Dangling Modifiers

Basic Principle: Modifiers are like teenagers: they fall in love with whatever they're next to. Make sure they're next to something they ought to modify!

MISPLACED MODIFIER: Some modifiers, especially simple modifiers — only, just, nearly, barely — have a bad habit of slipping into the wrong place in a sentence. (In the sentence below, what does it mean to "barely kick" something?)

Confusion	He barely kicked that ball twenty yards.
Repair Work	He kicked that ball barely twenty yards.

The issue of the proper placement of "only" has long been argued among grammarians. Many careful writers will insist that "only" be placed immediately before the word or phrase it modifies. Thus "I only gave him three dollars" would be rewritten as "I gave him only three dollars." Some grammarians, however, have argued that such precision is not really necessary, that there is no danger of misreading "I only gave him three dollars" and that "only" can safely and naturally be placed between the subject and the verb. The argument has been going on for two hundred years.

DANGLING MODIFIER: When we begin a sentence with a modifying word, phrase, or clause, we must make sure the next thing that comes along can, in fact, be modified by that modifier. When a modifier improperly modifies something, it is called a "dangling modifier." This often happens with beginning participial phrases, making "dangling participles" an all too common phenomenon. In the sentence below, we can't have a car changing its own oil.

Confusion	Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, the car seemed to run better.
Repair Work	Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, Fred found he could get much better gas mileage.

A participial phrase followed by an Expletive Construction will often be a dangling participle — but the expletive construction is probably not a good idea anyway. This faulty sentence can be remedied by changing the participial phrase into a full-fledged clause with a subject and verb.

Confusion	Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, there is an easy way to keep your car running smoothly.
Repair Work	If we change the oil every 3,000 miles, we can keep our car running smoothly.

A participial phrase followed by a Passive Verb is also apt to be a dangler because the real actor of the sentence will be disguised.

Confusion	Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, the car was kept in excellent condition.
Repair Work	Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, we kept the car in excellent condition.

An infinitive phrase can also "dangle." The infinitive phrase below should probably modify the person(s) who set up the exercise program.

Confusion	To keep the young recruits interested in getting in shape, an exercise program was set up for the summer months.
Repair Work	To keep the young recruits interested in getting in shape, the coaching staff set up an exercise program for the summer months.

SQUINTING MODIFIER: A third problem in modifier placement is described as a "squinting modifier." This is an unfortunate result of an adverb's ability to pop up almost anywhere in a sentence; structurally, the adverb may function fine, but its meaning can be obscure or ambiguous. For instance, in the sentence below, do the students seek advice frequently or can they frequently improve their grades by seeking advice? You can't tell from that sentence because the adverb often is "squinting" (you can't tell which way it's looking). Let's try placing the adverb elsewhere.

Confusion	Students who seek their instructors' advice often can improve their grades.
Repair Work	Student who often seek their instructors' advice can improve their grades.
Repair Work	Students who seek their instructors' advice can often improve their grades.

more

mouse trap

A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain?
He was aghast to discover that it was a mouse trap. Retreating to the farmyard the mouse proclaimed the warning:
"There is a mouse trap in the house, a mouse trap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mouse trap in the house, a mouse trap in the house!"

"I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow. She said, "You say, Mr. Mouse. A mouse trap? Like I am in grave danger....NOT!"

So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mouse trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey.
The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife.. 

The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever.
Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well and a few days later she passed away.
So many people came for her funeral, that the farmer had the cow slaughtered, to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we all may be at risk.

touching!

ESL Sites

these are the English sites i recommend. My advocacy is to teach and learn English in its simplest way. Hope this will help

changingminds.org
englishlessons4free.com

horror stories you must read before going to bed

click here   the horror stew website

Strategies in Reading

Making Connections
Questioning
Visualizing
Inferring
Determining Importance
Synthesizing
 

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Strategy - Making Connections

Students connect their background knowledge to the text they are reading.
Purpose of the strategy:
Readers comprehend better when they actively think about and apply their knowledge of the book's topic, their own experiences, and the world around them. Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis in their book, Strategies that Work (2000, p. 68), state that, "When children understand how to connect the text they read to their lives, they begin to make connections between what they read and the larger world. This nudges them into thinking about bigger, more expansive issues beyond their universe of home, school and neighborhood."
 
How to help your child use this strategy:
To help your child make connections while they are reading, ask him/her the following questions:
• What does the book remind you of?
• What do you know about the book's topic?
• Does this book remind you of another book?

