4. Religion must be a laughing matter
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| Image by Giuseppe Milo in Flickr. CC |
The following was once voted the funniest joke about religion:
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump. I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."
"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.
"Well, there's so much to live for!"
"Like what?"
"Are you religious?"
He said, "Yes."
I said, "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
"Christian."
"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"
"Protestant."
"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"
"Baptist."
"Wow! Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
"Baptist Church of God."
"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God."
"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"
He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."
I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.
Objetivos

Can you tell a joke? Don't be embarrassed and let your hair down sharing a joke with your class mates and tutor.
Actividad
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| Image by Denise Krebs in Flickr. CC. |
When we are writing in English we are very concerned about making grammar, vocabulary or sentence structure mistakes. However, the most important parts of your writing assignment are the "big picture" elements such as thesis or focus, audience and purpose, organization, and development. Unless your English is very weak, it is after you have addressed these important elements, that you can then turn your attention to aspects such as sentence structure and grammar.
You can ask yourself the following questions:
- Does the assignment have a central thesis?
- Can you, if asked, offer a one-sentence explanation or summary of what the assignment is about?
- Do you have an appropriate audience in mind?
- Do you have a clear purpose for the assignment? What is it intended to do or accomplish?
- Why would someone want to read this work?
- Does the purpose match the assignment?
- Does the paper progress in an organized, logical way?
- Make a brief outline. Does the organization make sense? Should any part be moved to another part?
- Are there places in the paper where more details, examples, or specifics are needed?
- Do any paragraphs seem much shorter and in need of more material than others?
Ask someone to read the assignment. After the first paragraph or two ask them what they think the paper will discuss. At the end of each paragraph, ask the person to forecast where the paper is headed. If the paper goes in a direction other than the one forecasted by the reader, is there a good reason, or do you need to rewrite something there? Ask them to comment if something is unclear and needs more description, explanation, or support.
Now you can move on to sentence structure, punctuation, word choice and spelling.
- Are there a few problems that frequently occur? Keep a list of problems that recur and check for those.
- Read the paper aloud watching and listening for anything that sounds incorrect.
- Ask yourself why you put punctuation marks in certain places. Do you need to check any punctuation rules?
For possible spelling errors, proofread backwards, from the end of a line to the beginning.
Adapted from: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/690/1/




