Re: [school-discuss] English teacher apps

[Quentin Smith <quentins@comclub.org>]

On Tue, 25 May 2004, Dennis Daniels wrote:

> Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 18:07:01 -0700
> From: Dennis Daniels <ddaniels@magic.fr>
> Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
> To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
> Subject: Re: [school-discuss] English teacher apps
> 
> Hello Hans,
> I'm looking for apps that help my students and I analyze sentence 
> structures, correct word use and, if possible, make it easier for me to 
> develop vocabulary quizzes using dict for example. I've got a little 
> over 600 vocab questions for various books but I'd like to get a script 
> that would help me create fill in the blank type quizzes using the text 
> from Project Gutenberg. I've outlined a bit of the script here:
> http://tikiwiki.org/tiki-index.php?page=QuizRFEs#id307423
> 
> If anyone has the time to help me on that it could be a real time saver 
> for teachers of all ilk :)
> 
> Hans, do you have any recommendations on not-so-difficult to use stand 
> alone UNIX friendly apps that could help students analyze their 
> sentences for correctness?
Hi-

style and diction are two GNU apps for writing analysis. Style will
analyze the writing as a whole. Diction will analyze each sentence for
correct grammar. They're included in some distributions; if not, you can
get them from http://www.gnu.org/software/diction/diction.html

Hope this helps,
--Quentin

P.S. Here's a sample style run on some text I have lying around:
readability grades:
         Kincaid: 8.4
         ARI: 8.4
         Coleman-Liau: 9.9
         Flesch Index: 68.2
         Fog Index: 11.4
         Lix: 39.1 = school year 6
         SMOG-Grading: 10.5
sentence info:
         1701 characters
         390 words, average length 4.36 characters = 1.42 syllables
         21 sentences, average length 18.6 words
         42% (9) short sentences (at most 14 words)
         19% (4) long sentences (at least 29 words)
         1 paragraphs, average length 21.0 sentences
         0% (0) questions
         66% (14) passive sentences
         longest sent 46 wds at sent 16; shortest sent 1 wds at sent 21
word usage:
         verb types:
         to be (15) auxiliary (4)
         types as % of total:
         conjunctions 6% (22) pronouns 6% (25) prepositions 15% (59)
         nominalizations 2% (6)
sentence beginnings:
         pronoun (5) interrogative pronoun (0) article (7)
         subordinating conjunction (0) conjunction (0) preposition (2)

And here's part of a diction run:
hercules.txt:6: The page [may -> = Do not confuse with "can".] have
changed since that Time.

hercules.txt:9: Google is not affiliated with [the authors -> we] of this
page [nor -> Restrict to following "neither", but do not use instead of
"or" in negative expressions.] for responsible [its -> = "it is" or
"its"?] content.

hercules.txt:19: It is the oldest monument, it illustrates and
[representative of -> represents] A Corunna and main element of his
shield.

hercules.txt:22: It is the [only -> Put "only" right before the word it
modifies.] Roman light that exists in the world and that continues acting
[its -> = "it is" or "its"?] as.

hercules.txt:24: [Its -> = "it is" or "its"?] light has been datum point
for the navigators from century II.

hercules.txt:25: The present style that presents/displays the Tower must
to works made [between -> (choose "between" 2 options and "among" 3 or
more)] years 1788 and 1791 under the direction of the Lieutenant of Navio
Eustaquio Giannini.

hercules.txt:28: The interior of the Tower [can -> (do not confuse with
"may")] be visited.