Chapter 1: The Gnat and the Bull

Read the passage. Then answer questions about the passage below.

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The Hound and the Hare           A Hound started a Hare from his lair, but after a long run, gave up the chase. A goat-herd seeing him stop, mocked him, saying "The little one is the best runner of the two." The Hound replied, "You do not see the difference between us: I was only running for a dinner, but he for his life." Questions 1) What is a Hare?    A. A cat    B. A rabbit    C. A squirrel    D. A chicken   2) What is a Hound?    A. A lion    B. A bear    C. A bird    D. A dog   3) Why did the Hound give up on the chase?    A) The Hare was too fast    B) The Hound fell asleep    C) The Hound was tired from chasing    D) Both A and C 4. Why was the Hound chasing the Hare?    A) The Hare was eating the farmer’s garden    B) The Hound was hungry    C) They were playing tag    D) They were racing

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The Fox Without a Tail   It happened that a Fox caught its tail in a trap, and in struggling to release himself lost all of it but the stump. At first he was ashamed to show himself among his fellow foxes.    But at last he determined to put a bolder face upon his misfortune, and summoned all the foxes to a general meeting to consider a proposal which he had to place before them. When they had assembled together the Fox proposed that they should all do away with their tails.    He pointed out how inconvenient a tail was when they were pursued by their enemies, the dogs; how much it was in the way when they desired to sit down and hold a friendly conversation with one another.    He failed to see any advantage in carrying about such a useless encumbrance. "That is all very well," said one of the older foxes; "but I do not think you would have recommended us to dispense with our chief ornament if you had not happened to lose it yourself."   Questions 1) What happened to the fox?    A. ________________________________________   2) Why was the Fox ashamed to show himself to the other foxes?    A. His fur was wet    B. He had not eaten    C. He lost his tail    D. A bear chased him   3) Why did the Fox set up a meeting with the other foxes?    A. _________________________________________________   4) What did the other foxes say about removing their tails?    A. _________________________________________________ 5) Why do you think the Fox wanted the other foxes to remove their tail? Explain      A.________________________________________________________________        ________________________________________________________________

