by Donna | Apr 14, 2011
Moving on from National Poetry Month–though if someone would like to send poetry, I will still publish it until the end of April.
With Easter so close, I thought we would look at a tricky Wacky Word pair–rise and raise (followed by sit and set and lie and lay since you really should learn them together, if possible).
First, an overview:
Rise and sit have I’s–and lie does too.
“Coz these are things that I, all by myself, can do.
Raise, set, and lay are words that you choose
When each one has an object after it to use.
What does that mean? It means that I and rIse, I can sIt, and I can lIe without any object.
But I raise something; I set something; and I lay something….
More tomorrow…then one at a time. These are confusing ones, but with LL’s tips and tricks, you will be raising your head high, sitting with grammarians with confidence, laying your dictionary aside, rising up to the occasion, setting the stage for future success, and lying down at night, knowing that you understand lie, rise, and sit! 🙂
by Donna | Apr 13, 2011
We never had any takers for our poetry challenge! I put together a short stanza…but not real happy with it. I will share it below (and swallow my pride!). As my daughter likes to say, “Something is definitely wrong with that iambic pentameter!” LOL!
Still hoping for more poetry! Send it in! We’re going to go back to tips very soon, so stay tuned..and invite your friends to join us!
I have bold fonted the words I chose from the list.
Such benevolence we will never know again,
Such a life that was given to us by Him.
So forsaken, oh so cruel the treatment of our Lord,
On Calvary, oblivious to Self, gave eternity to the world.
Will we trust this Savior, who rose on Sunday morn?
Will we trust the gift bestowed—a chance to be reborn?
by Donna | Apr 8, 2011
I once entered a poetry contest that challenged me and others to write a poem using a given word list. I found it stimulating and actually had a lot of fun doing it. Plus, I was pretty excited with the outcome of my little poem!
So…I thought we would have a Poetry Challenge on Language Lady! Here are the rules:
- Write at least four lines (more is okay but not necessary) of poetry (rhymed or free verse) that contains at least six of the words listed below.
- Write your poem on the comment section of the LL blog or the comment section of the LL FB page.
- Have fun!
Ready? Here are the words* you may choose from:
risen Lord forsaken bunny
spring obsolete estranged reticent
life oblivious arduous acclimate
calvary supercilious morning ecstatic
benevolent bestowed embolden tenacity
*Note: You may use any form, tense, or plural/singular of the words. For example, you may use bunnies rather than bunny or arduously rather than arduous.
by Donna | Mar 25, 2011
We have talked at length about what a sentence contains:
C apital
A ll makes sense
V erb
E nd mark
S ubject
CAVES!
Again, most people have trouble witht the A one–All makes sense. When a “sentence” doesn’t make sense, it is often because it is not a sentence at all, but it is a phrase or a clause.
We are going to talk in detail about phrases and clauses in the upcoming weeks because we are going to talk a lot about sentence structure–openers, simple sentences, compound sentences, etc.
So…a little “phrase and clause” lesson is in order first:
1. Phrase–
a. Group of words
b. Group of words that is not a sentence
c. Group of words that is not a sentence and does not usually contain a subject and a verb (though may seem to have one or the other)
d. There are various types of phrases–the one that people are most familiar with is the prepositional phrase–begins with a preposition and ends with the object of the preposition:
i. over the clouds
ii. into the clouds
iii. around the clouds
iv. within the clouds
v. under the clouds
2. Clause
a. Group of words
b. Group of words that might or might not be a sentence
c. Group of words that contains a subject and a verb
d. Two kinds of clauses
i. Independent clause–also called a sentence
ii. Dependent clause–also called a subordinate clause
Don’t despair! These are not as complicated as they sound! You write with them all the time–but I hope to help you recognize them and punctuate them correctly in sentences–over the next few weeks!
Happy writing!
by Donna | Mar 25, 2011
Another confusing word pair–cavalry and calvary. And yes, we will see them written incorrectly over the next few weeks as Easter approaches! How can you differentiate between the two in this Wacky Word pair?
As a Christian, I have a unique way of remembering calvary and cavalry–see it helps you!
1. Cavalry–
a. A group of miliary people
b. We often say, “Send in the cavalry” to indicate help is needed
c. I remember this by remembering that the V comes before the L—Victory comes first if the cavalry comes caValry.
2. Calvary–
a. The hill on which Jesus was crucified
b. I remember this by remembering that the L comes before the V–Calvary denotes Love–CaLvary
by Donna | Mar 25, 2011
Another quick tip for you!
- Wonder is spelled like ponder—and they both mean to think
- Wander is spelled like land—and you wANDer all over the lAND (or wAnder has an A in it and Area has an A in it—and you wAnder in an Area)
So…does Winnie the Pooh like to wander or wonder?
- Pooh: “I’d rather be wondering.” OR
- Pooh: “I’d rather be wandering.”
Well, I’ll give you a little hint. My daughter was a thinker—always thinking and/or reading—as a child (and still is!). When she had to do something she didn’t want to do—or her thoughts were interrupted by something, she would say, “I’m just like Winnie the Pooh. I’d rather be wondering!” In other words, she, just like Pooh Bear, would rather be pondering/thinking! J
