Thoughts Thursday--due October 11
CHOOSE A CHAPTER IN THE ST. MARTIN'S HANDBOOK. LEARN BY TEACHING YOURSELF INFORMATION FROM OUR TERRIFIC HANDBOOK. Complete a few exercises and demonstrate your improved skill in this blog task. Mention the page number and exercise number you worked on. Type 300+ words, explaining what you know better after having studied the handbook independently.
Be more ambitious than the deities in this Albrecht Durer piece.
It's time to produce and demand more. To earn an A or B--and to prepare best for the end test--insert at least three sentences that use nuances found on the final exam study guide. Include numbers that correspond to the final exam study guide's numbers.
84 comments:
Shroll 2
I studied chapter 11 of The St. Martin’s Handbook and completed exercises one through ten on pages 179 and 180. In this chapter, Constructing Arguments is discussed—or rather, argued (7, 32). The exercises which I completed demonstrated how arguable a statement is, depending on the statement’s purpose. For example, the statement “Obesity in America is increasing because of the over-consumption of fast food” is arguable because its purpose is to convince and highlight an issue (American obesity) without one obvious solution (12). Many could potentially disagree with this statement. Thus, the statement is arguable. An inarguable statement is one such as follows: Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius (9). This statement is a proven and accepted scientific fact, making the arguable content of the sentence irrelevant. I have learned from studying this chapter independently that there are four main purposes of arguing, and that oftentimes, if not all the time, our language is used to argue for one of these purposes: to win, to convince, to reach a decision or explore an issue, and to change yourself. Academically, the most common purpose of arguing is to win. Whoever argues their points the best often gains the most appeal, and therefore obtains a better grade or wins a debate. Convincing is done to give compelling evidence about why one should change their mind about an idea. Writers must convince in writing. Arguing to reach a decision or explore an issue is the most common type of arguing. When one debates the pros and cons to different colleges or why their car is not running correctly, they are utilizing this purpose of arguing. Typically, whenever you think, you are arguing with yourself about why you should or should not do something, when you should do it, or explore the options why you should do it.
This independent study of The St. Martin’s Handbook has helped me understand the main purpose of language, to communicate with others via arguing.
Van Ede 5
Reading chapter 27 of The St. Martin's Handbook provides insight into building common ground between writers and their audiences—an extremely necessary skill for a composer who wishes to get his or her points across effectively (7,19). Advisory, the section exhibits numerous examples of how writers often alienate or offend certain members of their audience through broad generalizations, assumptions, and stereotypes. This diverse array of conventions ranges from sweeping statements on gender to specific yet derogatory identifiers upon a person's race. Although acceptable in past generations, sexist language is now identified as unwise and even offensive to use in any form of speech. While reading page 512 of the handbook, I startlingly realized how often I apply sexist language in my own writing, primarily using he, him, or his when the gender of the being remains unknown. The following statement exemplifies the situation: A doctor must give his patients the best care (9). The possessive pronoun, "his", is sexist and stereotypical; the creator of this statement is depicting doctors as being dominantly male, creating a slightly pretentious tone for the reader. To fix this problem, the book advises rearranging the sentence to remove the pronoun altogether, adding in "or her", or rewriting the sentence using the plural form: Doctors must give their patients the best care (20). All sexist innuendos perish and the writer conveys an inoffensive message to his or reader.
Using what I learned I completed exercise 27.1 on pages 513 and 514. Previously filled with severe cases of sexist language, my modified version now reads: When you suggest something that doesn't appeal to your baby, your infant feels the need to assert him or herself. Babies' nature tells them to. A baby just says No in words or actions, even about things that he or she likes to do. The psychologists call it "negativism"; mothers call it "that terrible No stage." But stop and think what would happen to babies if they never felt like saying No. They'd become robots, mechanical people. Parents wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to boss their children all the time, and they'd stop learning and developing. When their child was old enough to go out into the world, to school and later to work, everybody else would take advantage of him or her, too. They'd never be good for anything.
Eliminating sexist language and all types of generalizations proved to be quite challenging, but the finished product implemented an overall rewarding and more persuasive tone. As a writer, I now know to be more conscious of my word choice; one general pronoun can deter half the population from even acknowledging my point (8).
Story 2,
In the St. Martin’s Handbook on chapter 34 any person may gain more knowledge about sentence grammar with pronouns. As I looked through this chapter, I found one section in particular that struck out to me. This section also happens to be a section I know I struggle with in my writing. On page 623, the concept of grammar being used deals with knowing when to use who, whoever, whom, or whomever in sentences. The sentence, “The manager promised to reward whoever sold the most cars” (3,626). The word whoever is used as a subject complement in the sentence from the exercise series 34.1. Whoever was the only possible outcome of an answer because the word was not an object of a phrase, nor was the word whoever the subject. “Professor Quinones asked who we wanted to collaborate with” (4,626). In this exercise problem, the word who acts as a subject rather than a subject complement, providing an answer of who instead of whoever. The word who does not need to be whom or whomever because who does not act as an object, leaving the only solution to be the word who. “Whom the committee recommends is likely to receive a job offer” (2,626). For a sentence like exercise problem number two on page 626, whom is needed because committee is the subject where whom is not. If the sentence was to be rewritten as, “Who will the committee recommend?” Then there is usage of a subject for the pronoun being used. I do feel much more comfortable after reviewing the very intriguing section of 34b in the St. Martin’s Handbook. There sustains to be much more in formal writing other than just understanding the difference of when to use certain pronouns. However, learning to use pronouns correctly will help me develop and improve my writing, so the reader of my essays will acknowledge what I say to a much greater extent than before. My goals consist of no reader of my essays to feel confused and bewildered at my choice of words, especially pronouns. As I recognized very early on in this course, I had a habit of unreliable choice of words and vague pronoun usage. However, as I cruise on forward in my ambitions to great success with my grade, goals, and achievements in English, I know I will become a much greater writer at the end of my senior year.
