English classes provide ample opportunities to learn new words. (Rarely - once in a blue moon even - a student might say that English classes offer too many opportunities to learn new words.) Your vocabulary grows each time you memorize a new word, and the staying power of new words is increased when you use them in speaking or writing.
It is not likely to happen that you’ll have a chance to work everything you learn in an English class into casual conversations – maybe not a term like “adjectival prepositional phrase” unless you’re at a gathering of grammarians. But you can still keep the adjectival-prepositional-phrase concept alive in your working memory when you see prepositional phrases used to describe nouns and note the fact – silently, privately, mentally is perhaps best in most places outside of English class or the aforementioned gathering of grammarians.
Quite a few other words learned in English classes lend themselves more readily than grammar terminology to ordinary communication. For instance, any one of us might, having learned what a metaphor is, compliment a friend who uses one by saying, “Great metaphor, Bro,” when he says a wave is a bomb.
Once your professor has gone over the definitions of terms used to discuss literature (literary elements), it’s a good idea to incorporate the applicable words in your essays. Using newly learned words correctly reinforces your knowledge and can also unify your paragraphs. If you are writing a paragraph on how a writer uses symbolism, reiterate the word symbol (or synonyms) throughout the paragraph. When you do this, you impress your professor with the fact that you are staying on topic and also impress the word upon your working memory, making it part of your lifelong vocabulary.
During brainstorming before writing the essay, you might even make a list of possible points, using the word symbol in some form in each:
1._________ is a symbol of ________.
2. Symbolic _________(s) enhance ________.
3. The author’s use of symbolism _________________.
Keep in mind that all the words and definitions you learn become part of your everyday vocabulary, especially when transference takes place as you incorporate new words into written or spoken communication or notice them when reading or hearing them throughout your lifetime. The best way to remember what you learn is to use it consistently. Did someone once say “Use it or lose it”?
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Greeadbeeak’s Good Day: A Story Involving Active and Passive Voice
This summer as I lazed at the beach, I was reading a book, nothing much to do with grammar except for the writer’s excellent command of the English language. Early in the book, I noticed the author’s use of passive voice for emphasis. He moves the story along nicely in active voice but then suddenly shifts to three short sentences in passive voice, changing the whole cadence of the paragraph. The effect caught my attention to the max. To emulate the author’s technique, I’ve written the following bit of prose:
Greeadbeeak, a savvy sea gull, regarded tourists as they arrived at the beach with bags full of tasty food. Greeadbeeak saw her favorites – salty, crispy chips! Yum! She soared above, screeching welcome, and then hovered in the air near the tourists. Greeadbeeak especially noted the children, the very same children who just then spotted her and pointed, delighted to see a genuine seabird native to the Gulf of Mexico. “Wow! Look, a bird! Can we feed it, Mom…please, please?”
Neither the excited children nor their parents knew that the locals (some of them, the less than generous ones) called Greeadbeeak and her kind wharf rats, sea rats, and other unflattering terms. “Never mind locals,” Greeadbeeak thought to herself, contented with the present situation, an opportunity if she had ever seen one (and she had). Greeadbeeak’s thoughts continued, passively floating into her mind one by one:
“Gullible Tourists are known as easy marks.”
“Keys to snacks are held by their friendly young.”
“Salty, tasty snacks would soon be tossed to her beak.”
Greeadbeeak perceived the situation correctly. With her whole flock, she caught many tasty bites of food as the children threw chip after chip into the air just to see the white gulls catch them. When the sun had set and the tourists had driven away, Greeadbeeak, well fed, listened to the waves as she roosted and enjoyed the breeze softly rustling her feathers. Later, she dreamed of salty, crispy corn and potato chips and her own inestimable play among tourists who had shared their bounty with her and her flock that day.
From the story above, the following are examples of active and passive voice:
Ex. 1 Active voice: Greeadbeeak (subject) regarded (verb)
Ex. 2. Passive voice: Tourists (subject) were known (helping verb and verb)
The basic difference between active and passive voice is that in active voice, the subject is the one acting in the sentence; whereas in passive voice, the subject is acted upon, has something happen to it.
The effective use of passive voice can also be likened to a public speaker’s use of tone and volume. He’s exhorting the crowd, loudly proclaiming, and then suddenly drops his voice to a very soft register, nearly a whisper. Everyone in the audience leans forward, intent on catching every word. The orator has caught their attention…maybe to the max. Used sparingly, not often and generally for a reason, passive voice can serve a writer well.
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
Greeadbeeak, a savvy sea gull, regarded tourists as they arrived at the beach with bags full of tasty food. Greeadbeeak saw her favorites – salty, crispy chips! Yum! She soared above, screeching welcome, and then hovered in the air near the tourists. Greeadbeeak especially noted the children, the very same children who just then spotted her and pointed, delighted to see a genuine seabird native to the Gulf of Mexico. “Wow! Look, a bird! Can we feed it, Mom…please, please?”
