Lesson Six Homework

GRAMMAR EXERCISE – In each sentence there is an underlined verbal.  Identify whether the verbal is a participle, gerund, or infinitive.



1. The frightened people ran for their lives.  GERUND

2. Randy learned no to ride fast over cobbled streets.  GERUND

3. The wailing of the bagpipes frightened the baby.  PARTICIPLE

4. For tomorrow I plan to learn a poem by heart.  INFINITIVE

5. Helen promoted the practice of making contributions to good causes.  GERUND

6. Reaching the Big Apple by nine o’clock, they begin work.  PARTICIPLE

7. By evening, returning to Connecticut is a relief.  PARTICIPLE

8. Which of Melville’s works is our assigned book?  GERUND

9. My fondest wish, to meet Frank Sinatra, never came true.  INFINITIVE

10. Our swimming instructor taught us the butterfly stroke.  GERUND



Sport?  Ah, what’s that?  In the spirit of the original Trivial Pursuit categories, I will write about my favorite ‘Leisure Activity’—Traditional Rug Hooking.  Traditional Rug

Traditional Rug Hooking developed in approximately 1860 and is believed to be the only handcraft developed in the New World.  Thin strips of woven wool fabric are pulled up through a backing into loops.  To get a better idea of what this looks like, think back to childhood Christmases and pieces of ribbon candy.

The once popular craft had nearly died out until a Massachusetts woman, Pearl K. McGown, single-handedly, not only revived it, but also refined until it rose to an art form.  In the mid-thirties she began giving hooking lessons from her home.  Unhappy with the quality of available patterns, she began designing her own.  With her sisters to help her, she started a cottage industry that has expanded to a worldwide guild, half a dozen or more annual teacher’s training workshops and guild sponsored schools across the country.

Today, finely crafted, hooked rugs can be sold for $250.00, or more, per square foot.  Specific designs are sometimes commissioned by interior designers or patrons, who will wait patiently for their piece to be hooked.