Take Home Final Essay

Daniel Contreras
ENGL 50
Professor Jacinto Gardea
9 May 2011
Take Home Final Exam
Dear Mr. Gardea,
After I finished reading your play titled Grammar, Punctuation, and Writing: A Punc-Gramma-Drama I realized that the semester was almost over; these four months flew by fast. The ending of the play was very disappointing—and a bit tacky—but I did picture the final scene in my head, so it was mildly effective because it left me curious about Nikki’s condition. Because the ending was so sudden, you should write a part two to the play so we can know what happens. After I had finished reading the play, I looked back at the previous chapters to reflect. Though to be honest, I did not read chapter four completely since it was too long and it looked tedious.
48 pages to finish over spring break will leave a lot of students dreading the assignment—on top of other course work—but maybe if they were to just complete the crucial parts such as the letters and practice quizzes then maybe more students will attempt it. However, I do realize that this is college and simple tasks like reading a chapter are not too outrageous.
Personally, I did like the letters from the play, as they were all interesting to read. At the beginning of the semester, you did warn us that some content may offend some of us. Parts such as the “fake orgasms” in Debra’s letter or the description about Lencho’s desire to kiss Escopeta’s “legs and boobs” could make someone feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, we should all be mature enough to handle things of that nature. A thing I did not like was the lengthy chapters as I may have already explained before. Chapter four is the same length as chapters two and five combined. Maybe in future plays the chapters could be a tad shorter; still, I can’t complain since some professors do assign an entire book to be read in a week. It would also be beneficial if the Table of Contents included the page numbers to Escopeta’s, Benito’s, and Debra’s letters. That way we can locate them without having to turn through countless pages to find them.
The audio files you played for the first couple of chapters slightly threw me off. For example, when they would say the dialogue they would always mention the person’s first name which got irritating quickly. Maybe for next semester—during summer or fall—you could have some students act out scenes from the various chapters so that they can learn while acting it out. Who knows, maybe their reenactments could be humorous? I suggested that because you could record your students performing. They would be able to listen, read, watch, and be a part of the play simultaneously.
Eduvijes, whom was my favorite character, reminds me of my grandmother because of her broken English. Some students may find her parts quite irritating or unnecessary, but I enjoyed her presence in the story. She added a whole different level of realism and believability to the storyline since they were in a class for disadvantaged English speakers. Tencha was probably the most kick back teacher I have ever heard of. I wish I could have her as my English 101A teacher. That is all of the feedback that I have for you Mr. Gardea. It was cool having you as my professor this semester.
Alright, now I will explain to you how I used the things you taught us this semester. Did you notice those dashes that I used in the first paragraph? In the sentence, The ending of the play was very disappointing—and a bit tacky—but I did picture the final scene in my head, so it was mildly effective because it left me curious about Nikki’s condition, I used a dash after disappointing because the thought, and a bit tacky, interrupted the sentence. The dash’s main duty is to separate a certain idea, informational piece, or thought from the rest of the sentence. Another thing that I learned this semester was relative pronouns.
I bet you found one in the last paragraph of my letter were I said, Eduvijes, whom was my favorite character, reminds me of my grandmother because of her broken English. The word whom is the relative pronoun in that sentence. The main purpose of relative pronouns is to connect a relative clause to a larger clause. Speaking of clauses, I used a lot of them in my letter. For example, Chapter four is the same length as chapters two and five combined is a clause because it has a subject (Chapter four) and a verb (is). All independent clauses must have at least one subject and one verb. Independent clauses can also stand alone as proper sentences. Dependent clauses, on the other hand, cannot alone be finished sentences. Often times we connect dependent clauses with commas, but we sometimes connect them with conjunctive adverbs or coordinating conjunctions. Here is an example of a dependent clause that I wrote in my letter: After I had finished reading the play, I looked back at the previous chapters to reflect. The last part of that sentence, I looked back at the previous chapters to reflect, can stand alone as a sentence because it has a subject (I) and a verb (looked). After I had finished reading the play cannot be an independent clause because the word after acts as a subordinating conjunction.
Subordinating conjunctions, such as although, before, and while, connect two clauses. However, one of those clauses must be a dependent clause while the other is the main or the independent clause. Though to be honest, I did not read chapter four completely since it was too long and it looked tedious contains the subordinating conjunction though. There are a handful of other ways to punctuate a sentence. One is by using coordinating conjunctions, also known as FANBOYS. The acronym FANBOYS stands for the seven coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Coordinating conjunctions connect two independent sentences together. In the sentence, Some students may find her parts quite irritating or unnecessary, but I enjoyed her presence in the story, the coordinating conjunction is but because it is connecting the two independent clauses together—and there must always be a comma before the coordinating conjunction if we are connecting two independent clauses.
Colons and semicolons also play a great role in punctuation. For example my sentence, After I finished reading your play titled Grammar, Punctuation, and Writing: A Punc-Gramma-Drama I realized that the semester was almost over; these four months flew by fast, includes both a colon and a semicolon. The colon plays an amazing array of roles:
- Separates the parts in a multipart title.
- Introduces a list.
- Presents an example or explanation.
Semicolons can act as replacements for the words “also” and “but.” In the sentence the semicolon connects the two independent clauses.
It is very easy to make grammatical errors, especially while using unfamiliar words and phrases. Some of the things we must avoid are comma splices, fused sentences, and sentence fragments. Comma splices occur when two independent clauses are combined solely with a comma (e.g. I love cereal, I also love candy). In order to prevent comma splices from infiltrating our papers we must also take precaution and decide whether or not the sentence has two independent clauses. Afterwards, you could add either a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) or a conjunctive adverb. The result should look like: I love cereal, but I also love candy. Similar to comma splices, fused sentences combined two independent clauses together; this time, however, there is no punctuation in between the clauses. Comma splices can be fixed by: including a period between clauses, using a semicolon, or using a coordinating conjunction. Last but not least, sentence fragments are clauses or phrases that are capitalized and punctuated as a sentence but does not create a complete proper sentence. We can usually connect these fragments easily to the rest of the sentence.
Sentence fragment: Joe likes to talk on the phone. Because it is fun.
Correct: Joe likes to talk on the phone because it is fun.
Well I think I just about covered everything in my letter. I hope you enjoyed it!
- Daniel

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