ADVANCED PLACEMENT ENGLISH SENIOR LEVEL2010-2011

DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE:AP English offers able students a college level seminar course which challenges them to explore other cultures and interpret varied literary genres. Students refine writing skills through both expository and creative writing, and helps student to prepare for demanding college English programs, as well as for the AP examination which is stressed for all students enrolled in this course. The senior year is a continuation of the AP course study. The junior year is a combined study of American literature and American history and this course is the British and world literature study.

This course offers intensive preparation in oral interpretation of literature and in written literary analysis. On the senior level authors are primarily British novelists, playwrights, essayists, and poets who have reflected the development of English culture. World authors are also encouraged in comparison to the British writers. The first semester is a comprehensive study of English literature and the development of English culture, and the second semester is a comprehensive study of guided practices that are designed to help students do well on the AP exam in May.

LEARNING STANDARDS:Students will be able to:

Access, evaluate, and integrate information from a variety of sources Utilize thinking processes and writing strategies appropriate to literary

analysis Create a product whose purpose (such as to inform, persuade, entertain,

satirize, or compare and contrast) is clear and succeeds in its goal Consider alternative solutions and discuss complex issues in the Socratic

seminars Take individual responsibility for their learning and contribute to the

welfare of the learning community Demonstrate a grasp of style in literature and in their own writing Analyze the ways in which professional authors create meaning in a

variety of complex texts

STUDENT OUTCOMES:Student will:

Demonstrate a grasp of audience, point-of-view, and purpose in a college application essay

Practice close reading of literary works learning to support generalizations with specific examples

Separate fact from opinion, as well as ask and answer questions effectively in group seminars

Apply the tools of literary analysis in exploring a poet and teach that poet’s work and style to the class

Demonstrate a grasp of the writing process, employing appropriate strategies in timed writings, take home essays, emulation, and the college application essay

Create a portfolio of work, writing self-evaluations of strengths and weaknesses in each nine weeks compositions

Grasp author’s styles through emulation of selected passages Examine multicultural values and themes in literature Respond to essay questions formulated by the teacher and prepare their

own questions for selected literary works Explore relationships among the humanities through art, music, theater,

and films by attending cultural events and performances outside of class Perform scenes from literary works and create a parody integrating two

major works of literature for a final project and/or create a British museum presentation or a major author product.

COURSE TEXTS WILL BE CHOSEN FROM THE FOLLOWING:Required texts::

Elements of Literature: Essentials of British and World Literature, Holt, 2007.The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, Bedford, 1997.Harbrace College Handbook, Harcourt Brace, 1990.

Supplemental text: (Class sets)Burrows, David J., Myths and Motifs in Literature, New York: Simon and

Schuster, 1973.Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Eighth Edition. New

York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers: Sixth

Edition. New York: The Modern Language Association, 2003.

Literary Units:A chronological study of the development of English literature and culture:

Anglo Saxon Culture (2 weeks) Beowulf Bede The elegiac tone

Middle Ages Culture (2 weeks) Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales Ballads Arthurian Legends and Romance Early drama of the church: mystery and morality plays

Renaissance Culture (2 weeks) Christopher Marlowe and Humanism The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus Development of the sonnet and Elizabethan lyrics (1 week) Early Shakespeare (2 weeks)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Twelfth Night Romeo and Juliet Richard III Richard II

Later Shakespeare(2 weeks) Measure for Measure Othello Macbeth King Lear Winter’s tale The Tempest

The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century (3 weeks) Prose and Satire Swift, Defoe, Johnson and Boswell Poetry of Pope and Dryden

The Romantic Period (3-4 weeks) Gray, Burns, Blake Wordsworth and Coleridge Shelley, Byron and Keats

The Victorian Period (5 weeks) The emergence of the novel Eliot’s Silas Marner Bronte’s Wuthering Heights Bronte’s Jane Eyre Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities Dickens’ Hard Times Dickens’ Oliver Twist Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles Hardy’s The Return of the Native

Victorian Poetry (2 weeks) Tennyson, Hopkins, Brownings, and Hardy

Modern Literature: Prose and Drama (4-6 weeks) Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment Woolf’s To the Lighthouse Joyce’s Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler Modern Short Story Collections (2 weeks) T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland

Evaluations: Unit examinations vary from objective to essay and take home formats. Exams cover reading assignments and classroom discussions and all handouts and lecture notes. Essays are both written in and out of class and are weighted.