Hallstrom 5
In the St. Martin’s Handbook I studied chapter 35 to gain knowledge about adjectives and adverbs. The section in this chapter that stood out to me was 35d on pages 640-642 which talks about comparatives and superlatives. Even though I am content at my ability to form sentences with these, I often hear others use the incorrect terms when forming these sentences. This section deals with three forms of adjectives and adverbs: positive, comparative and superlative (9). In writing, use comparative to compare two things; use superlative to compare three or more things (8). The sentence, “My son needs to be more careful with his money” would indicate a comparative sentence as stated on page 640 in the handbook. On the other hand, “This is the most delicious coffee we have tried” indicates a superlative sentence. When someone struggles with these they tend to use double comparatives or superlatives by using both more or most and the –er and –est ending. For example, in the sentence “Paris is the most loveliest city in the world”, it uses a double superlative. To fix this, take out the word most. Some people use more than one negative at a time (I can’t hardly see you) (12). Although double negatives occur in English (as well as other languages), in writing it is best if you avoid them – unless you happen to be quoting regional dialogue or using is as special effect. Knowing how to form comparatives and superlatives can help me become more intelligent because it shows that I know how to properly form sentences that contain comparative and superlative forms. In spite of the fact that it is a relatively easy form of grammar, reading about it independently enlightens me on the topic and allows me to better understand the difference of comparative and superlative forms.
Cain 2
Chapter two of the handbook caught my attention as I was flipping pages. Chapter two is entitled “Reading, Writing, and Research”. The particular section that sparked my interest was 2C on pages 27 and 28. This section talks about how one should go about reading, critical reading to be specific. To read critically is to ask questions about the content, not to accept what is written but to analyze and dig deeper. I think too many students, like myself, write something and think its good enough. We read it and once a thought is complete and makes sense on paper, nothing more is put into that idea. I know this happens for me at least because I’ve picked up essay from previous classes and while my grade might say I did well, anyone reading my composition critically would most likely scoff at vague generalizations and weak details. In addition to reading critically, chapter two talks about the writing process. Section 2B on pages 25 and 26 explains how important each step of the process (exploring, narrowing a topic and researching, organizing and designing, drafting, reviewing, revising, and editing) is. Section 2B quotes, “There is no single correct writing process” (25). That sentence can be a sigh of relief to many composers as writing an essay can be an intimidating process. Exercise 2.1 explains that one of the best ways to improve your own writing process is to analyze the way you go about writing and organizing your ideas. Listed in exercise 2.1 are a number of questions that help you reflect upon your writing technique as well as style. I’ve asked myself, “How do I typically go about preparing for a writing assignment? When and where do my best ideas come to me? And where do I usually write?” Those are just the first three questions among a list of twelve. In answering those three questions I’ve found that I usually gather a whole bunch of random information and ideas that in some way or another I’ve related to my topic. I then get a mental idea of the layout of my paper and make a rough outline with vague ideas allowing for easy adjustment. My best ideas come to me when I’m trying to help other people find topics to write about or when I’m not really thinking about an essay topic, I’m just having normal conversation with a friend or family member. And, I usually write in my bed room where it’s quiet and I’m alone. I don’t like to have music on or other sounds because I find it hard to concentrate, that’s why working in the computer lab is a challenge for me. It’s difficult to say within my own thought process as voices and conversations make a small roar all around me. Just by answering these few questions I’ve realized how I can compose more quality essays by simply being aware of when and where my brain is most active and able to focus.
Poppenga 1
Flipping through pages of the St. Martin’s Handbook, I came across a chapter that intrigued me—chapter 42: Effective Sentences. As I was reading through this helpful chapter I realized the suggested topics could assist me when writing essays. 42b talks about conciseness: eliminating redundant words, eliminating empty words, replacing wordy phrases, and simplifying sentence structure. When writing essays for our professor, most of these criteria apply to me. It’s difficult for me when trying to reach the limit of words in my essay so I tend to have wordy phrases and empty words to reach the goal. After reading this chapter, section 42b quotes “You will want to be concise—to make your point in the fewest possible words” (684). This not only helps the reader understand what you’re trying to say but also enable you to sound more proper.
42a also mentions emphasis in sentences. It states that “When we speak, we achieve emphasis by raising our voices or putting extra stress on an important word or phrase” (682). I have learned that when reading a sentence a person usually remembers the end of the a sentence. If a person places unimportant information in the ending (the most memorable place of a sentence) they may undercut what they want to emphasize (682). An example sentence: When Rosita went to the beach, she was anxious not to get a sunburn. So plenty of sunblock lotion went with her (682). The main idea of this sentence is bringing sunblock lotion so that is placed at the memorable closing position of the sentence. To help me gain more knowledge about this particular chapter, I did exercise 42.1 on page 683. In this exercise you are asked to revise sentences to highlight what you take to be the most important ideas. Again, this exercise assists you in deciding what the main idea is of the sentence and where to place it to gain more of an effect on the reader.
