Part II: Analysis
"The Old Man"
This student overall did a good job. They showed great knowledge of the book that they were talking about and the character that they were analyzing. They have compound sentences down! They used coordinating conjunctions to expand their sentences. For example, "The old man is a person who does not talk to very many people but he does have the boy" (first paragraph, third sentence). Even though they forgot the comma, it still shows that they are trying to incorporate conjunctions into their paper. They also used a semi colon - correctly if I might add! In the last paragraph they say, "The boy is a good friend to the old man; he brings out the goodness in the man". This shows that they are trying and experimenting with grammar tools that they have learned. They had a few minor spelling errors, but nothing major. I thought that this paper showed that the student read and understood their topic well. I think that some sentence variety and more descriptive words would really make this paper pop!
"Far from a Safe Heaven"
This student showed a wide range of vocabulary that made their writing so much stronger. By using words such as "brutally" and "frustrated" it helps paint a picture for the reader, therefore making it much more fun to read than if they chose to use not as descriptive words. They had a strong thesis that clearly laid out the topics they were going to discuss within their paper: "His dream, Curley and the other angry ranch hands, and his relationship with Lennie bring George's changes" (first paragraph, last sentence). I noticed this right off the bat as it represents that this student is an advanced writer and that they know how to write a thesis. This student also did a great job of correctly using compound sentences within their paper as well. One thing I think this paper needs is a good, strong conclusion.
"Decisions, Decisions"
I loved the introduction to this paper - it even had a hook! "What if you flunked college and then dropped out?" (first paragraph, first sentence). This was a great way to show that they have the abilities and the desire to grab their audiences attention from the get-go. They also had a great thesis as well, it stated clearly what they wanted to talk about in their paper: " In The Catcher In The Rye, the author JD Salinger presents his character by his usage of language, his sensitivity, and his decisions." (first paragraph, last sentence). This student as well showed great usage of compound sentences and a wide range of vocabulary. This paper had a great concluding paragraph that wrapped up the whole paper nicely as well as give great concluding thoughts.
Part III: Mini Lesson
Some questions I have about my papers is that I am curious as to what they have learned thus far in their English class. (That way I can tell what they are applying into their papers) (sentence set apart as an aside to the previous sentence). I think that most of them showed great qualities and patterns within their writing. As a mini lesson to do for this "class" I think that it would be fun to work on their sentence variations (both with adding more descriptive vocabulary and sentence length). (to add specific information). By doing an activity that started out as a simple sentence such as: I like cats. To then adding descriptive words that answer the questions, What kind of cats? What things to cats do that you like? From then on they could come up with a much more descriptive sentences like: I like furry, snuggly, and siamese cats that climb trees on warm, sunny days. This type of lesson would be fun (and educational) for the students. (to add information that is helpful, but not essential). I was thinking of doing an activity with notecards - kind of like what we did in class that one day when we were building sentences to talk about baseball. Also, to incorporate a lesson in sentence variation we could practice writing short sentences followed with long sentences and vice versa.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Blog #8 - World English Project (Non-Blog 2)
For this project, I originally started having some trouble with where I was going to go with it. However, after putting some thought into it I think I want to focus on Native Americans and their influences on our language today. I have done some research on them before, but the focus was more on how they are portrayed in the media and what not. This project will be something I have no previous knowledge on and I am very eager to learn more about how they contributed to our language today.
For my project, I am going to try and use Prezi. I have never used this program before, but have always wanted to try it! So I decided that this project was a good one to experiment with something new! To make this presentation interactive, I am going to try and incorporate a video of some sort (at this point I am not sure what one I will use) of maybe their accents or dialect. I even think a short video on Native Americans and how they interacted and communicated with the settlers of Jamestown would be really interesting and intriguing for the audience.
At this point, I have not done a whole lot of research. However, I found a couple really good websites that have given me a great starting point.
"Linguistics 201: Native American Languages"
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/Native_American%20Langs.htm
- this website talks about how Native Americans have named many cities, plants, rivers, mountains in the U.S. and how we have incorporated many of their words into our language as well.
"How Native American Culture Influenced the English Language"
http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/blog/language-history/how-native-american-culture-influenced-the-american-english-language
-this article goes a little deeper than the one before it. It discusses how Native Americans influenced some of our word formations and place names
*I think that both of these sources will be very beneficial to my end project.
