Learning Objective:
To use conventions of English to develop clear and detailed informational and directional compositions
Common Core Standards:
W.9-10.3. Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole.
L.9-10.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
RI.9-10.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
RI.9-10.2. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and
refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
RI.9-10.3. Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are
introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
RI.9-10.5. Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a
text (e.g., a section or chapter).
RI.9-10.6. Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
Write the first draft of a paragraph about a familiar
process that you believe needs improvement.
After choosing your topic, do some background
research. In your own words, argue for a revision
of the existing process. For example, are you
happy with the process for dealing with recyclables
where you live, the process for registering for
majors at Brooklyn Tech, or the way students are
selected for teams.
Spelling Words
 etiquette
 hygiene
Vocabulary Words
 augment (v.)
 August means supreme and majestic
 The sufffix –ment means a movement
 The prefix a- means towards
 Likewise, one cannot augment his or her
intelligence without proper and
exerting mental or intellectual workout.
 to make larger; enlarge in size, number,
strength, or extent; increase.
 avarice (n.)
 His characters are motivated by
avarice because of their greed.
 insatiable greed for riches; inordinate,
miserly desire to gain and hoard
wealth.
Motivational
Activity:
Describe your three most serious
failings when it comes to writing. What
do you think you can do to remedy
each one.
Free write a process analysis
paragraph in which you are ironic about
the steps that need to be followed. For
example, in a paragraph about how to
lose weight by changing your diet or
increasing your exercise, you might
cast in a positive light all the things that
absolutely should not be done.
When you give someone directions to your home, tell
someone how to make ice cream, or explain how a
president is elected, you are using process analysis.
Process analysis usually arranges a series of events and
relates them to one another.
Process analysis tries to explain -in detail- how something
happens.
There are two types of process analysis: directional and informational.
The directional type provides instructions on how to do something. The
purpose is to give the reader directions to follow that will lead to a
desired result.
There is a full-proof method of outsmarting a vending machine that refuses to
give up its food. First, approach the machine coolly. Make sure that you don’t
seem frightened or angry. The machine will sense these emotions and steal
your money. Second, be polite. Say hello; compliment the machine on its
selection of goodies, and smile. Be careful. If the machine thinks you are
trying to take advantage of it, it will steal your money. Third, if the machine
steals your money, remain calm. Ask nicely to get the food you paid for.
Finally, it is time to get serious. Hit the side of the vending machine with your
fist. If this doesn’t work, lower your shoulder and throw yourself at the
machine. A good kick or two might also help. When the machine has had
enough, it will drop your snack, and you can grab it. If you follow these simple
steps, you should have no trouble walking away from vending machines with
the food you paid for.
There are two types of process analysis: directional and informational.
The informational type tells how something works, how something is
made, or how something occurs.
Clarity is crucial for successful process analysis. The most effective
way to explain a process is to divide it into steps and present those
steps in a clear and chronological sequence. Sometimes, you have to
explain why a certain step is necessary.
Read Adam Goodheart’s “Mummy Arts”
Group #1: Focus on Strategy ( 2 groups of six)
Group #2: Focus on the Pattern (2 groups of five)
Group #3: Focus on Critical Thinking (2 groups of three)
Group #4: Focus on Writing ( 2 groups of four)
The sun rose slowly over Mount Vernon on December 12, 1799,
revealing a cold and wintry day. Aside from periods of rain, sleet, and
snow, it seemed like a normal day. Indeed, no one could have
foreseen that this day would lead to the death of a great American
hero: George Washington.
Nouns: sun; Mount Vernon; December 12, 1799; day; periods; rains, sleet,
snow; day; day; death; hero; George Washington
Pronouns: it; no one; that
Verbs: rose; revealing; seemed; could have foreseen; would lead
Prepositions: over; on; aside from; of; to; of
Adjectives: The; a; cold; wintry; a; normal; this; great; American
Adverbs: slowly; like
Conjunctions: and; and; indeed
Interjections: NONE
List the first ten adjectives in the following paragraph.
Exclude the articles a, an, or the.
With over four thousand soldiers under his command, the
Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado headed
north in 1540 from what is now Mexico. He was hoping to
find the immense wealth of the legendary Seven Cities of
Cibola, also known as the Seven Cities of Gold. He never
found the imaginary cities, but he did explore areas of the
southwestern United States. To escape the dry climate of
Arizona, Colorado and his troops marched northeastern into
New Mexico. Here he saw the magnificent Rocky Mountains
in the distance from his winter campsite.
List the first ten adjectives in the following paragraph.
Arizona State University effectively runs an academic “boot
camp.” It substantially increases the number of minority,
college-bound math majors. Sixteen-year-olds develop their
math skills quite successfully here. They work cooperatively
to solve one hundred math problems nightly. The students
study intensely, but they work happily together. Initially, this
program helped only thirty-two minority students. The
academic “boot camp” has progressed significantly and
quickly, becoming part of the university’s Institute for
Strengthening Underrepresented Minority Students in
Mathematics and Science.
