Week Three Assignment 9/18-20/2007

1.  Read and Respond:

Tuesday:  Read Chapter 13.  Write a one-paragraph summary of the chapter.  Your paragraph should be written in third person point of view, in the present tense, in a clear, objective style.  Do not use slang!  (-:  Due on Thursday, 9/20.

Thursday:  Read chapters 14-18.  Quiz on Tuesday, 9/25.

2.  Vocabulary: Learn the definitions and spelling of the following words.  Use three of them somewhere in your writing this week (italicize or underline them).  Quiz Tuesday, 9/25.

1. Equinox: Either of the two times in a year when the sun crosses the celestial equator and when the night and the day are approximately equal: The vernal equinox occurs on March 20 or 21, and the autumnal equinox occurs on September 22 or 23.

2. Euro: The basic unit of currency among the members of the European Union.

3. Evanescent: Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor: "Most certainly I shall find this thought a horrible vision--a maddening but evanescent dream" (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley).

4. Expurgate: To remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material from a text before publication.

5. Facetious: Playfully jocular; humorous.

6. Fatuous: Foolish or silly, especially in a smug or self-satisfied way: "'Don't you like the poor, lonely bachelor?' he yammered in a fatuous way" (Sinclair Lewis).

7. Feckless: Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective. Careless and irresponsible.

8. Fiduciary: Of or relating to the holding of something in trust for another; of or being a trustee.

9. Filibuster: The use of obstructionist tactics, especially prolonged speechmaking, for the purpose of delaying legislative action.

10. Gamete: A reproductive cell having the haploid number of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.

3.  Write: Write a short essay in which you discuss and explain the villagers’ manner of life and how it differs from what Marner has been accustomed to in the city.  (600 words; due Tuesday, Sept. 25).

Be sure to use the present tense of the verbs as you discuss the story!

4.  Finger Exercise: Keep a list of phrases from these chapters that refer to light, gold, or darkness.  Be on the alert for synonyms as well.  For each example, include the page number in parentheses.  Notice similes and metaphors of all kinds as well.  In particular, be alert for animal imagery.