Unit5 Enjoying Novels

a projector and a computer.
teaching methods教學方法
explaining and practicing.
teaching procedures &ways教學過程與方式

step i revision
check the homework.
answers to part 2 of discovering useful structure on page 44.
t: after finishing the exercise, do you know what the nominative absolute construction is?
let the students think of it for a minute.
t: the nominative absolute construction is a free standing (absolute) part of a sentence that describes or modifies the main subject and verb. it is usually at the beginning or end of the sentence, although it can also appear in the middle.

step ii grammar
t: this is the grammar in this unit. please go over all the sentences in part 1 on page 44. sum up how the structure can be used in this pattern. a way to      remember or determine what constitutes a nominative absolute is to add a verb. you can always create a sentence out of a nominative absolute with one verb.
e.g. their manes flowing, the horses ran from the burning barn. nominative absolute: "their manes flowing." add a verb: "their manes were flowing."
e.g. stephen, his mind taxed, searched frantically for a dictionary.
nominative absolute: "his mind taxed"
add a verb: "his mind was taxed."
similarly, one can break the absolute off, add a verb and make two sentences. ("stephen searched frantically for a dictionary. his mind was taxed.") can you understand me?
ss: yes.
t: ok. let's go on. absolute constructions consist of a noun and some kind of modifier, the most common is participles. because they often come at the beginning of a sentence, they are easily confused with dangling participles.  but an absolute construction modifies the rest of the sentence, not the subject of the sentence (as a participial phrase does). you can use absolute constructions to compress two sentences into one and to vary sentence structure as a means of holding a reader's interest. here are some examples:
e.g. no other business arising, the meeting was adjourned.
the paint now dry, we brought the furniture out on the deck.
   the truck finally loaded, they said goodbye to their neighbors and drove off.
   the horse loped across the yard, her foal trailing behind her.
t: constructions like these are used more often in writing than in speaking, where it is more common to use a full clause: when the paint was dry, we brought the furniture out on the deck. there are, however, many fixed absolute constructions that occur frequently in speech:
e.g. the picnic is scheduled for saturday, weather permitting.