List the first ten adjectives in the following paragraph.
Exclude the articles a, an, or the.
When his troops later crossed the present-day Texas, they
experienced a dramatic change in scenery. The landscape
became barren and flat. Grass-covered plains stretched to
the horizon. Coronado and his troops never found the
mythical cities of gold for which they were searching. When
they reached what is now south-central Kansas, they turned
back. Their long adventure took two difficult years.
Coronado retired to a quiet, uneventful life in Mexico City,
richer in knowledge of the North American continent than in
gold.
List the first ten adjectives in the following paragraph.
It takes a creative person to develop a new invention. Alexander Graham
Bell worked extraordinarily hard to perfect his highly successful invention,
the telephone. Marie Curie won a second Nobel; Peace Prize in 1911 for
her exceptional work with dangerously radioactive elements. Pi Sheng
created one of the first entirely mechanical printing presses in China in
1040. Samuel Morse’s first completely accurate telegraph message was
sent from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., in 1844. Nineteenth century
French physician Rene Laennec invented the stethoscope, a strange,
foot-long device, to listen to patients’ chest sounds and to diagnose
previously undetermined heart ailments. Thomas Edison, an ingenious
inventor, registered more than one thousand patents for such brilliantly
imaginative products as the light-bulb, the phonograph, and the movie
projector. Basketball fans owe a deep debt of gratitude to James
Naismith, who invented the game in 1891 by cleverly using two peach
baskets and a soccer ball.
When you write a process analysis, you may find yourself
making illogical shifts in tense, person, and/or voice
Confusing: First, the vending machine should be approached
coolly. Make sure that you don’t seem frightened or angry.
Illogical shift from passive to active voice
Clear: First, approach the vending machine coolly. Make sure
that you don’t seem frightened or angry.
Consistent use of active voice
Strictly speaking, in English, only two tenses are marked
in the verb alone, present (as in "he sings") and past (as
in "he sang"). Other English language tenses, as many
as thirty of them, are marked by other words called
auxiliaries. Understanding the six basic tenses allows
one to re-create much of the reality of time in his writing.
Simple Present:
Present Perfect:
Simple Past:
Past Perfect:
Future:
Future Perfect:
They walk
They have walked
They walked
They had walked
They will walk
They will have walked
Present Tense: expresses an action that is occurring now (Martina runs
down the court and shoots the ball.)
Past Tense: expresses an action that occurred in the past. (In the last lap,
the runner fell and injured his knee.)
Future Tense: expresses an action that will occur (The president will not
return to Washington today.)
Present Perfect Tense: expresses an action that occurred at an indefinite
time in the past. (Miguel and Tim have already entered the information into
the computer.)
Past Perfect Tense: expresses an action that ended before some other past
action (Paul had travelled several miles before he realized his mistake.)
Future Perfect Tense: expresses an action that will end before some other
future occurrence. (By the time school begins in August,. You will have saved
enough money to buy the car.)
Each of the following sentences contains an error in the use of tenses. Give the correct form of the
verb.
1.Would you still have told that joke if we said we already heard it?
2.Who found that the earth revolved around the sun?
3.By the time we get to the picnic area, the rain will stop.
4.In July my parents will be married for twenty-five years.
5.If the books have been cataloged last week, why haven’t they been shelved?
6.I would have agreed if you would have asked me sooner.
7.Val claims that cats made the best pets.
8.After Sam had answered, Mr. Catalano says, “There were no rabbits.”
9.Before leaving the house, we have closed the windows.
10.As a witness to the accident, Pam told the police what happened.
A pronoun usually refers to a noun or another pronoun,
which is called the pronoun’s antecedent.
Pilar, Kimberly, and Laura have donated their time.
Identify the pronoun.
Why is the pronoun plural?
Neither Cindy nor Carla think she is ready to audition for
the school play.
Identify the pronoun.
Why is the pronoun singular?
Some indefinite pronouns are singular: anybody, anyone,
anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything,
neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, somebody,
someone, and something.
Some indefinite pronouns are plural: both, few, many, and
several.
Some indefinite pronouns can be either singular or plural,
depending on their meaning: all, any, more, most, none, or
some.
Everybody stayed late at the dance party because they
were enjoying themselves.
(Informal)
Everybody stayed late at the dance party because he or
she was enjoying himself or herself.
(Grammatically correct but misleading and wordy)
All of the students stayed late at the dance party because
they were enjoying themselves.
(Grammatically correct and clear)
There are two types of process analysis: directional and informational.
The directional type provides instructions on how to do something. The
purpose is to give the reader directions to follow that will lead to a
desired result.
Read Paul Merrill’s “The Principles of Poor Writing”
•At what point did you realize that Merrill was being ironic?
•Why did Merrill order his three process steps in this particular way?
Could he have used a different order?
•Complete Writing Assignment #1
Compare your process analysis paragraphs (both about something you do well,
but one written with irony. Which is most effective? Revise the more effective one
and submit it.