Advanced placement tests are used periodically throughout the course to help students prepare for the AP English Literature Exam in May.

MAJOR UNITS AND/OR THEMESUnit One: Analysis of Author’s Style and Themes (Major Author Study)Students will read several works over the course of the semester and develop a

reader-response log. These log responses to style and theme will govern the first few weeks. The end result will be an oral presentation highlighting the cultural time period, themes of the works, and style of the author.

Unit Two and Three: Appreciation of Anglo Saxon and Medieval CultureDiscussion of culture and cultural appreciation. Students will distinguish

between high culture and popular culture and what constitutes a “classic”. Background of Anglo-Saxon and Medieval CulturesAn understanding of the primitive and civilized aspects of Beowulf.What constitutes an epic and the incorporation of motifs and myths.Differentiating between the folk ballad and the literary ballad.The sociological structure of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.An understanding of direct and indirect characterization in dramaUnderstanding morality and miracle plays and to understand the didactic

purpose of Everyman. T. S. Eliot’s Murder in the CathedralJames Goldman’s The Lion in Winter and/or Becket

Unit Four: Appreciation of the Renaissance in EnglandResearch: Own a Poet Project

Students will work in teams to research a Renaissance poet and they will prepare a response journal outlining how they did the research, record problems they encountered, and the amount of time spent both in an out of class doing collaborative reading and research. Each team will read a minimum of ten poems by the poet and will explicate five of them. They will teach a full period lesson to the class, engaging their peers in an activity which involves active learning and assigning a written response to some of the facets of a poem which they duplicate but do not teach.

Unit Five: Elizabethan DramaStudents will explore the elements of tragedy in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Richard III or Richard II.

Identify key themes, motifs, soliloquies and relationships found in the particular play

Examine the deterioration of the tragic hero through his or her tragic flaw

Understand the ironies differentiating between verbal, situational, and dramatic.

Analyze by comparison and contrast characters

Students will read Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus and research how it reflects the humanistic ideas and thoughts of the Renaissance culture.

Unit Six: Understanding the Comic Elements of ShakespeareStudents will read Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and/or Twelfth Night.Students will write a comparison/contrast of a comedy to a tragedy detailing similarities and differences.

Unit Seven: The Restoration and the Eighteenth CenturyStudents will read and appreciate the use of satire in poetry and prose by reading selections by Dryden, Pope, Swift, Defoe, Johnson and Boswell.Students will appreciate the use of parody and the mock epic.Students will write their own satire and/or parody.Students will appreciate restoration comedy by reading William Congreve’s The Way of the World.

Unit Eight: The Victorian Period and the English NovelStudents will understand the development of the English novel and the importance of the novel as a tool of social reform.

o Dickens Charleso Bronte, Emily and Charlotteo Austen, Janeo Thomas Hardy

Students will understand the social issues that were reflected in the Victorian novels: contradictions, exploitations, introspection, progress, satire, sentimentality, suffrage and the use of wit. Students will understand the conventions of the novel form. Students will understand point of view as used in analysis and criticism. Students will read and explicate the poetry of Tennyson, Hopkins, Browning and Hardy.

Unit Nine: Modern Literature Prose and Drama and PoetryStudents will read:

James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart William Goldings’ Lord of the Flies

Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse Other contemporary works of literary merit

Students will present their major author presentations during this unit. SPECIAL ACTIVITIES INTEGRAL TO THIS COURSE

Students participate in seminar discussions, write analyses inside and outside of class, take responsibility for their learning, and respond to one another’s writing.

They participate in Own a Poet project, the British Museum collaboration and their Major Author presentations.

Students will attend and critique cultural events throughout the year. This is usually a season ticket for plays being presented by the University of Tennessee theater department.

TEACHING STRATEGIES: Teacher serves as a guide, motivator, critic and

evaluator Discussion Simulation Demonstration Role Play Seminar Discussions Student led classes

RESEARCH COMPONENTS: Major author essay Students use school library and college libraries and the

Internet to research literary assignments. They seek out common themes, style, and formats. They also read and analyze secondary criticisms of their author’s works.

