Answers Draft A 1 simple Draft B 2 complex Draft C 3 compound
4 No. It is best to vary the sentences in a paragraph.
Read through the information box, Sentence Variety, with your students. Discuss the importance of variety in writing, reminding students of their audience.
Practice pages 106-107
Possible answers
2 I don’t like to talk in the morning because I don’t have enough energy to be pleasant. I want to be grumpy and silent.
3 I shouldn’t marry a morning person because 1 will go crazy if my wife chatters in the morning.
4 Another night person will frown at me in the morning, and she will leave me alone. I need to marry a night person since she will understand me.
5 In my opinion, night people should marry night people, and morning people should marry morning people. They will be happier that way.
If your class is more advanced, you may want to introduce compound-complex sentences at this point. A compound-complex sentence is a compound sentence with one or more dependent clauses attached to it. However, stress to students that just because sentences can be combined into a compound-complex sentence, that is not necessarily the best form for them to take. The whole point of this chapter is that a variety of sentences is best, so sometimes the longest sentence is not the best choice.
The Ideal Spouse 45
Your turn page 107
Stress that there is no right or wrong way to rewrite sentences in this activity. The point is to experiment and choose whatever sounds the best. Move around the room and offer assistance as students rewrite sentences. ˆ
Edit your writing page 108
Have students follow the steps to complete the Editing Checklist. Remind them to use Quick Check at the back of the book and to refer to previous Progress Checks.
& Write the final draft page 108
Final drafts can be assigned as homework.
FOLLOWING UP
A Share your writing sage 109
Read the directions with the class. Encourage students to pair up with someone they don’t usually work with. Students will enjoy this more informal sharing of writing.
(8 Check your progress page 709
Students can complete the Progress Check in class or as homework.
46 = Chapter 8
What's Your Opinion?
In this chapter, students will discuss an opinion that they hold and write a paragraph defending it. In order to better do that, they will learn the skill of outlining.
Throughout this book, students have been learning strategies and concepts to help them become independent writers and enable them to compose a well-written paragraph on their own. As you take the class through this chapter, review with them at each step what they have learned during the course. You may want to begin work on this chapter by referring to Begin at the Beginning to remind them of what they have learned about the writing process.
Read the introduction to the chapter on page 111 as a class. After reading it, ask: Do you enjoy discussing opinions? Where do you usually do that? With whom?
GETTING STARTED
& Picture this page 172
Have students discuss the photos and the questions as a class or in small groups. Here are some of the controversies brought up in the photographs:
Top: Are children’s video games too violent? Do violent games make children more violent? Should children’s access to violent games be controlled?
Middle: Are we doing enough to protect the environment? Who should pay to clean up our earth? Is violence ever acceptable to protect the environment?
Bottom: Should we give money to people who beg? What are the causes of poverty and homelessness?
Get ideas page 173
You may want to have students discuss their opinions in small groups first, where they may feel more comfortable expressing their thoughts.
Review all of the idea-gathering strategies that they have used in the course:
brainstorming, webbing, talking, drawing, and freewriting. Ask: Which way to get ideas works best for you? Discuss their answers.
Students can choose to write about an opinion from the chart, one that arose during the discussion in Picture this, or a different one of their own. They should choose something that they feel strongly about, as students generally write better when the topics spring from their own convictions.
47
Review the procedure for freewriting found on page 99 before having students freewrite about their opinions. If students are comfortable with the procedure, you could
freewrite along with them.