P4 & P4.5: Geeky Knowledge Lessons.

Geeky Knowledge Lessons will be a) a presentation & brief paper, b) about geeky stuff like punctuation, b)
lead by students, in groups (optional). Check out Doc Sharing for a list of topics. Students will sign up during
this unit for their presentation time & date.
Note: We do not want to double-up on topics.

(BONUS Hint: For those of you who know how to use iTunes, there are two free Podcasts called
GrammarGirl's Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing and MPR: Grammar Grater. You can use this audio for your
presentations! I may use them in class, as a matter of fact.)

P4: The Geeky Group Knowledge Lesson. 50pts.

P4 Goals & Questions:
The main goal of P4 is to review. What does a semi-colon do, for example? And instead of the teacher going
over all of the topics, students will!

Materials Needed:
--- The New, Well-Tempered Sentence.
--- The OWL web site at Purdue and YouTube?

P4 Requirements:
1. Informal, quality-filled presentation, 5-10 minutes in
length. If you use PPT, there should be no errors!
[25pts]
2. No more than 3 people per group. This can be done
alone if necessary.
3. All group members must present some part of the
lesson.
4. A worksheet or quiz for the class to do; this can be on
paper or a verbal exercise. It must contain 10+ items! [25pts]
a. Useful Website: The Owl site at Purdue (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/). Sample on last page.
5. Any audio or video is worth bonus points. Keep it short!
a. iTunes Podcasts: GrammarGirl's Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing or MPR: Grammar Grater
b. Website: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/
c. YouTube.com
p.s. We do not want to double-up on topics for P4;
sign up for a topic as soon as your group decides on one.
p.p.s. Apostrophes is given as an example in Doc Sharing; therefore, it is invalid as a topic for P4.

Topics To Choose From:

X The exclamation point/ the question mark/ the X The semicolon/ the colon
period X Quotation marks
X The comma/comma splices X Ellipses
X Capitalization X Misplaced & Dangling Modifiers
X Run-ons & Fragments X Spelling
X Word Tense and Subject/Verb Agreement X Parallelism
X Pronoun Reference
P4.5: Rhetorical Analysis of GKL Findings. 50pts.
P4.5 Goals & Questions:
What does punctuation do for us? How do people screw up its usage?
Dissect your P4 topic OR dissect a topic covered in someone/some other group’s P4. Example: Why do you
think Facebookers incorrectly use ellipses? If your group covered semi-colons, but you were interested to dig
deeper into spelling issues – do that topic for your P4.5.

Materials Needed:
--- The New, Well-Tempered Sentence
--- Three different online spaces: Facebook (perhaps?), blogs, eCompanion discussion boards/class blogs,
other online discussions, chat rooms, IM conversations, email, etc.

p.s. We can double-up on topics for P4.5;

even with the same topic, two students would analyze them differently.

Requirements:
___Part A: Find examples of your topic correctly used and incorrectly used in three different online spaces.
So, you’ll have three examples to show us in your paper. [30pts.] *Samples follow!
___Part B: Interview one person on your topic; why do they think, for example, people misspell in emails,
etc.? [5pts.]
___Part C: Find one online article (not Wikipedia) about your topic as well. [5pts.]
___Part D: Then dive into everything you found in the interview, the three samples, and the article. Come up
with theories and hypotheses on why, for instance, people can’t spell or use ellipses or capitalize everything.
This analysis part should be 250+ words. [Necessary to be assessed.]
___Part E: Works Cited entries; you should have two – one interview citation & one article citation. [10pts.]

Please Note:
---If you write about spelling mistakes and there are spelling mistakes IN your Part D (or elsewhere), the paper
could see a major deduction. Same goes for any of the topics.
---When dealing with Part A, make sure you circle correct and incorrect parts. Label and correct them (if they
are not correct already, of course). If you mess this part up (circle a correct part and say it’s incorrect, for
example), your paper could see a major deduction, unfortunately.
---Correctly quoting your interviewee as well as the article is very important. Deductions could occur if this is
not done correctly.
---P4.5 must be on a topic listed at the bottom of the first page of this handout.

*Samples on following pages of Part A.

*Here is a Sample of Part A:
Apostrophe Usage Online, D’oh!

First Online Space = FACEBOOK.

Red = Incorrect. He has written “announcers face...” It should be “announcer’s face...” Orange = Correct.
“Yankee’s ass...”
Second Online Space = eCOMPANION DISCUSSION BOARD:
Red = Incorrect. The student wrote:
“senior citizens center in
Hankinson).” It should be “senior
citizens’ center in Hankinson).”
Another student wrote: “hes not
sure where.” It should be “he’s not
sure where.”

Red = Incorrect. The student wrote:

“master licence...” It should be
“master’s license...”
The student wrote: “Want’s to
finish college...” It should be
“Wants to finish college...”

Third Online Space = EMAIL:

Red = Incorrect. The
student wrote: “i was
also sick on the 15 its
on the...” It should be
“I was also sick on the
15; it’s on the...”
Orange = Correct.
“dean’s record...”
*Here is a Student Sample of 4.5 by Tasha covering Ellipses.
Interview
Me: Do you know what an ellipsis is?
Maddie: Yes, an ellipsis is the “…” that follows a thought or sentence.
Me : Do you ever use them?
Maddie: Very frequently.
Me: Do you use them correctly?
Maddie: Probably not.
Me: Why do you think people miss use them all the time?
Maddie: Because they aren’t used regularly in the English launguage.
Me: Does is bother you when they are used incorrectly?
Maddie: No.

