1. ASManager2.zip Driver
2. K_TWAIN.txt File Contents

K_TWAIN.txt Driver File Contents (ASManager2.zip)

Name: <  >
Class: <  >
Date: <  >

Mark Twain

You probably know something about Mark Twain, and may have read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Maybe you know that Twain was a great writer who liked poking fun at the human race.

The excerpt you are about to read comes from "Eve's Autobiography" which is part of "Papers of the Adam Family" in Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain. You will remember that an autobiography is the story a person writes about his or her own life. Imagine what fun Twain had in imagining what Eve said about herself -- and Adam.

Here he gives us a comic look at human pride. In this passage, Eve tells us that Adam's first scientific discovery was the law that "water and like fluids run downhill and not up!" This kind of writing is called "satire." Mark Twain, one of the best American satirists, wrote this around 1905:

That law was Adam's first great contribution to science; and for more than two centuries it went by his name -- Adam's Law of Fluidic Precipitation. Anybody could get on the soft side of him by dropping a casual compliment or two about it in his hearing. He was a good deal inflated -- I will not try to conceal it -- but not spoiled. Nothing ever spoiled him, he was so good and dear and right-hearted. He always put it by with a deprecating gesture, and said it was no great thing, some other scientist would have discovered it by and by; but all the same, if a visiting stranger had audience of him and was tactless enough to forget to mention it, it was noticeable that that stranger was not invited to call again. After a couple of centuries, the discovery of the law got into dispute, and was wrangled over by scientific bodies for as much as a century, the credit being finally given to a more recent person. It was a cruel blow. Adam was never the same man afterward. He carried that sorrow in his heart for six hundred years, and I have always believed that it shortened his life.

Twain must have had fun! Notice how much we learn about Twain's view of Eve from this passage? After all, this is her autobiography, even if the words are Twain's. Her words reveal that she was proud of being a truly devoted wife.

Scroll back through the passage and copy to this screen at least three phrases that show Eve to be a supportive wife.

Hints about Eve's Character

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Name and save this file now. (Press ctrl+S, type a name for the file, and press enter.)

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Let's look at the skinny sentences which underlie one of Twain's especially long sentences. These could have been combined in many different ways.

He always put it by with a deprecating gesture.
He said it was no great thing.
He said some other scientist would have discovered it eventually.
A visiting stranger might come to see him.
He might be tactless enough to forget something.
He might forget to mention it.
Something was noticeable then.
That stranger was not invited to call again.

You and your partner can come up with your own way of combining these ideas. Talk about it and try to say aloud some ideas for combining. Then write on the copy below.

Make any changes you want, as long as you get in
all the ideas and the result is one sentence!


Sentences to Combine:

He always put it by with a deprecating gesture.
He said it was no great thing.
He said some other scientist would have discovered it eventually.
A visiting stranger might come to see him.
He might be tactless enough to forget something.
He might forget to mention it.
Something was noticeable then.
That stranger was not invited to call again.


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Compare

Compare your revision with Twain's original, which is reprinted below. Yours may sound more modern. Notice that he used a semicolon where you might use a comma.

Twain's Original:

He always put it by with a deprecating gesture, and said it was no great thing, some other scientist would have discovered it by and by; but all the same, if a visiting stranger had audience of him and was tactless enough to forget to mention it, it was noticeable that that stranger was not invited to call again.

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Which do you like best?

Divide the original into two sentences by replacing the semicolon with a period.


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Please notice the last part of this sentence, which is set in brackets [ ].

After a couple of centuries, the discovery of the law got into dispute, and was wrangled over by scientific bodies for as much as a century, [the credit being finally given to a more recent person].

That phrase actually comes from a complete sentence: The credit was given to a more recent person. It has been reduced to a phrase -- by a formula -- in order to be combined with another sentence.

Here is the formula: Change the verb (have, has, had, was, were, is, etc.) to its ing form (having, having been, being, etc.).

Credit was given ... = Credit being given ...

Try your hand at applying the formula to the following sentences to make ing phrases. Use your ear to decide what sounds correct.


Sentences to Reduce to Phrases

The snow had fallen over three days. = <  >

The snow was dirty by now. = <  >

The kids were tired of staying indoors. = <  >

The mothers had gone out of their minds. = <  >


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Choose the phrase you and your writing partners like best and copy it to the angle brackets below.

Our Phrase:

<  >


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Now add that phrase to another sentence to make a combined sentence. For example:

The mothers having gone out of their minds by now, threw their kids out in the snow!

Let each partner make one sentence.

Combined Sentence #1

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Combined Sentence #2

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Congratulations! You have just used one of the most sophisticated of sentence patterns. Think about it when you make your own sentence choices.

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Finally, try your hand at Twain's kind of satire, writing the imagined autobiography of a famous person. Together with your partner(s), choose some famous character -- real or fictional -- and have your subject describe something in his or her life that would tell us what you think about him or her. You can poke all the fun you want. Don't forget to use the pronoun I.

Take notes here. Then turn your notes into a paragraph.

Excerpt from the Autobiography of <  >:

Event or thing described:

<  >

Describing words to use:

<  >

My attitude toward the subject:

<  >

What the subject says or does to show my attitude:

<  >

Words or phrases that will show my attitude:

<  >


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Now use your notes and write an autobiographical paragraph about your chosen celebrity.

<  >

If you haven't done so already, name and save this file now. (Press ctrl+S, type a name for the file, and press enter.)

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end of activity
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