Transcript Everything You Wanted to Know About English but Were

Everything You Wanted to
Know About English but Were
Afraid to Ask
Amy Kubista, Writing Specialist
Laurel Walsh, Writing Faculty
The Basics
• Writing is about getting your
point across.
• Writing is about sharing your
knowledge.
• If your writing isn’t clear, you’re
not getting your point across or
demonstrating expertise.
Worst Case Scenario
The Bad News
Theorists don’t have a model or
theory to show teachers how
students learn to write in English
(Cumming, 1998), or even what
such a theory would look like
(Carson, 2001).
The Good News: What We Do Know
What makes a successful learner
What makes a successful lesson
Common Problems
Sentence-level issues—
• Comma usage
• Possessive Errors
• Semicolon errors
• Subject-verb agreement
• Which vs. that
• Excessive prepositional phrases
• Parallel construction
• Passive construction
• Sentence fragments
• Unnecessary words
Sentence-Level Issues Slow Composition
When you worry about your commas,
semicolons, integrating quotation, and
grammar issues, it is hard to write an essay.
We want you to be able to ruminate about
your field of inquiry and not spend time
fretting about punctuation.
Basically…
The Rules Exist:
Let’s Learn them
Get Rid of Extra Words
According to a series of one-on-one
qualitative interviews, it has been
determined without a doubt that
when it comes to daily behavior and
grammar instruction, Laurel Walsh
is insane.
Use Parallel Construction
Wrong:
Artists love painting, drawing and to see
the world in a fresh way.
Right:
Artists love painting, drawing, and seeing
the world in a fresh way.
Know Comma Rules
Commas cordon off material that doesn’t change
the meaning of the sentence.
Example:
Sheila, with her five-inch stilettos and huge
beehive hairdo, asked my boyfriend on a date.
Commas do not cordon off material that changes
the sentence meaning.
Example:
The man with too many ties has too few necks.
More Rules? Yes!
• Semi-colons are your friend.
• An independent clause is a sentence; it
has a subject and a verb and can stand
alone.
• There are three ways to marry two
independent phrases: semicolon alone,
semicolon with a sentence modifier, and
a comma with a conjunction.
Our Pal the Semicolon
Joining two independent phrases with a
semicolon insinuates that there is a
relationship between the two sentences.
Jon is ugly; Jon is single.
You can also slip a sentence modifier in to
explain the relationship.
Jon is ugly; however, Sheila loves ugly men.
Avoid Passive Construction
Wrong:
The lingerie was given to her by her best friend’s
husband.
Right:
Her best friend’s husband gave her lingerie.
Better:
The soon-to-be divorced man gave her ugly
underwear.
Possessives are Easy
Owning things is fun! We like to obtain things.
Possessive errors turn an owner into a plural noun.
Common noun becomes a possessive by adding an
apostrophe and an “s”.
The cat’s tail was short and stubby.
Proper nouns also become possessive form by
adding an apostrophe and an “s”.
Sarah’s fingers are short and stubby.
What if the proper noun ends in “s”—do we add an “s”
or no?
More Possessives
YES! Thank you, Ms. Britney Spears for
your antics. You allow us to know that:
Britney Spears’s nervous breakdown was
dramatic.
Also remember that applies to first names
also:
You are invited to Seamus’s party!
Integrating Quotations
To integrate a quote into a paragraph, check
the verb. If the verb indicates expression
(thinks, says, yodels) then you use a comma.
Charlie says, “I love ice cream.”
If the sentence is complete, use a colon.
The problem is that Charlie cannot stop eating
ice cream: “I love the stuff.”
Your Printer
Cartridge Does Not
Contain Unicorn
Blood:
REVISE!
“References to external sources of
knowledge represent a requisite means of
supporting one’s position in rhetorical
argumentation” (Hinkel, 2004, p. 187).
Talking about what other scholars
wrote and researched is a huge,
necessary part of any paper; it is the
main way writers back up their ideas
(Hinkel, 2004).
Apply a Formula
• According to Patterson (2007), …
• Patterson (2007) stated…
• Paraphrasing is important
(Patterson, 2007).
“In real terms,
however, few
students may need
a supply larger than
five or six citational
expressions”
(Hinkel, 2004, p.
189).
Only six?? I can
handle learning six
phrases!
It’s Not Easy, But…
• Read it out loud.
• Get a peer editor (even a friend).
• Send it to the specialists!
• Write in the past tense.
I look.
You look.
We look.
They look. Teachers look.
The results look ___.
But….
He / She / It / The author / Frank (2003) looks.
“Use the past tense to express an action
or a condition that occurred at a specific,
definite time in the past, as when
discussing another researcher's work
and when reporting your results” (APA
2.06, p. 42).
Your Results
Other Researcher's
Work
Everything Else
Things That Can't Be
in the Past Tense
I looked
You looked
She looked
The researchers looked
The author looked
Bush (2004) looked
The children looked
The patient looked
But it is acceptable to write in simple
sentences. In fact, it is advisable.
Students can write research papers in
the same way that they write reflection
papers; with short sentences, basic
vocabulary, and a straightforward tone.
Don’t Believe Me?
“Keep the writing simple and interesting.
While scholarly writing has style conventions,
it does not have to be wordy, stuffy, or
dispassionate. You should avoid
colloquialisms and slang, but do not strive to
sound academic. Sentences should not be
long and complex” (Yob, 2007, p. 36).
Let’s Not Get Too Informal!
How?
• Avoid contractions. You weren’t meant to do
this; don’t try it unless it can’t be avoided.
• BETTER : Writers were not meant to write
in contractions; do not do it unless it cannot
be avoided.
Then…
• Do not use the personal pronouns we
and you. You should be more specific.
Otherwise, we get off track.
• Better : Writers should be more
specific. Otherwise, their readers may
get off track.
And…
• Spell out Latin abbreviations, etc.
It is informal to use them (i.e.,
something like this).
• Better : Use and so on instead
of etc. That is is a good substitute
for i.e.
• Revise informal phrases and tired
words. Writers should keep an eye
out for phrases that are really informal
or just plain unnecessary.
• Better : Writers should revise
phrases that are informal or
unnecessary.