Student Comma Splices Part One (the second sentence feels like a continuation of thought from the first sentence, which it is, but it still requires a period before it)
- My department decided to set up another office for me to do my work, I was no longer sitting out front like the permanent receptionist.
- The permanent receptionist never spoke to anyone in the offices, he just answered phones.
- He said, “You have a few choices, they need a coordinator at the new jobsite or working the business side as a coordinator.”
- I was lucky, many opportunities came to me and now I had the required experience to get the job I wanted.
- There was no stopping me, all my achievements were completed on my own.
- I was promoted quickly, I went from coordinator to senior executive within a few months.
- The drug dealing lifestyle was insatiable to Jeff Henderson, he believed he could elude the feds.
- Our methods paralleled, my method was legal, his was illegal.
- Jeff Henderson rose to the top of his game, he had established his fortune.
10. Jeff Henderson had no choice, it was either work or stay confined in his prison cell.
11. She was going to marry her high school sweetheart, what better way to spend the rest of your life in bliss?
12. He asked me to marry him, he was a Marine after all stationed in Japan.
13. Her life was finally beginning, she could leave Los Angeles.
14. This was her life, she did what she wanted.
15. Now she had nothing, she had given up her job to move overseas.
16. Life was too much of a challenge, she accepted that fact.
Avoiding Comma Splices and Run-Ons
Fused (run-on) sentence
Klee's paintings seem simple, they are very sophisticated.
She doubted the value of medication she decided to try it once.
A fused sentence (also called a run-on) joins clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence with no punctuation or words to link them. Fused sentences must be either divided into separate sentences or joined by adding words or punctuation.
Comma Splice
I was strongly attracted to her, she was beautiful and funny.
We hated the meat loaf, the cafeteria served it every Friday.
A comma splice occurs when only a comma separates clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence. To correct a comma splice, you can insert a semicolon or period, connect the clauses with a word such as and or because, or restructure the sentence.
After each sentence, put a “C” for Correct or a “CS” for Comma Splice. If the sentence is a comma splice, rewrite it so that it is correct.
One. Bailey used to eat ten pizzas a day, now he eats a spinach salad for lunch and dinner.
Two. Marco no longer runs on the treadmill, instead he opts for the less injury-causing elliptical trainer.
Three. Running can cause shin splints, which can cause excruciating pain.
Four. Running in the incorrect form can wreak havoc on the knees, slowing down can often correct the problem.
Five. While we live in a society where 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers are on the rise, the reading of books, sad to say, is on the decline.
Six. Facebook is a haven for narcissists, it encourages showing off with selfies and other mundane activities that are ways of showing how great and amazing our lives our, what a sham.
Seven. We live in a society where more and more Americans are consuming 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers, however, those same Americans are reading less and less books.
Eight. Love is a virus from outer space, it tends to become most contagious during April and May.
Nine. The tarantula causes horror in many people, moreover there is a species of tarantula in Brazil, the wandering banana spider, that is the most venomous spider in the world.
Ten. Even though spiders cause many people to recoil with horror, most species are harmless.
Eleven. The high repair costs of European luxury vehicles repelled Amanda from buying such a car, instead she opted for a Japanese-made Lexus.
Twelve. Amanda got a job at the Lexus dealership, now she’s trying to get me a job in the same office.
Thirteen. While consuming several cinnamon buns, a twelve-egg cheese omelet, ten slices of French toast slathered in maple syrup, and a tray of Swedish loganberry crepes topped with a dollop of blueberry jam, I contemplated the very grave possibility that I might be eating my way to a heart attack.
Fourteen. Even though I rank marijuana far less dangerous than most pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, and other commonly used intoxicants, I find marijuana unappealing for a host of reasons, not the least of which is its potential for radically degrading brain cells, its enormous effect on stimulating the appetite, resulting in obesity, and its capacity for over-relaxing many people so that they lose significant motivation to achieve their primary goals, opting instead for a life of sloth and intractable indolence.
Chapter 3: "How We Eat" Typed Writing Assignment Options
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate Kristof's argument in "Prudence Or Cruelty?" that in spite of the food stamp abuses cited by opponents of the food stamp program, providing food stamps for the poor is moral and economic imperative over the long term. Be sure to have a counterargument and rebuttal section at the end of your essay.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that eating meat is morally defensible in the context of evolution and biology and that ethical objections to meat eating are not born of eating meat but the abuses that result in the factory farming of animals. Be sure to have a counterargument-refutation section.
