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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). ! 2! 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) ! 3! 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) !4 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