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AP Language and Composition
Summer Reading Assignment
2015-2016 Ms. Gia DelVecchio
Parma Senior High, Room 112
[email protected]
Turn in this packet on the first day of school
Before returning to school, read Sin and Syntax, How to Craft
Wickedly Effective Prose by Constance Hale. Also, read The Great
Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Take notes within each book. If you borrow the books, take notes on
sticky notes within the books. It is recommended (but not required) that
you purchase Sin and Syntax because it may prove useful while
studying for the AP test and as a resource for the class. The annotations
(notes) must be inside the books.
You must understand the content of Sin and Syntax. Be sure to read it
thoroughly and take notes within the book about the content. You must
understand the characters, plot, etc. within The Great Gatsby. Take
notes within your book so you can jog your memory about the
characters and plot. If you do not know what words mean, look them up
and jot down the definition within your book! (Get into this habit
because we will be doing it ALL YEAR LONG. )
Here’s the big question to consider:
How$does$Fitzgerald$“craft$wickedly$effective$prose”$in$the$novel
$The$Great$Gatsby?$ $
In order to answer this question, you must take notes on what
Constance Hale believes is “wickedly effective prose.” Hale writes
about the terms “words,” “sentences” and “music”: be sure to refer to
her definitions. In other words, what does Hale believe makes an
excellent word? What does she believe makes an excellent sentence?
According to Hale, what kind of prose makes music? (Take notes
within your book.)
Then, takes notes on Fitzgerald’s writing in The Great Gatsby. Are
there specific examples of words, sentences or music? Identify
specific examples and page numbers. Also, explain whether the use of
language affects the meaning of the section. (For example, if simple,
straight-forward words are used, then what meaning is being created?
Maybe the author is showing that the situation does not possess any
ambiguity, that what you see is what you get.) In addition, utilize
Hale’s terms bones, flesh, cardinal sins, carnal pleasures when taking
notes about Fitzgerald’s writing. Be sure you find examples throughout
(beginning, middle and end) The Great Gatsby.
You will be writing an essay responding to this prompt. The better your
notes are, the better your essay will be.
Name:
Date:
**This is due the FIRST DAY OF
SCHOOL**
Answer the following questions about Sin and Syntax:
In the Forward, on page xii, Gordon writes,
“At times I’ve envisioned language as a body with its own surge and
rhythms and whims, other times as a diaphanous garment that both
hides and reveals. But always I see grammar as the choreographer of
our language, coordinating the movements of our baffling flummoxed
urge to express, to give voice to the ineffable.”
1. What does she mean in the quote? How does it provide a different
perspective of language and grammar?
2. Summarize (that means briefly state in your own words) the main
idea of each of the following principles:
Relish every word.
Be
simple, but go deep.
Take risks.
Seek beauty.
Find the right pitch. (pages 1-8).
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3. What is a common noun? What is a proper noun? What is a
compound noun? (page 12 – hopefully you already know the answers
to these questions and they are merely refreshers)
4. List and cite other important information you learn about nouns
below.
5. Explain the pronoun’s role in helping the writer to establish point of
view or perspective (pages 35- 44). Be sure to write about third-person
pronouns, first-person pronouns and second-person pronouns.
6. Which verbs are better, static or dynamic? Explain the difference
between the two types of verbs and explain why one is better than the
other. (pages 55-57)
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7. List and cite other important information you learned about verbs
below.
8. Summarize in one sentence the paragraph starting “Simply using...”
on page 80.
9. Summarize each of the “adjectival fine points” on pages 83-85.
10. What are some of Hale’s most important thoughts about adverbs?
(pages 88-97)
11. What is the mnemonic device you can use to figure out if a
word/phrase is a preposition? What is the role of a preposition? (page
99)
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12. What are two ways conjunctions help language? (pages 115-116)
13. What is an interjection? (page 122) Summarize the section “Now
Hear This” about interjections on page 126.
14. What does Hale suggest in the section “Be Simple, But Go Deep”
(page 129-131) about sentences?
15. What does Hale suggest in the section “False Starts” (page 149150) about the subject and the predicate? 5