Intro to my project:
English is a "melting pot" language. It has roots in Europe, but contains many different words from many different backgrounds and collectively features an abundance of different languages and cultures. One in particular is Native American roots. Since the first settlers of Jamestown immigrated to the United States, Native Americans had a huge influence on them and their language. As a result, Native American Languages played a huge role in splitting English into UK English and American English. There is a good chance that that may have been the beginning of different dialects in the United States. Native Americans have helped shape English as we know it today - from place names to word formations - they have helped make our language unique.
For my project, I am going to try and use Prezi. I have never used this program before, but have always wanted to try it! So I decided that this project was a good one to experiment with something new! To make this presentation interactive, I am going to try and incorporate a video of some sort (at this point I am not sure what one I will use) of maybe their accents or dialect. I even think a short video on Native Americans and how they interacted and communicated with the settlers of Jamestown would be really interesting and intriguing for the audience.
At this point, I have not done a whole lot of research. However, I found a couple really good websites that have given me a great starting point.
"Linguistics 201: Native American Languages"
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/Native_American%20Langs.htm
- this website talks about how Native Americans have named many cities, plants, rivers, mountains in the U.S. and how we have incorporated many of their words into our language as well.
"How Native American Culture Influenced the English Language"
http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/blog/language-history/how-native-american-culture-influenced-the-american-english-language
-this article goes a little deeper than the one before it. It discusses how Native Americans influenced some of our word formations and place names
*I think that both of these sources will be very beneficial to my end project.
Intro to my project:
English is a "melting pot" language. It has roots in Europe, but contains many different words from many different backgrounds and collectively features an abundance of different languages and cultures. One in particular is Native American roots. Since the first settlers of Jamestown immigrated to the United States, Native Americans had a huge influence on them and their language. As a result, Native American Languages played a huge role in splitting English into UK English and American English. There is a good chance that that may have been the beginning of different dialects in the United States. Native Americans have helped shape English as we know it today - from place names to word formations - they have helped make our language unique.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Blog #7 - The Story of English (Non-Blog)
Summary:
For my portion of "The Story of English" I had Section 3: Muse with Fire. This section explored how are language has evolved from Shakespearean language and Biblical speak as well - specifically from King James and the impact that these influences has had on the development of the English Language as we know it today.
The English Language began over here in America when the first settlers traveled across the seas. The language originally derived from parts of Greek and Latin as well. However, the famous play write and poet, William Shakespeare made an enormous impact on the English Language. Shakespeare is said to have known and used 34,000 words in his vocabulary - mind you that this is double today what the average well-educated person knows and uses today. In addition to his wide vocabulary, Shakespeare also played around with a lot of tones in his plays some tones/speak include: philosophical, love, pigen, and heroic. Back in his time, this was unheard of (and in a way still is today) to have an author be so various in his genres that he writes. He introduced many words to the English Language such as "accommodation", "premeditated", and "obscene". He is also known to have invented more words than anyone who as ever lived; therefore, meaning that he is a huge contributor to our language as we know it today. I know for a fact that I have used all three of these words before and little did I know that Shakespeare invented them. There are many more words that he made up these are just a few examples, but it is just interesting to know that he made up a lot of words that we use on a day-to-day basis.
Anglo-Saxon speak is quite different than what we are used to today. They are rich with their vowel and usually don't pronounce the "r" sound after the vowel (much like a lot of the East Coasters today - like New York, Maine, and Massachusetts). Interestingly enough this type of language is still spoken today in places like Oxford and Stratford - they still hold the original speech patterns that were spoken from the beginning.
The translation of the Bible had a major impact on our language as well. It also added many words to our vocabulary (about 8,000 if I am not mistaken). Since then, the Bible has been translated again to reflect our speech today. For example, a section from King James was written originally much more poetic than the updated translated version. Just because that is not how we talk and interpret things anymore.
In 1584 was when the first boat came overseas and we borrowed a lot of Native American terms such as "bury the hatchet", "tomahawk", and "go on the war path"- meaning that they too contributed to the English Language. As more ships came into the new world they created Jamestown and these people became the official first English speaking Americans, and many people today on the East Coast speak how the Jamestown people spoke.