Herrick 2
I was flipping through the pages of the St. Martin’s Handbook and found a chapter which I struggle with the most. Sentence grammar is my chapter of choice. Understanding the basics of grammar; I struggle with the classification of sentences (19). This chapter has taught and will continue to teach me on classification. Classifying sentences will not end in my high school career; therefore, I must correct my mistakes (8). In exercise 31.12, they ask you to expand each of the following sentences by adding at least one depended clause. The crowd grew louder and more disorderly (5) I added, as the band ran on stage, the crowd grew louder and more disorderly. This is a way to improve the sentence, giving more detail and adding a bit of suspense. Another part of this chapter brings up the usage of lie, lay, sit, set, rise, and raise. The wrong use of these words is commonly seen. An example, I lay in the recliner. That sentence states that, I put in the recliner. This would be a mistake most people would point out right away. In exercise 32.2, they ask to select the appropriate verb in the following sentences. Number one on page 602 is, sometimes she just (lies/lays) and stares at the ceiling. Lies would be the correct answer for this question. Sometimes she just lies (reclines) and stares at the ceiling. It would not make any sense to have lays. Another question in exercise 32.2 is the submarine began to (raise/rise) to the surface. Choosing rise would be correct since it means to get up. The submarine would not lift to the surface. Knowing how to use grammar in sentences is a great tool in accomplishing essays. Now that I know how to use these exercises in my essay, I shall become a better writer, and commit myself to helping others use the correct terms.
Minihan 7,
While independently learning more about sentence clarity, sentence style, and punctuation, I have amplified my writing ability. On Page 666, I worked on exercise 39.2. This particular exercise focused on fixing fragments, to allow partial phrases to become intelligent sentences. By identifying the sentences’ fragments and explaining why each was grammatically incomplete, I exercised my own writing ability. After this step, I revised each sentence in two ways. Revising the sentences helped me see the mistakes in my own writing. I now know how to fix this error in all of my writing. During exercise 40.1, I exchanged modifiers within each sentence to clarify its meaning. The instructions commanded me to revise each sentences by moving the misplaced modifiers so they can clearly modify the words that they should be modifying. After this, I explained my reasoning for the movement. By undertaking this task, I am now aware that I need to be more specific with my adjectives, modifiers, and pronouns. By being more careful with vagueness, my readers will better understand the point that I am trying to make. Exercise number 43.1 was the most significant and the most helpful exercise that I completed. For this task, I carefully read through a short paragraph, filled with many short sentences. The goal of the exercise was to work on combining the short sentences, to produce a longer sentence with more meaning. This is the final outcome: The bull-riding arena was fairly crowded, but that made no impression on me. Although I was scared, it was now time to prove myself. I walked towards the window and laid my money on the counter. The clerk held up a Stetson hat filled with slips of paper, so I reached inside and picked one. I headed towards the stock corral to find the bull with the number on my slip. The St. Martin’s Handbook is one of the greatest tools in strengthening your writing style and therefore we are very fortunate to have access to them.
Throughout my erudite composition endeavors, Andrea Lunsford’s handbook has governed my scholarship. Grazing the pages of the book, I identified the chapter acknowledged as “Word Choice” (25). The inquiry for careful selection of words was evident. Knowledge of one’s audience was not only acclaimed but asserted; variance in the type of words was the direct result (8). In some situations, we must use smaller words but, in others, we must enlarge the profoundness of our vocabulary. As I completed Exercise 29.1 (page 527), I realized my idiosyncrasies in formal writing and sought to change my use of slang and colloquial language—use of words including the following: a lot, snooze (7, 9).
Albeit, when I changed the page, my psychological web broke. Page 528 and 529 revealed the use of jargon and pompous language, sins I find myself committing often. At times, my conciseness overwhelms even the brightest of young scholars. Failure to explain factors I assume the audience already knows causes my writing to be quite ambiguous. In fact (the use of this term is an example of an informality described earlier in this blog task), my over-conciseness has caused me the powerful opinion of many classmates. Furthermore, my use of pompous arguments and doublespeak confuses the reader in many ways. Attempting to appear intelligent and rational, I use colossal words that others cannot interpret such as “colossal” (25).
Moreover, while engineering the answers to Exercise 29.4 on page 532, I realized the falsehoods of my word choice. In recent years, I have ignored the connotation of terms and simply follow the vague denotation. My substitution of terms with more creative words of divergent connotation has gotten out of hand.
Expressing these factors, I must admit that I have deliberately used simple language unrelated to the formality of this blog task. In addition, my use of pompous vocabulary and doublespeak is quite evident. With my condescending tone, I realize that my pomp is often decried by others within the academic community. However, the irony lies merely in the condemnation of my ignoble mockery of simplistic language, undeniable jargon and exorbitant pomp. Plausible may be the term used to describe my continuation of such deemed treacheries, for I pay credence to my work. However, Chapter 29 has shown me the light (colloquial cliché).
Volk 1
As I was flipping through the handbook, one chapter caught my eye. Chapter number 53 on abbreviations and numbers was the chapter that I chose to read (pp. 764-771). It seems like a simple subject that I should understand thoroughly, but as I made my way through the information filled pages, I found that I make many errors when it comes to this subject. 53h on page 768 was the most helpful to me in talking about numbers within sentences. The first two sentences struck me when it states “If you can write out the number in one or two words, do so. Use figures for longer numbers” (768). I was shocked by how wrong I had been in the past! I had always spelled out the numbers ten and below and used figures for anything bigger. It is great that I found this intriguing chapter so that I can change my bad habits. 53i on page 769 was also a massive help to me (769). The section talks about numbers that begin sentences. It is a tiny and simple section, but it is something that I had no idea about until today. “When a sentence begins with a number, either spell out the number or rewrite the sentence” (769). Before today, I would not have gotten that right (13). To improve my knowledge of numbers within a sentence, I completed exercise 53.2 on page 770. Even in these exercises—I had already read the section—I would occasionally struggle (11a). They dealt mainly with correcting numbers within a sentence that were either figures that should have been numbers or vice versa. I had no idea about the power of numbers—numbers that can be used many ways, numbers that can make or break a sentence (9). I now know how to use numbers properly in a sentence and I can improve my sentences as well as the sentences of my peers.
