Sentence Structure Practice

Practice sentence structure at Pearson Exercise Zone!

Today in class, you will read grammar explanations and complete some exercises to improve your sentence structure. After you complete each exercise, email the results to yourself and the instructor at vmellos@mail.sdsu.edu

Stringy Sentences
http://wps.pearsoncustom.com/pcp_longman_ez_2/32/8401/2150826.cw/-/2154230/index.html
1. Do exercise 1.

Coordination
http://wps.pearsoncustom.com/pcp_longman_ez_2/32/8401/2150826.cw/-/2150944/index.html
1. Read the explanation
2. Do Using Commas with Coordinating Conjunctions

Transitional Expressions
http://wps.pearsoncustom.com/pcp_longman_ez_2/32/8401/2150826.cw/-/2151896/index.html
1. Read the explanation
2. Do the Basic / Intermediate Exercise
3. Do the Intermediate / Advanced Exercise

Essay Organization

Here are some links to websites which review essay organization. Remember that we are retaking the essay organization quiz this Wednesday 9/25, so be sure to review!



http://www.jalc.edu/departmentpages/english/pdfs/write_place_tutorials/03_the_organization_of_an_essay.pdf

http://www.nashuacc.edu/academic/learning-commons/writing-center?id=194:essay-organization-writing&catid=6

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/02/

http://bettereflteacher.blogspot.com/2008/11/simple-approach-to-write-essay-for-efl.html

http://essayinfo.com/tips/organizing_essay.php#.UkC3sSgaDaE

Here is a sample of the format you should use for your essays: 

• 12pt font
• Times
• double spaced (no extra spaces) 
• header (Name, Assignment, Due Date, Instructor's Name)
• indentation for each new paragraph

Ramona Quinby

Essay #1: Cause & Effect

September 23, 2013

Inst. Vickie Mellos

The Effects of Urban Living

            Is living in the city natural? A look through human history might suggest so. Cities have been around for thousands of years, from the Egyptians to the Greeks to modern-day society.  Cities have become such a natural place for humans to live that today more people live in cities than in the country. In America alone, nine out of ten people live in an urban area. Cities are a product of human beings. However, the experience of living in the city also has certain effects on the way people think and behave.

            First of all, living in the city can cause people to feel anonymous. Walking around the sidewalks of a large city gives people the sense that they are one of millions. Nobody knows our name, our profession, or anything about our personal life, so we feel lost in the crowd. This can ultimately make people keep to themselves even though they are so physically close to other people, such as at the bus stop or on the subway. We might be social creatures, but the city actually seems to have the opposite effect on us sometimes.

            At the same time as making us feel anonymous, cities can actually have an effect on our identity.  People usually feel a bond with the city in which they live. People from New York are “New Yorkers” and people from Paris call themselves “Parisians”. We consider ourselves “members” of the city because living in a city for a long time causes us to take on the city itself as part of our personality. People like to use their “city name” when they meet others because it is part of their identity. We might have control over which city we live in, but eventually, the city seems to have control over the way we feel about ourselves.

            Finally, city living can also broaden our experiences. Large cities promote diversity. They are full of people from all around the world, who bring their own cultures and customs with them. Vietnamese restaurants sit next door to Chinese supermarkets, Colombian coffee shops, and French bakeries. Being surrounded by so many other cultures different from our own makes us more aware of the diversity of the world. After people are exposed to other cultures, they are more likely to begin to accept them, which is probably why many city dwellers enjoy being surrounded by different ways of life.

            Cities can have a strong effect on people, including how they feel about themselves and how they feel about others. Some of this happens without our being conscious of it or our even having control over it, but that is part of what makes city living so exciting. Cities have played an important role in human history, and it is safe to say that life without them would be less interesting.

