Writing an Explanation

Write an explanation of what you told in class. Try to make yourself perfectly clear to some one who does not know how to do the thing you explain. Be careful to form correct sentences. When you have finished writing, read over your explanation and make corrections before you hand it to the teacher.

STOP

LOOK

LISTEN'

Correct Usage Is, Are; Was, Were

When you speak of one person or thing (except with I and you) it is correct to use is or was; as, "The boy is my brother"; "The rose was white." When you speak of more than one, use are or were; as, "Those boys are my brothers"; "The roses were white."

Always use are or were with you, whether you means one or more than one; as, "You are the first person to arrive"; "You were the ones I meant"; "Were you at the ball game?"

Read aloud the following sentences, filling the blanks with is or are, was or were:

short sound of u. Give other words with the long sound of u.

Be careful to pronounce the following words correctly:

Pronounce the u like ew, not like oo.

ΤΟ

VIII. OUTLINING A STORY

A Poem That Tells a Story

The following poem tells a story. Read it and find out what happened to Sir Ralph, the Rover.

No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
The ship was as still as she could be;
Her sails from Heaven received no motion,
Her keel was steady in the ocean.

Without either sign or sound of their shock,
The waves flowed over the Inchcape Rock;
So little they rose, so little they fell,
They did not move the Inchcape Bell.

The holy Abbot of Aberbrothok

Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock;

A POEM THAT TELLS A STORY

On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,
And over the waves its warning rung.

When the rock was hid by the surge's swell,
The mariners heard the warning bell;
And then they knew the perilous Rock,
And blessed the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

The sun in heaven was shining gay,
All things were joyful on that day;

The sea birds screamed as they wheeled around,
And there was joyance in their sound.

The buoy of the Inchcape Rock was seen,
A darker speck on the ocean green;
Sir Ralph, the Rover, walked his deck,
And he fixed his eye on the darker speck.

He felt the cheering power of spring,
It made him whistle, it made him sing;
His heart was mirthful to excess;
But the Rover's mirth was wickedness.

His eye was on the Inchcape float;
Quoth he, "My men, put out the boat;
And row me to the Inchcape Rock,

And I'll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok."

The boat is lowered, the boatmen row,
And to the Inchcape Rock they go;
Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,
And cut the bell from the Inchcape float.

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Down sank the bell with a gurgling sound;

The bubbles rose and burst around.

Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to the Rock Will not bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok."

Sir Ralph, the Rover, sailed away,

He scoured the seas for many a day;

And now, grown rich with plundered store,

He steers his course for Scotland's shore.

So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky
They cannot see the sun on high;
The wind hath blown a gale all day;
At evening it hath died away.

On the deck the Rover takes his stand;
So dark it is they see no land.

Quoth Sir Ralph, "It will be lighter soon,
For there is the light of the rising moon."

"Canst hear," said one, "the breakers roar?
For yonder, methinks, should be near the shore.
Now where we are I cannot tell,

But I wish we could hear the Inchcape Bell."

They hear no sound; the swell is strong;
Though the wind hath fallen, they drift along,
Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock
"O Christ! it is the Inchcape Rock."

Sir Ralph, the Rover, tore his hair;
He cursed himself in his despair.
The waves rush in on every side;
The ship is sinking beneath the tide.