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An Adverb That Defies Certainty. Draft is a series about the art and craft of writing.

An Adverb That Defies Certainty

I am an “almost” writer. A quick and random sweep through a few of my manuscripts reveals the following uses of “almost”: almost never, almost always, almost certainly, almost ready, almost willing, almost impulsively, almost as though, almost immediately, almost everywhere, almost kind, almost cruel, almost exciting, almost home, almost asleep, almost dead. She said “Don’t” almost before his lips had touched hers. We know what “almost” means. Dictionaries, however vaguely they define the word, agree on this, that “almost” means something between “short of” and “sort of.” “We were almost naked” says we weren’t quite without clothes, but couldn’t wait to be, which might easily mean “we couldn’t believe we were almost naked.” “Almost” is all about gradations and nuance and about suggestion and shades. Stephen Doyle. It's All an Allusion: Identifying Allusions, in Literature and in Life. Overview | What is an allusion?

It's All an Allusion: Identifying Allusions, in Literature and in Life

How often do you spot them, whether in your reading, in pop culture, in advertising or anywhere else? In this lesson, students read a Book Review essay about allusions in literature, take a quiz in which they identify allusions made in New York Times articles and headlines, then choose from a variety of activities to go deeper.

Materials | Computers with Internet access and printing capability. Warm-Up | Ask students to define “allusion.” Check that they understand it as a “brief, usually indirect reference to another place, event” or to words spoken by or that depict a person or fictional character. Then, lead a discussion about the pros and cons of making allusions. End by turning the tables on yourself and your colleagues, having students ask you to explain allusions to things that most in their peer group will understand immediately but might not be so clear to those being asked. Related | In the essay “Grand Allusion,” Elizabeth D.

Related resources: Sense, Sensibility and Sentences: Examining and Writing Memorable Lines. Overview | What can a single sentence accomplish?

Sense, Sensibility and Sentences: Examining and Writing Memorable Lines

In this lesson, students share favorite sentences, look closely at what makes them great, paraphrase them, then evaluate the results. They also work with sentences that are “mini-narratives” and write some of their own, before writing full-fledged short stories based on other students’ sentences. Materials | Student journals, computer with Internet access (optional), index cards. Warm-Up | Several days before teaching this lesson, ask students to spend the next few days on a hunt for excellent sentences, according to their own standards, which they will explain when they share. They should jot down these sentences in their journals or in a commonplace book. Tell them anything is fair game, including literature and one-liners from movies. On the day you start the lesson, have students each choose one or two of their sentences and write them on the board.

Ask: Why does each sentence “work”? How does Ms. Activity | Point out Ms. Writing Rules! Advice From The Times on Writing Well. The Times has recently published a few features that we consider gifts to English teachers everywhere, including a summer “How To” section of the Sunday Book Review, and a new series, called “Draft,” on the art of writing, which features essays by grammarians, historians, linguists, journalists, novelists and others.

Writing Rules! Advice From The Times on Writing Well

Below, we collect some “rules” we’ve derived from these features and from other pieces on the Times site, along with links and related activities we hope writers at any stage will find fun or useful — or both. Before you go, please note Rule 10, in which we ask for your writing advice. Rule 1: Listen to the Voice Inside Your Head In a post for Draft, Verilyn Klinkenborg notes that he is often asked what his “writing process” is. “My answer is simple: I think patiently, trying out sentences in my head,” he writes. Mr. You almost surely have a voice inside your head. Try Mr. Rule 2: Learn From the Masters What are your favorite bits of advice? Rule 3: Read Like Writers Ms. Technology Provides an Alternative to Love.

David Foster Wallace on Literature. EasyBib: Free Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago citation styles. Welcome to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) Strunk, William, Jr. 1918. The Elements of Style.