People who live on the small island called Tanger Island - known as "Tangerines" - purely speak in the old English today. They pronounce "on" as "arn" and "sink" as "zink". These people are the first cousins to the original people of Jamestown and because it is such a tight knit and small community on an island the culture and language here is very sheltered. They have had no outside influence so there language has had no need to change. Their way of life is very old school, it is a huge fishing community and it is expected of the young adults that once they are done with school they are to start working on the boats helping with the fishing. This is a great example of how a community today still holds true to the Shakespearean and Bible language.
East Anglea (sp?) is where Anglo-Saxon is spoken regularly. To me it sounded like a mixture between Irish and English accents. They draw out their vowel - bargain= baaaaagan"- and they drop the "r" after the vowel (much like the East Coast accents as I mentioned before). Another example of their speech is "risban" which translates to what we call "wristband". The people of East Anglea also use a variety of old words - words that we have dropped from out everyday use.
All of these accents have derived heavily from Shakespearean terms and King James and the Biblical terms as well.
My Response:
I really enjoyed this section of "The Story of English". The part that interested me the most was the Shakespeare portion. I had no idea that his vocabulary was so large and what a huge impact he made on our language today. Last semester I took a Shakespeare class and I always thought of it as completely different language, but after watching this it made me realize that it is not all THAT different it just sounds different and they patterns of things are a little different as well. I also did not know that he made up a lot of language - I was really impressed by that because a lot of it is words we use today. Overall, I found it interesting how these things made an impact on our language. I have never really thought about the origin of where the language came from even though I use it everyday. I am interested to see what other people have watched and reported about.
For my portion of "The Story of English" I had Section 3: Muse with Fire. This section explored how are language has evolved from Shakespearean language and Biblical speak as well - specifically from King James and the impact that these influences has had on the development of the English Language as we know it today.
The English Language began over here in America when the first settlers traveled across the seas. The language originally derived from parts of Greek and Latin as well. However, the famous play write and poet, William Shakespeare made an enormous impact on the English Language. Shakespeare is said to have known and used 34,000 words in his vocabulary - mind you that this is double today what the average well-educated person knows and uses today. In addition to his wide vocabulary, Shakespeare also played around with a lot of tones in his plays some tones/speak include: philosophical, love, pigen, and heroic. Back in his time, this was unheard of (and in a way still is today) to have an author be so various in his genres that he writes. He introduced many words to the English Language such as "accommodation", "premeditated", and "obscene". He is also known to have invented more words than anyone who as ever lived; therefore, meaning that he is a huge contributor to our language as we know it today. I know for a fact that I have used all three of these words before and little did I know that Shakespeare invented them. There are many more words that he made up these are just a few examples, but it is just interesting to know that he made up a lot of words that we use on a day-to-day basis.
Anglo-Saxon speak is quite different than what we are used to today. They are rich with their vowel and usually don't pronounce the "r" sound after the vowel (much like a lot of the East Coasters today - like New York, Maine, and Massachusetts). Interestingly enough this type of language is still spoken today in places like Oxford and Stratford - they still hold the original speech patterns that were spoken from the beginning.
The translation of the Bible had a major impact on our language as well. It also added many words to our vocabulary (about 8,000 if I am not mistaken). Since then, the Bible has been translated again to reflect our speech today. For example, a section from King James was written originally much more poetic than the updated translated version. Just because that is not how we talk and interpret things anymore.
In 1584 was when the first boat came overseas and we borrowed a lot of Native American terms such as "bury the hatchet", "tomahawk", and "go on the war path"- meaning that they too contributed to the English Language. As more ships came into the new world they created Jamestown and these people became the official first English speaking Americans, and many people today on the East Coast speak how the Jamestown people spoke.
People who live on the small island called Tanger Island - known as "Tangerines" - purely speak in the old English today. They pronounce "on" as "arn" and "sink" as "zink". These people are the first cousins to the original people of Jamestown and because it is such a tight knit and small community on an island the culture and language here is very sheltered. They have had no outside influence so there language has had no need to change. Their way of life is very old school, it is a huge fishing community and it is expected of the young adults that once they are done with school they are to start working on the boats helping with the fishing. This is a great example of how a community today still holds true to the Shakespearean and Bible language.
East Anglea (sp?) is where Anglo-Saxon is spoken regularly. To me it sounded like a mixture between Irish and English accents. They draw out their vowel - bargain= baaaaagan"- and they drop the "r" after the vowel (much like the East Coast accents as I mentioned before). Another example of their speech is "risban" which translates to what we call "wristband". The people of East Anglea also use a variety of old words - words that we have dropped from out everyday use.
