LESSON 5.4
Beauty Pageant Semi-finals:
Selecting the Other Variable
Review
In a nonfiction with narrator essay (NWN), one variable is the word I. The other variable must be New:
In a nonfiction with narrator essay, the Old is usually on the left-hand side and the New is usually on the right:
WHAT STATEMENT | ||
LH | VP | RH |
OLD |
| NEW |
I |
| ? |
WHAT STATEMENT | ||
LH | VP | RH |
OLD | NEW | |
I | aye-aye lemurs | |
New in a Nonfiction Without Narrator Essay
In a Nonfiction without Narrator essay, the New can be on either side.
WHAT STATEMENT | ||
LH | VP | RH |
OLD |
| NEW |
? |
| Jim Buck |
WHAT STATEMENT | ||
LH | VP | RH |
NEW |
| OLD |
Jim |
| ? |
Two News in a Nonfiction without Narrator Essay
In a nonfiction without narrator essay (NWON), both variables are often New. For example, Florence Baker, born in Bulgaria, was a white woman sold into slavery by the Turks. She later became one of the greatest explorers of east Africa.
WHAT STATEMENT | ||
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
NEW |
| NEW |
Florence Baker |
| White slavery |
Task 5.4.1 – Class
In our hypothetical beauty pageant, each contestant is asked what subject is dear to their heart. Here are the answers:
Contestant | Contestant’s fame | Previous Grade | Subject important to contestant | Grade for choice of subject |
Abebe Bikila | Great marathoner | New | History of marathon |
|
Aristotle | Greek philosopher who created the scientific method | New | Physiology of taking a nap |
|
Billy Mills | Long-distance Olympic gold medalist | New | Racism against early Native American professional runners |
|
Dean Karnazes | Famous ultra-marathoner | New | History of ultra-marathons |
|
Dorando Petri | Involved in most controversial marathon | New | History of the marathon |
|
Eliud Kipchoge | 1st to run marathon in under two hours | New | History of the marathon |
|
Flo-jo | Female sprinter with greatest world record | New | History of female sprinters |
|
Jason Lee | Famous skateboarder and actor | New | History of skateboarding |
|
Jim Buck | First professional dog walker | New | Dog walking |
|
Jim Suter | Dog musher using poodles | New | Iditarod (Alaska’s 1049-mile dog-sled race |
|
John Muir | Naturalist and inventor | New | Alaska’s glaciers |
|
Kathrine Switzer | 1st female marathoner | New | History of women in sports |
|
Libby Riddles | 1st female Iditarod winner | New | History of Iditarod (Alaska’s 1049-mile dog-sled race) |
|
Percy Fawcett | Explorer of Amazon rainforest | New | Mysteries of Amazon rainforest |
|
Pheidippides | Supposedly 1st marathoner | New | History of Greek-Persian (now Iran) wars |
|
Salvador Dali | Painter of surreal art | New | The importance of taking a nap |
|
Steve Prefontaine | Famous long-distance runner | New | Invention of the Nike track shoe |
|
Stu Unger | Greatest rummy player | New | How rummy is played |
|
Susan Butcher | Famous female musher | New | History of Iditarod (Alaska’s 1049-mile dog-sled race) |
|
Tony Hawk | Skateboarding champion | New | History of skateboarding |
|
Tori Boggs | Jump-rope champion | New | History of skateboarding |
|
Wilma Rudolph | Multiple Olympic gold medals for sprinting | New | Polio (disease that killed or crippled thousands of children in the 1950s) |
|
You are the judge. Evaluate whether you feel that each contestant’s answer is Old or New. Place your answer in the column to the right. Two have been done for you.
Old = Reader is likely to know about the subject OR is not likely to be interested
New = Reader is likely not to know much about the subject AND is likely to be interested.
Contestant | Contestant’s fame | Previous Evaluation | Subject important to contestant | Evaluation for choice of subject |
Abebe Bikila | Great marathoner | New | History of the marathon |
|
Aristotle | Greek philosopher who created the scientific method | New | Physiology of taking a nap |
|
Billy Mills | Long-distance Olympic gold medalist | New | Racism against early Native American professional runners | NEW |
Dean Karnazes | Famous ultra-marathoner | New | History of ultra-marathons |
|
Dorando Petri | Involved in most controversial marathon | New | History of the marathon |
|
Eliud Kipchoge | 1st to run marathon in under two hours | New | History of the marathon |
|
Flo-jo | Female sprinter with greatest world record | New | History of female sprinters |
|
Jason Lee | Famous skateboarder and actor | New | History of skateboarding |
|
Jim Buck | First professional dog walker | New | Dog walking |
|
Jim Suter | Dog musher using poodles | New | Iditarod (Alaska’s 1049-mile dog-sled race |
|
John Muir | Naturalist and inventor | New | Alaska’s glaciers |
|
Kathrine Switzer | 1st female marathoner | New | History of women in sports |
|
Libby Riddles | 1st female Iditarod winner | New | History of Iditarod (Alaska’s 1049-mile dog-sled race) |
|
Percy Fawcett | Explorer of Amazon rainforest | New | Mysteries of Amazon rainforest |
|
Pheidippides | Supposedly 1st marathoner | New | History of Greek-Persian (now Iran) wars |
|
Salvador Dali | Painter of surreal art | New | The importance of taking a nap |
|
Steve Prefontaine | Famous long-distance runner | New | Invention of the Nike track shoe |
|
Stu Unger | Greatest rummy player | New | How rummy is played |
|
Susan Butcher | Famous female musher | New | History of Iditarod (Alaska’s 1049-mile dog-sled race) |
|
Tony Hawk | Skateboarding champion | New | History of skateboarding |
|
Tori Boggs | Jump-rope champion | New | History of jump-roping |
|
Wilma Rudolph | Multiple Olympic gold medals for sprinting | New | Polio (disease that killed or crippled thousands of children in the 1950s) | NEW |
Duplicating a Variable
Be careful that two variables are not the same thing with different words. For example:
WHAT STATEMENT | ||
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
Jim Bridger | was | a famous frontiersman |
Same thing
Instead, choose a subject with which the person is associated. It does not matter if the subject is in the left-hand or right-hand slot. For example:
Jim Bridger
OR
Task 5.4.2 – Tandem
Determine if the following are one variable or two variables. Feel free to look things up on the Net or in an encyclopedia.
1
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
Ernest Shackleton |
| The race to the South Pole |
2
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
Anton von Leeweunhoek |
| Invention of the microscope |
3
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
Madame Curie |
| Nobel Prize |
4
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
Louis Pasteur |
| Rabies |
5
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
Cain |
| First murder |
6
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
Sequoyah |
| Alphabets |
7
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
Wu Zetian |
| Only woman ever to rule China |
8
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
Harry Houdini |
| Modern magic |
9
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
“Gentleman Jim” Corbett |
| Queensbury rules (of boxing) |
10
LH | Verb Phrase | RH |
Ferdinand Magellan |
| 1st circumnavigation of the world |