 

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Strategy - Questioning
Through the use of questioning, students understand the text on a deeper level because questions clarify confusion and stimulate further interest in a topic.
Purpose of the strategy:
Through questioning, students are able to wonder about content and concepts before, during and after reading by:
• constructing meaning
• enhancing meaning
• finding answers
• solving problems
• finding specific information
• acquiring a body of information
• discovering new information
• propelling research efforts
• clarifying confusion
(Strategies that Work, 2000, p.22)
How to help your child use this strategy:
• model questioning in your own rereading
• ask I wonder....questions (open-ended)
• ask your child to come up with questions before reading to see if it's answered in the text
• keep track of questions
....verbally
.....in an informal question log
• stop and predict what will happen next
• discuss what questions you still have after reading

 

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Strategy - Visualizing
Students create mind pictures and visualizations when they read.
Purpose of the strategy:
The reader uses the text material and their own prior knowledge to create their own mind pictures of what is happening in the text. "Visualizing personalizes reading, keeps us engaged and often prevents us from abandoning a book." (Strategies that Work, 2000, p.97).
How to help your child use this strategy:
To help you child visualize while reading, try the following:
• share wordless picture books with your child - have your child tell the story
• make frequent stops while reading aloud to describe the pictures in your minds
• after reading time at home have your child draw what they see in their mind

 

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Strategy - Inferring
Students make inferences about text they are reading to interpret meaning an develop deeper understanding.
Purpose of the strategy:
Readers comprehend better when they make connections and construct their own knowledge (using prior experiences, visualizing, predicting and synthesizing) to interpret the "big idea." It is like a mental dialogue between the author and the student.
How to help your child use this strategy:
Ask them:
• How did you know that?
• Why did you think that would happen?
• Look at the cover and pictures then make predictions
• Discuss the plot and theme.
What do you think this story was about?
•How do you think the character feels?
Does it remind you of anything?
•These ideas are really a discussion to have with you child emphasizing one or two of the above ideas.

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Strategy - Determining Importance
When students are reading non-fiction they have to decide and remember what is important from the material they read.
Purpose of the strategy:
To teach students to discriminate the "must know" information from the less important details in a text. "When kids read and understand nonfiction, they build background for the topic and acquire new knowledge. The ability to identify essential ideas and salient information is a prerequisite to developing insight." (Strategies that Work, 2000, p. 119).
How to help your child use this strategy:
To help you child determine importance while they are reading:
• Initiate discussion before reading by asking what your child knows about the topic and what they would like to learn.
• After reading discuss what important information they have learned.
• While reading help your child look for clues in the text to determine importance. Pay attention to:
•first and last lines of a paragraph
•titles
•headings
•captions
•framed text
•fonts
•illustrations
•italics
•bold faced print

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Strategy - Synthesizing
Students weave together what they read and their own ideas into new, complete thoughts.
Purpose of the strategy:
Readers comprehend better when they sift through information to make sense of it and act upon it, such as judging or evaluating the authors purpose to form a new idea, opinion, or perspective. This is the highest and most complex forms of comprehension.
How to help your child use this strategy:
• Use questioning strategies such as, "How has your thinking changed from reading that piece?"
• Discuss current event with an emphasis on judgments and opinions.
• Ask questions with no clear answers.
http://www.pleasanton.k12.ca

VISUALLIZING

The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary link

english tests

examenglish.com

journalism

here's the link i have chosen for your practice test in Journalism
http://www.netc-navy.edu.ph/requirements/requirements1/JO3.pdf

tip that helps

WHAT IS PREDICTING?

Definition: when a reader uses the text to decide what will happen next. Readers can justify, confirm, or deny their predictions by using support from the text. This reading strategy assists in making meaning out of text.

• Readers begin the process of predicting by previewing the text that they are going to read. They activate relevant background knowledge about the topic by looking for:

• – Familiar words, pictures, and topics asking questions may guide student’s predictions about future events, characters, and purpose for the text.

Using Prior Knowledge in Predicting Outcomes While Reading

Predicting outcomes is practiced during the act of reading.  Children make logical guesses about what will happen later in a story based upon their understanding of text-based clues and their prior knowledge.  

Predicting outcomes is similar to using the strategy of inference.  When predicting outcomes and making inferences, children must find stated, text-based clues and integrate them with their prior knowledge.  Predicting outcomes may be thought of as "forward inference" because children examine a stated cause and infer an effect that has not yet been stated.  When making an inference, on the other hand, children analyze a stated effect and must infer its cause.  

Predicting outcomes can be used to monitor reading comprehension.  Once children have made their predictions, they continue reading to verify their hypotheses.   Based on this information, children make new predictions.  This process continues until they reach the end of the selection, at which point they verify and evaluate as many predictions as possible.  

WHY USE PREDICTING?

• After a prediction is made the student now has a purpose for reading; to confirm or disprove their prediction. They are actively engaged in the author’s meaning, which gives them motivation to read. Students now can expand their schema on the topic they are reading about by linking their prior knowledge with new knowledge.

• By making predictions, readers are using the following processes:

– Prior knowledge

– thinking on a literal and inferential level

– adding to their knowledge base

– making connections

– monitoring comprehension

– filling the gaps in the author's writing

Before Reading Readers must make logical predictions based on information from the text and their prior knowledge

 Fictional text structures:

– Characters

– Setting

– Problem/Resolution

– Theme or lesson

 Nonfiction text structures:

– Text headings

– Illustrations

– Maps

– Captions

– Tables

These structures assist students in making logical predictions about their reading. Previewing what they will be reading by discussing text features and using graphic

organizers provides students with visual clues for

predicting.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

BY ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.