The haiku is a wonderful poetic form that is Japanese in origin. Haiku were originally created to reflect the beauty of nature, but today, we can write about any topic within this poetic structure. Haiku are comprised of just three lines of poetry. This means that you will use only a small amount of words to convey your thoughts and feelings. Every word counts in all types of writing, but in the haiku, this matters more than ever! Each line consists of a specific number of syllables (NOT words). The structure is often referred to as a 5-7-5 form. This means:
As you can see, this totals 17 syllables in all! Each line can make an impact on its own--it can be independent of other lines. Or you can decide to make each line continue onto the next line, and even into the third line, creating what would be considered a sentence, if it were not poetry! This is know as enjambment. PLEASE NOTE: There are free-style haiku that contain three lines but do not follow the structure of traditional haiku syllables. This type of haiku is called a lune. We will not be doing them in this particular class, but you can feel free to try them out on your own! PLEASE ALSO NOTE: The plural of haiku......is haiku! Just as the word sheep does not change whether it is singular or plural, the same is true for haiku! Whether you write one haiku or a thousand haiku, the word remains the same! Now it's your turn! Think of a topic, feeling, memory, or dream that you would like to express in haiku form, and brainstorm words you could use that are important to the meaning you will convey. Think carefully about the effective verbs you will use, since these will be important components of your poem. Then, write a draft without thinking about syllable structure the first time through. You will later go back and count each line, eliminating extra words or changing one word for another until you reach the correct structure. Enjoy the process! I know you will achieve a beautiful haiku and want to write many more!
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Directions: Let's see if you know the difference between prepositional phrases and clauses. Please identify each in the sentences below.
1. Before I see you next week, I'll put a shopping list together. 2. We will meet before noon. 3. After a quick lunch, we can shop. 4. I hope I find the perfect gift. 5. Hopefully, I will also discover other possible presents along the way. 6. Do you want to call me, or should I call you first? 7. My day is sometimes busy, so I hope I am around to receive your call. 8. This will be a fun shopping experience for us. 9. I am looking forward to it. 10. I will see you then, but please remember to keep in touch! Directions: Please read each sentence below, and decide if each one contains a direct object or not.
1. I closed the book before falling asleep. 2. Jim bought a new car from the dealership. 3. I got gas on my way to work. 4. Linda thought carefully before answering the question. 5. Sandy brought pumpkin pie to Thanksgiving dinner. 6. Kamisha rented a new apartment! 7. Steve ran quickly to the finish line. 8. The children watched TV for hours. 9. Tom selected Alan as his business partner. 10. The dog slept near the fireplace. Bonus: In the above sentences, please find the following: 1. prepositional phrases 2. adverbs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The active voice shows the action up front! The subject and verb are together, and the subject is actively doing something!
Example: Tom passed the football. The subject is Tom; the verb is passed. The direct object is football. Example: John played the game. The subject is John; the verb is played. The direct object is game. Example: Marissa won the award. The subject is Marissa; the verb is won. The direct object is award. Now let's look at the passive voice. In this case, the action and true subject are not together. In fact, the subject is now changed, as well. What would have been the subject is now the receiver of the action. It has become the object of a prepositional phrase. Example: The football was passed by Tom. The subject is football; the verb is was passed. There are no direct objects here; Example: The game was played by John. The subject is game; the verb is was played. instead we have prepositional Example: The award was won by Marissa. The subject is award; the verb is was won. phrases! Notice that a preposition precedes (goes before) the new receiver of the action. The passive voice usually has a helping verb that accompanies the main verb. In the examples above, that helping verb is the word "was." The passive voice takes the focus from the person who is doing the action and instead places the direct object as the subject. Let's try a few now. Directions: Decide if the sentences below are in the active or passive voices. 1. The movie was seen by thousands of people. 2. The sport has been played by many athletes. 3. Kelly shopped for hours. 4. The mall was managed by Jeff Smith. 5. Jeff Smith managed the mall. 6. Sam closed the door. 7. The car was driven by Mario. 8. The words were written by the students. 9. The students wrote the words. 10. We will be celebrating the holidays soon. Now, let's go back and turn passive sentences into active ones, and active sentences into passive ones! Let's first remember that a preposition is a positional word! It leads the way to a pronoun or noun in a sentence. For example, "of" is a preposition. In the sentence "She was proud of her son," the preposition "of" leads to the noun "son." The prepositional phrase is the part of the sentence that contains the preposition and leads to the noun. In the previous example, "of her son" is a prepositional phrase.
Let's look at a few more examples. Can you name the prepositional phrase in the sentences below? 1. I am at work now. 2. The book is near your pencil. 3. Jeff is absent; he is under the weather. Bonus: Can you also locate and define an idiom in sentence number three? Directions: Please fill in the blanks in the following sentences with prepositions! If you need help remembering them, you may refer back to the list provided on this website in the Blackboard Skills section. Good luck! 1. We are all __________________________________________ class right now. 2. I love to be _________________________________ the ocean _________________________ the summer. 3. Tyler may be __________________________ the mall, but he is not there yet. Directions II: Please add not only the preposition, but also the prepositional phrase to each sentence below. 1. There was too much salt _________________________________________________. 2. Somerville is a part of the state _____________________________________________________. 3. Your birthday gifts are ________________________________________________________. 4. The beautiful flowers were delivered _________________________________________________. Directions III: Now please use the following prepositions in sentences of your own. Remember that the preposition is only the start of the prepositional phrase. Example: under under the chair The pencil rolled under the chair. Your words are: with on of along before |
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