Neither the excited children nor their parents knew that the locals (some of them, the less than generous ones) called Greeadbeeak and her kind wharf rats, sea rats, and other unflattering terms. “Never mind locals,” Greeadbeeak thought to herself, contented with the present situation, an opportunity if she had ever seen one (and she had). Greeadbeeak’s thoughts continued, passively floating into her mind one by one:
“Gullible Tourists are known as easy marks.”
“Keys to snacks are held by their friendly young.”
“Salty, tasty snacks would soon be tossed to her beak.”
Greeadbeeak perceived the situation correctly. With her whole flock, she caught many tasty bites of food as the children threw chip after chip into the air just to see the white gulls catch them. When the sun had set and the tourists had driven away, Greeadbeeak, well fed, listened to the waves as she roosted and enjoyed the breeze softly rustling her feathers. Later, she dreamed of salty, crispy corn and potato chips and her own inestimable play among tourists who had shared their bounty with her and her flock that day.
From the story above, the following are examples of active and passive voice:
Ex. 1 Active voice: Greeadbeeak (subject) regarded (verb)
Ex. 2. Passive voice: Tourists (subject) were known (helping verb and verb)
The basic difference between active and passive voice is that in active voice, the subject is the one acting in the sentence; whereas in passive voice, the subject is acted upon, has something happen to it.
The effective use of passive voice can also be likened to a public speaker’s use of tone and volume. He’s exhorting the crowd, loudly proclaiming, and then suddenly drops his voice to a very soft register, nearly a whisper. Everyone in the audience leans forward, intent on catching every word. The orator has caught their attention…maybe to the max. Used sparingly, not often and generally for a reason, passive voice can serve a writer well.
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
On Topic or Wandering Away?
Buzzing through her mind, thought after thought insisted upon landing on the page. The thoughts appeared not to notice particularly that she was supposed to be writing a paper on how she learned to surf. Ideas loosely connected to the skill kept surfacing, demanding to take part in the essay. She wrote a whole paragraph on how much fun it was to shop for new gear. Another paragraph detailed the history of surfing in a totally different state, not Texas where she first balanced on a board. Part of her paper was on another sport entirely, snow skiing.
Her introduction was fine. She even had a thesis for the narrative, the benefits of acquiring a new skill, i.e., surfing. Somewhere, however, along the way, she’d wandered so far from her topic that the reader had no clue what she was trying to say. By the time she reached her conclusion, even she had forgotten the purpose of her paper, her original goal.
What was she to do? Her paper was due way too soon for her to completely start over, but when she reread what she’d written, she felt confused, unsure of the result. She had about an hour to fix the paper, so she took a highlighter and started mercilessly marking all passages that were not on surfing itself or how she first learned to surf. Although there was not a whole lot left, she reread the off -topic paragraphs and decided to try to weave at least part of them into her narrative.
The section on buying gear might work if she put it into the context of what she needed to try the sport. She struck the parts of how cute the different footwear was and concentrated on the necessary items to be able to paddle out to a wave and stand upon the equipment, the surfboard. She then kept some detail of the designs of her first board and went on to describe learning to balance on it.
Snow skiing? Surfing in California? There are some likenesses in skiing and surfing, balancing especially, so she salvaged parts of that passage as well by comparing the skills needed for each sport, which led to her own experience in learning to balance properly. The two states, California and Texas, could also serve to detail most of the skills needed for surfing in different types of waves on different coasts, for instance.
By deleting, adding, and tying areas of discussion to the main idea, she finished on time with an adequate paper. She did resolve as she turned it in to be more careful on the next assignment, maybe even putting a large reminder by her keyboard: My Topic Is________. Maybe she’d make the letters about an inch high and color them neon green and blue. Perhaps such a reminder would help her keep from meandering all over the universe for her next paper and make polishing the paper less arduous, no heavy duty revisions needed before the time came to submit it.
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
Her introduction was fine. She even had a thesis for the narrative, the benefits of acquiring a new skill, i.e., surfing. Somewhere, however, along the way, she’d wandered so far from her topic that the reader had no clue what she was trying to say. By the time she reached her conclusion, even she had forgotten the purpose of her paper, her original goal.
What was she to do? Her paper was due way too soon for her to completely start over, but when she reread what she’d written, she felt confused, unsure of the result. She had about an hour to fix the paper, so she took a highlighter and started mercilessly marking all passages that were not on surfing itself or how she first learned to surf. Although there was not a whole lot left, she reread the off -topic paragraphs and decided to try to weave at least part of them into her narrative.
The section on buying gear might work if she put it into the context of what she needed to try the sport. She struck the parts of how cute the different footwear was and concentrated on the necessary items to be able to paddle out to a wave and stand upon the equipment, the surfboard. She then kept some detail of the designs of her first board and went on to describe learning to balance on it.
Snow skiing? Surfing in California? There are some likenesses in skiing and surfing, balancing especially, so she salvaged parts of that passage as well by comparing the skills needed for each sport, which led to her own experience in learning to balance properly. The two states, California and Texas, could also serve to detail most of the skills needed for surfing in different types of waves on different coasts, for instance.