All of these accents have derived heavily from Shakespearean terms and King James and the Biblical terms as well.
My Response:
I really enjoyed this section of "The Story of English". The part that interested me the most was the Shakespeare portion. I had no idea that his vocabulary was so large and what a huge impact he made on our language today. Last semester I took a Shakespeare class and I always thought of it as completely different language, but after watching this it made me realize that it is not all THAT different it just sounds different and they patterns of things are a little different as well. I also did not know that he made up a lot of language - I was really impressed by that because a lot of it is words we use today. Overall, I found it interesting how these things made an impact on our language. I have never really thought about the origin of where the language came from even though I use it everyday. I am interested to see what other people have watched and reported about.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Blog #6
Original Response to Delpit:
I really enjoyed reading Delpit's article. She brought up a lot of great points that as a future teacher I can really take note on. First off, she is primarily talking about the African American culture (or AAE - African American English), but this also applies to other cultures and ethnicities and how they talk as well. It made me realize that just because they are talking in their own jargon doesn't mean that it is wrong - just different. Different from what we are used to hearing in our own language, or standard language I should say. Ebonics to many non-black people just sounds un-educated. That is harsh, I know, but that is the truth about how many people see it. It is important that we are not quick to judge someone purely based on how they talk. if we can remember this it will greatly improve our society and the understanding of each other. Another thing that I liked about Delpit was that she spoke from experience (with her daughter changing schools and all). It made her argument more credible. She made some great observations of her daughters experiences with her jargon at school.
Edited Response with varying sentence patterns:
I really enjoyed reading Delpit's article. She brought up a lot of great points, and as a future teacher I can really take note on. (compound sentence with coordinating conjunction linking two independent clauses) First off, she is primarily talking about the African American culture (or AAE - African American English), but this also applies to other cultures and ethnicities and how they talk as well. (compound sentence combining two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction) It made me realize that just because they are talking in their own jargon doesn't mean that it is wrong. Just different. (short sentence) Different from what we are used to hearing in our own language, or standard language I should say. Ebonics to many non-black people just sounds un-educated. That is harsh. I know. (two short sentences back to back) But that is the truth about how many people see it. (purposefully starting a sentence with a conjunction) It is important that we are not quick to judge someone purely based on how they talk and if we can remember this it will greatly improve our society and the understanding of each other. (extra long sentence) Another thing that I liked about Delpit was that she spoke from experience (with her daughter changing schools and all). It made her argument more credible. She made some great observations of her daughters experiences with her jargon at school.
I really enjoyed reading Delpit's article. She brought up a lot of great points that as a future teacher I can really take note on. First off, she is primarily talking about the African American culture (or AAE - African American English), but this also applies to other cultures and ethnicities and how they talk as well. It made me realize that just because they are talking in their own jargon doesn't mean that it is wrong - just different. Different from what we are used to hearing in our own language, or standard language I should say. Ebonics to many non-black people just sounds un-educated. That is harsh, I know, but that is the truth about how many people see it. It is important that we are not quick to judge someone purely based on how they talk. if we can remember this it will greatly improve our society and the understanding of each other. Another thing that I liked about Delpit was that she spoke from experience (with her daughter changing schools and all). It made her argument more credible. She made some great observations of her daughters experiences with her jargon at school.
Edited Response with varying sentence patterns:
I really enjoyed reading Delpit's article. She brought up a lot of great points, and as a future teacher I can really take note on. (compound sentence with coordinating conjunction linking two independent clauses) First off, she is primarily talking about the African American culture (or AAE - African American English), but this also applies to other cultures and ethnicities and how they talk as well. (compound sentence combining two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction) It made me realize that just because they are talking in their own jargon doesn't mean that it is wrong. Just different. (short sentence) Different from what we are used to hearing in our own language, or standard language I should say. Ebonics to many non-black people just sounds un-educated. That is harsh. I know. (two short sentences back to back) But that is the truth about how many people see it. (purposefully starting a sentence with a conjunction) It is important that we are not quick to judge someone purely based on how they talk and if we can remember this it will greatly improve our society and the understanding of each other. (extra long sentence) Another thing that I liked about Delpit was that she spoke from experience (with her daughter changing schools and all). It made her argument more credible. She made some great observations of her daughters experiences with her jargon at school.