ASSESSMENT TOOLS: Reader-response journals Reading and comprehension quizzes Seminar discussions Emulations and style analyses Major Essays Writing portfolios Writing evaluations Unit Examinations AP Writing Exams and Practice Multiple Choice Tests

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATIONS TO BE USED:AP Students are asked to write frequently both in-class and out of class. The writing assignments are constantly modified and reconstructed for the individual class. The

following is a sample of the type of writing assignments senior students are asked to write from the individual units.

MAJOR UNIT AND/OR THEMESUnit One: Analysis of Author’s Style and Themes (Major Author Study)This assignment will begin at the first of the semester and culminate at the close

of the semester as part of the final evaluation. Students are given a reading list from the canon of literary works of merit. They will read and keep a response log that will respond to style and theme of each work read. Students will be responsible for a researched presentation that will focus on the cultural significance of the work, the themes found in the literary selections and styles utilized by the author.

Unit Two: Appreciation of Anglo Saxon Culture and Medieval CultureESSAY #1: Students will write an in-class essay based on distinguishing between “High” Culture and “Popular” Culture. Students will use examples from class discussions and the historical backgrounds of the Anglo Saxon and Medieval cultures and apply these elements to our culture today. Evaluation: Students are interested in my reaction to their writing. I make personal comments on this essay to motivate and to encourage their eagerness to write and to think. I do include questions for them to think such as the following: “Is this clear?” “Is this what you really mean?” “Can you prove this?” “Your ending might have been a better beginning. Why?” “Would an ordinary reader understand this?” “I agree!” “You supported your arguments well.” “With such a good, thoughtful beginning, anyone would want to read this essay!” “Fine phrase!” “Good word choice” etc…

ESSAY #2: Students will write an out-of-class essay based on the following topic:We can often increase our pleasure in a work of literature by consulting the

opinion of an expert on the author’s writing. Often you will be given a quotation about the author and selection we have read. Most of these quotations will be from literary critics; some come from the authors themselves. Each quotation is followed by one or two questions that will ask you to consider the quoted opinion in light of your own reaction to literature.

The literary historian David Daiches reminds us that the world of Beowulf is certainly not uncivilized, though the civilization it reflects is primitive enough. There is a genuine ideal of nobility underlying its adventure stories.

Through what evidence in the selection can we conclude that the world of Beowulf was primitive yet civilized? How would you distinguish between the two? Cite examples from the selection to support Daiches’ claim that “a genuine ideal of nobility” underlies the story of Beowulf. You might think in terms of how Beowulf’s character reveals theme.

ESSAY #3: Write a description of the speaker of “the Seafarer.” First describe his age and physical appearance as you imagine them based on information given in the poem. Then describe his personality, including evidence from the poem to support

your assertions. Be sure to indicate in what way these examples determine the elegiac tone of the lyric.

ESSAY #4: What makes the subject matter of the three ballads you have read appealing to a general, rather than to an elite audience? What might the subjects have been if these ballads had been written for an elite audience during the Middle Ages?

ESSAY #5: Human relationships are central to the selections in this unit. In a five-paragraph essay, discuss the various kinds of human relationships found in three of the following selections:

The Wife of Usher’s Well “The Pardoner’s Tale”“Sir Patrick Spens” “Le Morte de Arthur”“The Prologue” to the Canterbury Tales

ESSAY #6: Chaucer has included criticism of the church in the Prologue through his portraits of several corrupt members of the clergy. He does, however, also include a portrait of the Parson, an exemplary clergyman. In a well-written essay, compare and contrast the Parson with the Friar and the Pardoner. Keep in mind that his negative characterizations is satire used to develop theme.

Unit Three: The Development of English DramaEssay #7: Death is a theme that runs through many of the selections in our previous units. In a well-written, in-class essay, discuss the use of death as both allegorical character and theme from one of the following selections:

The Morality Play: Everyman “Sir Patrick Spens”“The Wife of Usher’s Well” Le Morte d’Arthur“The Pardoner’s Tale” Murder in the Cathedral

Essay #8: Write a comparison and contrast essay in which you discuss the similarities and differences between the medieval morality play Everyman and T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral. Think in terms of tone, allegory, and theme.

