Dialectical Journal Worksheet

     With her use of syntax, Didion largely varies her sentence structure. This reduces the monotony of her essay and presents a variety of sentence lengths that go along with what she is trying to accomplish. Short sentences such as “The baby frets,” and “the maid sulks,” are mostly to create short lasting vivid images. She adds quotes around words such as “nervousness,” and “depression” to show the connection between the meaning of those words and the Santa Ana winds.

1. “Emily Brent said: “Mrs. Oliver has been lucky to get these two. The woman’s a good cook.” Vera thought: “Funny how elderly people always get last names wrong.” She said: Yes, I think Mrs. Owen has been very lucky indeed.” Emily Brent had brought a small piece of embroidery out of her bag. Now, as she was about to thread her needle, she paused. She said sharply: “Owen? Did you say Owen?” “Yes.” Emily Brent said sharply: “I’ve never met anyone called Owen in my life.”(45)

1. The actions that John takes after his toes are chopped off are admirable. He starts writing an A while all the slaves in the plantation are around him while saying he has learned his lesson. Then he writes a B saying “This is B. What I named my wife“. One of the slaves then calls over Clel, their owner, and he continues with the next letter in the alphabet. While writing the letter C he says “This is the letter C like a mouth open just like if you had something important to say”.

Mrs. Hopewell went to the police station as quickly as possible, but it was far away. When Mrs. Hopewell finally reached the police station, she had to wait for an officer to assist her. While waiting, Mrs. Hopewell noticed how dirty and decrepit the police station was; it was as if it had not been cleaned in years. The filthy setting was unsettling for Mrs. Hopewell, who was already nervous.

Passage #1: Tobias crouches in front of me, his hand on my left shoulder. The train car bumps over the rails, and Marcus, Peter, and Caleb stand by the doorway. I take a deep breath and hold it in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure that is building in my chest.

R/s every time the children visit their mother, Cassie they are sick. R/s the mother takes the children to Medical Group of the Carolinas Pediatrics Westside. R/s Leeanna needs glasses, but has not been seen. R/s Daryl threatened to remove children from Medicaid so mother can’t take them to the doctors. R/s at the beginning of the month no one was at home to get Leeanna off of the bus. R/s Leeanna was taken back to school and was for 2 weeks.

I was surrounded by the sound of graphite moving anxiously over paper. The clamor filled my ears and collided with the dull ticking of the clock that hung over the SAT proctor’s disorderly, graying hair. There were only eighteen minutes left and I still had not written a single word. The prompt reverberated in my head like a ringing bell, but I could not form cohesive thoughts. My heart raced and my fingernails dug into the curve of my palm in panic, leaving small, pallid impressions in their wake. Pleading with myself, I considered the page that lay askew on the on the chipped desk in front of me. I wrote a desperate and painfully arbitrary sentence that I quickly erased. Nothing sounded right. I had studied and prepared for this moment with

(28)Amy knew what they would hear even before she picked up the phone. (29)Sure enough, it was her neighbor on the line. (30)“I’m sorry, Amy, but Susanna won’t be able to meet with you today after all. (31)She had an important meeting with the editor of her new book.

Nick fidgeted with his train ticket and bent the corners. He buttoned and unbuttoned his flannel shirt and he re-tied his shoelaces. He could now see the train slowing to a stop as it pulled into the station. It was big and loud. Nick couldn’t remember the last time he had been on a train. Nick stood up. He picked up his things.

4. Throughout her narrative, Smith Yackel uses concrete, specific verbs. Review her choice of verbs, particularly in paragraphs 13-24, and comment on how much verbs serve the essay’s purpose.

We searched for a place to park the car. The wait for the rest of the Fritsch family dragged on and lasted forever. It’s already late morning and we haven’t even gone in yet! I can’t believe the rest of the family’s taking so long! UGGGG! The sound of people laughing and splashing surrounded the car. Hearing this, sitting still wasn’t going to last very long. The bottled up energy exploded, as Sawyer and I started hopping around and yelling.

That fateful evening I went to the city for my private English lesson, while Victor was assembling and packing books in the wooden boxes. My few English lessons were decent; I was catching up pretty fast and was in a good mood coming home that evening. The Emergency

Deke slid off the flatbed of the trailer where he had been sitting and grabbed a shovel. He and three other men had been listening to the foreman cuss at them about being lazy. The caustic speech was grating on him. He'd heard a similar scolding the day before, the words as annoying as the sweat trickling down his forehead. Deke and the other men had been digging up old railroad ties. Grabbing the shovel was reflexive. It felt

`I hovered above the wet cobblestone sidewalk. I've made a mistake. Originally, I've done everything right. I became interested. The family, the girl. Curiosity got the better of me. I followed their car. I sat on the curb, staring at the burnt red brick building. It was spring and the roses were in full bloom. I waited. Cautiously, I tried to pluck one rose from the ground.

Her chest rose and fell ,I lay awake. all along the hospital ward ,an alarm was whining. "code blue,code blue,code blue-"it said as I climbed out of bed and cracked open the door.Cold and sticky ,linoleum stuck to my feet.down the hall, nurses gathered in the doorway. A crash cart rattled around.a crash cart rattled around the corner. as the cart drew nearer ,it grew and grew until-