** I tried to incorporate a few different sentence patterns into my edited response to try them out. I think that the new version is way better because it has a variety of sentence patterns making it more interesting for the reader to read.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Blog #5
This week I would like to practice with Patterns 1 and 2. I want to try and practice using subordinating conjunctions properly within my writing because I think it will greatly benefit my blogs and other writings I do throughout the semester. I know I use these patterns already, but not necessarily properly and that is something I would like to improve. I think that by having a variety of sentence structures within your papers really shows your talent as a writer because who wants to read a paper that is written with all simple sentences? Or all long complex sentences? Variety is good! Below is an exert from a blog post I did on the theme "Superheroes"for English 323. I tried to incorporate the uses of complex sentences in this blog.
"When we were younger we all grew up watching cartoons of the common superheroes. (complex sentence with a dependent clause followed by an independent). Because Batman, Superman, Spiderman, are cool,it was always a treat to watch.(complex sentence with a dependent clause and a independent clause). But never did I ever think to myself "hmm, all these superheroes are white". It was just at known fact. People don't think twice about it...until now. When I think of Superman, I think something along the lines of the comic "Superman and the Jumper" , with Superman saving the poor, distressed woman on top of a building ready to take her own life, and clearly the person she needs is Superman to save her. But what if these hunky superheroes were of a different race? Would we think differently of them? Some suggest yes. In the articles, Who Gets to be a Superhero and What if X-Men were black? touch on this subject. They both discuss how people have always imagined and pictured their favorite superheroes as white, wealthy, Christian, and able-bodied men. Although the audience is not to blame, because that is how they are ALWAYS portrayed. (complex sentence with an independent clause followed by a dependent.) After I thought about this fact for a while, I had to agree that Superheroes are typically portrayed all the same. (complex sentence with a dependent clause followed by an independent one)"
I am still a little iffy on if the examples above are used properly. So if you could please read and critique it I would greatly appreciate it!! I get confused on if it counts as a dependent or independent and that is what messes me up! Plus, looking back this probably was not the best exert to use for practicing these patterns, but I tried my best. I really would have liked to experiment with the repetition of phrases or words, but I felt that in a blog post like this it would not be appropriate.
"When we were younger we all grew up watching cartoons of the common superheroes. (complex sentence with a dependent clause followed by an independent). Because Batman, Superman, Spiderman, are cool,it was always a treat to watch.(complex sentence with a dependent clause and a independent clause). But never did I ever think to myself "hmm, all these superheroes are white". It was just at known fact. People don't think twice about it...until now. When I think of Superman, I think something along the lines of the comic "Superman and the Jumper" , with Superman saving the poor, distressed woman on top of a building ready to take her own life, and clearly the person she needs is Superman to save her. But what if these hunky superheroes were of a different race? Would we think differently of them? Some suggest yes. In the articles, Who Gets to be a Superhero and What if X-Men were black? touch on this subject. They both discuss how people have always imagined and pictured their favorite superheroes as white, wealthy, Christian, and able-bodied men. Although the audience is not to blame, because that is how they are ALWAYS portrayed. (complex sentence with an independent clause followed by a dependent.) After I thought about this fact for a while, I had to agree that Superheroes are typically portrayed all the same. (complex sentence with a dependent clause followed by an independent one)"
I am still a little iffy on if the examples above are used properly. So if you could please read and critique it I would greatly appreciate it!! I get confused on if it counts as a dependent or independent and that is what messes me up! Plus, looking back this probably was not the best exert to use for practicing these patterns, but I tried my best. I really would have liked to experiment with the repetition of phrases or words, but I felt that in a blog post like this it would not be appropriate.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Blog #4
For this blog post I want to experiment with Pattern #1. I chose this one because I always misplace the comma - therefore I have a lot of comma splices within my writing. I put it after the conjunction and not before. So by practicing using this pattern correctly I think it will make a huge difference in my writing. The piece that I want to work with is from my English 325 - we have to write critical responses for the novel we read each week and as I have said before about these they can be really boring! My hope is that if I incorporate some of these sentence patterns in them it will not only make them more grammatically correct, but also make them much more interesting and dynamic.