Essay #9: In an essay explain the message or idea that is intended by the dialogue between Everyman and Fellowship. How is the same point reinforced in Everyman’s conversation with Kindred and Cousin?

Essay #10: T.S. Eliot’s poetic morality play Murder in the Cathedral explores the issue of spiritual versus temporal values. In a well-constructed essay, explain the martyrdom of Thomas Becket and the plays didactic purpose.

Unit Four: Appreciation of the Renaissance in England(Students will be researching and reading poems out of class in their Own a Poet Projects.)

Essay #11: Compare and contrast one of Shakespeare’s sonnets with Sidney’s Sonnet 31. First discuss the rhyme scheme of each sonnet. Then discuss the tone of Shakespeare’s speaker and of Sidney’s speaker. Consider how each speaker suffers and what solace, if any, each finds in the course of the poem.

Essay #12: Analyze the use of imagery in a poem. The composition should cite images used, explain the function of the images, identify the mood of the poem, and relate the images to the mood or emotion established in the poem.

Unit Five: Elizabethan Drama(Essay topics will be designed to relate to some literary aspect of each drama studied. Essays will be written in-class as times writings and out-of class.)Sample topics from William Shakespeare’s Othello:

Essay #13: A classic tragic character is the person with many good qualities who is defeated by a fatal flaw in his or her own character. Explain how the protagonist fits this definition of a tragic character.

Essay #14: In- class Essay: Despite the deaths of several major characters, Iago does not triumph in this play. Explain how and why the power of love defeats Iago. Discuss more than one character’s role in this situation.

Essay #15: Othello is a classic tragedy whose central focus is not plot but character. Explain how the plot of Othello is especially dependent upon character and its revelation. Discuss how Shakespeare uses some of the characters as catalysts to the events and why the characters contribute to the classic inevitability of tragedy.

Essay #16: Director Jonathan Miller has compared Othello’s jealousy to an allergy. Discuss whether or not Othello is naturally jealous.

Essay #17: Some scholars disagree on the question of Othello’s nobility at the end of the play. Choose a viewpoint (Othello (a) does or (b) does not regain his nobility at the end – and justify your thoughts. Examine whether or not your answer presents any problems with the traditional definition of the tragic hero.

Essay #18: In-class Essay: Would Iago be a better title for this play than Othello? Why or why not?

Essay #19: Some scholars have said that the play would be too dark without the character of Desdemona. Explain how Shakespeare uses her form, language, and function to give light and life to this dark play.

Essay #20: Critic A. C. Bradley said of Emilia: “Nothing in her life ever became her like the losing it.” Explain what he meant and how Shakespeare uses Emilia for crucial purposes at the end of the play.

Unit Six: Understanding the Comic Elements of Shakespeare

Sample topics from William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night:

Essay #21: It is obvious that the play’s tapestry contains more than a single plot. Write an essay analyzing the way in which the comic plot involving Malvolio becomes a perverse reflection of the love plot involving Orsino and Olivia. Discuss Cesario’s role as go-between for the Duke.

Essay #22: In-class Essay: Many playwrights have dealt with the theme of love. It’s a theme that carries so much interest because of the power it wields in peoples’ lives. Write an essay in which you explore Shakespeare’s treatment of the theme of love in Twelfth Night.

Essay #23: The festive atmosphere is so much a part of this play that it should be considered to gain a deeper understanding. Sir Toby, as the “lord of misrule,” is the master of ceremonies and surely keeps the party going. Write an essay that explores the function of the foolery and fun within the play. How does this atmosphere mask the darkness beneath the surface?

Unit Seven: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century

Essay #24: Explain the use of Pope’s ironic juxtaposition in The Rape of the Lock in order to relate to the main purpose of the poem.

Essay #25: Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the satire in Gulliver’s Travels and The Rape of the Lock. In discussing the techniques of satire that Swift and Pope use, consider their tone, diction, and treatment of plot, setting, character and theme.

Essay #26: Write an in-class Essay in which you discuss the significance of a specific symbol in a poem to the meaning of the poem. In the essay be sure to identify the poem’s title, the symbol to be discussed and its specific meaning. Explain the significance of the symbol to the entire poem. Logically relate the symbol to theme.