Addressing Francine Prose's "The Wages of Sin," write a 4-page essay with 3 sources that supports, refutes, or complicates the notion that overeating is not an illness but a moral flaw and a vice.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that addresses the claim that Francine Prose and Caroline Knapp are criticizing cultural norms about eating that in truth are not normal at all but pathological and that these norms create a toxic eating environment in our culture.
Both McMillan and Kristof (172) use their examinations of public attitudes toward food as a platform to argue for specific changes in our official food policy. In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that explains how these recommendations compare. Can you imagine Kristof citing points McMillan raises here as evidence or support for the argument he makes about food stamps? If so, how specifically?
Both Dolnick and Francine Prose address the mythical narrative of obesity and overeating by deconstructing the myth. In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that analyzes how Dolnick and Prose deconstruct the myth of fatness.
"I Get Food Stamps, and I'm Not Ashamed--I'm Angry"
Unit 2, Lesson 172-175; 178-180
“Prudence or Cruelty?” by Nicholas Kristof (172)
One. What are the current statistics for food stamps?
47 million Americans receive food stamps to combat hunger.
About 5% of Americans have “very low food security,” meaning food can run out before the next source of income.
In one-third of those households, an adult “reported not eating for entire day.”
Fourteen percent of toddlers suffer iron deficiency. This can result in impaired brain development.
Impaired brain development and other health problems will cost tax payers far more than food stamps.
The essay’s author Nicholas Kristof finds it “infuriating” that a wealthy country like America allows this kind of hunger and malnutrition to go on. He expresses his outrage at a time when Congress is debating to slash the food stamp program.
Democrats at the time of this essay wanted to slash food stamps by $4 billion over 10 years; Republicans wanted to slash them by $40 billion.
More than 90% of the families who receive food stamps live below the poverty line. Nearly two-thirds of the recipients are children, the elderly, and the disabled.
Two. How does the government offer “food stamp” subsidies to the rich?
When they dine at expensive restaurants, the rich can deduct the bill as a tax write-off.
There’s controversy about feeding the poor but no controversy about the government helping to pay the expenses for the rich’s opulent meals, caviar, champagne, etc.
Additionally, the farm bill gives aid to 50 billionaires or companies.
More surprisingly, the government pays Kristof $588 a year to not grow crops on his wooded land in Oregon. He gives the money to a maternity hospital.
The author is outraged at a double standard that rewards the rich and punishes the poor.
Three. What counterargument does Kristof address?
He concedes that food stamps are not perfect. After all, they treat the symptoms, not the root causes, of hunger. He further concedes that we should “chip away at long-term poverty through early education, home visitation for infants, job training, and helping teenagers avoid unwanted pregnancies.”
However, he offers a rebuttal that food stamps are effective in many ways:
They reduce the number of children living in extreme poverty by half.
They give nutrition to the fetus and stave off long-term health problems to that fetus.
He concludes that slashing food stamps would be “a mark of shortsighted cruelty.”
Essay Prompt from page 175
Create a proposal that outlines what you believe should be the proper government policy concerning food stamps. How much support for this program should the government provide? What particular needs should it address? What limits should it establish? Then write a quick assessment of the ways your proposal compares to Kristof’s. What are the key similarities and differences?
Or you can look at the assignment this way:
In a 4-page essay, support, refute, or complicate Kristof's argument that in spite of the food stamp abuses cited by opponents of the food stamp program, providing food stamps for the poor is moral and economic imperative over the long-term. Be sure to have a counterargument and rebuttal section at the end of your essay.
Sources for Food Stamps Debate
WSJ--"In Defense of Food Stamps"
"6 Absurd Right-Wing Lies about Food Stamps"
Argument for Food Stamp Reform
Writing an Argumentative Thesis
You address a debatable topic in one sentence that clearly explains your argument.
High school should start no earlier than 9 A.M. because of the dangers that teenagers face.
You may have mapping components that outline your body paragraphs.
High school should start no earlier than 9 A.M. because of the dangers that teenagers face, including sleep deprivation, depression, poor school performance, inattentive driving, and stunted growth.
