So I hear that colleges give an initial test on English grammar

[Shadow Conception]

Our freshman HS English teacher was telling us about how VA public schools generally don't cover grammar very in-depth (diagramming sentences, all that nutty nomenclature for the different parts of speech, and so on). Because of this, many students graduating fresh out of high school generally fail their colleges' English admission tests, and are stuck into remedial English classes, regardless of their AP English classes taken in high school.

This true? Does anybody here know what an appositive phrase is by heart?

 

[DanDaManJC]

I goto college in washington state and we have nothing like that in place.

In neither of my public k-12 schools in california or washington did I ever learn diagramming and in depth grammar.

 

[txrandom]

Maybe in Australia.

 

[Anubis]

colleges have an English admission test now?


they didnt 8 years ago


also VA isnt the only state that fails at teaching people diagramming sentences, all that nutty nomenclature for the different parts of speech, and so on

 

[blinky8225]

Some do, I know Penn State does. Also, the new SAT writing section requires you to know grammar.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: DanDaManJC
I goto college in washington state and we have nothing like that in place.

In neither of my public k-12 schools in california or washington did I ever learn diagramming and in depth grammar.

Who the hell doesn't diagram sentences, grammar, and everything else? What do they think teaching English is?

Diagramming sentences is probably one of the best tools to learn the language and it'd really be a damn shame if a high school didn't require it.

 

[PottedMeat]

Subject admissions tests? I used my AP credits to get the hell out of 2 semesters of english + us history + a semester of calculus + something else... damn I forgot. 'appositive phrase' heh I think thats the first time I've heard that phrase.

 

[AstroManLuca]

An appositive phrase, which provides further explanation between two commas, is contained in this sentence.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: DanDaManJC
I goto college in washington state and we have nothing like that in place.

In neither of my public k-12 schools in california or washington did I ever learn diagramming and in depth grammar.

Who the hell doesn't diagram sentences, grammar, and everything else? What do they think teaching English is?

Diagramming sentences is probably one of the best tools to learn the language and it'd really be a damn shame if a high school didn't require it.

never learned it in Maine where i went to school till 10th grade then moved to NY

i swear i learned what Nouns, Verbs, adverbss,.... all that were through madlibs

 

[Shawn]

Not true here. My roommate can barely form a sentence and will be getting his college degree this spring.

 

[imported_Imp]

No idea about your state. I was one of the first classes subjected to a province wide literacy/english test though. Effing waste of time to please politicians.

 

[PottedMeat]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
An appositive phrase, which provides further explanation between two commas, is contained in this sentence.

I'll be damned, I learned something new about english grammar today.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: DanDaManJC
I goto college in washington state and we have nothing like that in place.

In neither of my public k-12 schools in california or washington did I ever learn diagramming and in depth grammar.

Who the hell doesn't diagram sentences, grammar, and everything else? What do they think teaching English is?

Diagramming sentences is probably one of the best tools to learn the language and it'd really be a damn shame if a high school didn't require it.

Public school in NC. we started diagramming sentences in 7th grade.

 

[uberman]

Originally posted by: Shadow Conception
Our freshman HS English teacher was telling us about how VA public schools generally don't cover grammar very in-depth (diagramming sentences, all that nutty nomenclature for the different parts of speech, and so on). Because of this, many students graduating fresh out of high school generally fail their colleges' English admission tests, and are stuck into remedial English classes, regardless of their AP English classes taken in high school.

This true? Does anybody here know what an appositive phrase is by heart?

You're teacher is right. I'm a fully credentialed English teacher who recieved little or no training in grammar. There is just not a push for grammar these days.

To be frank, colleges are institutions of learning where professors get money for research. My grammar class in my undergraduate work was just that, an experiment with a professor getting credit and cash. I learned little or nothing useful. I wasn't happy about it. That's how colleges work. Another friend took a class in teaching math using wooden blocks, it was also a research experiment, so it goes.

 

[Cogman]

Very few colleges have an "English check". You teacher is full of it. She is just trying to use FUD to get you to do your homework.

Rebel, don't learn English!

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: DanDaManJC
I goto college in washington state and we have nothing like that in place.

In neither of my public k-12 schools in california or washington did I ever learn diagramming and in depth grammar.

Who the hell doesn't diagram sentences, grammar, and everything else? What do they think teaching English is?

Diagramming sentences is probably one of the best tools to learn the language and it'd really be a damn shame if a high school didn't require it.

Maybe we should have a poll of who was taught to diagram sentences. If I was, I certainly don't recall it.

 

[Eeezee]

We didn't have anything like that. What is sentence diagramming, and why should I give a damn?

 

[DrPizza]

Gerunds? Participles? Infinitives? I believe I learned those in 11th grade English. Teacher gave the same quiz every period & I had the class after lunch. So, 25 years later, here are the answers
"If Paula Gets Pregnant, Greg Is Idiot, Greg Gets Pissed"
I still remember the girl (Kim) who blurted that phrase out as we walked into class; the teacher wasn't there yet. We all looked at her until she explained what it was, said it again, and everyone got a 100 (not that most of us wouldn't have anyway.) But, 25 years later, I remember that better than which is which.

edit: heh, I still remember the answers to some of the Trig tests from that same year. The teacher gave the exact same test year after year (the sample tests provided by the textbook publisher.) Heck, he wrote his notes out around the room 1st period, and just walked around the room every period after that, pointing to the notes. He's one of the teachers (in the minority) that people refer to when they say "after the first 2 or 3 years, everything is set, there's no real work.) I personally always try to stay informed of the latest methods of cheating and try to stay one step ahead. That means even more work for me, since I never use the exact same test twice.