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	Grammar: What is grammar?    The branch of study that deals with the rules by which words are formed and constructed both in written and spoken form.    Grammar helps us to understand and improve our use of language for communication. Here are a few of the different types of words used.   Noun: A noun is a person, place, thing, quality, or act.    Examples: pencil, girl, supermarket, happiness   Verb: Verbs are action or existence words that tell what nouns do.    Examples: to fly, to run, to be, jump, lived   Adjective: An adjective describes a noun.    Examples: hairy, crazy, wonderful   Adverb: An adverb describes a verb, adjective, or adverb. It often ends in "ly".    Examples: carefully, easily, barely   Interjection: An outcry or sudden utterance. Usually starts a sentence.    Examples: Wow, Gosh, Darn   Preposition: A preposition describes the relationship between a noun and another noun (or verb or adverb).    Examples: to, under, for, at, by, from    Conjunction: A conjunction joins together words, phrases, or clauses.    Examples: and, or, but    Pronoun: A pronoun replaces a noun or noun phrase that is understood from context.    Examples: he, it, they     Questions Write N for noun or V for verb for the underlined word.   __ 1) Becky jumped over the fence.   __ 2) I brush my teeth twice a day.   __ 3) The panda ate the bamboo slowly.   __ 4) The choir sang ten songs.   __ 5) We had a tornado drill in school today.   __ 6) Phil rode his bike to the park.   __ 7) He cooked hamburgers for lunch.   __ 8) Dad lit the fireplace.   __ 9) Jim caught the ball.   __ 10) Fruit tastes great on a hot day.
Page 4     Sentences and Sentence Fragments A group of words that expresses a complete thought or an idea is a sentence.    Example: Let's run. A sentence fragment is a group of words that do not express a complete thought or an idea.    Example: Brown dog. Run. Changing sentence fragments into complete sentences is done by either joining two fragments together or rewriting the entire sentence out.    Example: The brown dog runs.   Mark the sentences s and the fragments f.    __   1. Phil is tired.    __   2. he said    __   3. The boy is running.    __   4. I like    __   5. She is happy today.    __   6. open book    __   7. They don't want to see the movie.    __   8. am ready    __   9. The mechanic fixed the car.    __ 10. feel better   Write the fragments into sentences.    1. ________________________________________________________________________________________    2. ________________________________________________________________________________________    3. ________________________________________________________________________________________    4. ________________________________________________________________________________________    5. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Kinds of Sentences Sentences come in four different types, each having their own purpose. - Statements present facts and end with a period. (.)    Example: The man was very happy with his new car. - Questions ask for a specific answer and end with a question mark. (?)    Example: Would you like some milk? - Commands declare orders or requests and can end with a period (.) or an exclamation point. (!)    Example: Get in line! - Exclamations are strong emotional outbursts that end with an exclamation point. (!)    Example: Wow, very good job!     Page 5
	Mark s for statement, q for question, c for command, or e for exclamation in the following sentences.      __   1. Where are we going?    __   2. You annoy me!    __   3. Does anyone have a pencil?    __   4. I went to the doctor.    __   5. That was awesome!    __   6. My dog is a nice pet.    __   7. Does she know where we are?    __   8. Rob could you close the door?    __   9. Please listen!    __ 10. I like cereal for breakfast.     Write the sentences properly and add punctuation.      1. open the door    ______________________________________________    2. Wow look at that    ______________________________________________    3. I can not see you    ______________________________________________    4. Where are we    ______________________________________________    5. I am ready to go    ______________________________________________    6. Can we leave now    ______________________________________________    7. I can not believe you are here    ______________________________________________    8. What time are you going    ______________________________________________    9. I am ready to see my father    ______________________________________________  10. Don't go in there    ______________________________________________
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	Vocabulary: Dictionary Use a dictionary to help you write a word for each letter.   A. _______________________________ B. _______________________________ C. _______________________________ D. _______________________________ E.  _______________________________ F.  _______________________________ G.  _______________________________ H.  _______________________________  I. ________________________________ J. ________________________________ K. ________________________________ L. ________________________________ M. _______________________________ N. _______________________________ O. _______________________________ P.  _______________________________ Q. _______________________________ R. _______________________________ S.  _______________________________ T.  _______________________________ U. _______________________________ V.  _______________________________ W. _______________________________ X. ________________________________ Y. ________________________________ Z. ________________________________     Spelling Bee: Circle the correct spelling for each of these commonly misspelled words.      1. desparate         or       desperate                          6. judgement        or       judgment    2. a lot                   or       alot                                      7. harass              or       harrass    3. independent     or       independant                      8. excede             or       exceed    4. irresistible        or        irresistable                        9. accomodate    or       accommodate    5. receive              or       recieve                            10. occasion          or       occassion   Capitalization Practice your editing skills for capitalization by circling capitalization errors.    1.  matt ate a carrot.        2.  how old is ethan?       3.  aunt mary is 90 years old.       4.  my uncle lives down the street.        5.  becky loves halloween and thanksgiving.          6.  kara, matt, tim, and i are related to each other.       7.  our house is yellow and blue.    8.  david read the book charlotte's web.    9.  nathan asked if he could play my nintendo.  10.  jack was moving to texas. his train was leaving on monday from penn station in new york.
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	Guessing Vocabulary in Context Guess Words-In-Context read the sentence, choose the answer.   1) I took the tome off the shelf and opened it to page 94. Then I began to read.     What does tome probably mean?    A) some food    B) a bad dream    C) a cigarette    D) a book    2) Hurricanes and tornadoes are treacherous. Only a very foolish person would go out during that kind of weather.      What does treacherous probably mean?    A) exciting    B) dangerous    C) delirious    D) safe    3) Many ships have vanished during hurricanes. No survivors from the lost ships have ever been found.      What does vanished probably mean?    A) arrived    B) departed    C) returned    D) disappeared   4) By anticipating the robber's next move, the police were able to arrive at the bank before the next robbery happened.      Now the robber is in jail. What does anticipating probably mean?    A) thinking ahead, expecting    B) drawing, painting    C) horrifying, amazing    D) strange, unusual     5) I'm really hungry! That apple didn't appease my hunger. I want a sandwich now.      What does appease probably mean?    A) frustrate    B) increase    C) satisfy    D) confuse    6) The dispute about driver licenses in California will probably never be resolved.      What is a dispute?    A) theory, rule    B) argument, debate    C) agreement    D) a type of license
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	7) This virus has really sapped my energy. I get tired just walking across the room. I hope to get better soon because I need to return to work. What does sap probably mean?    A) give, increase    B) make slow    C) take away, drain    D) enhance    8) Some people think that discussing the dangers of cigarette smoking obscures the real issue.      They believe the real issue is that smokers are discriminated against. What does obscure probably mean?    A) to shorten     B) to challenge     C) to make obvious    D) to hide, conceal    9) Students! Students! Please stop chattering and listen to me. Class has begun.      What does chattering probably mean?    A) sleeping    B) talking    C) working    D) typing      Literature: The Author A person who writes a story or another text is an author.    Example: H. G. Wells author of "The Time Machine"         The Illustrator A person who creates the illustrations or pictures of a story or other text is an illustrator.    Example: Montana Forbes, Ruth Palmer
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	Writing: Why Do We Write?    A way of communication is writing. Use of words and punctuation marks to send a message. Usually words are used in sentences to express feelings, interests, worries, and other things. Also writing is considered a process and there are steps to complete to successfully create a reading.    Start off with a rough draft to gather ideas and get a general idea of your completed version. When you finish the rough draft you are ready to proofread it to correct any errors, grammatical or other kinds of errors. Mark f for feeling, i for interest, or gi for general information in the following sentences.    __   1. Not finding my dog makes me very upset.    __   2. I like reading stories with happy endings.    __   3. The game will start at five o' clock.    __   4. Jogging is great exercise.    __   5. I miss my mother too much.    __   6. I am not ready for next week.    __   7. My house has six bedrooms and three bathrooms.    __   8. Sara is my cleaning lady.    __   9. I enjoy going to beach on the weekends.    __ 10. She is not my friend anymore.   Writing About Yourself Drafting Explain in two or three sentences the kind of person you are and things you like to do.    __________________________________________________________________________________________    __________________________________________________________________________________________    __________________________________________________________________________________________    __________________________________________________________________________________________   Editing Look over your writing and check to see if it is a good description of you. Locate any errors and make corrections. Also check your spelling to ensure perfection, use capital letters where needed, and make sure punctuation is correct. Rewrite.    __________________________________________________________________________________________    __________________________________________________________________________________________    __________________________________________________________________________________________    __________________________________________________________________________________________   Proofreading Now write a final version with all your corrections. Reread it a few times to make sure it's perfect, then share with your classmates.    __________________________________________________________________________________________    __________________________________________________________________________________________    __________________________________________________________________________________________    __________________________________________________________________________________________
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