You may have a concession clause that addresses your opponents' view before you get to your independent clause, which is your thesis.
While many school officials argue that teens should be able to start school at 8 A.M. for a "full day of education," their position is misguided when we consider ___________, _______________, ______________, and __________________.
Thesis Examples for Food Stamps Debate
Thesis for Food Stamps
While I concede that there is some fraud and misuse of food stamps recipients, we cannot slash food stamps because such a reduction will punish innocent children, create long-term health effects that will be more costly than food stamp assistance, and establish a double-standard in which we subsidize the food habits of the rich while strangling the starving poor.
Thesis Against Food Stamps
While I support doing all we can to feed the poor, our current food stamp assistance program is unacceptable when we consider the fraud, misuse of funds, and health-related problems from obesity that results from food stamps abuse.
“The Ethics of Eating Meat” by Paul Schwennesen (178)
One. We read that “Asking whether eating meat is ‘ethical’ is like asking whether having sex is ethical. Biological imperatives do not pander to such arbitrary distinctions.” Is the comparison between the eating drive for meat and the sex drive a valid one?
One could argue that the author has made a faulty comparison: One can have responsible sex and do no harm to any sentient creature; however, the man who indulges his meat cravings may be harming an animal unnecessarily. A vegetarian may argue that that man could fulfill his dietary needs quite well, even in a superior fashion, by eating a vegetarian diet.
However, there is another argument that says the author’s argument is valid. Yes, sex is an instinctive imperative for most people and so is eating meat because eating meat is optimum nutrition while vegetarianism is compromised nutrition. Furthermore, certain societies such as Eskimo society don’t have vegetarian options. Whales and seals are the order of the day. Eating meat, some further argue, is part of the Darwinian food chain, and as Louis C.K. says, “Thank God we humans are not on the food chain.”
Two. Why does the author claim that he is being more ethical eating one of his farm-raised cows than he would be if he were eating a Big Mac?
Unrestrained consumption in mass-produced meat factories in which consumers are separated from the slaughter process is blind, gluttonous, and cruel. These consumers no longer know “the intimate realities and consequences of eating meat.” Moreover, we have “commercially outsourced the twinge of guilt, the pang of discomfort, the heart-race of witnessing a death to just a handful among us.”
Schwennesen gives his cattle a good life before their slaughter.
Three. Why does the author claim that the controversy over the ethics of eating meat is “clearly a privilege born of abundance”?
He’s arguing that when we eat meat out of necessity, we make no such ethical inquiries over the act of eating meat. But when we live in abundance with many eating choices, our ethics change to meet that abundance.
Another example is “purity eating,” also called Orthorexia in which the afflicted became obsessed, to their detriment, with eating “pure” foods. Most sufferers of Orthorexia are from the upper economic stratum.
Essay Writing Prompt from Page 180
Here is how Schwennesen resolves the moral questions posed by raising and slaughtering animals for a living: “I’ve saved the lives of calves and butchered their mothers in the same afternoon. I thank each for the age-old sacrifice of prey to predator and I swear they understand. I neither rejoice in the blood nor shy from it. This is life. This is ethics” (178). Write a [4-page] essay in which you describe and evaluate the model of “ethics” Schwennesen presents here. Does the relationship he sketches between humans and animals (“predator and prey”) seem like a moral one? In your view, is he able to reconcile the contradiction between “saving” animals on the one hand and “butchering” them on the other? If not, what are the flaws or gaps in his argument?
Or you can look at the essay assignment choice this way:
In a 4-page essay, support, refute, or complicate the notion that eating meat is morally defensible in the context of evolution and biology and that ethical objections to meat eating are not born of eating meat but the abuses that result in the factory farming of animals. Be sure to have a counterargument-refutation section.
Breaking Down the Prompt
The author writes that he cares for the animals he eventually kills and gives appreciation in the life he gives them for the life they give him in return.
Schwennesen’s ethics is to have reverence for the life he takes. He takes the animals’ life because they are, in his view, the inevitable part of the food chain. Eating meat is a survival imperative, not an ethical issue. The ethical issue is how we approach meat eating: as reverent eaters who kill our own prey or mindless consumers disconnected from the killing process and leaving mass killing to others.