Marso 7
Reading from chapter 35 on pages 637 to 643, I learned how to better distinguish between adjectives and adverbs (19). Although we may sometimes talk with improper use of these terms because we care mostly about what is spoken than how it is voiced, I sometimes find myself using the two modifiers improperly. To change habits that we accumulate over the years requires conscious, deliberate effort; studies have shown that in order to break an old habit or consider something such as exercising regularly a new habit, it must be repeated on a regular interval while sacrificing in the process. Regularly catching myself when I use an adjective or adverb improperly, sacrificing some pride to correct myself, and writing using more descriptive language will force me from my old, improper ways (20, 8).
Working on activity 35.1 on pages 639 and 640, I transformed adjectives to adverbs like accurate to accurately. Thus sentence ten now reads: Scientists measured the crater as accurately as possible (9). Another section in chapter 35 describes how more specific nouns can replace a noun with an adjective modifying it, and likewise for adverbs and verbs. A couple examples of this include changing “an enormous house” to “mansion,” or the red bird to the cardinal.
Finally, I read the section on the use of good, well, bad, and badly. This is a skill I find myself and my peers lack. Although I am much more conscious of my use of these terms when I speak, making mistakes while distinguishing between the terms comes far too easily. I use sentences very similar to an example reading “The skater performed good despite the intense competition” (which needs to be changed inserting well for good) on a daily basis. Again, it will take conscious thought and daily motivation to change how I speak, but I feel I will continue to improve my writing and have taken a significant step forward by independently studying this chapter in the handbook.
Bender 1
I chose to read chapter 45. The chapter contained valuable information concerning the word choice used to make memorable sentences. I chose to complete exercise 45.2 on page 702. The power that word choice commands over on a sentence astounded me —the simple substitution of a dead word revived the meaning as a whole. (10) The exercise demanded that I replace or eliminate unnecessary or weak words. Seeking to add words to a paper, I, along with many of my peers, consistently add dead or repetitive verbs and expletives. (25) These words play no role in moving forward any ideas or presenting new thoughts in the essay. Essays containing an over abundant amount of weak verbs are often summarized in one word… boring. (11) I found the most interesting and though provoking part of the chapter to be 45c on page 704. Dealing with special effects, several of the topics could easily be integrated into my essays for more emphasis and excitement. On page 705 repetition is mentioned as a possible method for adding variety and creating interest in the topic. This is done by repeating similar sounds or words throughout a thought in order to impress the main idea on the listener or reader. Examples of this flood our music, newspapers, and books. The Chorus of any song is the ideal example for repetition. The writer wants to force memory or recognition of a fact or idea by replaying the same set of words or a similar word pattern multiple times. This is often why when singing along people almost always know the chorus and little else of a song. Although not quite as interesting as I found repetition inverted word order, on page 706, is a striking tool to be utilized. Stating “Molten lava fell from the sky” is nowhere near as dramatic as declaring “From the sky fell molten lava.” If properly used this exercise will vastly improve others desire to continue reading through my essays.
Albertson 5
After reading briefly through many other interesting chapters in the handbook I finally narrowed it down to Chapter 3: Rhetorical Situations. Described simply, a rhetorical situation is the combination of the purpose, audience, and context in a written work. A magazine article, a professional report, and an email to a friend have different rhetorical situations. Determining the correct rhetorical situation is essential to any writing. I think we subconsciously consider the rhetorical situation of everything we write. For example, the writing styles of the text message I just sent, my email to the professors, and the analysis sections of my chemistry labs are very different. In chapter three there is a paragraph about deciding to write and a section on choosing a topic (32). I found both to be helpful. The handbook suggests that by just deciding to begin a writing task makes the process easier. Exercise 3.1 on page 38 asked me to think about a past writing assignment and write about what motivated me to start writing and how I got going. On the last essay my motivation to begin writing was the impending deadline and I began writing by getting the length and content written down. To find a topic the handbooks recommends that you let the topic find you, meaning that you should write about something that confuses, irritates, or interests you (20). When I read this I realized that I don’t have to fully understand the topic I pick. It also advises to keep the subject specific and reasonable. The chapter says that business writing usually has a precise purpose and audience, but college essays sometimes lack a strong purpose or clear audience. I have noticed this so far this year. In my essays I often find it hard to write passionately because I lack a purpose other than demonstrating my writing ability to the audience of my classmates and my instructor. The handbook points out how important it is to understand an assignment’s purpose requirements (22). Whether you are explaining, analyzing, or classifying a topic can significantly change the structure of an essay. Chapter three of the handbook was beneficial to the quality of my writing by helping me to find a topic and understand the purpose of my writing.