Unit Eight: The Victorian Period and the English Novel

Sample essays from Thomas Hardy’s, Tess of the d’Urbervilles might include the following:

Essay #27: Dorothy Van Ghent , a Hardy scholar, declares that the description of the death of Prince suggests all the links in Tess’s tragedy, from her going to the D’Urberville estate to her killing of Alec. Reexamine those two pages in the novel. Find characterization, action, or narrative elements which symbolize the course of Tess’s tragedy in the description of the event with Prince.

Essay #28: Explain in a well-written essay the following: Hardy revives a body of beliefs about man and fate, nature and society,that were once the ordinary

possession of Western imagination. He exploits a wisdom that makes possible the achievement of tragedy in the heroical sense of a Sophocles or Shakespeare. Explain the meaning of this and how it applies to Tess.

Essay #28: Thomas Hardy said, “To be an unusual human being is to invite tragedy.” Explain how Tess is unusual and thus invites tragedy into her life. What evidence does hardy present to prove his statement and what explanation does he offer?Essay #29: In his novels Hardy showed a deep concern for the social problems of a changing society. For one, he looked closely at the rigid class structure and its effects upon the individual. A second problem of the age was the erosion of people’s beliefs in orthodox Christianity. This created a wide spread pessimism about the nature of man and the universe. A third problem of concern to Hardy was the place of women in society. They were often victims of their own natures according to Hardy. Choose one of the concerns of Hardy and write an essay in which you support the concern with specific examples and evidence from one of Hardy’s novels.

Unit Nine: Modern Literature Prose and Drama and PoetryFrom the modern selections of English literature sample essay topics:

Essay #30: Peter Rabinowitz’s essay on Heart of Darkness argues that readers, governed by what he terms the “Rule of Abstract Displacement, choose to find something other than what’s there in the text, usually some “universal” truth about the nature of man. Instead of writing on a “theme” in Heart of Darkness (a theme, after all, is an abstraction), write an essay on the effects of true sight (rather than psychological insight or universalizable “truth”). To support your argument (something along the lines of “Conrad makes me see [fill in the blank] by [whatever it is that Conrad does] and it has [fill in the effect that it has]), examine a single scene, discuss what makes the scene effective, and then say what the effect is.

Essay #31: In Oroonoko, the hero is both known and proclaims himself to be a man of his word, a man of honor. The major conflicts in the novel arise from a clash between the hero, who keeps his word, and those who betray him by not keeping their oaths (his grandfather, the captain who sells him into slavery, Byam, and so on). Write an essay on the theme of honor as it is embodied in the ultimate fate of the hero. In other words, consider why honor ceases to be effective in the fictional world of Oroonoko. (This is a supplemental novel taught along with Heart of Darkness and Acehbe’s Things Fall Apart).

Essay #32: In literary works, the use of irony emphasizes the incongruity between what the reader perceives as true versus what the character(s) believe. Write an essay on the following aspect of irony in “Araby”: The closer the young boy is to Araby, the further he is from his romantic ideal.

Essay #33: In-class Essay: Read the short story by John Cheever carefully. Write a well-organized essay in which you analyze the blend of humor, pathos, and the grotesque in Cheever’s story.

Essay #34: In-class Essay: Read “Easter 1916.” Write a well-organized essay in which you address the following question: explain how Yeats uses devices such as Oxymoron, metaphor, repetition, antithesis, and diction to convey his attitude toward the revolutionaries both before and after the Easter uprising.

Essay #35: In-class Essay: Dylan Thomas maintained that a good poem contributes to reality, that the world never remains the same once a good poem has been added to it. The discerning reader brings to the text a poem of personal reality, reflecting personal history. If the text is an effective work of art, a good poem, then it expands the reader’s reality to embrace a wider world reality. Develop a well-organized evaluation of “Thomas’s poem “A refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London,” by responding to the following question. Remember to reflect and organize before you begin to write.

How well does the poem introduce the reader to the dimensions of the tragedy while comforting those who mourn? Include key concepts of the subject and style.

Essay #36: In-class Essay: Using Henrik Ibsen’s well made play A Doll’s House, write a well-organized essay in which you give examples of Ibsen’s use of dramatic irony. What purpose does the irony serve?

