Module 3: Writing Assignment

Drawing from your observation notes and sentences from Journal Writing Assignments 1 and 2, write a description of the scene you have observed. Use action verbs and active voice in your sentences. Also, keep your verbs in the same tense and maintain correct subject-verb agreement. Your description should consist of 8 or more sentences.

Looking around the café I noticed a honey-blonde woman sipping her latté appreciatively. It pleased me inordinately to see her engrossed in a very dog-eared book, despite the loudly arguing group of youngsters at the table next to hers. Behind the counter a couple worked. One of them, an elfin girl, vigorously polished the front of the espresso machine. I could actually glimpse the handsome guy behind me yawning, but I was distracted when the lady in front of me yelped as she scalded herself on her coffee. I lowered my gaze in a hurry so she wouldn't think I was staring and I spied an elderly gentleman behind her. He was sitting at a small table texting on a smart phone. He seemed to be fairly comfortable doing so too and between him and the avid young reader I felt the generational cleft stand on its head.

Module 2 Writing Activity

In your journal, continue your observation list of the scene you observed for Unit 3, Journal Assignment 1 by noting several vivid action verbs. Revise some of your sentences using action verbs and/or write 2-3 new sentences with action verbs. Try not to use any of the forms of “to be” (is, are, was, etc.). Underline the action verbs in your sentences.

Observation list continued:

Gesticulated - group of young people

Yawned - handsome stranger

Sipped - honey-blonde woman

Polishing - elfin girl

Yelps - stressed woman

Sentence revisions:

A honey-blonde woman sipped her latté appreciatively while reading in the corner of the café.

A group of young people gesticulated animatedly at another table.

An elfin girl polished the front of the espresso machine vigorously behind the counter. 

I noticed the handsome man yawning while he seemed to be waiting for someone.

She yelped as the scalding coffee hit her hand.

Week 3: Journal Writing - Module 1

Observe a scene, preferably in a crowded, busy, or public place. List the activities that you see occurring and the actors (those doing the activity). Write 5-6 sentences that use your observation list and underline the subjects of your sentences. Write a few sentences experimenting with using different types of pronouns from the tables in Unit 3.

Activities/Actors list

Reading - Young woman
Talking - Three friends
Working - Dark-haired guy, short girl with frizzy hair
Waiting - Well-dressed man
Texting - Elderly fellow
Ordering - Soccer-mom

Sentences:

A young woman is reading a dog-eared book in the corner of the café.

Talking animatedly, the three friends whiled away the afternoon.

A dark-haired guy and a short girl with frizzy hair were working behind the counter.

I noticed the well-dressed man waiting for someone at one of the tables.

It is a modern world when you aren't surprised to see an elderly fellow texting on his iPhone.

The soccer-mom ordering coffee was obviously stressed.


Sentences with experimentation (really not the most coherent assignment description for a writing class...)

She is reading a dog-eared book in the corner of the café.

Talking animatedly, they whiled away the afternoon.

They were working behind the counter.

I noticed him waiting for someone at one of the tables.

It is a modern world when you aren't surprised to see someone texting on his iPhone.

Somebody ordering coffee was obviously stressed.

Week Two - Journal Writing (2)

Module 2 Writing Activity

In your journal, continue your list of nouns and adjectives by adding in five to ten verbs and adverbs. Then, write a couple of sentences using your list of nouns, adjective, verbs, and adverbs.

Verbs:

L.T. chewing on the cat-hammock we got them.

Sleep
Meow
Curl
Chew
Glow
Sneeze
Snuggle
Cover
Think
Clack

Adverbs:

Soundly
Inquiringly
Contentedly
Thoughtfully
Warmly
Abruptly
Stubbornly
Sporadically
Deep
Incessantly

Sentences:

Jack sleeps soundly in the box she has filled out.
Miranda snuggles contentedly in the chewed-up blanket
Tali meows inquiringly from the hairy Futon
Light glows warmly behind the bare piano
L.T. covers the noisy dingleball stubbornly with both paws

trendy - coffee-tin - sneeze - abruptly (gosh this one will take me on a merry dance)

The author sneezed abruptly into the trendy coffee-tin. (see if you do any better!)

Milo chews thoughtfully under neath the empty desk (usually on a pair of socks)
The human fills up empty pages by clacking incessantly on her golden keyboard (It really isn't, let's just be clear on that)

So that leaves:

think - deep -mouse - contented

curl - sporadically - lamp - concentrated

Uhm, well here goes:

The contended mouse will think deep thoughts (old feline proverb)

Cats will curl up sporadically in the concentrated light from a lamp. (Nobody said you couldn't fill it up with other words too).

Week 2 - Journal Writing (1)

Module 1 - Writing Activity

In your journal, write down a list of at least five to ten nouns and five to ten adjectives as you observe a scene at home, work, or in your community. 

 That shouldn't be too hard with 5

Tali - sleeping on the piano with a pink toy pig. 

cats around the place...

Nouns:

Box, Blanket, Dingleball (It's a word!), Piano, Futon, Desk, Keyboard, Mouse, Coffee-tin (it's empty, I collect their toys in it for throwing when I write), Lamp.

 Adjectives:

Chewed-up (blanket)
Filled (box, Jack is getting a little too rotund for that particular snooze box)
Hairy (chairs, don't judge!)
Bare (Piano - doesn't matter what we put on it, the cats tear it down)
Empty (food bowls)
Golden (lamplight)
Contented (napping - cat, not me!)
Concentrated (expression - Milo. I think he's trying to use his Xavier powers on me again. Poor thing)
Trendy (Bookcase - polite version of "Look ma! They stack the books in different directions!")
Noisy (sirens - the music of down town).

The First Post is Always the Hardest

This is primarily a test post but I thought I might as well add my forum posts here so I can find them again easily.
Please note that you will need to be an enrolled student at Coursera to view these forums.

Introduction post: https://class.coursera.org/basicwriting-001/forum/thread?thread_id=1223

Journal Link Post: https://class.coursera.org/basicwriting-001/forum/thread?thread_id=1174

I will probably update this list over the next 5 weeks.