Twitter

Writing E6

by: Abdullah almadhi , Mohammad alkhuzam

Twitter

                   Twitter is one of the most important apps that allows you to communicate with people in the whole world. Twitter allows you to write or share whatever you want and follow people whom you are interested in. Indeed, with twitter you can write whatever you want such as quotes , facts ,and expressions in only 140 letters as a limit. Furthermore, twitter allows you to respond to people and share links such as pictures and videos. In addition, with twitter you also do not need to buy a newspaper or watch news channels on TV because nowadays all the news papers and news channels have an official twitter account ,so you can follow them and know what is happening in the world quickly and easily. Twitter is made to be clear and easy to use. To use the app ,first, you should sign up and choose your own account name and password. Then, you can sign in whenever you want and enjoy the app features. When you open the app, you will see a timeline that appears with a written tweets from the people whom you have followed. In addition, all users have an ability to retweet any tweet that they like. However, in your profile, you can set your picture as a display picture and write a bio about yourself. Interestingly enough, you can put tweets that have your attraction in your favorite list. Moreover, the best feature of this app is the hashtag. In brief, twitter allows people to make a topic and each user can write down his idea, opinion, or criticism ,and once you click on any hashtag, it will give you all user's tweet about this hashtag . Personally, twitter helped me by making the access to soccer news very easy. In addition, twitter has given me a wealth of information about San Diego by clicking on San Diego's hashtag. Twitter is a really significant app that makes you connected with all people in this world.

Shazam Application

Written by: Sulaiman Alsubaihi, Sulaiman Allaho

Shazam Application

            Smart phone applications are the alternative way for personal help. One very useful app is Shazam, which can easily find songs and song lyrics. Shazam can be extremely valuable for people who are interested in music our even in depth details about an artist. Some of the features found in this app are its capable of finding any song from different genres and shockingly from different language. Through small portion of music or from the song’s beat Shazam will easily find your song if it was done correctly. This application is a user friendly, in other words, it’s extremely easy to use. First of all, open the application. Second, press the Shazam button, and it will start recording for the small portion that you have for a desired song or maybe a beat. Finally, the application will provide different possibilities. Choose your song, and it can be saved or downloaded. This application is very helpful. For instance, you could be cruising in your car, suddenly a song popped up in the radio that grabbed your attention, and you’ve liked it without knowing the song name or even the artist. Most of the people will struggle and remember a small portion of the lyrics, to look it up in Google. Struggles and stress is all gone with a press of a button “SHAZAM”. Before this app, I faced many struggles for several of different songs that I desired. I would be in my car listening to the radio, and I would be struggling trying to find the song’s name or title. However, problems in these particular areas are solved by this smart application “Shazam”.

How to use Shazam Application

Google Maps for Smartphones

Google Maps for Smartphones

By: Huda Alawi & Ali AlShatti

Instructor: Vickie Mellos

 

 

 

Google Maps is very useful wherever and whenever you need it. It is a map, but not only a map. You can use it as a phone-book when you need to call any place you map. It tells you the operation hours of most stores, companies, shopping centers, gives you website information and many more. Google Maps is also your main traffic indicator, shows you a full street view of your search and your street navigator. If you are thinking that it’s complicated, you are wrong. Using it is as easy as entering an address. The first thing you should do is enter the address. The place you searched shows up. Then you can choose to call them, get directions to the place or even just see that day’s opening hours. Google phone is my navigator and phone-book. I use it daily to go to school and back. I also use it before going to any store to check if they are open or not and get more information about it. To conclude, I advise everyone to download this free app to their smart phone because your phone is with you 24/7 and it is easy and very useful at any time.

The Car that takes the pictures of the streets

Interested in downloading and exploring Google Maps?
Click here:  www.google.com/mobile/maps/

WeChat

By: Yichen and Deyang

                                        The new way to connect

    WeChat is a very useful app for instant communication and writing blogs on the mainland of China. It allows people to search for friends by their ID numbers or locations. It also has a feature named “Shake”.  When people shake their phone as some others do at the same time, they can connect without typing IDs. It has a place Moment showing pictures and status posted by people .By the way, WeChat is easy to use. You can record your voice and send it to the person you are talking to. When your phone is connected to WIFI, you can even invite friends to make a video call. Since I’m separated from my family geographically, WeChat is the most convenient way to keep in touch with my family. I usually send voice mail to my mother and she responds to me immediately. We might only say just a few words, but it seems like we are living together. Besides, I share the photos of my daily life at the Moment, and see my friends’. We make comments for each other. Then we have topics to talk about. In these ways, WeChat helps people become closer with others. That’s why it has become more and more popular.

