Title – Writing and Grammar Unit – Lesson 9

By – John Foley

Primary Subject – Language Arts

Grade Level – 9-12

Introduction



Lesson 1:   Writing by Ear



Lesson 2:   Nouns



Lesson 3:   Active and Passive Verbs



Lesson 4:   Modify in Moderation



Lesson 5:   Coordinating Conjunctions



Lesson 6:   Simple Sentences



Lesson 7:   Compound and Complex Sentences



Lesson 8:   Periods and Commas



Lesson 9:   Logic and Questions

(below)


Lesson 10: Interjections and Exclamation Points



Study Guide



Writing and Grammar Test

While most students understand that writing can be creative, the logical aspect of the craft is often overlooked. A logical thread connects sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. And one of the best ways to check both your content and grammar is to read over a paragraph and ask, “Does this make sense?”

Which brings us to questions. Questions that arise during the writing process often work effectively on the page; they add variety and can help the reader understand the point you are making. Consider the following humorous passage, which contains nine questions.


But the Easter Bunny is so unsatisfactory a holiday icon that no one even knows what he does. Does he color the eggs? Lay the eggs? Hide the eggs? What is his visual image? Is he a human-sized rabbit (terrifying) or an average-size rabbit (well, then, how does he carry baskets)? Some people imagine him wearing a pale blue velvet jacket. This is in fact Peter Rabbit, not the Easter Bunny; the confusion is a function of the fact that people think all rabbits look alike. A few people imagine the Easter Bunny wearing a top hat; these are the readers of men’s magazines. . . . What about transportation? Santa has a sleigh, the Tooth Fairy has wings. How does the Easter Bunny get from house to house? I have a child here who thinks the Easter Bunny drives a pickup truck. What kind of holiday symbol could conceivably drive a pickup truck? The Easter Bubba?


–Anna Quindlen

Write a paragraph about an animal in which you pose several questions.

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