Coyle 5
Sitting peacefully in my room, I realized that I hadn’t given much thought to the upcoming blog task. I pulled out my St. Martin’s Handbook and skimmed through the pages. As I did so Chapter 51 (page 747-56) particularly stood out for me. This chapter discusses various punctuation marks that are less commonly understood and acknowledged by many writers. I myself was quite surprised at the massive amount of information I deemed new and intriguing. Specifically chapter 51 mentions the dash, the colon, parentheses and brackets, ellipses, and slashes. Critically reading the passage proved to be very instructive. I found that I knew nearly nothing about the true function of brackets or the fact that parentheses and dashes are used in completely opposite circumstances. The latter option struck me as fascinating simply because I had previously thrown in dashes whenever they seemed to fit, not thinking that it was used improperly. In place of the dashes I discovered that parentheses would be far more effective considering the information I was setting off was less important and more of a side-note than a phrase of importance or significance. When it came to brackets, I found that I had nearly no foreknowledge whatsoever; if asked to use them in a sentence, I would have been completely lost. To learn from this frightening lack of knowledge, I practiced using brackets (and parentheses) in exercise 51.1 (page 749). As I progressed through the example problems I found myself struggling to decide whether or not a piece of information would be deemed less important to the most of the sentence, I found sentence number two to be more challenging than the rest. After completing the chapter exercises I felt overall more confident with my knowledge when it comes to properly utilizing the punctuation marks listed prior. I strongly believe that learning to use these specific tools will greatly improve my writing and even assist me in my quest to become as well written as many widely-renowned authors throughout the world.
Backer 1
The chapter in the St. Martin’s Handbook I chose to gain knowledge from is Chapter 42. The chapter introduces methods and demonstrates ways to make sentences effective. The chapter clearly states that there are two main characteristics of effective sentences: to emphasize main ideas and to do so with as much conciseness as possible (9). In 42a, the chapter addresses the topic of emphasis. An effective way of bringing emphasis upon a certain item in a sentence is placing the item either at the beginning or the end. For example, if a sentence were to say, “She gave $500,000 to the school capital campaign last month” the emphasis is more on when she gave to the school capital campaign. Moving $500,000 to the end, “Last month, she gave the school capital campaign $500,000”, now places emphasis on the actual amount she gave (19). Chapter 42 also explains the importance of presenting your ideas in a climactic order. To do so, you must arrange your information in order from least to greatest importance or drama (20). A sentence may state, “Soap operas assault our eyes, damage our brains, and offend our ears”. The sentence fails to illustrate proper climatic order. Instead, the sentence should read as: “Soap operas offend our ears, assault our eyes, and damage our brains”. The edited sentence shows an order of increasing significance. In 42b, conciseness is the key term. Making your point with the fewest words possible is the goal (19). The section discusses the eliminating of redundant and empty words such as: kind, thing, and type. These are meaningless words that are often only used to fill space in a sentence. You can eliminate these words by replacing them with more intriguing words that cleverly sum ideas up. Wordy phrases can also become an issue in our writing. By replacing “at all times” with “always” you are able to portray the same point but with less words. The same idea also can go towards simplifying sentence structure. By eliminating unnecessary words in a sentence you are able to shrink and even combine two sentences.
Using the skills I learned in Chapter 42 allowed me to take on exercise 42.1 on pg. 683. In this exercise, you are told to go through and revise each of the sentences by highlighting what you perceive to be the most important idea. Number 1 gives the sentence “The president persuaded the American people, his staff, and Congress”. After reading the chapter, I used my newfound knowledge to edit the sentence by putting the groups in order of increasing importance. The sentence would then read: “The president persuaded his staff, Congress, and the American people”. Chapter 42 allowed me to recognize flaws that I have demonstrated in my own writing. The strategies I learned will help me to be more aware and to continue to become a more effective writer.
Wilde 7
After taking an ACT practice test, I determined that I should re-conquer subject-verb agreement. Chapter 33 in The St. Martin’s Handbook allowed me to do just that. Although subject-verb agreement is generally easy, I came across one question that stumped me. The problem read, “This is truly unfortunate, as a few simple and routine steps improves the long-term performance of an automobile and decreases the possibility of a traffic accident.” I mistakenly read this sentence to be correct. However, the correct answer turned out to be “improve the long-term performance of an automobile and decrease…” (11). Hindsight, I could not believe how foolish I had been in selecting the wrong answer. The words improves and decreases needed to agree with the plural subject steps. Nevertheless, I have taken it upon myself to make sure that I do not make this novice mistake on the real ACT. So, after reading pages 613-620, I completed exercises 1-10 on page 620.
Analyzing problem 7 of exercise 33.2, I concluded that the make needed to be changed to makes (19). By altering this verb, I made the tense singular, so as to agree with the singular noun, jury. I found this problem to be strikingly similar to the concern I noted from my ACT test.
I feel that we oftentimes mess up on subject-verb agreement when we read through the sentences in our heads without further analyzing the tasks at hand. I tend to make the most errors when the subjects and verbs are separated by other words. Section 33b elaborates on the ways to overcome this issue. Once again, adding detail to sentences is surely effective, but can cause errors with subject-verb agreement, such as in the following sentence: “A vase of flowers make a room attractive” (9). The verb make ought to read makes. The singular noun will now agree with the singular verb, thus leaving the writer with a much more effective sentence.