meshal almutairi

mohammad albazzaz 

Instagram

Instagram is a useful app for editing and sharing pictures with the whole world.Nowadays Instagram has become one of the most popular apps in the world.First of all, this amazing app allows people to share their selfies, professional, and all kinds of pictures with the whole world.With the new upgrade, it provides also a 15 second video that you can upload. It also allows you to edit your pictures. It gives you the chance to show your followers your personal pictures, what you are doing, and also your current location.It is very simple to use. You simply go to the camera and take a picture. Then, go to instagram press on the camera icon and click on gallery and choose the picture, or any picture you have.Then, you put it into a position of editing your picture. When you finish , you simply press upload. It really has helped me find my old friends and get new friends. Sharing pictures with my family and my new-old friends helps a lot. In conclusion, instagram is a very useful, simple, and cool app where you can show the world your work, pictures, and your location.

FaceBook

FaceBook

By: Christel, Osama, Afnan

 

Facebook is one of the most useful apps in the world. It essentially helps people to share their posts, pictures, statuses, updates and videos. In addition, it allows you to text, chat with friends or make group conversations. Another interesting feature is that it gives you the chance to post your current location and share that with friends by clicking on check in. For Example, when you want to meet new friends that you have not met, you can use this icon. Facebook is very easy to use. Download the app, create your account and start finding your friends. When your account has been created, start writing about yourself, post some pictures and share your contact information. Personally, since I am studying abroad, this app helps me keep in touch with my family and friends. Almost all the time I have my cell phone with me, so I can be in contact with them all the time and for free. The big point is you can use this app for free and it can help us to be connected to the world.  

yelp

Yelp

yelp

by Dong Zhang, Jinpeng Qu, Yingzhen Pan

 

  Yelp is  a useful app for our daily lives when you want to find some excellent stores. Yelp contains information about many different kinds of stores,such as distance, schedule and so on. Yelp has GPS with Google Map, and  you can get to your location. When you open it, you can see how many stores are nearby. It shows the bookmarks and some pictures about the store as you select one of those nearby stores. Overall, you can know all basic information about the store. In addition, you can see many reviews. Many customers make credits after they  have been to stores, and these reviews will give you suggestions when you want to choose the best one and want to try a new restaurant. If you want to go to the store again, Yelp also has the function of recording. Yelp is easy to use. There are 5 button on the bottom which are Home, Nearby, Search, Bookmarks, and Check-in. You just need to press what you need. Then ,you can select the best one form what you found. At this weekend, I just used Yelp to search a mall which is located in downtown. Even though I did not sure the name of the mall. I only filled the near "Downtown, San Diego", and entered "mall" for the search. In the end, it showed me 6places. As I remembered, I chose the most similar one. Luckily, it was the one I wanted to find. Yelp is a real strong and convenient app for people.

testing

Map My Run

MAP MY RUN
by Vickie Mellos

Map My Run is a useful app for joggers who want to track their progress. Map My Run basically allows people to track their pace, distance, calories, and time when they are jogging or walking. The app works as a GPS with Google Maps, and it displays where you are. In addition, it shows how many miles you have gone, how long you have been moving, how fast you are going, how high the elevation is, and what your heart rate is. Another interesting feature is that a voice announces your progress every so often, so you don’t have to look at the display. In addition, you can automatically post your progress on Facebook or Twitter and listen to music with the app. Map My Run is very easy to use. When you start your workout press RECORD and then START. When you are finished, you press SAVE and then a summary of your workout will be given. Personally, since I do not go to the gym, this app helps me see how I am progressing like a treadmill. I usually have my cell phone with me when I jog to listen to music, so using this app is very convenient for me. Also, I like that it works like a fitness watch, but it’s free. Since Map My Run is so convenient, it is no surprise that it has become very popular among runners.

The Top Applications

The Top Applications

Academic Writing E6 has written descriptions of some of their favorite apps. Read about what they do, how to use them, and how they have helped people personally!