The key questions comes near the end of the prompt: “In your view, is he able to reconcile the contradiction between “saving” animals on the one hand and “butchering” them on the other? If not, what are the flaws or gaps in his argument?”
Your job when confronted with these questions is to turn them into a thesis with a declarative sentence. A declarative sentence is a sentence that declares or states your argument or assertion.
Sample Thesis That Agrees with the Author
Paul Schwennesen saving the lives of his livestock on one hand and butchering them for eating on the other is not a moral contradiction at all. Rather, it embraces the moral imperative we must adopt as being privileged Apex Predators. This moral imperative is evidenced in Schwennesen’s small-scale butchery in that he affords his animals dignity before their inevitable slaughter, unlike the barbarism animals face in mass slaughterhouses; it embraces our biological imperative to eat meat; and it avoids the sentimentality that the economically privileged indulge in as they lecture the rest of us about the supposed immorality of eating meat.
Sample Thesis That Disagrees with the Author
Paul Schwennesen attempts to reconcile the contradiction of his kindness to his livestock on the one hand and his butchering of them on the other. His attempt at reconciling this contradiction fails miserably. First, his claim that we have a biological imperative to eat meat fails in the face of nutrition and modern food distribution, which affords us healthier vegetarian alternatives. Second, just because his form of killing is kinder than the horrors we see in the mass slaughterhouses doesn’t make it ethical. It simply is less immoral but immoral nonetheless. Third, his ability to save a calf and kill its mother the same day doesn’t speak to his moral superiority. Rather, it speaks to the moral numbing he has suffered as the result of his sustained killing of animals.
McMahon Grammar Exercise: Identifying Phrases, Independent Clauses, and Dependent Clauses
Identify the group of words in bold type as phrase, independent clause, or dependent clause.
One. Toward the monster’s palace, we see a white marble fountain jettisoning chocolate fudge all over the other giants.
Two. Before going to school, Gerard likes to make sure he’s packed his chocolate chip cookies and bagels.
Three. Because Jack’s love of eating pizza every night cannot be stopped, he finds his cardio workouts to be rather worthless.
Four. Maria finds the Lexus preferable to the BMW because of the Lexus’ lower repair costs.
Five. Greg does not drive at night because he suffers from poor nocturnal eyesight.
Six. Whenever Greg drives past HomeTown Buffet, he is overcome with depression and nausea.
Seven. People who eat at Cinnabon, according to Louis C.K., always look miserable over their poor life decisions.
Eight. After eating at Cinnabon and HomeTown Buffet, Gary has to eat a bottle of antacids.
Nine. Towards the end of the date, Gary decided to ask Maria if she’d care for another visit to HomeTown Buffet.
Ten. Whenever Maria is in the presence of a gluttonous gentleman, she withdraws into her shell.
Eleven. Greg watched Maria recoil into her shell while biting her nails.
Twelve. Greg watched Maria recoil into her private universe while she bit her nails.
Thirteen. Eating at all-you-can-eat buffets will expand the circumference of your waistline.
Fourteen. Larding your essay with grammatical errors will result in a low grade.
Fifteen. My favorite pastime is larding my essay with grammatical errors.
Sixteen. Larding my body with chocolate chunk peanut butter cookies followed by several gallons of milk, I wondered if I should skip dinner that evening.
Seventeen. After contemplating the benefits of going on a variation of the Paleo diet, I decided I was at peace being a fat man with a strong resemblance to the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
Eighteen. In the 1970s few people would consider eating bugs as their main source of protein although today world-wide food shortages have compelled a far greater percentage of the human race to entertain this unpleasant possibility.
Nineteen. Because of increased shortages in worldwide animal protein, more and more people are looking to crickets, grasshoppers, and grubs as possible complete protein amino acid alternatives.
Twenty. The percentage of people getting married in recent years has significantly declined as an economic malaise has deflated confidence in the viability of sustaining a long-term marriage.
Twenty-one. Before you decide to marry someone, consider two things: your temperament and your economic prospects.
Twenty-two. To understand the pitfalls of getting married prematurely is to embark on the road to greater wisdom.
Twenty-three. To know me is to love me.
Twenty-four. To languish in the malignant juices of self-pity after breaking up with your girlfriend is to fall down the rabbit hole of moral dissolution and narcissism.
