Fattening Room Vocabulary

Here is a link to my study stack page for vocabulary words from "What Is a Fattening Room?" (in the What A World 2 reader):

LINK: Fattening Room Vocabulary

Watch Tara the Cat Rescue Child from Dog Attack! Write Sentences!

Click on the link below and watch the news story: Tara the Cat Saves 4-Year-Old Boy

LINK: Tara the Cat Saves 4-Year-Old Boy

My suggestion: Write sentences about what happens in the video in past tense (active voice). Your sentences should have the subject-verb-direct object pattern. Then change the sentences you wrote into past tense, passive voice. For example:

The boy rode the tricycle. (active)

The tricycle was ridden by the boy. (passive)

Here are some nouns and verbs you might use in your sentences (in no special order)

NOUNS                    VERBS

cat                               run

dog                              chase

tricycle                        bite

car                               save

mother                        drag

camera                        film

attack                          attack

This is a screen capture (picture) of the video--click the link above to watch it.

Quiz on Past Passive

Click the link below and try this quiz from learningamericanenglishonline.com (see Favorite Links to go to the main website). You will practice the past tense, passive voice. After you try the quiz (I have printed copies for you), click the link at the bottom of the page and check your answers.

LINK: Green Level Quiz #2--Passive Voice, Past

When to Use the Passive Voice

Below is an explanation of when to use the passive voice in writing. It is adapted from a post at www.grammarly.com. If you want to read the original, click on the link at the end of this post. Otherwise, you can read my lightly edited version right now:

When to use the passive voice

There are times when the passive voice does a better job of presenting an idea, especially in certain formal, professional, and legal discussions. Here are three common uses of the passive voice: 

1 Reports of crimes or incidents with unknown perpetrators

     My car was stolen yesterday.

If you knew who stole the car, it probably wouldn’t be as big a problem. The passive voice emphasizes the stolen item and the action of theft. 

2 Scientific contexts

     The rat was placed into a T-shaped maze.

Who places the rat into the maze? Scientists, duh. But that’s less important than the experiment they’re conducting. Therefore, passive voice is used.

 3 When you want to emphasize an action itself and the doer of        the action is not as important:

     The president was sworn in on a cold January morning.

How many people can remember off the top of their heads who swears in presidents? Clearly the occasion of swearing in the commander in chief is the thing to emphasize here. In each of the above contexts, the action itself—or the person or thing receiving the action—is the part that matters. That means the performer of the action can appear in a prepositional phrase or be absent from the sentence altogether.

 Adapted from:

LINK: Writing in the Passive Voice at Grammarly.com

Game--Identify Parts of Speech at Grammar Gorillas Website

Do you need to review what a noun is, what a verb is, what an adjective is, etc.? Can you identify these parts of speech in a sentence? Try playing this short game at Grammar Gorillas. You can choose beginning level (identify the noun or verb only) or advanced level (identifying all 8 parts of speech).

My suggestion: Click on the link below. Click "Play Now," then choose either beginner or advanced level and play the game. Each question tells you to click on a specific part of speech (noun, verb, etc.).

LINK: Parts of Speech Game at Grammar Gorillas

Prewriting Methods

Do you fear writing? Find out different ways to break through your fear and begin a writing assignment by clicking the link below:

LINK: How to Begin Writing--Prewriting Methods

     

Vocabulary for Wild Weather (Tornadoes)--Reading Explorer 1

For the class at ALC (Rock Island building), here is a link to vocabulary flashcards for the story we read on Wild Weather (tornadoes). You can just study the words, or you can play games and take quizzes that use the words and definitions.

LINK: Wild Weather Vocabulary (Tornadoes) at Study Stack