An English translation of a grammar of the language used by the Roma, a group of wanderers living in many countries, united by a common language, and often called Bohemians or gypsies, begins with a translator's preface concerning the group's history and the development of the language and dialects. Preliminary material contains a brief history of…

Because of recent public demand that English teachers teach students basic writing skills to prepare them for employment, a study was conducted in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to determine what kinds of writing skills employers require of their workers. One hundred and sixty-four employers of the Association of Manufacturers and Commerce were sent a…

Based on the principle that alphabetical arrangement should be based on the characters actually appearing in the sort field, a computer filing code was produced which provides rules for formatting entries for computer manipulation. This study applies the principles developed in that code to library subject headings, using a sample of the Library…

An investigation of the relationships between form and comprehension of written materials by eleventh grade students is reported in this paper. Students were asked to manipulate two variables of spacing and punctuation in a consistently administered and marked exercise. Students also completed a comprehension test on the exercise they had just…

Although speech and writing both contain functional varieties as well as many similar mechanical aspects, mature writing contains a number of conventions (words, idioms, constructions) rarely found in mainstream native speech. Among areas of contrast are vocabulary, syntactic constructions--especially punctuation--and the more complex use of…

PUNCT, a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) course dealing with punctuation and usage was designed as a review course for college freshmen English students at the University of Texas. In 1971 forty foreign students registered to take PUNCT. This report summarizes the foreign students' reactions to the course, their suggestions for improving and…

Developed by the Oregon Elementary English Project, this curriculum unit, intended for grades three and four, introduces students to some of the mechanics of writing and provides some practice in using these mechanics. The unit contains an introduction to writing and seven sections, covering beginning and end punctuation, commas, the apostrophe,…

Describes a classroom activity that emphasizes syntactic fluency and the richness of linguistic resources available in written language, while downplaying the "dos and don'ts" of traditional punctuation instruction. (RL)

Discusses the interrelationships between the terms thesis, content, meaning, and mechanics, indicating the problems these interrelationships cause teachers that evaluate student compositions. (RL)

Presents an assignment in which students are instructed to produce a complete, accurate, and readable collection of rules and sentences that illustrates the multiple uses of each mark of punctuation, in other words, to write their own workbooks. (EL)

Providing grade 8 to adult students with practice and reinforcement in editing for capitalization, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, usage, and content, this computer software program contains over 30 written accounts that have been sequenced from easier to more difficult. The program has 3 levels of play: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. At…

Nine first-grade, nine second-grade, and eight third-grade children of migrant farm workers provided the data for a descriptive study of writing development in a bilingual program. (FL)

Reports on the success of a writing center's phone service, which answers questions about English usage, grammar, punctuation, diction, and documentation. (RL)

Reports classroom observations and dialogues with children that show children's understandings and use of punctuation; reports data showing that children in a class in which punctuation was taught in the context of writing learned more about punctuation than children in a class in which it was taught in isolation. (ET)