1a. What does Lucy look like? What does Mrs. Price say when Lucy asks who will want to employ her?
2a. How do Lucy and her mother react when she gets the job?
3a. How does Lucy react when she learns that Miss Broome was pushed out of her job after forty-three years? Who else does Lucy think of?
4a. Analyze the role of Harry Darke. Examine what he says and how her responds to Lucy on her first day of work, when she returns the next day, and at the end of the story. How do Darke's comments at these three points in the story influence Lucy?
5a. What does Lucy learn from Uncle Bert in the story? How does she apply this to her situation with Miss Broome? How effective is Lucy's response to Miss Broome's behavior? What outcomes might other responses have resulted in?
1b. How has being poor affected Lucy? What impact has it had on her appearance? on her expectations for herself? on others' expectations for her (for example, the expectations of Mrs. Price and Lucy's mother)?
2b. Why do you think Lucy and her mother react this way? Why would they be suspicious of luck?
3b. Why does she think of this person? What similarities and differences do you see between Miss Broome and that person? How does Lucy's view of each of these characters change when she recognizes their similarities?
4b. How does he help or hinder her in resolving her problem? Explain your answer.
5b. Think of a situation in your own life in which someone annoyed you. What was the person doing that you didn't like? Why do you think he or she was acting that way? How did you respond to the situation? In what other ways could you have responded?
Motivation. What motivates Lucy to react to her problem the way she does? What makes her different from earlier girls who had tried this job? How do her motivations help her become successful?
Aim. Look at the graphic organizer you made about the aims used in "QWERTYUIOP." How many different aims did you find? Who used each of the aims you found? Did you list any of the writing examples under more than one aim? If so, which ones, and why?
1. Imagine you were also hired to work at Ross and Bannister's, but as a product designer. Make a product list for your new spring line of cushions and quilts, emphasizing the line's new colors, styles, patterns, and designs. Be specific in your descriptions.
2. Imagine that Ross and Bannister's planned to completely modernize its modes of operation. Write a proposal for the company, offering recommendations for ways to work in a more up-to-date fashion.
3. Write a greeting card message that would be appropriate for a person who just accepted his or her first job.
Onomatopoeia. Your textbook's Handbook of Literary Terms defines onomatopoeia as the use of words or phrases like meow or beep that sound like what they name. Explore the use of onomatopoeia by creating a sentence to go with each of the "sound" words below.
Example
1. buzz
2. ding
3. click
4. zip
5. chirp
6. honk
7. rattle
8. burp
9. tap
10. growl
Common Usage Problems. Section 3.45 of your Language, Grammar, and Style Resource gives examples of several common word usage problems. Two words whose usage adults and students often confuse are affect and effect. As a noun, affect means "feeling," or "affection"; as a verb, affect means "to influence or alter." As a noun, the effect is "the result"; as a verb, effect means "to bring about" or "to accomplish." (Note: the pronunciation of the noun affect and the verb affect is different. In the noun affect, the first syllable is stressed; in the verb affect, the second syllable is stressed.)
Complete the sentences below by selecting the correct form and use of either affect or effect.
1. Mrs. Price's inspiring words greatly _____________ the graduating students.
2. Mrs. Price's teaching style had a positive _____________ on her students' progress.
3. Lucy hoped that getting a job would ____________ a change in her life.
4. Harry Darke's vague warnings ____________ Lucy's mood on her first day of work.
5. The ____________ of Harry Darke's insinuations was to make Lucy more determined than ever.
6. At first Lucy cannot seem to ____________ the way the ghost feels about Lucy being there.
7. Lucy's sympathetic ____________ toward Miss Broome eventually wins her over.
8. Lucy's warmth and understanding had the ____________ of calming the restless spirit.
9. The knowledge of Mr. Bannister's death ____________ the ghost of Miss Broome.
10. One unfortunate ____________ of Miss Broome's haunting the typewriter was mistake-filled memos.
