KC U4R2 “Somebody’s Son”

“Somebody’s Son”

This story is about a young man named David who ran away from home after arguing with his father. David’s father wanted him to go to college, but David wanted to travel and learn about life. After leaving his home in Maryland, David traveled to the West Coast, Canada, and Mexico. Now he wants to return home and writes a letter to his parents. He tells them that he isn’t ready to go to college yet. Instead, he would like to come home and work for a while. He asks his father to tie a white cloth to an apple tree on their property if he will allow him to return. 
When David passes by his family’s home, he finds that the tree is covered with many pieces of white cloth.

Literary Words

• suspense: a feeling of uncertainty about the outcome of the story
• climax: the moment of highest intensity in a story

Academic Words:

correspond = write to someone and receive letters from him or her
 ➡ Even though my cousin lives far away, we correspond by e-mail every day.

indicate = say or do something that shows what you want or intend to do
 ➡ Students are supposed to indicate that they finished a test by laying their pencils on top of their papers.

occurs = happens
➡ The reunion occurs every ten years.

transportation = the process or business of moving people or goods from one place to another
➡The only transportation available is a bus that leaves at 6:30 in the morning.

Word Study: Homophones

Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently
and have different functions and meanings.

English has so many homophones because it is not a perfectly phonetic
language, and therefore sounds and letters do not always correspond. This was
not always the case. Over the years English has borrowed many words and
their original pronunciation from other languages: Latin, Greek, French, German,
Italian, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, American Indian,
and virtually any other language in the world. Demonstrate the difference in
pronunciation between the letter combination qu in quesadilla and queen.
Quesadilla is of Spanish origin, gueen has germanic roots. The different sounds
qu makes follow the pronunciation rules in the language of origin.

Highlighted Words

stationery, special paper used for writing letters
gravel, small stones used to pave roads
kid, fool
sore, angry
high beams, bright headlights from cars
menacingly, threateningly or in an angry way
back draft, wind that comes from passing by very fast
insultingly, offensively or in an impolite way
intensify, get stronger
careened, moved from side to side
chuckled, laughed quietly
hightailin’, traveling quickly
intimately, very well
bummin’ around, wandering around without any particular place to go
shaver, young male child
tickled, pleased
narrowed to a trickle, got fewer and fewer
ceased, stopped
postpone, delay
denouement, conclusion or ending
nudged, gently poked
quaver, trembling voice
wonder, amazement or surprise

GRAMMAR, USAGE, AND MECHANICS

Adjectives and Adverbs

An adjective appears before the noun it describes or after a verb, such as be.

An adverb usually describes a verb or shows how something is done.
Many adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the adjective. For example, slow/slowly, quiet/quietly, soft/softly, careless/carelessly.
Adverbs ending in -ly appear before the verb or verb phrase when they are not the main focus of the sentence. Adverbs that are the main focus of the sentence usually appear after the verb or at the end of the sentence.