Misused Ellipses

See in this source from Facebook Meghan has written “issues..” which is wrong. Meghan should have used three periods after her first thought
such as, “issues…”

Here Google has made a mistake by using four periods. In some cases it is okay to use four but here they did a period, space and then the ellipsis.
This source is from YouTube. I am not sure what IceFrankBuBBa was trying to do with his ellipsis usage but he/she used too many periods in the
first place.

Article
How to Use Ellipsis Marks
By an eHow Contributor

Ellipsis marks are a set of three periods that indicate dropped words or a dropped thought within a sentence. Knowing their grammar rules gives you
more options when you quote and also allows you to create effects in your writing with them.
Instructions
1. Write ellipsis marks correctly by writing them as a set of three periods, each separated from the material around them by a space. If the ellipsis
marks come at the end of a sentence, you still need to end the sentence with a period after the ellipses.
2. Alert readers to the fact that you've dropped material from a quote by using ellipsis marks. You don't need to do this if you've dropped material
from the beginning or end of a quote, but you do need to when you drop material from the middle of the quote. The sentence must still follow
grammar rules when you add ellipsis marks.
3. Show that you've dropped one or more paragraphs in a long quotation or reprinted article by including ellipsis marks at the end of the preceding
paragraph. The ellipses go after the last punctuation mark.
4. Use ellipsis marks to indicate a pause or interruption of a thought or a pause in a sentence's flow. This is especially useful for recording
dialogue or for creating a stylistic effect within your sentence.

Tips & Warnings

• You may need to use ellipsis marks at the beginning of a quote if it's not clear that you've dropped material from the quote's beginning. For
example, if the first word in the quote is a proper noun and the quote functions as an independent clause, you should use ellipses at the
beginning of the quote for clarity. The ellipsis marks go inside the quotation marks.
• When you use ellipses to indicate that you've removed some material from a quote, your sentence must retain the exact meaning of the original
sentence.
• If you're writing according to a specific style such as APA or MLA, check your style guide for use of ellipsis marks. Though the basic grammar is
the same, there are slight differences among styles when using ellipses in quotes.

My Dive
After my three sources, the article, and the interview made me understand more about why people use ellipsis improperly and also after some
thinking I do not think that I was ever taught how to properly use ellipsis. I think just over time I would see them being used in books and other sorts
of things that I have read over the years and then started using them myself because until this class I did not even know that they had their own
name. So this also makes me think that this happened to other people as well and that I am not the only one in the dark on this subject. This makes
also me wonder about the other people that do not use ellipses correctly. Maybe they would use them correctly if they knew how to use them. I bet if
I were to take a poll and ask what people thought an ellipsis was most people would probably respond by saying “Isn’t that that thing that happens in
the sky?” Also, when people miss use them on Facebook I wonder if they just do not care that they are miss using ellipsis or they just don’t know
how to use them. Maybe while they are writing they just decide to hold down the period key for a couple of seconds and then call it good. Because I
will admit that is what I do and usually people on Facebook do not care if you or someone uses it improperly but not as much as some people who
use about twenty in a row. I think my maximum is about five or six. But now after writing this paper I will be more aware of my usage on ellipsis. ☺

Citations
eHow Contributor, . "How to Use Ellipsis Marks." Copyright © 1999-2010 eHow, Inc: n. pag. Web. 7 Nov 2010.
<http://www.ehow.com/how_2120737_use-ellipsis-marks.html>.
Bopp, Maddie. Personal Interview by Tasha Huset. 07/11/2010. 7 Nov 2010.
 Apostrophes: Exercise
This exercise brought to you by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
Punctuate the following sentences with apostrophes according to the rules for using the
apostrophe.

1. Whos the partys candidate for vice president this year?

2. The fox had its right foreleg caught securely in the traps jaws.

3. Our neighbors car is an old Chrysler, and its just about to fall apart.

4. In three weeks time well have to begin school again.

5. Didnt you hear that theyre leaving tomorrow?

6. Whenever I think of the stories I read as a child, I remember Cinderellas glass slipper and
Snow Whites wicked stepmother.

7. We claimed the picnic table was ours, but the Smiths children looked so disappointed that we
found another spot.

8. Its important that the kitten learns to find its way home.

9. She did not hear her childrens cries.

10. My address has three 7s, and Tims phone number has four 2s.

11. Didnt he say when he would arrive at Arnies house?

12. Its such a beautiful day that Ive decided to take a sun bath.

13. She said the watch Jack found was hers, but she couldnt identify the manufacturers name on
it.

14. Little girls clothing is on the first floor, and the mens department is on the second.

15. The dogs bark was far worse than its bite.

16. The moons rays shone feebly on the path, and I heard the insects chirpings and whistlings.

17. Theyre not afraid to go ahead with the plans, though the choice is not theirs.

18. The man whose face was tan said that he had spent his two weeks vacation in the
mountains.

19. I found myself constantly putting two cs in the word process.

20. Johns 69 Ford is his proudest possession.