Clemenson 1
In the St. Martin’s Handbook, I studied chapter 27 entitled Language That Builds Common Ground (32). On page 511, the chapter explained that the use of generalizations—such as children love ice cream—can be offensive because the uniqueness of the individual is no longer expressed (7). While reading the chapter, I discovered that I have a habit of generalizing genders in my writing. I tend to use male pronouns when the gender of my subject is unknown. The St. Martin’s Handbook explains on page 513 that using pronouns such as mailman, fireman, mankind, or policeman is offensive to women who possess the same jobs. Eliminating the gender restriction can be accomplished by using the pronouns: mail carrier, firefighter, humankind, or police officer (9, 19). The use of racist terms is also discouraged because different terms may offend certain groups of people. Specifying differences of subjects may not be beneficial to your writing; the specification can insult certain people so you must carefully consider each term used in your compositions (8). Differences to pay attention to (including gender and race) are class, age, location, health, sexual orientation, and religion (12).
The exercise 27.1 on page 513 and 514 evinced an example of an excerpt full of sexist language. I worked to eliminate the sexist language and my edited passage follows: When you suggest something that doesn’t appeal to a baby, they feel that they must assert themselves. Their nature tells them to. The baby says No in words or actions, even about things that he or she likes to do. The psychologists calls it “negativism”; parents call it “that terrible No stage.” But stop and think what would happen to the baby if they never felt like saying No. The child would become a robot, a mechanical human. The parents wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation to boss babies all the time, and they would stop learning and developing. When the baby was old enough to go out into the world, to school and later to work, everybody else would take advantage of them, too. The baby would never be good for anything.
Avoiding the use of assumptions in writing will prevent readers from becoming upset. To improve my writing, I have learned from this independent study that I must prevent myself from using any offensive generalizations (20).
Rise pd 5
I read chapter 12 "Preparing for a research project" (pg 213-221). I chose this chapter because i thought it conveniently related to the essay we are currently writing now. As I was reading through this chapter I noticed I was doing a lot of the things the book advises, when researching a topic for an essay, which made me more confident about my essay. The chapter really stresses that you comprehend what is expected of you before you start any kind of research for your essay or project. Some questions you should ask yourself before you start include: how many sources should I use? Should I use images, sound or video? Should it be an independent or group project? (9) The next important step is deciding what your purpose is for the essay or project. You need to decide whether it is a comparison/contrast essay or cause/effect, etc... (11) You need to know who your audience is, and will they understand what you are writing about, or should it be more basic? Necessary if your topic is large, you should narrow the topic down to your most crucial point. This chapter also takes about the negative effects of verbiage. When you get to “wordy” the main point becomes murky and unclear. Narrowing your topic and likewise narrowing your sentences, so to speak benefits the reader and yourself. (19)
The next major topic discussed in the chapter involved, understanding the due dates for your drafts, works cited and final draft. Understanding deadlines is vital to being successful. Mistaking due dates could result in procrastination and late grades. A tiny mistake, draining your confidence, can cause the snowball effect and damage your essay. (24)
Exercise 12.1 and 12.2 ask the reader to write down thoughts about any given subject and ask the questions listed in the chapter. Instead of creating new ideas for other subjects, I asked the questions and used my “why” essay for the exercise. I have now benefited by realizing my essay’s audience is the class, my instructor and possibly many more, therefore I may need to make the information regarding discrimination more basic. Reading this chapter and any section in the St. Martin’s handbook is beneficial immediately and hopefully in the long run as well.
Tibke 1
In our free time in class I looked over Chapter 38 in our handbook—Comma Splices and Fused Sentences. When we first started doing our essays I had a really bland sense of sentence variety. I tended to only work with few sentences like simple and compound. Using just these sentences I felt like I would have many small sentences, along with complicated run-ons that confused my readers. This is why I chose chapter 38. I figured if I read up on ways to combine or shorten sentences, it would give my paper a more sophisticated or complex feel. To practice this, I used exercise 38.1 on page 661. Working through numbers 1-10 took me a lot longer that I thought ten problems would take. After the first three I did not need to look back over the section to complete the rest. This chapter has made me understand two very simple ways to mix and match sentences. For instance, like it states in section 38b, you can take two short, plain sentences and fuse them to make one more powered sentence. You can link them simply by shorting them and combining them; or by keeping both sentences but just changing one or two words combining the two sentences. Can combine sentences in many ways—using a comma, semicolon, or sash—but the key is to know where to uses them. As stated in 38f it would be impractical to use a dash in a formal paper, but it is acceptable in any informal writing. On the other hand if you have you can take a run-on or compound sentence and break it up into two simple, yet powerful, sentences. this can make them short and to the point which can draw a reader’s attention. Working out of the book independently has made more of an impact on me than working as a class because it forces me to work through the exercises on my own; not rely on others to do it for me. Independent work in this book will be essential to taking our end of the year exam and I will defiantly be using it.
Rogen7
I decided to drop my book on the desk and to read from the section the book opened to . (2) The book fell to section 31 on page 566. As I recounted all the hours at home I spent doing English homework in elementary and middle school, I remembered how much I loved double underlining the predicate part of the sentences. Comparing the double line to the ones that are painted on our highways always helped me remember that the action was in the predicate. (19) As my eyes panned the page for a place of personal interest, I was lucky enough to come across the haunting sentence, “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.” (pg. 566) Disappointment swelled in my gut and frustration coursed through my thoughts. The sentence was from the intended musical of this upcoming spring musical—one of my favorites from the show—and I could not help but to begin humming the tune in my quiet home. (7) The small office filled with sound and longing brought me back a few months when I thought we were still performing My Fair Lady. My hopes were high that I could achieve a fitting role this year. I had my eye on a character by the name of Henry Higgins. Higgins was a bachelor, but he was comfortable being single. I too am single right now and share some of the cynical thoughts he has. Although, I do not think I will never let a woman in my life. He was but an ordinary man. Mr. Higgins believed that a man with good speaking and grammar could ascend in the ranks of this world, and with enough time I too believe I will join his ranks. Just you wait Henry Higgins. Just you wait.