"Lee is a strong character, and she has a lot on her plate at a very young age. (compound sentence with a coordinating conjunction) She has to do step into the place of her deceased mother. She cooks and cleans the house while her father works all day. Lee has had to become an adult at a young age, and that is not fair to her at all. (compound sentence with a coordinating conjunction) When her father is blamed for the disappearance of Lee’s white, rich friend he is taken away and sent to jail – most likely will get lynched. Instead of sitting back and feeling sorry for herself, Lee takes agency and matters into her own hands. She wants to get to the bottom of this disappearance of her friend and set her dad free. Lee had to make the decision as to whether she wanted to stay at home by herself, or to go and make things right with her father Lily. (compound sentence with a coordinating conjunction"
I think that I correctly used the conjunctions properly in this exert of text. This is a grammar pattern that I have struggled with for a long time and now that I know the proper rule for it I will be more aware of how it is used in my other pieces of writing.
For my DOL assignment, Corina and I have to teach the class about grammar by, "Discussing a sentence that is technically correct but practically inappropriate (#4)". I think this will be an fun idea to teach because this is the way people talk, and we do not talk grammatically correct 100% of the time. So I think that if will enlighten students to be aware of their speaking dialogue and what is appropriate for academic writing. For example, when answering the phone people do not say, "It is I"....that just sounds weird. However, that is grammatically correct that is just not the way we talk to one another. Another example would be (from a parent's standpoint) the popular phrase, "Because I said so". Written down in a sentence this would obviously be wrong, but when arguing with your kids being grammatically correct probably isn't the first thing you think of. I think it would be fun to have kids look through their text messages and see how they talk to one another. Is it grammatically correct? If not, how would they make it correct? Would it sound weird or out of place in the "text message" context to sound correct? Just to get them thinking of how our dialogue changes from speaking to writing and why there are those changes.
"Lee is a strong character, and she has a lot on her plate at a very young age. (compound sentence with a coordinating conjunction) She has to do step into the place of her deceased mother. She cooks and cleans the house while her father works all day. Lee has had to become an adult at a young age, and that is not fair to her at all. (compound sentence with a coordinating conjunction) When her father is blamed for the disappearance of Lee’s white, rich friend he is taken away and sent to jail – most likely will get lynched. Instead of sitting back and feeling sorry for herself, Lee takes agency and matters into her own hands. She wants to get to the bottom of this disappearance of her friend and set her dad free. Lee had to make the decision as to whether she wanted to stay at home by herself, or to go and make things right with her father Lily. (compound sentence with a coordinating conjunction"
I think that I correctly used the conjunctions properly in this exert of text. This is a grammar pattern that I have struggled with for a long time and now that I know the proper rule for it I will be more aware of how it is used in my other pieces of writing.
For my DOL assignment, Corina and I have to teach the class about grammar by, "Discussing a sentence that is technically correct but practically inappropriate (#4)". I think this will be an fun idea to teach because this is the way people talk, and we do not talk grammatically correct 100% of the time. So I think that if will enlighten students to be aware of their speaking dialogue and what is appropriate for academic writing. For example, when answering the phone people do not say, "It is I"....that just sounds weird. However, that is grammatically correct that is just not the way we talk to one another. Another example would be (from a parent's standpoint) the popular phrase, "Because I said so". Written down in a sentence this would obviously be wrong, but when arguing with your kids being grammatically correct probably isn't the first thing you think of. I think it would be fun to have kids look through their text messages and see how they talk to one another. Is it grammatically correct? If not, how would they make it correct? Would it sound weird or out of place in the "text message" context to sound correct? Just to get them thinking of how our dialogue changes from speaking to writing and why there are those changes.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Blog #3
The following piece of writing is from one of my Daily Critical Responses for my Young Adult Literature Class (English 325). This is where we critically analyze one of the young adult novels we are reading in class that week. I have to write two of these a week and it gets pretty repetitive, so I want to try and spice it up by using Pattern #1: setting aside a word or phrase by using either the dash or parentheses. I chose to use this pattern because compared to the other patterns I feel that I will actually use this in my everyday writing - as well as academic writing. I have tried using the dash before in some of my recent pieces of writing, but I still feel that I need more practice with it. I rarely, if ever, use parenthesis unless it is for a formal citation or something. I am excited to experiment with using these two grammatical concepts in the following exert.