Twenty-five. Having considered the inevitable disappointment of being rich, I decided not to rob a bank.
Twenty-six. Watching TV on a sticky vinyl sofa all day, I noticed I was developing bedsores.
Twenty-seven. While I watched TV for twenty consecutive hours, I began to wonder if life was passing me by.
Twenty-eight. Under the bridge where a swarm of mosquitos gathered, the giant belched.
Thesis That Defends Vegetarianism by Refuting the Comparison Meat-Eaters Make Between Humans and Animals
Some argue that we must kill animals for food because killing animals is part of nature. Animals kill animals. And that’s what we do. Tim, a reader from my blog, argues that vegans base their ideals on a false utopia. He writes:
I agree that man should be humane in all things, including the manner in which he kills his food. But let me add one little remark that the anti meat-eaters seldom appreciate.
Have you ever gone camping? What do the woods sound like at - say - 2 or 3 AM? To exaggerate a little, they sound like a slaughterhouse. Animals kill and eat other animals. They don't fuss over HOW the killing is done or how MUCH killing is done; they just do it. And it can be pretty horrible. Nature is savage; period.
So, don't forget, vegans, that nature itself is not a serene pacifistic green little utopia, whereas man is an abominable meat-lusting monster. Nature is often brutal and ugly.
In agreement with Tim, is another reader, Angelo. He writes:
I had a crayfish a few years ago---and he would eat "feeder" goldfish thrown in the tank. The "feeders" are sold for a dime each. The crayfish would ambush the goldfish, grab the fish and puncture its gill. Then, with the goldfish struggling, the crayfish would scrape the goldfish's scales off, before beginning to eat. The fish was still alive as the crayfish would chomp down on the tail, body parts, etc. Admittedly on a smaller scale--- that's still worse than electrocuting a cow.
But another reader, Shorty, believes comparing nature’s brutality with the brutality animals are subjected to in the slaughterhouses is a false one. He writes:
Nature is indeed savage, but animals seldom kill but for hunger. The animals that get eaten in the wild don't know what it's like to be confined in a pen, wallowing in their own waste - only to die fat and tender. Livestock warehousing, and mass killing will never be vindicated. It will always be a symbol of greed, arrogance, and a barometer of the human condition. Eating meat is OK if you hunt for it in an ethical manner. Otherwise, vegetarianism is the holy grail for me.
Animals are obligate carnivores; humans are not entirely; animals eat out of necessity; too many humans eat out of gluttony; animals eat to survive; people kill animals for profit; animals don’t slaughter animals on the mass scale that humans do. Therefore, the comparison between nature’s brutality and man’s brutality is a faulty one and as such it constitutes a logical fallacy.
Another Faulty Comparison: Animals Don’t Cause Waste and Pollution the Way Humans Do
1. We read in Jeffrey Masson's The Face on Your Plate that pig waste ruins lakes and rivers.
2. Cattle feedlots contaminate water over 1,900 times the state’s maximum standard for E. coli in surface waters (Masson).
3. Raising pigs and cattle (animals don’t raise animals to eat) creates 80 million metric tons of waste nitrogen annually (Masson).
4. Animal waste is 130 times greater than human waste annually in America (Masson).
5. Animal waste results in E. coli, Salmonella, and other diarrheal diseases (Masson).
6. Rain forests are being destroyed to grow soy, but the majority of the soy is used to feed livestock (Masson).
7. According to the Smithsonian Institution, every minute land the size of seven football fields is currently being bulldozed to create room for farmed animals and the crops need to feed them (Masson).
8. Livestock accounts for 18% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions in carbon dioxide, more than the entire transportation sector of the whole world, including cars, ships, airplanes, and trains (Masson).
Another Faulty Comparison: Humans Subject Animals to Horrors on a Mass Scale That Can’t be Compared to Predator and Prey
1. Humans separate calves from their mothers at birth so mother can give milk for human consumption
2. Cows are transported in boxcars where they panic.
3. Chickens like to sunbathe but are doomed to a life of cramped darkness.
4. Ducks crave water but are doomed to a life of arid dryness.
5. Hens have their beaks cut off with a hot blade and live their lives in pain from the nerve damage.
6. Birds raised in pens and kicked so they scatter and are shot at close-range (like Dick Cheney did when he shot someone) requires no skill and suggests a certain amount of sadism. There’s even a business where you can use computer graphics to kill your prey.