Koehn pd. 7
In the St. Martin’s Handbook I chose to study chapter forty four on the topic of sentence variety. I chose this chapter particularly because I feel the importance of sentence variety is forgotten in writing, especially in my own. The problem with sentence variety remains that people want to start every sentence with the subject. Writing with subjects at the beginning of each sentence causes the paper to sound choppy and monotonous. On the other hand, there are some writers who are very intelligent in sentence styling; but they compose sentences of the same length (9). Purposeful phrases, short sentences, and even fragments spice up dull essay.
I completed exercise 44.1 from the handbook (696). The instructions summed up to: improve the following paragraph with varying sentences (i.e. short, emphatic, combine to make longer, add words or punctuation…)(11). The original problem is below, my changes will follow:
Before planting a tree, a gardener needs to choose a good location and dig a deep enough hole. The location should have the right kind of soil, sufficient drainage, and enough light for the type of tree chosen. The hold should be slightly deeper than the root-ball and about twice as wide. The gardener must unwrap the root-ball, for even burlap, which is biodegradable, may be treated with chemicals that will eventually damage the roots. The roots may have grown into a compact ball if the tree has been in a pot for some time, and they should be separated or cut apart in this case. The gardener should set the root-ball into the hole and then begin to fill the hole with loose dirt. After filling the hole completely, he or she should make sure to water the tree thoroughly. New plantings require extra water and care for about three years before they are well rooted. (696) (14)
Before planting a tree, a gardener needs to choose a good location and dig a deep enough hold. Proper drainage, soil, and light are imperative for the ideal location of a tree. The hole should be slightly deeper than the root-ball and about twice as wide. The gardener must unwrap the root-ball. This biodegradable burlap may be treated with chemicals that will eventually damage the roots. Being grown into a compact ball after sitting in a pot for some time, the roots must be separated—or cut in apart in this case. The gardener should set the root-ball into the hold and then begin to fill the hole with dirt. Next, he or she should water the tree. New plantings require extra water and care for three years before they are well rooted.
I felt the original paragraph was too lengthy and wordy. Shortening the sentences, providing more complex sentences, and eliminating the verbiage was my main goal for the exercise. Chapter forty four continued on in greater detail of numerous ways to improve sentence variety. Section 44b discussed different sentence openings and how different phrases (independent, dependent, prepositional, verbal, absolute…) can enhance the quality of your essays. Section 44c wraps up with sentence types; I found functional types to be most helpful. Command, question, and exclamation sentences are taught in elementary school, but as students progress, these simple sentences can be forgotten. Adding personal sentences like these help the reader hear the author’s voice and create originality for a writer. Overall, chapter forty four highlighted important sentence usage that I can use to apply in my writing. Not all the information I read about was new; but the review items will come in handy when I am desperate for an original sentence.
Etrheim 5
Something I struggle with in my writing is how I compose my sentences. I use far too many simple sentences and lack sentences with different structures. Because of this, I chose chapters 42 and 44 out of The St. Martin’s Handbook to study to strengthen my sentences. Chapter 42 talks about effective sentences. Emphasizing certain parts of the sentence is crucial in having an effective sentence. An example of an ineffective sentence in chapter 42 reads as: “She gave $500,000 to the school capital campaign last month (683).” This sentence is ineffective as it openly states at the beginning of the sentence how much money she donated. A much more effective way to construct the sentence would be: “Last month, she gave the school capital campaign $500,000 (683).” This is a much more effective sentence as it puts more emphasis on the amount of money she donated. I also completed Exercise 42.1 on pg 683. This exercise’s goal is to show students how to use climatic order in their sentences. The first problem on Exercise 42.1 is worded as: “The president persuaded the American people, his staff, and Congress (683).” My fix to the sentence making it much more effective is: “The president persuaded his staff, Congress, and the American people.” My change to the sentence shows that the American people are more important than Congress and the president’s staff.
Chapter 44 – Sentence Variety – also helped me with my weak sentence problem. I use many short simple sentences throughout my writing. George Orwell does a great job mixing up his sentence lengths in Homage to Catalonia: “The fire of, I think, five machine-guns was pouring upon us, and there was a series of heavy crashes by the Fascists flinging bombs over their own parapet in the most idiotic manner. It was intensely dark (695).” Orwell wrote a long and very descriptive sentence followed by a short simple sentence. I need to do this in my writing more. I will stop with my overuse of short simple sentences and venture out with more complex and compound-complex sentences.
Larson Pd 2
When I was flipping through the handbook, Chapter 15 really caught my eye (4). When I started writing my essay about why girls dress up, I was having a really hard time quoting and citing information. This was extremely hard for me, but I found a way out (2). Chapter 15 helped me integrate the quotations effortlessly (15b section 3, page 272). My quotations sounded choppy; the books ideas sounded smooth and flowed together (8). Once I read the books example of integrating quotations, it made a lot more sense. I realized I can split the quote (5). I can add words like “She continues…” to make the quote flow more smoothly in my essay. Some words help introduce quotes (15b section 4, page 273). These words are: claims, criticizes, concludes, describes, suggests, etc. (9). These words helped me introduce my quotations very smoothly. Chapter 15 also helped make my paraphrases more effective (section 15c, page 275). Paraphrasing may look extremely easy, but actually writing it effectively and enhancing the audience at the same time can be very difficult. The book also made me remember to include the source right after the paraphrase. The book taught me to put the author’s last name or page number in parenthesis after the paraphrase. It is extremely important to include the citations in the essay itself and the works cited page. The authors spend a lot of hard work on their papers and if we did not cite them, this would be dishonorable. This chapter really aided me in my current essay. It taught me how to integrate quotations in my essay, create a smooth and flowing atmosphere, and to cite them—properly. This is a very important chapter in “The St. Martin’s Handbook,” and I think every writer should check it out!
