Michael's "English 311 Web Page"

Located in the left column of this page, the links point to the preparation exercises designed to reinforce classroom and textbook instruction. Trying to understand the concepts as they are discussed, remember to be attentive in class. Good luck as you "consciously" learn what you perhaps already "unconsciously" know about the English language. You can master the concepts in this class!

[fonEtIKs]

tale/tail, bear/bare, bank/bank, ground/ground

Speaker A: Are you going to buy that suit?

Speaker B: Do I look like a millionaire?

This is ____ third time I've been here. I want to be here ____fourth
time.
   A. a; a
   B. a; the
   C. the; the
   D. the; a

Answer: "The," a definite article, is needed in the first sentence because the speaker is referring to information already known by the hearer. Both the speaker and the hearer know that the speaker has now been there on three occasions.

"A," an indefinite article, is needed in the second sentence because it refers to information not known to the hearer. Put another way, since the speaker has not been there a fourth time yet, the information is not already identifiable to the hearer.

When I was growin’ up, word got out that the best coon hunter in the world was a feller that lived in East McComb, Mississippi....an we done sent him word by the mail route that there ain’t no coon dog in the world as good as High Ball. Don’t you ever say or tell nobody that there is. We don’t believe it none.

Well, we got up a little contest. They said yea this feller ‘ll catch more coons on a night’s hunt than ya’ll will.

Well, he come a drivin’ up in his pickup to East Fork School..that’s where we met... feller, let the gate down on one of them pickups and there was a cagin’ sittin’ up in the back of that pickup truck was a big brown monkey.

Marcelle said, whooooolookit don’t let that thang out! Said he looks....aaaaaaaaaah said keep ‘im in there..Said he looks too much like folks to be gittin’ out of there. You leave ‘im up in that pickup truck...

Feller said ya’ll don’t understand, I use a dawg with the monkey. I just want one good tree dog an’ I’ll show you how to catch more raccoons...the hides are expensive..an’ I make a good livin’ with that monkey....coon huntin’.

Now any coon hunter ‘ll know... that sometimes a raccoon ‘ll git up in a tree and he’ll tap the tree, go out on a limb and jump out in another tree, go out on a limb and jump into another one, and come out way down yonder. We’ll the art of being a good coon dawg, you circle around, make fer sure he ain’t tapped the tree. And he’s up there if you say he’s there.

We’ll, old June treed to turn that monkey loose...had him on a chain and people...He had a flashlight in his left hand and a pistol in his right hand and up that tree he went. Boogedy, boogedy, boogedy right up that tree went all over that tree shinin’ that light had that gun. Lookin’ everywhere..out on each limb...shinin’, shinin’, shinin’ and what he did he’d find the coon to shoot ‘em and the coon falls out...Well he hadn’t found no coon. Down the tree he come. Thumb cocked that pistol, put it up to ole June’s head and s’d BLOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Clovis said, Man, what in the world do you mean? That trashy thang has killed my dawg.

And the feller went on the monkey said, Clovis, there ain’t but one thang that monkey hates worse than a raccoon, and that’s a lyin’ coon dawg.

Comments about Class

Thank you very much. It was a pleasure being in your class and I feel I learned a lot of helpful information. You made it very easy to learn complex stuff.
Jeannette

Hi Mike,
I had you for Eng. 311 and I enjoyed it so much I want to take your 306
this summer. I was the guy who sat up front with your nice English friend
and always wore csusb shirts and had a tape recorder. I enjoy your
strait forward style and am sure I could learn to be a better writer with
your instruction. Is the summer class super hard?
Will you post a summer schedule? I hope all is well with you and I look forward to your class
Thank you
Lawrence

You have generously given me a change which has marvelously given me more energy to continue my duty &work. I have made it the hope of my life. I have been feeling so pleased weekend. My heart tells to write to you longer than you permitted us.

Thank you for your class, I really enjoyed it and all of the insights and experiences you shared with us. You explained everything well and having all those quizzes and tests let us know--right away-- what was important and if we really "got it." And I also wanted you to know how valuable the workbook was, especially the quiz/test study guides.

