Transcript Slide 1
Styling Written English How Knowing a Little About Grammar Helps You Be Cool Three Definitions of Grammar: Grammar 1—Inherent Knowledge the system of rules in our head Grammar 2—The Grammar Taught in School formal description of rules Grammar 3—Usage linguistic etiquette—and can change Guidelines for Usage Choices: Does it communicate clearly? Does it consider the following: Time Age Gender Situation Region Social and Educational Status Guidelines for Writing Choices: Audience who am I addressing? Situation How formal is the writing situation? Formal? General? Informal? Purpose Our goal should be to help students make the most appropriate language choices for the audience, situation, and purpose of the subject. And, to help them learn to be successful editors of their own writing. Good Academic Writing can Blend the Formal with the Informal “relaxed language can often enliven academic writing and even enhance its rigor and precision. Such informal language also helps you to connect with readers in a personal as well as an intellectual way. In our view, then, it is a mistake to assume that academic writing and everyday language are completely separate things, and that they can never be used together.” (Graff and Birkenstein, p.116) Making and judging formal and mechanical errors in student papers is one area in which composition studies seems to have a multiple-personality disorder. On the one hand, our mellow, student-centered process-based selves tend to condemn marking formal errors at all. Doing it represents the Bad Old Days, Ms. Fidditch and Mr. Flutesnoot with sharpened red pencils, spilling innocent blood across the page. Useless detail work. Inhumane, perfectionist standards, making our students feel stupid, wrong, trivial, misunderstood. Joseph Williams has pointed out how arbitrary and context-bound our judgments of formal error are….as Peter Elbow says, English is most often associated either with grammar or with high literature—”two things designed to make folks feel most out of it.” (Connors and Lunsford qtd. By Graf and Birkenstein p. 116-117) So how many grammatical terms and concepts do we need to teach? Enough to cover the most common errors Enough to address the fact that not all errors are created equal (see Connors and Lunsford, 1988; Lunsford and Lunsford, 2008) Level of Seriousness of Errors 1. Status-marking errors, i.e. those that mark the writer as poorly educated 2. Very serious errors 3. Moderately serious errors 4. Minor or unimportant errors (See Hairston, 1981) Mythical Rules for Writing: 1. Never end a sentence with a preposition These rules are too hard to put up with Who are you writing the letter to? Where is the library at? 2. Never split an infinitive Boldly to go where no man has gone before To go boldly where no man has gone before To boldly go where no man has gone before 3. Always use the generic he to refer to both males and females Any student who comes without his textbook will be penalized. Each person who believes he has been cheated should file a claim. 4. Never start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or nor, for, yet, so). Hitler didn’t think the Allies could successfully invade Normandy, but they did. Hitler didn’t think the Allies could successfully invade Normandy. But they did. 5. Never start a sentence with “there is/are” or “it is” It is a truth universally acknowledged that any unmarried gentleman in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife. There is no doubt that the leaders of the al Qaeda terrorist network are ruthless and evil. 6. Never use contractions in formal writing Here’s a last and more extended example of Rowling’s plain but lively style. It’s the final paragraph of the opening chapter of The Sorcerer’s Stone. 7. Never use I or we in formal writing I have outlined this tradition elsewhere and have argued that reading diaries through a literary lens privileges diaries that are coherent, crafted, and whole, excluding ordinary diaries like Annie’s that define the diurnal form in their dailiness. (Rhetoric Review) 8. Never address the reader as “you.” First Person Second Person Third Person I, we you he, she, they For some kinds of writing, particularly instructions, it is better to be more direct. Have you noticed how often you have been addressed directly as “you” throughout these pages? 9. Use that for restrictive clauses, which for nonrestrictive clauses The book that I want to read is on the floor. The book which I want to read is on the floor. The book, which I want to read, is on the floor. 10 Never write a paragraph with only one sentence (less than five sentences, more than ten, etc.) Arbitrary rules about the length of paragraphs simply won’t hold up when one begins to scrutinize actual writing. 12. Never use double negatives No: He don’t owe nobody Yes: I couldn’t not go to the party. Awk: I wouldn’t not say I don’t like your new haircut. 12. Avoid Passive Voice like the plague Some well-meaning people have truncated Orwell’s rule “Never use the passive where you can use the active” to “Never use the passive.” But the passive voice has its place. We should take the sentence in context to judge efficiency of its use: emphasis and rhythm of sentence. The Passive Construction Active: Jack built the house. Passive: The house was built by Jack. Object (house) becomes subject + “to be” verb (was) with past participle verb (built) (+) by Jack The house was robbed. “The judiciously placed passive construction can provide welcome relief from an onslaught of sentences in the active voice.” (Einsohn, The Copyeditor’s Handbook, p. 396) Thomas stopped and looked around for the cause of the odd noise. The odd noise had been made by an old car as it sputtered down the street. Rules for Tricky Sentences 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Subject/Verb Agreement Pronoun Case Pronoun Reference Pronoun Agreement Reflexive Pronouns Parallel Structure Shifts How to get students to do what you teach them about editing Threaten whippings (just kidding) State clear expectations Hold students accountable don’t accept papers that aren’t edited impose sufficiently stringent grade penalties Teach grammar/usage/sentence style in context give feedback in draft conferences give feedback when grading Teach usage as an important part of communication—presenting yourself as knowledgeable and credible Hold peer editing workshops Use Writing Fellows Use the Writing Center Use clever and humorous examples to teach with Be patient Editing doesn’t come naturally to most people Even editors need editors