English IV August 12, 2013

Bell-Ringer In the essay “Simplicity” how does Zinsser support his claim that “we are a society strangled in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon” (paragraph 1)? What are the implications of his claim for writers in general and for you in particular?

Learning Target I can use context clues to determine initial meaning for a word or phrase and verify by using a dictionary.

Annotations Why do you need a dictionary when reading a challenging text? How can you annotate a personal copy of a text? How can you annotate a text you don’t own? What are some things worthy of annotating while you read?

“Simplicity” Get out the essay “Simplicity.” Select 3 students to share their vocabulary annotations. Use context clues to determine meaning. Look up in dictionary to see if meaning is correct. Select 3 students to share their annotation about text patterns. Select 3 students to share a response to the text annotation.

“Simplicity” The author asserts we need simplicity in our writing. Does he practice what he preaches?

Homework Go over handout. Definitions of: ◦4 sentence types ◦4 sentence structure ◦Independent clause ◦Subordinate (dependent) clause Identify each of the ten sentences on the handout (taken from “Simplicity”) by type, by structure, and by independent/subordinate clause.