How to Set Up Your Weekly MUGShot Sentences
Follow the page set-up modeled below. Each week you will copy the rule and example MUGshot on the first day. On the following days, new sentences will appear on the board. Copy the practice sentences as they appear on the board; then, make the necessary corrections using the proofreading and editing symbols in your agenda.
You will turn in your MUGshot sheet at the end of the week. You will be assessed on your participation in the recording and correction of the week’s sentences, as well as the correction of the quiz sentence; the quiz sentence will address the week’s rule and other rules covered in previous weeks..
Sheets will be returned the following week so you can see your areas of need and keep a record of the rules for reference in future sentences and editing.
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Name: ______MUGshots Week of ______
MUG Sentence Structure Rule # 1:
End of the Week Quiz Sentence
Tools for More Effective Writing
1. Frames
A “frame” in writing is like a picture frame—it is an interesting way to contain the big picture. You will start with an interesting item—a definition, a question, a flashback, a phrase, etc. The ending should then return full circle to the beginning, repeating a phrase or idea from the introduction to bring closure to the topic.
For example, if were writing an essay about your family, you might begin with a flashback to an event such as your third birthday. The essay would then go into detail about the family members in this flashback; the end would then tie it all together, explaining how this flashback is representative of your family and helps reveal important understandings you’ve come to have about your family members.
Or, if you were beginning an essay with a quotation about freedom, you would then return to that quotation in the end, reflecting on what you have argued or discovered about freedom and how it relates to the quotation.
2. Listing
Three or more items in a series, separated by commas, that create a poetic rhythm or add elaboration and support for a point, especially when the items have their own modifiers.
“Hours of wintertime had found me in the treehouse, looking over at the schoolyard, spying on multitudes of children through a two-power telescope Jem had given me, learning their games, following Jem’s red jacket through wriggling circles of blind man’s bluff, secretly sharing their misfortunes and minor victories,” (Lee 17).
3. Specific Sensory Details
Instead of general, vague descriptions, specific sensory details help the reader visualize the person, place, thing, or idea that you are describing.
“The walls are cracked and water runs upon them in thin threads without sound, black and glistening as blood,” (Rand 18).
4. Expanded Moment
Instead of speeding past an important moment, writers often emphasize it by “expanding” the actions, slowing down and describing all the details of how it happened and how the person(s) felt.
“The school bus wheezes to my corner. The door opens and I step up. I am the first pickup of the day. The driver pulls away from the curb while I stand in the aisle. Where to sit? I’ve never been a backseat wastecase. If I sit in the middle, a stranger could sit next to me. If I sit in the front, it will make me look like a little kid, but I figure it’s the best chance I have to make eye contact with one of my friends, if any of them have decided to talk to me yet,” (Anderson 3).
5. Figurative Language
Non literal comparisons—such as similes, metaphors, and personification—add pizzazz to writing and can help paint a more vivid picture for the reader.
“All the anger whistles out of me like I’m a popped balloon,” (Anderson 74).
6. Repetition for Effect
Writers often repeat specially chosen words or phrases to create rhythm and make a point, stressing certain ideas for the reader.
“It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see,” (Rand 17).
7. Humor
Professional writers know the value of laughter; even subtle humor, irony, or sarcasm can help turn “boring” stories or topics into writing that can raise someone’s spirits.
“Miss Caroline caught me writing and told me to tell my father to stop teaching me. ‘Besides,’ she said. ‘We don’t write in the first grade, we print. You won’t learn to write until you’re in the third grade,’” (Lee 21).
8. Make-your-own words
Sometimes a new way of saying something can make all the difference; hyphenated adjectives often cause the reader to think about your topic in a unique or unusual light.
“She holds up a small green pad—my get-out-of-jail-free cards,” (Anderson 25).
SHOWING NOT TELLING
Showing—using the above techniques—is one of the most sophisticated strategies a writer can use. It makes your writing richer and more descriptive. It also helps you discover new ways to say things. Showing is the key to rich and satisfying descriptive writing that sounds like the writing you read in the very best books.
Telling = A general fact, which often isn’t particularly engaging, memorable, or convincing on its own.
The food smelled good. (TELL)
The room was messy. (TELL)
Showing = Specific details that distinguish, making the description more specific, unique, and convincing.
