Comma What?

My father had left our house in the midst of a fight between Lindsey and my mother. My mother was trying to get Lindsey to go with her to the Y to swim. Without thinking, Lindsey had blared, "I'd rather die!", at the top of her lungs. My father watched as my mother froze, then burst fleeing to their bedroom to wail behind the door. He quietly tucked his notebook in his jacket pocket, took the car keys off the hook by the back door, and snuck out.

Gossip

If I "triple filtered" everything I said, I'm sure the conversations would be different. They would probably be more boring, dull, and pointless. It seems like no matter who you talk to, you'll always hear something about someone else. If everyone "triple filtered" what they said, there's a chance that you wouldn't have enemies or people that hate you.

Sometimes people don't even know they're gossiping. It's very easy to talk about someone and not realize that it could be hurtful to the person. Most of the time, people get more hurt by being the subject of a conversation than by hearing it themselves. People gossip because they may not have anything else to talk about, or because they think they hate someone.

Literary Elements: TAKS PT 3

1. Satire-A literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn.

2. Irony-The use of words to express something other than and esp. the opposite of the literal meaning.

3. An

alogy-Inference that if two or more things agree with one another in some respects they will probably agree in others.

4. Foreshadowing-To represent, indicate, or typify beforehand.

Figurative Language

1. Figurative Language-Expressing one thing in terms normally denoting another with which it may be regarded as analogous.

2. Figure of Speech-A form of expression used to convey meaning or heighten effect often by comparing or identifying one thing with another that has a meaning or connotation familiar to the reader or listener.

3. Imagery-Pictures produced by an imaging system.

4. Trope-The use of a word or expression in a figurative sense.

All these words are added to a story to show emotions and excitement throughout the book. The writer should use these to keep the reader from getting bored.

Story Spinners: Option 1

As the old man approached my friends and me, we noticed something odd about him. He was barefoot, walking along the streets of Houston in the blistering, hot sun. We had never noticed him in our neighborhood before, so we thought it was kind of weird. My friend, Kimberly, asked him what he was doing in this part of Houston and why wasn't he wearing any shoes. He replied, "I have no shoes. I have no money. I have nothing except my bicycle and belongings that are in my basket. I came to this neighborhood in hope of someone giving me food or water." Kimberly and I looked at each other in wonder.

This had been the first time someone had ever came up to us, asking for things. We told him that we had no money and that food wasn't available at the moment. I decided to dig through my purse, just to see if I might have a few change, and found a flashlight. I asked the man if this would be helpful to him, and he kindly took it. He said "thank you," and went on his way. I looked at Kimberly, then looked back at the man and said "That was weird, don't you think?" She said "Yes," and we continued walking.

As we were walking, passing parks, with beautiful trees and flowers, we ran in to the man once again. He was talking gibberish, not making any sense at all. We stopped and watched him for about five minutes until we decided to ask if anything was wrong. He told us that nothing was wrong, that he was trying to get down to the market. Anyone in town could have smelled the alcohol on his breath. Kimberly and I figured out that all he wanted was money to buy alcohol and cigarettes. We called the police on him, knowing that he had taken money and other things from people too. After that incident, neither one of us ever gave anything to anyone that we did not know.