Strunk and White

William Strunk and E.B. White, authors of the well know primer on grammar and writing style, The Elements of Style, made an appearance in the seventh grade English Class today. We discussed how even though the English language is constantly changing it is helpful for writers to have some rules to serve as guideposts. Each student titled a page of lined paper, "Rules of Writing," and then wrote down these first two rules:

1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's.
2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comm after each term except the last.

After making sure we understood what the rule said, we looked through a selection of reading material to find examples of the rule in action. We will continue to examine the other rules, which will be kept in the English section of the seventh graders' binders.


Homework:
Due every day: Read for thirty minutes.
Due Thursday, September 27th: Reading Response Letter