7. Cows are forced to feed on corn, which is cheaper than grass but can’t be digested properly so the cows suffer indigestion and a bacteria count that leads to food-born disease.
8. One million calves are used for veal every year. They are removed from their mothers and holed up in a small crate, about two-feet wide, with no straw or bedding. They cannot stretch. Mortality rate is 20%. That is their life before being slaughtered.
9. Pigs tails are cut off with no anesthesia so they don’t bite each other’s tails off during confinement.
10. Confined, often the pigs go crazy, biting the bars or their own tails, or shaking their heads constantly.
11. Confined, pigs have elevated levels of cortisol (stress hormone).
12. Too often, pigs, cows, chickens, and other livestock are still alive on the conveyer belt as pieces of their body are taken apart. They die slowly, piece by piece, and in essence are tortured. The slaughterhouses won’t let you see what is happening.
The Abuse of Language
1. Organic is associated with elitist, rich, out-of-touch. Organic may be that in part, but that’s an over simplification.
2. Veal is French for calf but we don’t want to admit to eating calf.
3. Pork is French for pig but we say we eat “pork,” not “pig.”
4. Words like “meat,” “bacon,” and “burger” hide the association with the animal origin.
5. Downer, an animal that collapses from ill health or is crippled. By law, this animal is not supposed to be slaughtered, but these downers are slaughtered all the time.
6. Factory farm is euphemism for slaughterhouse
7. Fresh food: According to USDA “fresh” chicken can be frozen and for any length of time. What?
8. Processing: euphemism for slaughter and butchery
9. Radical, anyone who doesn’t agree with you or challenges your beliefs or challenges your capacity for denial.
10. Sportsman, a euphemism for someone who sadistically hunts and tortures animals.
Example of a Thesis That Refutes Factory Farming by a Meat-Eating Omnivore
Let's be clear. I am a failed vegetarian, a man for whom the vegetarian diet left me weak and so hungry that I overate carbs until I gained lots of weight to the point that I was saddled by corpulence. So let's put this on the table: I eat animal protein. Having confessed my carnivorous ways, let me say here that I am morally revolted by factory farming and that I am prepared to refute with all my heart and soul the major arguments that factory farm apologists use to defend the abominations that ensue in 99% of the slaughterhouses.
The central weakness of the farm factory apologists is their specious claim that we are entitled to brutalize animals since brutality is the norm in nature. Comparing farm factory slaughter with animal-on-animal slaughter is an egregious comparison wrought with many fallacies. First, animals kill for hunger while farm factories kill for profit. Second, the scale of brutality in the farm factory far surpasses that which occurs in nature. Third, the amount of waste farm factories impose on the environment cannot be compared to the almost nonexistent waste that occurs in the animal world. Fourth, farm factory butcheries spread disease like E.coli on a mass scale whereas in Nature such spread of contagion does not occur. Revealing this faulty comparison for the outlandish fraud that it is, what are meat eaters like me to do? Surely, the answer lies in trying to eat meat that comes from non-farm factory sources, such as meat labeled "organic" and "sustainable."
Refuting the Vegetarian Diet
While I concede that there is way too much mindless cruelty in the factory farming of animals, we must not obfuscate the truth, namely, that the vegetarian diet does not provide optimum nutrition. The omnivore diet, which includes meat eating, is defensible from an evolutionary, biological, and nutritional point of view.
If after reading the book, you are not convinced that you should “convert” to vegetarianism or veganism, you may want to defend an omnivore diet. To write a defense of the omnivore diet (which includes meat eating), one would have to concede that the current system of factory farming needs reform and that the system is changed. Also one would concede that people eat too much meat but that the solution is not the elimination of meat eating but the reduction of it. One will cut down from the national average of meat consumption (200 pounds) to approximately one-third of that (70 pounds). One would concede that that 70 pounds of meat would be as organic and sustainable as much as possible even at the higher costs. This section would take about a page.
Nutrition
To argue for meat eating, you would have to argue that the vegan diet is not optimum nutrition and may even be dangerous, especially for pregnant woman and newborns. You might look to Nina Planck in her New York Times article or her book Real Food. Or you might look to Lierre Keith’s book The Vegetarian Myth or her book excerpt from her website.