" First off, Charlie would not have
made it through his freshman year of high school if it were not for his dear
friends -- Patrick and Sam. (Dash indicates there is additional info being presented. In this case, it is their names.) Whether or not they know it, they saved him. They took
him under their wing and gave him something he has always longed for -- friends. (Separating "friends" from the sentence gives it much more emphasis.) They gave him something to love and believe in and that is what
true friends are for. He is such a genuine and kindhearted character that it is
hard for me to believe that people were put off by him (even his siblings
seemed this way). (By adding parenthesis here it also emphasizes the ending portion of this sentence). One could describe Charlie as lost. He really didn’t know
where he was going or doing with his life – he was just kind of going through
the motions. (This dash sets aside the last part making the reader pay attention to it) Many things upset Charlie and make him cry. The audience got the
feeling that Charlie was constantly overwhelmed. He definitely struggles with
his anxieties on a daily basis. More
than anything, I think Charlie just wants to love (and more importantly, have that love returned). (This is an example of when using parenthesis adds additional information to the sentence) He gives so much of his love away to people whom in a way brush him
off. For example, his family. Deep down, we know that his family truly cares
about him but so often when he talks about his dad, mom, sister, or brother, it
seems as though they are always saying things like shut up, go away, go read
your book, or be quiet. And as a reader it was hard to read those chapters, or
letters, because his pain was tangible."
I know that this is a lot of dashes and parenthesis all in one paragraph. Normally, I would not use this many dashes or parenthesis in so close together. So please keep that in mind when you are reading my blog! I think I did a good job of being creative and placing them in sentences where I would never originally think to place this type of grammar.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Blog #2
In the next paragraph I will experiment with Pattern 1: Long sentence followed by a short one and Pattern 3: two closely related sentences joined by a semicolon. I think that both of these patterns are important, useful, and even interchangeable. I really like semicolons but sometimes I forget that they exist and that I can use them. I want to make semicolons and varying sentence structures part of my everyday writing.
"Summer is in the air. The warm wind brushing my skin as I walk to class on a bright morning. My mind wanders to the weeks after finals when I can relax and not have a care in the world; it seems like a century away. [Two closely related sentences joined by a semicolon]. Time will pass - something my mother always told me when times were tough. You'll get through it. [Long sentence followed by a short one]. That is my motivation for the last few weeks of school, to keep going. Summer has always been my favorite time of year and when finals and huge projects are what stand between me and that warm sunshine, it's hard to stay focused. I want this summer to be one for the books - getting that nice tan, drinking ice cold lemonade, and just enjoy not doing anything. It's hard not to love that time of year. How people don't like summer is beyond me; there is so much to love about it! [Two closely related sentences joined by a semicolon]. Three whole months of no school. Nothing wrong with that. I wonder if this summer I will get a job, I am one of those people that just wants one to fall into my lap and not have to look very hard for one. That's not how it works though. [Long sentence followed by a short one]. I can hear my dad now saying how college doesn't pay for itself and that I need to get a move on; I have to agree with him. [Two closely related sentences joined by a semicolon]. College is the stepping stone to the real world, if I want to make it I must start taking initiative in my finances now. However, getting a job isn't the ideal situation for a carefree summer vacation. Who knows maybe this summer will take me by surprise; I might actually enjoy having a job. [Two closely related sentences joined by a semicolon]."
This was just a passage that I randomly made up while experimenting with semicolons and sentence lengths. I thought I did a good job of using these two patterns within this passage - there are a few parts where I probably could have used a different grammar pattern, but for the sake of this assignment I went a little overboard on the semicolons! Looking forward to reading your responses.
"Summer is in the air. The warm wind brushing my skin as I walk to class on a bright morning. My mind wanders to the weeks after finals when I can relax and not have a care in the world; it seems like a century away. [Two closely related sentences joined by a semicolon]. Time will pass - something my mother always told me when times were tough. You'll get through it. [Long sentence followed by a short one]. That is my motivation for the last few weeks of school, to keep going. Summer has always been my favorite time of year and when finals and huge projects are what stand between me and that warm sunshine, it's hard to stay focused. I want this summer to be one for the books - getting that nice tan, drinking ice cold lemonade, and just enjoy not doing anything. It's hard not to love that time of year. How people don't like summer is beyond me; there is so much to love about it! [Two closely related sentences joined by a semicolon]. Three whole months of no school. Nothing wrong with that. I wonder if this summer I will get a job, I am one of those people that just wants one to fall into my lap and not have to look very hard for one. That's not how it works though. [Long sentence followed by a short one]. I can hear my dad now saying how college doesn't pay for itself and that I need to get a move on; I have to agree with him. [Two closely related sentences joined by a semicolon]. College is the stepping stone to the real world, if I want to make it I must start taking initiative in my finances now. However, getting a job isn't the ideal situation for a carefree summer vacation. Who knows maybe this summer will take me by surprise; I might actually enjoy having a job. [Two closely related sentences joined by a semicolon]."
