EG1471 W5T2 ASSIGNMENT 2

Subject-verb agreement
Subject-verb agreement also known as SVA, is one of the most common mistakes people often encounter when writing an essay. SVA also is referred to the use of singular and plural verbs such that Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs. For example,
1)My brothers are not at home.
2)My father is a driving instructor.

Some indefinite pronouns like everyone, noone, someone, nobody are always singular and so requires singular verbs.
1) Nobody likes a crybaby.
2)Someone is asking for you at the door.

However, not all indefinite pronouns are singular. Indefinite pronouns like all, some are dependent on the subject they are used on.
1)All of the girls wear skirt.
2)Some of the apple has been bitten off.

There are also instances when "neither...nor/either...or" is used during sentence forming. The appropriate use of these verbs depend on the subject closer to the verb.
1)Neither my father nor my brothers own a car.
2)Either Mary or Shannon has taken your pencil.

Practices
Find 5 errors in the passage. (Scroll down for answer)

Teaching for Understanding

While generative topics is a good starting point, one problem is that they are often too broad. Beauty, for example, could be studied in any age, in any medium, and in almost any field. Even though units in teaching for understanding may lasts two to six weeks (or longer), the time available are finite, and we almost always needs to select parts of a generative topic to deal with and identify some specific goals to be attained. For example, one possible understanding goal for tenth graders studying the idea of beauty might be for students to understand that conceptions of physical beauty have changed over time -- that, for example, an ancient Roman's idea of beauty differed from that held by Italians during the Renaissance and from that held by Italians today. Another possible understanding goal for these tenth graders might be to understand that the idea of physical beauty differ from culture to culture and even from individual to individual. Or consider the generative topic of the democratic electoral process, being explored by a group of ninth graders. Of course, the students will be able to deal only with some aspects of this complex topic. In this case, one goal might be for students to gain a general understanding of elections; another might be to understand the major issues in a particular campaign.

Reference

Michael F. Graves,University of Minnesota,"Fostering high levels of reading and learning in Secondary students", Retrieved Sept 15,2008 from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/graves1/index.html

Answer

While generative topics are a good starting point, one problem is that they are often too broad. Beauty, for example, could be studied in any age, in any medium, and in almost any field. Even though units in teaching for understanding may last two to six weeks (or longer), the time available is finite, and we almost always need to select parts of a generative topic to deal with and identify some specific goals to be attained. For example, one possible understanding goal for tenth graders studying the idea of beauty might be for students to understand that conceptions of physical beauty have changed over time -- that, for example, an ancient Roman's idea of beauty differed from that held by Italians during the Renaissance and from that held by Italians today. Another possible understanding goal for these tenth graders might be to understand that the idea of physical beauty differs from culture to culture and even from individual to individual. Or consider the generative topic of the democratic electoral process, being explored by a group of ninth graders. Of course, the students will be able to deal only with some aspects of this complex topic. In this case, one goal might be for students to gain a general understanding of elections; another might be to understand the major issues in a particular campaign.