1. Have one or two presentations. Do the students see any material in the presentations that would be fodder for satire?
2. Parellelism: If Benjamin Franklin had written, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and a C.E.O.," we wouldn't be quoting him today.
3. Instead, he began his list with two adjectives, "healthy" and "wealthy," and completed it not with a noun, "C.E.O.," but with a third adjective, "wise," thereby rendering his maxim memorable. What he did was follow parallel construction, a technique that lends a sentence rhythm and cadence. It sounds good, and it creates emphasis.
4. The principle of parallel construction is a simple one. Plainly put, the reader expects consistency. Ideas that are related to each other (grammarians like to call these "coordinate" ideas) should be expressed in parallel form. Expressions similar in content and function should be expressed similarly.
5. Here's how it works: If you begin making a list with adjectives, as Ben did, you enter a contract with the reader to complete your list in like fashion. If you switch to a different part of speech somewhere in your list, you break the contract and jar the reader. The point is to be consistent. Create an expectation in the reader's mind, and then meet that expectation. It's a nice trick. It makes the reader think that you know what you're doing, that you're in the driver's seat, that you're in control.
6. Continue reading Act II.
7. Go over tasks from Act II.
Homework Collected: None
Homework Given: Webquest presentations starting on Monday, April 13th, Independent Reading: try to finish book by the last week of school and email Mrs. Tyler a response to the book, Searching for Satire, due by April 23rd, Term Paper 4 due on May 7th, no late papers after May 14th
Handouts given out: None
To Read: TIOBE Act II