I want to thank you for a great course. You broke down the material and made it easy to understand.

Thank you for your time and effort! Me lurned a lot dis qwartr. (Okay, okay, my not so phunny humor). But, honestly, I did learn a lot more than I expected and the class was very interesting (not what I thought coming into it).

Thanks for being such a great English 311 teacher, I couldn't imagine going through this stressful time with another teacher. I hope you have a good summer!
Thanks Again!
Tamara

Hi... I want to take a moment and thank you for a great quarter. I learned a lot from your instruction and I must admit in the beginning I was very intimidated by the course description, but it wasn't so bad.
Thanks...

Sacia

I wanted to let you know how much I thoroughly enjoyed your Saturday class. I felt it was well worth the money and I walked away with a new understanding of our language.

I really enjoyed your class and learned stuff I've been trying to learn for years but could never understand it--I mean mainly the grammar. I am thinking of (on my thesis) creating a possible English grammar curriculum for K-12 students.

Here is my final research paper for English 311. Thanks for everything. I really enjoyed your class & your availability (via email). I really enjoyed everything about your class. I especially enjoyed the workbook and how everything was presented to us on the first day of class (there were no surprises as to what you expected).

Marilyn

I'm very glad that I took English 311 with you. You are an excellent, outstanding and dedicated teacher. Your class was very fun and interesting. I was very inspired by your teaching strategies and how you approach your students. Also, I want to thank you for helping me with the writing and for all your time.

I want you to know that your class helped me a lot. What I learned in your class will help me teach my students more effectively especially in the area of grammar and language structure. You are a very effective instructor. I would like to take additional classes with you in the near future. Keep up the good work

Mr. Buckhoff,

I just wanted to thank you for doing such an awesome job teaching this class. When I first received the book, I looked at the big words and was overwhelmed; and then when I found out we had a giant workbook---well, words could not describe what I felt at that point. You made this class palatable, which speaks a lot of your abilities to teach. Your passion for the subject is inspiring and the love for your students to succeed encourages me to continue teaching. Thanks again-

Keep up the great work!

Hi Mr. Buckhoff,

Thank you for making a tough class enjoyable and fun to learn!! I was wondering how I did on my final (ouch!!) and what my final grade is. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to always return my email. Have a wonderful summer and get some great runs in!!

Flo Reynolds

Professor Buckhoff,

Thank you. Without your assistance I would have failed. You can be proud in the fact that as an instructor, you actually help your students. A rare occurrence, I've discovered.
Have a good summer and take care,

Professor Buckhoff:

I really enjoyed 311 because of your teaching method of breaking complex concepts down into understandable chunks, providing excellent practice and review, explicitly telling us the text topics, and testing us on those topics -- which also matched exactly what you taught during the lessons. This is the best teaching practice, but not every teacher follows it.

Thank you soooooo much! You made giving up my Saturdays a lot easier!! Just so you know, I've told everyone, and will keep telling everyone, you're a great teacher and recommend that they take your classes! Thanks again and have a GREAT summer!!
Shannon :)~

Hello Mr. Buckhoff, this is Rhiannon from your Saturday English 311 class. I wanted to take this time to congratulate you on your awesome teaching skills and your devotion to your work. You seem really interested in what you teach, which makes it more interesting to learn. Students appreciate professors like you because there aren't too many out there. Thank you for a fun and very interesting class.

Hello Mr. Buckhoff.

I don't know if you remember me, but I was a student in your Saturday English 311 class as CSUSB. My name is Manuel. I just want to express my gratitude for all your consistent hard work in supplying me with the knowledge I needed to excel in linguistics. I wish you good luck in life and success in your professional endeavors and in your running goals. Perhaps someday we might meet in a half marathon, but if we catch one another in the last mile, then I challenge you to a race for the final mile! But once again, thank you for all the knowledge you bestowed on me and for being the essence of knowledge.

Manuel

English 311: The English Language

[fonEtIKs]

tale/tail, bear/bare, bank/bank, ground/ground

Speaker A: Are you going to buy that suit?

Speaker B: Do I look like a millionaire?

Comments about Class