26.1. "A Sound of Thunder" and the Butterfly Effect, L2.c.

What are We Trying to Learn Today that May Be New to Us?

We are going to learn how to eliminate words from quotations that we don't need to prove our point, replacing them with an ellipsis ( . . . ) to show that we have removed them.


Six Things that We Need to Know to Do This Well

1. When quoting, a writer often finds that parts of a sentence or paragraph are needed, but others are not.
2. Unnecessary words should not be included in any piece of writing, so these words do not belong.
3. In addition, by cutting out the unnecessary words, you can make it clearer to the reader your intentions in using the quotation.
4. One problem -- a quotation means that what's between the quotation marks is quoted EXACTLY -- you can't just change words or cut things out.
5. The solution -- writer use the ellipsis ( . . . ) to indicate that they cut words from the text that they did not need. The reader can go back and look at the full quotation if they wish in the original.
6. An ellipsis should be written as three periods each separated by a single space [. . .] Remember, periods don't get along with one another and should not touch.  



What are We Trying to Do Well Today? What is Our Objective?

We're focusing on reading a short story (Ray Bradbury's famous classic "The Sound of Thunder") and using that story to create an explanatory essay on a quotation that expresses the story's theme ("A butterfly flutters its wings in Honolulu and, six weeks later, a typhoon hits Tokyo.")

What is Our Product?

Construct an essay responding to the following quotation:

"A butterfly flaps its wings in Hawaii, and six weeks later a typhoon hits Japan." (35 Minutes)

Students must use quotations from the Bradbury story to make their case, and they must select quotations and employ an ellipsis to indicate an omission.


How Will We Decide How Well We Did?

The essay will be scored for content, grammar and usage by the Criterion program.


I am going to look over your use of ellipsis and grade you as "developing," "proficient," or "expert."