with subject-verb agreement.  We will then design an individualized plan for you.

 Review ex. 4A, 5A, and 6A, and when you do, make a list of questions and rules that do not seem clear.  Read/annotate Ch 7 (p ) and complete ex 7B  Read/annotate Ch 8 (p ) and complete ex. 8A.  Read/annotate Ch 17 (p ) and complete ex. 17B (p. 191). Take notes on things that do not seem clear.  The first midterm will be on Weds., Oct. 17 th