The aroma of mom’s cornmeal battered fried okra and eggplant flowed up the stairs from the kitchen, tickled my nose, and teased my churning stomach. (SHOW)
A Mount Everest of sweaty gym clothes camped out in the middle of Stacy’s room. On her dresser rested several short, fat, tall, thin, and cloudy glasses of water--her answer to midnight thirsts. Stacy’s bed. Stacy’s bed. How would a neat freak describe the total anguish of Stacy’s bed? For that person, with its crumpled sheets, wound-up comforter, and exposed mattress, Stacy’s bed would be a waking nightmare, worse than any slithering snake or creepy spider could ever be. (SHOW)
MUG Rules
Sentence Structure:
SS Rule #1- Every sentence must have a subject (which is implied in the case of a command) and predicate verb. (Running to school. à I was running to school.)
SS Rule #2- Every declarative sentence should end with a period.
SS Rule #3- Every direct question should end with a question mark.
SS Rule #4- Only strong exclamations should end with an exclamation point.
SS Rule #5- Put yourself second, such as “he and I go home” or “it was given to you and me”
SS Rule #6- Don’t begin two consecutive sentences with the same word or words.
SS Rule #7- Use transition and signal words to show the relationships between ideas and sentences.
SS Rule #8- Don’t repeat a highly descriptive word in the same sentence or paragraph.
SS Rule #9- Don’t misplace your modifiers. (Ex: Hiking the trail, the birds chirped loudly.—Who is hiking?)
SS Rule #10- Use adverbs to describe actions. (Ex: I ran well and quickly.)
Capitalization:
Capitalization Rule #1- Capitalize the first word in a sentence.
Capitalization Rule #2- Capitalize any word that would appear on a map (Honolulu) or in a store-bought calendar (May, Tuesday).
Capitalization Rule #3- Capitalize any title that would appear on a person’s name tag, such as Mr., Mayor, or Dr. White.
Capitalization Rule #4-Capitalize any word which would appear on the sign in the front of a building.
Capitalization Rule #5-Capitalize all words in a title except for “little words”: articles, conjunctions, and prepositions.
Capitalization Rule #6- Do not capitalize a school subject, unless it’s a language (Ex: English) or the name of the course (Ex: AP Physics).
Capitalization Rule #7-Do not capitalize seasons (Ex: summer, winter) or nonspecific heavenly bodies, like sun, moon, star, or planet.
Capitalization Rule #8-Do not capitalize the names of family relations (Ex: aunt, dad) unless it is used as a name (Ex: Aunt Sue, Dad).
Capitalization Rule #9-Do not capitalize north, south, east, west, or any combinations thereof when they say the direction you are going. (However, if they are used as a specific place, like the North, then they are capitalized).
Punctuation:
Comma Rule #1-Use a comma to offset an introductory word, phrase, or dependent clause.
Comma Rule #2-Use a comma between two descriptive adjectives that could be reversed in order.
Comma Rule #3-Use a comma between three or more items in a list.
Comma Rule #4-Use a comma before FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) when there is a complete sentence on either side.
Comma Rule #5-Use a comma to offset an appositive, a noun or phrase that renames another noun right beside it. (The rule is an example! In other words, it is additional explanation about the word that could be removed from the main sentence, and yet the main sentence would still make sense).
Comma Rule #6-Use commas to enclose an interruption, such as this, including explanatory words or phrases within the sentence.
Comma Rule #7-Use a comma between days, dates, and years.
Comma Rule #8-Use a comma between the street address, cities, and states (but NOT between states and zip codes).
Comma Rule #9-Use a comma before quotation marks in a sentence and at the end of a quotation UNLESS the quotation concludes with a question mark or exclamation point!
Comma Rule #10-Use a comma where a natural pause is necessary or to avoid confusing wordings.
Semicolon Rule #1- Use a semicolon to join two sentences that are related and do not need a coordinating conjunction.
Semicolon Rule #2- Use a semicolon to separate independent clauses that already contain commas (as in lists).
Semicolon Rule #3- Use a semicolon before a connecting words like however, meanwhile, therefore, etc. when the word connects a compound sentence.
Colon Rule #1- Use a colon to introduce a list.