By deleting, adding, and tying areas of discussion to the main idea, she finished on time with an adequate paper. She did resolve as she turned it in to be more careful on the next assignment, maybe even putting a large reminder by her keyboard: My Topic Is________. Maybe she’d make the letters about an inch high and color them neon green and blue. Perhaps such a reminder would help her keep from meandering all over the universe for her next paper and make polishing the paper less arduous, no heavy duty revisions needed before the time came to submit it.
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Thesis & Structure, Function & Form
As my regular readers may notice, I've found a new design for my blog. I thought the crashing wave was appropriate, since the purpose of my blog is to give you writing tips to keep you from "crashing" in your writing. Speaking of tips, on to today's blog!
Essays have structure, not necessarily the five-paragraph, three-reason structure taught in many high schools, but still variations on that basic structure. A thesis statement tells the reader what subject the whole essay covers, and topic sentences tell the reader what area of the whole the writer discusses in each paragraph. If I were to write an essay on fruits, I might begin by letting the reader know the situation, i.e., what is important about fruit.
After a general introduction to the concept of fruit, I might write a thesis that specifies the benefits of bananas, mangos, and coconuts with the emphasis I’ve chosen - vitamins, taste, nutrition in general, or something else. I then devote one paragraph to each fruit in the order I mention them in my thesis and conclude, calling for more attention to fruit in the diet, perhaps.
College essays often require a more complex structure or form due to the subjects students discuss and the varied purposes of essays - to argue, to describe, to analyze, to explicate (the list is long).
If I were to write on the validity of requiring a driving test for new motorists, my essay might require only one full paragraph between the introduction and conclusion, or it might take five or six body paragraphs to include all the reasons for or against mandatory driving tests.
A five or ten-page research paper is not likely to be limited to five paragraphs either. Due to the topic and the number of pages required, it is probable that the paper will consist of many more than five paragraphs.
An important part of writing is the logic of the structure via paragraphing. If I am writing a research paper decrying the use of animals in scientific studies, I might divide my paper into two paragraphs on the historical use of animals in experiments, another two paragraphs on science and animals in present day, and three paragraphs on how to achieve the same scientific ends without using animals in experiments before I conclude with a zinger of an idea to save animals.
My introduction informs the reader about the overall subject area (the use of animals to test drugs or procedures); and near the end of the introduction, my thesis might read as follows: Historically, scientists have used animals to test new drugs and surgical procedures; but the time has come to end the vile practice and protect animals from such painful experiences. My thesis guides the reader to both the subject area and basic order of the discussion in the paper. I might not even specifically mention the main areas of discussion (history, tests, and animal rights), but instead write a strong thesis that states that animals should never be used as subjects of experiments. I don’t have to be specific. My topic sentences - which begin paragraphs - focus the reader’s attention on one unified part of the whole of my essay.
Essays require structure, and each essay requires a structure that fits the subject and purpose of the essay. Form may well follow function when writing for given, specific assignments. Or is that function following form?
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
Essays have structure, not necessarily the five-paragraph, three-reason structure taught in many high schools, but still variations on that basic structure. A thesis statement tells the reader what subject the whole essay covers, and topic sentences tell the reader what area of the whole the writer discusses in each paragraph. If I were to write an essay on fruits, I might begin by letting the reader know the situation, i.e., what is important about fruit.
After a general introduction to the concept of fruit, I might write a thesis that specifies the benefits of bananas, mangos, and coconuts with the emphasis I’ve chosen - vitamins, taste, nutrition in general, or something else. I then devote one paragraph to each fruit in the order I mention them in my thesis and conclude, calling for more attention to fruit in the diet, perhaps.
College essays often require a more complex structure or form due to the subjects students discuss and the varied purposes of essays - to argue, to describe, to analyze, to explicate (the list is long).
If I were to write on the validity of requiring a driving test for new motorists, my essay might require only one full paragraph between the introduction and conclusion, or it might take five or six body paragraphs to include all the reasons for or against mandatory driving tests.
A five or ten-page research paper is not likely to be limited to five paragraphs either. Due to the topic and the number of pages required, it is probable that the paper will consist of many more than five paragraphs.
An important part of writing is the logic of the structure via paragraphing. If I am writing a research paper decrying the use of animals in scientific studies, I might divide my paper into two paragraphs on the historical use of animals in experiments, another two paragraphs on science and animals in present day, and three paragraphs on how to achieve the same scientific ends without using animals in experiments before I conclude with a zinger of an idea to save animals.
My introduction informs the reader about the overall subject area (the use of animals to test drugs or procedures); and near the end of the introduction, my thesis might read as follows: Historically, scientists have used animals to test new drugs and surgical procedures; but the time has come to end the vile practice and protect animals from such painful experiences. My thesis guides the reader to both the subject area and basic order of the discussion in the paper. I might not even specifically mention the main areas of discussion (history, tests, and animal rights), but instead write a strong thesis that states that animals should never be used as subjects of experiments. I don’t have to be specific. My topic sentences - which begin paragraphs - focus the reader’s attention on one unified part of the whole of my essay.
Essays require structure, and each essay requires a structure that fits the subject and purpose of the essay. Form may well follow function when writing for given, specific assignments. Or is that function following form?
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)