A Tale of Two Cities
Introduction
http://shmoop.com/video/a-tale-of-two-cities/
A Tale of Two Cities
Chapter 1
The opening from A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age
of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of
belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light,
it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was
the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had
nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were
all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like
the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted
on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative
degree of comparison only.
Tuesday Warm-up: What is the tone of the above paragraph?
Why? (This is a short answer)
So, what the dickens is Dickens
doing in this paragraph????
• Charles Dickens created this very long, comma-splice filled passage
for effect. He was a professional; he was allowed to break sentence
punctuation rules. Student writers aren't so lucky; they have to
follow the rules and prove they understand them before I allow
them to break the rules like Dickens does here.
• "Today, we're going to each write a parody of Mr. Dickens' passage,
using a more modern day topic, and then we're going to use
coordinating conjunction, adverbial conjunctions, and subordinating
conjunctions to have our passages completely free of comma
splices."
• Tell students their parodies of Dickens need to include, at least, 6
pairs of interesting, well-chosen antonyms, and that their parodies
will need to conclude with an "In short" sentence, like Dickens does.
So…what’s a parody, adverbial
conjunction,subordinating conjuction, conjuction,
and comma splice???
• Parody:
• an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate
exaggeration for comic effect:
• "the movie is a parody of the horror genre"
• synonyms: satire · burlesque · lampoon · pastiche · caricature · imitation
•
• http://corbettharrison.com/lessons/Tale-of-Two-Cities.htm
Conjunction:
a word that joins together sentences, clauses, phrases, or words
1.
Adverb: a word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of
numerous languages, typically serving as a modifier of a verb, an adjective,
another adverb, a preposition, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence, expressing
some relation of manner or quality, place, time, degree, number, cause,
opposition, affirmation, or denial, and in English also serving to connect and
to express comment on clause content — compare
So what’s a …
• SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTION:
• A subordinating conjunction connects a dependent clause to a
main clause.
• Comma Splice:
• Two independent clauses separated by a comma instead of a
period or semicolon.
• Though often treated as errors in traditional grammar, comma
splices may be used deliberately to create a rhetorical effect of
speed, excitement, informality, or confusion.
Using conjunctions to avoid
comma splices
• http://corbettharrison.com/lessons/Tale-of-TwoCities.htm
Teacher Example 1- Draft 1
• It was the funniest of jokes, it was the sourest of jokes, it was
meant to be funny, it was intended to be tragic, it was humor
of the absurd, it was humor of the intelligent, it was the
highlight of the day, it was the day’s low point, it was like a
summer from my childhood, it was the fall of innocence, we
wanted to laugh, we wanted to weep, we should have
published the joke, we should have burned it to never be seen
again--in short, we had hoped would be the joke that kept us
together, but it became the joke that tore our friendship
apart.
Draft 2: This time with
punctuation.
While it was the funniest of jokes, it was the sourest of jokes
too. We meant it to be funny, but we meant it to be tragic as
well. It was humor of the absurd; moreover, it was humor of the
intelligent. After it was the highlight of our day, it became our
day’s low point. It was like a childhood summer day, yet it was
our fall from innocence. Even though we wanted to laugh, we
wanted to weep. We should have published the joke; however,
we should have burned it to never be seen again. In short, what
we had hoped would be the joke that kept us together became
the joke that tore our friendship apart.
Brainstorm topics:
Examples
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"He/She was the most skilled of athletes...“
"He/She was the kindest of teachers...“
"It was the hardest of tests...“
"He/She was the happiest of children....“
"He was the best of boyfriends...“
"It was the most loyal of pets...“
“It was the best of vacations….”
“It was the best day of her/his life…”
Assignment:
• Create a parody of Dickens introduction to A Tale of Two
Cities. Your parody must meet the following requirements:
• 1. Use a more modern day topic,
• 2. Include 6 pairs of interesting, well-chosen antonyms
• 2. Parodies will need to conclude with an "In short" sentence,
like Dickens does.
• 3. Use coordinating conjunction, adverbial conjunctions, and
subordinating conjunctions to have our passages completely
free of comma splices.“
• This assignment is due at the beginning of class
on Wednesday.