1a. What two things does the speaker in "in the inner city" call the inner city?
2a. In Lucille Clifton's poem, what do people in the inner city think about a lot?
3a. What does the speaker say about the bridges in "The City Is So Big"?
4a. In Richard Garcia's poem, what has the speaker seen machines do?
5a. Compare and contrast the speaker's feelings about the city in "in the inner city" with those of the speaker in "The City Is So Big." How does each speaker feel about the city? How are the speakers' views similar? How are they different?
6a. Do you agree with the speaker's ideas in "in the inner city"? Why, or why not? Do you agree with the thoughts expressed by the speaker in "The City Is So Big"? Why, or why not?
1b. By referring to the inner city in those terms, what does the speaker reveal about his or her feelings about the inner city?
2b. Why might residents think about this place so much?
3b. What might cause the bridges to do this?
4b. In what way might machines actually do this? What might the speaker be saying about the role of machines in city life?
5b. In Clifton's poem, what do the speaker's thoughts reveal about him or her? What do the speaker's thoughts in Garcia's poem reveal about that person? What generalizations can you make about each speaker?
6b. What might the speaker in "in the inner city" have in common with the speaker in "The City Is So Big"? About what might they disagree?
Setting. How is the inner city described in "in the inner city"? How is uptown described in "in the inner city"? How is the setting described in "The City Is So Big"?
Imagery. What does the imagery convey in "in the inner city"? What does the imagery convey in "The City Is So Big"?
1. Write dictionary entries for a children's dictionary, defining the following terms: city, downtown, and uptown. Imagine the dictionary is for elementary-age students.
2. Write a slogan attracting people to visit a freshly renovated or historically preserved downtown area.
3. Imagine that you are running for mayor. Write a list of goals you would propose to make the city a better place.
Using Prefixes. The word disappear, in "The City Is So Big," uses the prefix dis- to change the meaning of the root word appear. When adding a prefix to a word, do not change the spelling of the word itself. See the Language Arts Survey 1.19, "Learning Base Words, Prefixes, and Suffixes," and 3.95, "Using Spelling Rules I," for more information on prefixes. In the space provided, add a prefix to each of the words below and use the new word in a sentence. Some common prefixes include dis-, in-, mis-, pre-, re-, and un-.
1. made
2. write
3. direct
4. cover
5. guide
6. agree
7. record
8. active
9. wash
10. place
Prepositions. A preposition is used to show how a noun or a pronoun is related to other words in the sentence. A prepositional phrase is made up of a preposition and an object of the preposition. Review the Language Arts Survey 3.11, "Grammar Reference Chart: Prepositions," 3.27, "Identifying Prepositional Phrases," and 3.69, "Prepositions." Then place square brackets around the prepositions and curly brackets around the prepositional phrases in the following sentences.
1. We rode a taxi over the bridge into the city.
2. A few boats were on the water under the bridge.
3. We walked through Chinatown and stopped for lunch there.
4. My friends and I took a walk through the park.
5. I watched people bicycling along a narrow pathway.
6. During rush hour, people hurried into the subway stations.
7. We looked at the houses and talked about the people who lived there.
8. I stopped at a gift shop and bought souvenirs for my family.
9. During a brief storm, we sat in a cafe and drank coffee.
10. After the storm, we went back to the hotel for the rest of the evening.
