Freshman English
Skip Bennett
Grammar
Diagram parts of speech, phrases, and clauses.
Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.
William Safire
Ignorant people think it is the noise which fighting cats make
that is so aggravating, but it ain’t so; it is the sickening grammar that
they use.
Mark Twain
When I split an infinitive, god damn it, it stays split.
Raymond Chandler
Usage
Be economical.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Shakespeare
 The look of lightning is so beautiful, and the color looks bright bluish
becomes
The bright bluish lightning blinded the henchmen.
 We ran on an indoor track with 176 yards for its distance
becomes
We ran on a 176-yard indoor track.
Distinguish between and among homophones.
Spell correctly.

their/they’re/there, it’s/its, all right, every day/everyday, receive, a lot
Use quotation marks correctly.
Know editing marks.
Expand vocabulary skills.
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is
the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.
Mark Twain
Composition
Web (cluster). Outline. Write body first (“inside out” method). Emphasize
organization—especially transitions—and originality of summary. Summary does
not merely re-state the thesis or theme; instead, it offers a recommendation,
crystallizes a new idea, or provides enlightenment. Five-paragraph essays frame
these concepts.
Literature
Short stories and accompanying literary devices, especially theme. Some other
devices highlighted.
“The Most Dangerous Game,” Richard Connell
(emphasis: internal/external conflict)
“The Birds,” Daphne du Maurier
(emphasis: setting)
“The Red-Headed League,” Mark Twain
“Old Man of the Temple,” R. K. Narayan
“Rules of the Game,” Amy Tan
“The Interlopers,” Saki
(emphasis: characterization)
“The Rug Merchant,” James Michener
“The Gift of the Magi,” O. Henry
(emphases: irony, allusion)
“The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allan Poe
(emphases: setting, irony)
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” James Thurber
(emphasis: characterization)
“One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts,” Shirley Jackson
“The Machine That Won the War,” Isaac Asimov
“If I Forget Thee, O Earth,” Arthur C. Clark
“The Scarlet Ibis,” James Hurst
(emphasis: symbolism)
“Blues Ain’t No Mockin’ Bird,” Toni Cade Bambara
“The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant
(emphases: characterization, symbolism)
“Checkouts,” Cynthia Rylant
“The Black Cat,” Edgar Allan Poe
(emphases: symbolism, internal conflict)
Nonfiction (continued emphasis on literary devices, especially theme).
“Single Room, Earth View,” Sally Ride
from “A Lincoln Preface,” Carl Sandburg
Review of “In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle,”
Steve Gietschier
from “The Road Ahead,” Bill Gates
“Arthur Ashe Remembered,” John McPhee
“Go Deep to the Sewer,” Bill Cosby
“An Entomological Study of Apartment 4A,”
Patricia Volk
“New Directions,” Maya Angelou
Poetry
Emphasize autobiographical connections, structural elements, and theme—and
interrelationships among the three. Key structural elements include alliteration,
assonance, personification, simile, metaphor, rhyme scheme, and meter.
“The Listeners,” Walter de la Mare
“Slam, Dunk, & Hook,” Yusef Komunyakaa
“Jabberwocky,” Lewis Carroll
“Siren Song,” Margaret Atwood
“The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe
“Fire and Ice,” Robert Frost
Haiku Poems
“I Hear America Singing,” Walt Whitman
“The Odyssey,” Homer (condensed)
“Beware: Do Not Read This Poem,” Ishmael Reed
“The Spearthrower,” Lillian Morrison
“An Ancient Gesture,” Edna St. Vincent Millay
“Casey at the Bat,” Ernest Lawrence Thayer
“The Seven Ages of Man,” William Shakespeare
“There Will Come Soft Rains,” Sara Teasdale
“The Bells,” Edgar Allan Poe
“The Horses,” Edwin Muir
Drama
Emphasize dramatic and literary devices, especially theme.
“The Miracle Worker,” William Gibson
“The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet,”
William Shakespeare
Novels
Emphasize structure and literary devices, especially theme.
Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann Burns
Tangerine, Edward Bloor