Challenging and Enjoyable Lessons in English Usage by R.E. Myers illustrated by Bron Smith Teaching & Learning Company a Lorenz company P.O. Box 802 Dayton, OH 45401-0802 www.lorenzeducationalpress.com
This book belongs to This book is dedicated to David Kwiat with sincere appreciation and admiration. Cover design by Sara King Copyright 2005, Teaching & Learning Company ISBN No. 978-1-4291-1286-4 Printing No. 987654321 Teaching & Learning Company a Lorenz company P.O. Box 802 Dayton, OH 45401-0802 www,lorenzeducationalpress.com The purchase of this book entitles teachers to make copies for use in their individual classrooms only. This book, or any part of it, may not be reproduced in any form for any other purposes without prior written permission from the Teaching & Learning Company. It is strictly prohibited to reproduce any part of this book for an entire school or school district, or for commercial resale. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. 2 TLC10451 Copyright Teaching & Learning Company, Carthage, IL 62321-0010
Table of Contents The Exhibition Game Sequencing... 6 Little Green Sun-Eaters Sequencing.... 8 The Lonely Parking Meter Capitals, Proper Nouns... 10 Capitalizing on It Capitals... 12 Stormy Scenes as Seen by Two Old Salts Homonyms...................... 14 The Cowhand s Lament Similes....16 Not the Same? Synonyms, Word Choice...18 A Lot of Names Word Play... 51 The Fuzzy Ball Malapropisms....53 Fenwick s Bloopers Malapropisms......... 55 Riddles for Nimble Minds Riddles... 56 Big and Little Differences Analyzing Sentences. 58 Save the World! Sentences........... 60 Tuney Loons Spoonerisms.... 62 Professor Shumway Spoonerisms.... 64 Contradictions Antonyms, Contextual Clues, Oxymorons..................... 20 In Opposition Antonyms, Vocabulary Building.... 22 Selecting Suffixes Suffixes, Adjectives.... 24 Initials at Work Word Play, Proper Nouns... 26 Common and Uncommon Nouns Nouns, Oxymorons..................... 28 Verbs with and Without Verve Verbs... 30 Those Annoying Little Words Prepositions... 31 Brieflies Adverbs, Puns...33 Spelling Demons Spelling............. 35 Mrs. Harlow s Problem Spelling......... 36 The Umble Family Rhyme, Couplets...37 Parties Punctuation....39 Pam s Puns Alliteration, Puns............ 41 Misconstrued Vocabulary Building, Word Choice.. 65 Sportstalk Word Choice, Synonyms... 66 Scrambled Syntax Subjects, Predicates, Relative Clauses................... 67 The Last Is First Analyzing, Hypothesizing... 69 Old Sayings in Disguise Maxims, Paraphrasing.. 71 Questions Interrogatory Sentences.......... 73 Beauty Is Its Own Reward Maxims...75 Prove It! Quatrains... 76 It Can Go Both Ways Hypothesizing, Analyzing. 78 Wise n Rhymers Adages, Rhyme... 80 Choice Words Vocabulary Building........ 82 The Fat Lady Never Sings Cliches.... 84 That s Trite! Vocabulary Building, Word Choice, Cliches........................ 85 Throwing the Book Metaphors......... 43 Sports Analogies Analogies.... 86 Reconciling Opposites Oxymorons, The Short Story... 46 Comparisons Analogies, Vocabulary Building.... 49 Vocations Analogies, Cinquains... 88 Cash or Crash? Word Play... 90 Answer Key..................... 91 TLC10451 Copyright Teaching & Learning Company, Carthage, IL 62321-0010 3
Dear Teacher or Parent, This book is a collection of activities that combine the elements of grammar, syntax and sentence structure instruction in a palatable, humorous way. Since students are also encouraged to use their own ideas and language, the result is a blend of old-fashioned language instruction, humor and creative thinking. E. Paul Torrance has offered some excellent advice to teachers who want to motivate their students to learn. Create the desire to know. Heighten anticipation and expectation. Get attention. Arouse curiosity. Tickle the imagination. Give purpose and motivation. First, you need to have your students attention, then heighten their anticipation with some introductory remarks, perhaps from a unit s beginning. For example, you might offer a riddle before administering Riddles for Nimble Minds (page 56) in order to get your students ready for the lesson. Choose a relatively easy riddle that most of them will know. Leading into a unit this way will get your students in the mood for it. To arouse their curiosity and get them in the mood to think whimsically, you might ask them what the statement, The girl was heaply dirt by the insult, is supposed to mean. This is the kind of verbal mix-up they will deal with in Tuney Loons and Professor Shumway (pages 62 and 64). A person s first reaction to a spoonerism is a mental double-take. Spoonerisms can make sense in a weird way. These kinds of mental exercises tickle the imagination. Modify and improve these lessons so they are suitable for your students. Sincerely, R.E. Myers 4 TLC10451 Copyright Teaching & Learning Company, Carthage, IL 62321-0010
Introduction Victor Borge proved that punctuation can be funny when made audible, but there seems to be little mirth in grammar, capitals and sentence fragments. The purpose of this book is to teach basic language skills in a way that involves not only students thinking abilities, but also their funny bones. The aim of the activities is to cause the student to ponder, evaluate, imagine, reconsider or inquire. The lessons require critical and creative thinking skills as well as the application of rules. TLC10451 Copyright Teaching & Learning Company, Carthage, IL 62321-0010 5
Name Activity 1 The Exhibition Game Sequencing The Cloverdale Eagles were the runaway champions of the Central Valley League last year, and the Brownsville Lancers ended up at the bottom of the league s standings. So when the two teams were to meet in an exhibition game, their coaches, who were good friends, were laughing about the game the day before it was to be played. I ll tell you what, Frank, offered Bruce Lattimore, I ll let you set my lineup for the Eagles, just to make it interesting. Okay, Bruce. I ll put them in alphabetical order. How s that? said Frank Johnson. All right, Frank. I ll go you one better. I ll make my lineup a combination of both my file players batting average ranks and their last names. Do you agree? So it was agreed that the Eagles batting average ranks would be combined with the order in which their names came alphabetically. This was the usual lineup for the Eagles and their batting averages for last year: Sample Wayland Barris, second base,.281 Tory Horton, shortstop,.275 Scott Abrams, right field,.325 Mario Silva, center field,.358 Grant Gardner, first base,.303 Tim Bly, left field,.278 Ed Pfister, third base,.257 Ronnie Pollard, catcher,.249 Norm Twitchell, pitcher,.114 6 TLC10451 Copyright Teaching & Learning Company, Carthage, IL 62321-0010