This was just a passage that I randomly made up while experimenting with semicolons and sentence lengths. I thought I did a good job of using these two patterns within this passage - there are a few parts where I probably could have used a different grammar pattern, but for the sake of this assignment I went a little overboard on the semicolons! Looking forward to reading your responses.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Blog #1: Self Assessment Blog
When I think about grammar, I think about the importance of the small details in a paper or piece of writing that make all the words come together and flow. I place a lot of value on grammatical conventions and the proper use of words such as "to, too, and two" or "they're, their, and there". I must admit that I have got the proper use of those words down! One reason I think grammar is important is because it is a reflection of your intelligence - whether we want to admit it or not. This, however, does in no way shape or form mean that I am a perfect writer. I have my flaws too.
One thing that I cannot understand is the proper use of "affect" and "effect". I know for a fact that I learned this rule somewhere along in my academic career, but obviously did not have a lasting...effect? So Beth, I beg of you to please, please, please, teach us the proper use! It would greatly benefit me as well as my writing and make me look a whole lot smarter!
Commas. This is another area in writing and composing where I struggle. I am what one might call and "over-comma-er". In other words, I use them way to much. You might not notice it now but in some of my essays I use the comma a LOT. And I think my problem is I don't know the right place to put one...before or after a complete thought...when there is a natural pause in the sentence? For example, the sentence:
"I went to the store and bought some bananas, they looked really fresh and ripe."
Is that the right placement for the comma? Or is that considered a "comma splice"? Again, I know for a fact that I learned this probably in middle school, but I just do not remember the rule.
Relating back to how our writing and grammar is a reflection of our intelligence, I write a lot of emails, blogs, and postings for my collegiate classes. And through these postings or emails, I want to show and prove to my professors that I take my work seriously and care about my education. Grammar - and proper use of it is one of the best ways to show that via these mediums. One pet peeve of mine is when people do not use the proper punctuation to translate their tone in their texts, emails, or social media postings. One missed "!" or "?" can make a statement come off as completely rude. A perfect example of this is the love letter or break up letter activity we did in class on Tuesday. It perfectly demonstrates how big of a role punctuation plays in the written word.
So my two biggest problems in grammar are "affect" and "effect" and commas. I am really hoping that after this semester I will have mastered these rules and will finally know the proper uses of them both! I know that I cannot be the only one who struggles with them, and in a way that is comforting.
One thing that I cannot understand is the proper use of "affect" and "effect". I know for a fact that I learned this rule somewhere along in my academic career, but obviously did not have a lasting...effect? So Beth, I beg of you to please, please, please, teach us the proper use! It would greatly benefit me as well as my writing and make me look a whole lot smarter!
Commas. This is another area in writing and composing where I struggle. I am what one might call and "over-comma-er". In other words, I use them way to much. You might not notice it now but in some of my essays I use the comma a LOT. And I think my problem is I don't know the right place to put one...before or after a complete thought...when there is a natural pause in the sentence? For example, the sentence:
"I went to the store and bought some bananas, they looked really fresh and ripe."
Is that the right placement for the comma? Or is that considered a "comma splice"? Again, I know for a fact that I learned this probably in middle school, but I just do not remember the rule.
Relating back to how our writing and grammar is a reflection of our intelligence, I write a lot of emails, blogs, and postings for my collegiate classes. And through these postings or emails, I want to show and prove to my professors that I take my work seriously and care about my education. Grammar - and proper use of it is one of the best ways to show that via these mediums. One pet peeve of mine is when people do not use the proper punctuation to translate their tone in their texts, emails, or social media postings. One missed "!" or "?" can make a statement come off as completely rude. A perfect example of this is the love letter or break up letter activity we did in class on Tuesday. It perfectly demonstrates how big of a role punctuation plays in the written word.
So my two biggest problems in grammar are "affect" and "effect" and commas. I am really hoping that after this semester I will have mastered these rules and will finally know the proper uses of them both! I know that I cannot be the only one who struggles with them, and in a way that is comforting.
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