Colon Rule #2- Use a colon to introduce or emphasize a word, phrase, etc. that adds impact to the sentence.
Colon Rule #3- Use a colon to separate hours and minutes (10:10), and titles and subtitles (The Comma: Rules)
Hyphen Rule #1- Use a hyphen to make a single-thought adjective or compound word, joining two (or more) together as one word that would not work if the component words were separated.
Hyphen Rule #2- Use a hyphen to join a nonstandard prefix or suffix to a word, like post-game show.
Dash Rule- Use a dash to indicate a sudden break or change in the sentence—it could set off an introduction from a sentence or it could emphasize a point.
*Parallelism- Clauses in a list must follow a parallel structure, meaning the structure of each phrase or clause must follow the same pattern (Ex: I was crying, laughing, and singing.)
Quotations:
Quotation Rule #1- Place quotation marks before and after direct quotations; they should only include “exact words.”
Quotation Rule #2- Periods and commas in a quote are always placed inside quotation marks.
Quotation Rule #3- An exclamation mark or question mark is placed inside quotation marks ONLY if it is part of the quotation.
Quotation Rule #4- A sentence quoted from a text should end with a comma, with the period following the parenthetical citation outside the end quotation mark.
Quotation Rule #5- Semicolons or colons are always placed outside the quotation marks.
Quotation Rule #6- Quotation marks may be used to “distinguish” a word or phrase.
Possession:
Possession Rule #1- If the owner is singular, add an apostrophe s after the word. (Ex: Bob’s)
Possession Rule #2- If the owner is plural or ends in an s, add just an apostrophe (Ex: the Joneses’)
Possession Rule #3- If the owner is an indefinite pronoun like everyone or anyone add an apostrophe s after the word. (Ex: somebody’s)
Possession Rule #4- When possession is not shared by more than one noun in a list, use the possessive form for each. (Ex: John’s, Mike’s, and my mother-in-law’s dogs all howl.)
Numbers:
Number Rule #1- If the number is between one and ten, write it out.
Number Rule #2- If the number is 10 or greater, use numerals.
Number Rule #3- Use a comma to distinguish hundreds, thousands, millions, etc. (Ex: 20,000)
Number Rule #4- Use numerals to express money ($1), decimals (2.2), percentages (8 percent), time (8:30 p.m.) and identifications (Ex: On page 23…)
Number Rule #5- If the number is over one million, write out the millions. (You may use a combination of writing and numerals for complicated numbers like 110 million or 235,687,001.)
Number Rule #6- Use words to express numbers that begin a sentence.
Number Rule #7- Use a hyphen between the elements of a fraction (Ex: two-thirds).
Titles:
Whole-Part Title Rule: If the title is of an entire work, like an encyclopedia, novel, film, television series, album, newspaper, or website, then it is italicized (or underlined if you have no computer). However, if the title is of a smaller part of that whole, like a song, episode of a television show, chapter, newspaper article, webpage, or entry in the dictionary, then the title is in quotations.
Spelling:
*Spelling Rule #1- Write i before e except after c, or when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh.
Spelling Rule #2- Double the final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel (batting, controlling), when a one-syllable word (bat) ends in a consonant (t) preceded by ONE vowel (a), OR when a multi-syllable word (control) ends in a consonant (l) preced by one vowel (o), the accent is on the last syllable, and the suffix begins with a vowel.
Spelling Rule #3- If a word ends with a silent e (use), drop the e before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel (using).
Spelling Rule #4- When y is the last letter in a word and the is the last letter in a word and the y is preceded by a consonant, change the y to i before adding any suffix except those beginning with i. (Fryà fries)
Spelling Rule #5- When forming the plural of a word that ends with a y that is preceded by a vowel, add s. (Turkey à turkeys).
Commonly Confused Words:
Its / It’s / Past / PassedThan / Then / Bored / Board
Your / You’re / Among / Between
Already / All ready / Counsel / Council
Weather / Whether / Heard / Herd
Through / Threw / Hole / Whole
Who’s / Whose / Lay / Lie
Accept / Except / Knew / New
Affect / Effect / Right / Write
Good / Well / Who / Whom
Fewer / Less / Choose/Loose / Chose/Lose
Amount / Number / Quite / Quiet
There / Their / They’re
To / Two / Too
By / Bye / Buy