Other Sources That Challenge the Vegan/Vegetarian Diet
Meat Eating Was Essential to Human Evolution
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
How Our Vegan Diet Made Us Ill
In Defense of Meat Eaters, Parts 1 and 2
Nutritional Arguments:
1. Replacing animal protein with soy can be dangerous and soy doesn't digest in terms of elevated estrogen as well as animal protein.
2. You can't get B12 without animal protein. Supplements are inferior to real food.
3. You get inferior amino acids from plant protein even when you mix them to create "complete proteins" like combining rice and beans or peanut butter and wheat.
4. You get more concentrated nutrition with cooked meat than raw plants.
Essential and Nonessential clauses
McMahon Grammar Exercise: Essential and Nonessential Clauses
Circle the relative clause and indicate if it’s essential with a capital E or nonessential with a capital N. Then use commas where necessary.
One. I’m looking for a sugar substitute that doesn’t have dangerous side effects.
Two. Sugar substitutes which often contain additives can wreak havoc on the digestive and nervous system.
Three. The man who trains in the gym every day for five hours is setting himself up for a serious muscle injury.
Four. Cars that operate on small turbo engines don’t last as long as non-turbo automobiles.
Five. Tuna which contains high amounts of mercury should only be eaten once or twice a week.
Six. The store manager who took your order has been arrested for fraud.
Seven. The store manager Ron Cousins who is now seventy-five years old is contemplating retirement.
Eight. Magnus Mills’ Restraint of Beasts which is my favorite novel was runner up for the Booker Prize.
Nine. Parenthood which is a sort of priesthood for which there is no pay or appreciation raises stress and cortisol levels.
Ten. I need to find a college that specializes in my actuarial math major.
Eleven. UCLA which has a strong actuarial math program is my first choice.
Twelve. My first choice of car is the Lexus which was awarded top overall quality honors from Consumer Reports.
Thirteen. Mangoes which sometimes cause a rash on my lips and chin area are my favorite fruit.
Fourteen. A strange man whom I’ve never known came up to me and offered to give me his brand new Mercedes.
Fifteen. My girlfriend who was showing off her brand new red dress arrived two hours late to the birthday party.
Sixteen. Students who meticulously follow the MLA format rules have a greater chance at success.
Seventeen. The student who tormented himself with the thesis lesson for six hours found himself more confused than before he started.
Eighteen. There are several distinctions between an analytical and argumentative thesis which we need to familiarize ourselves with before we embark on the essay assignment.
Nineteen. The peach that has a worm burrowing through its rotted skin should probably be tossed in the garbage.
Twenty. Peaches, which I love to eat by the bucketful are on sale at the farmer’s market.
Twenty-one. Baseball which used to be America’s pastime is declining in popularity.
In-Class Exercise
Write an argumentative thesis that addresses the prompt for the food stamps or meat-eating debate.
Student Comma Splices Part One (the second sentence feels like a continuation of thought from the first sentence, which it is, but it still requires a period before it)
- My department decided to set up another office for me to do my work, I was no longer sitting out front like the permanent receptionist.
- The permanent receptionist never spoke to anyone in the offices, he just answered phones.
- He said, “You have a few choices, they need a coordinator at the new jobsite or working the business side as a coordinator.”
- I was lucky, many opportunities came to me and now I had the required experience to get the job I wanted.
- There was no stopping me, all my achievements were completed on my own.
- I was promoted quickly, I went from coordinator to senior executive within a few months.
- The drug dealing lifestyle was insatiable to Jeff Henderson, he believed he could elude the feds.
- Our methods paralleled, my method was legal, his was illegal.
- Jeff Henderson rose to the top of his game, he had established his fortune.
10. Jeff Henderson had no choice, it was either work or stay confined in his prison cell.
11. She was going to marry her high school sweetheart, what better way to spend the rest of your life in bliss?
12. He asked me to marry him, he was a Marine after all stationed in Japan.
13. Her life was finally beginning, she could leave Los Angeles.
14. This was her life, she did what she wanted.
15. Now she had nothing, she had given up her job to move overseas.
16. Life was too much of a challenge, she accepted that fact.
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