Essay #37: In-class Essay: Ibsen is known for his social criticism. Discuss the following criticisms Ibsen explores in A Doll’s House: the legal system, marriage, religion and morality. Be sure to use specific examples from the play to support your opinions.

*These are only sample topics used both in and out of class. Students enrolled in AP English literature keep a portfolio and all essays are kept. Out of class essays are revised and corrected and placed back in the portfolio with the original essay. Also, during the second semester more frequent in-class writings and practice AP essays and exams are given.

*Literary terms exams are given every other Friday. The definitions are taken from The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms.

EVAUATION OF LITERARY BASED ESSAYS

We all know that grading essays is time consuming but of major importance in teaching an advanced placement course. I read their essays. I also use peer writing groups with the class to read and evaluate their essays. We do this as objectively as possible. I have them write down a four digit number, and we place it on an index card along with their names. On many of their essays, they use only this number. I am a more objective reader as are their classmates. I use rubrics designed for each essay written. We also discuss the essay: what we think it should contain, methods of organization, what we will look for when we evaluate it, and possible thesis statements. I address the following: Content, Organization, and Style. (I do this more thoroughly at the beginning of the course and less frequently as we move into the second semester when they should be becoming more confident writers). These are some of the areas I have formulated to discuss and to use in writing rubrics and in grading their essays.

I. CONTENT/POSITIVE COMMENTSa. Your discussion includes relevant supporting detailb. Your statement about the plot gives a clear and concise overviewc. Your character analysis of _________________ shows a mature

insight into personal motivation.d. Your discussion clearly illustrates the importance of the setting to

____________________ (theme, characterization, etc)e. Your statement of theme is convincingly supported by appropriate

details.f. Your discussion clearly shows how the language of the work (satire,

irony, etc.) is used.g. Your discussion successfully combines the elements of

characterization (direct description by the author, statements and actions of the characters, details of the setting or language, etc.).

h. Your discussion of the details of plot, characterization, and theme reveals a clear understanding of the work’s structure.

i. Your unusual handling of ______________ (character analysis, statement of theme, etc.) shows imagination and originality.

j. Your overall response to this work shows that you can find meaningful parallels between literature and life.

Obviously, I am also their strongest critic. I also make comments to help them in their revisions to strengthen their essay’s content.

II. CONTENT/SUGGESTIVE COMMENTSa. Your generalizations are unsupported by specific details from the

(novel, play, etc.).b. Your ______________ (analysis of character, discussion of theme, etc.)

is essentially a plot summary.c. Your characterization of _____________________is limited mainly to

the author’s direct description. Your discussion uses examples to support generalizations which are unimportant and trivial.

d. Your discussion of ___________ is not representative of the work as a whole.

e. Your presentation of details to support _________________ is not followed by a valid conclusion.

f. Your discussion fails to probe deeply into _____________ (the motivations of characters, etc.).

g. Your discussion of the implications of _______________ is not clearly illustrated by concrete examples.

h. Your discussion shows little understanding of the work as a whole.i. Your conclusions about _______________ are unsupported by your

discussion

I also address organization of the essay, but these are some of the comment used to encourage students to think about style. It helps them as both reader and writer.

III. STYLE/POSITIVE COMMENTSa. The variety of sentence beginnings lends interest to your essay.b. The use of complex and compound sentences as well as shorter ones

enhances the maturity of your writing style.c. Your use of the periodic sentences (which withhold the main point

until the end) is effective in creating the suspense or surprise needed here.

d. Your choice of words vividly describe the ________ of the novel.e. You succeed in subordinating your important ideas effectively.f. Your sentences effectively condense much thought through the use of

modifying phrases and clauses.

IV. STYLE/ SUGGESTIVE COMMENTSa. You can avoid monotony by beginning your sentences in different

ways (prepositional phrases, verbal phrases, subordinate clauses, etc.).b. Avoid the overuse of short, choppy sentences by combining them into

longer complex or compound sentences.c. For greater emphasis use the active voice here instead of the passive.d. Avoid the use of words which add nothing to the principal ones when

they appear in the same sentence.e. Too many incomplete sentences interrupt the smooth flow of ideas.f. Less important ideas should be subordinated to the principal ones

when they appear in the same sentence.g. Parallel ideas should be put into parallel grammatical constructions.

*These are only sample comments that I have used in evaluating essays this semester.