 

[Xavier434]

I went to college at FSU and they didn't have any test like this.

 

[Foxery]

Seems unlikely, though I wish it were true. Half my classmates in college couldn't spell, and absolutely depended on Microsoft Word.

In NY, many schools make you take a basic english class freshman year that is mostly a repeat of high school. Of course, most of our work was still allowed to be typed. *cough*

 

[HardcoreRobot]

i think my college used SAT II's as an initial english test to figure out where to place the freshmen. i placed out of pretty much my first semester so it didn't apply to me

 

[torpid]

I don't remember there being much grammar taught in high school. Then again, I don't remember much of anything being taught in high school. That which I recall being taught is often complete horse crap, such as nonsense about Christopher Columbus.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
An appositive phrase, which provides further explanation between two commas, is contained in this sentence.

I bolded & underlined the appropriate appositive phrase.


The Kahleeforneeya Community Colleges require assessment testing in English, reading, and math. You MUST take the assessment testing before you can register in any class in those categories, BUT, if you score high enough, you can skip English 101 (for graduation purposes, but still have to take 101 to go to advanced English classes) you can totally skip any reading class, and can place in math classes up to (I think) Calculus.

Here's a sample from the collegeboards English assessment test:

http://www.collegeboard.com/pr...7_sample_questions.pdf

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Gerunds? Participles? Infinitives? I believe I learned those in 11th grade English. Teacher gave the same quiz every period & I had the class after lunch. So, 25 years later, here are the answers
"If Paula Gets Pregnant, Greg Is Idiot, Greg Gets Pissed"
I still remember the girl (Kim) who blurted that phrase out as we walked into class; the teacher wasn't there yet. We all looked at her until she explained what it was, said it again, and everyone got a 100 (not that most of us wouldn't have anyway.) But, 25 years later, I remember that better than which is which.

edit: heh, I still remember the answers to some of the Trig tests from that same year. The teacher gave the exact same test year after year (the sample tests provided by the textbook publisher.) Heck, he wrote his notes out around the room 1st period, and just walked around the room every period after that, pointing to the notes. He's one of the teachers (in the minority) that people refer to when they say "after the first 2 or 3 years, everything is set, there's no real work.) I personally always try to stay informed of the latest methods of cheating and try to stay one step ahead. That means even more work for me, since I never use the exact same test twice.

Evil school teacher you! J/K. Cheating in the long run is pretty dumb.

My school has a testing center that takes anti-cheating methods to an entirely new level of stupidity. I love the school, but hate the testing center here are some reasons why.

I've had math teachers that allowed us TI-89 or the equivalent, and a 3x5 note card. You walk into the testing center they tell you "Ok you are allowed a the calculator and a note card." they barely glance at the note card but then proceed to say "You need to take the lid off the calculator..." Gee. I have a note card for a class you probably can't even pronounce correctly. So you have no clue what is allowed on the note card. Further more, I could store an entire dictionary in the calculator if I wanted. Yet you are afraid I would hide something in the lid of the calculator? Yeah.. I guess your job is overly simple.

And they get ticked if you leave the lid on your calculators...

So Dr. Pizza, as long as you don't take anti-cheating methods to that level of stupidity, I see no harm

 

[DrPizza]

Nah, I prefer some of my anti-cheating methods to actually reward me and other kids in the class with entertainment. On only a few occasions have I ever outright accused someone of cheating; and those were generally copy/paste papers the kids had "written" thanks to the internet. One of my favorites was a short 5 question quiz. Usually with tests, I went to the bother of rearranging multiple choice answers, rearranging questions, slightly changing numbers, etc.; enough so there had to be two completely different answer keys. But, generally not on quizzes at that time. But, there was a kid who I saw copying answers out of the corner of his eye on the previous day's quiz. So, I made a really nice 5 question multiple choice quiz; two versions; extremely easy if you paid attention and did your homework. Handed it out with 10 minutes left in class. I knew that'd give everyone time to finish, and me time to correct it in front of them. I knew they'd want me to, since kids tend to want their grades much sooner when they expect high grades. I arranged the pile so the cheater's quiz was the first quiz after all the version A's. "DDBAC 100 DDBAC 100 DDBAC 100... DDBAC 0" <interupted> "What?! I had the same answers that they had!! Why'd I get a 0?!" "Oh gee, I didn't even notice that. See, for question 1, they answered "12" which was choice D. You answered choice D which was "14"; now that you mention it, I didn't even notice that you had the same letters of choices. I was paying more attention to the answers. There were two versions of the quiz, same questions, but the choices were rearranged. My, what a strange coincidence that your wrong answers turned up to be the same as the order of the choices on the other version. <back to the pile of quizzes> AADCB 100 AADCB 100 AADCB 100 AADCB 100..." I think that was one of the reddest faces I've seen on a kid.