Andersen Pd. 2
As I was looking through the Sr. Martin’s Handbook wondering which chapter to read and where to begin I came across Chapter 53 (764 – 771). I thought I knew about Abbreviations and Numbers until I began reading. I then realized there was a lot I have never understood or taken the time to understand. I learned that when you use the titles of religious, military, academic, and government leaders, you need to spell out the title if only used with the last name. For example, Rev. Franklin Graham would be Reverend Graham (764). I also realized that you are not to abbreviate company names unless they are part of the company’s official name. Often times I like to use (p.) for page number or (ed.) for edition, however, I learned that these are not appropriate in the body of your text, only in citations (766). When being used in the body of your writing you should always write out the words page(s) and edition. Symbols are only acceptable in charts and graphs. They are not acceptable with written numbers such as five dollars. The ($) would not be acceptable before, or in place of the word “dollar”. In exercise 53.1 on page 767 I corrected sentence number one and two. 1) Every Fri (Friday), my grandmother would walk a mi. (mile) to the P.O. (post office) and send a care package to her brother in Tenn (Tennessee). 2) An MX missile, which is 71 ft. (feet) long and 92 in. (inches) around, weighs 190,000 lbs. (pounds). The words in parenthesis are my corrections of how the previous word should be wrote out. In choosing a chapter individually, I learned more than when we are given a chapter to read because I was able to choose want I wanted to read and learn about.
Schwint Pd.7
I read chapter 31d on pages 590 to 592. I studied this part because I struggle classifying simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. Simple sentences are easiest to find and just include one independent clause without any dependent clauses. Compound sentences have two or more independent clauses also without dependent clauses. The easiest way to find them is to look for the “glue” words (and, or, for, nor, but, so, yet). I also look for two subjects and two verbs before and after the glue words. Complex sentences were a little challenging for me to classify, but I learned a few strategies to help. Complex sentences have an independent and dependent clause. I first look for all the clauses. Then I take the clauses and try making them as lone sentences. If one could not stand alone as a sentence, then I know it is dependent and it narrows down the sentence to a complex or compound-complex sentence. To separate complex from compound-complex a compound-complex requires two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. Another way to search for complex sentences is to look for leeches. Leeches are subordinating conjunctions (after, when, while, as, if, though). To test my new knowledge, I did exercise 31.13 on page 592. The first example says “The boat rocked and lurched over the rough surf as the passengers groaned in agony.” This sentence is complex. I found a leech word which helped and it only had one independent and one dependent clause so it could not be any of the other classifications. The second example says “How long would he have to wait for help, or should he try to change the tire himself?” I noticed this as a compound sentence as soon as I say the “or”. It is a clue word that glued the two independent clauses together. The final one I tried was example four which says “Keeping in mind the terrain, the weather, and the length of the hike, decide what you need to take.” The only clause I found was independent. In the last part, understood “you” is the subject and “decide” is the verb. Since that is the only clause, the sentence is simple.
Tripp 5
I chose to read chapter 40 pages 668 to 674 talking about modifier placement. After reading through this chapter, I better understand now how much of a difference misplacing the modifier can make. The meaning of the entire sentence is altered when misplacing the modifier. The squinting modifiers section really caught my eye though. The squinting modifiers are words that are placed between words that could refer to either the word before or after the modifier. Once I read through the examples, I realized how the sentence could be interpreted in two different ways. If a squinting modifier occurs, you never know how each person who reads your essay will interpret the sentence. In addition to squinting modifiers, this chapter discusses disruptive modifiers, limiting modifiers, splitting modifiers, dangling modifiers, and misplaced modifiers. While squinting modifiers can refer to either the word before or after the modifier, a dangling modifier doesn’t modify anything in particular. These modifiers are the ones that end up modifying the wrong word or words and turn the sentence into something completely ridiculous. In one example, the sentence read,”As a young boy, his aunt told stories of her years as a country doctor.” The way this sentence is constructed leads us to believe that his aunt was once a young boy. The revised sentence then read,”When he was a young boy, his aunt told stories...” The revised version helps the reader to understand that his aunt told him stories when he was a young boy as opposed to the aunt once being a young boy. After reading this chapter about different modifier placements, I have a better understanding of how each type of modifier can alter the meaning of the sentence as a whole. When writing my own essays now, I will be more conscientious of how I am using my own modifiers in my writing.
Tripp 5
I chose to read chapter 40 pages 668 to 674 talking about modifier placement; many types of modifiers occur in this chapter(1). After reading through this chapter, I better understand now how much of a difference misplacing the modifier can make. The meaning of the entire sentence is altered, good or bad, when misplacing the modifier(11). The squinting modifiers section really caught my eye though. The squinting modifiers are words that are placed between words that could refer to either the word before or after the modifier. Once I read through the examples, I realized how the sentence could be interpreted in two different ways. If a squinting modifier occurs, you never know how each person who reads your essay will interpret the sentence. In addition to squinting modifiers, dangling, misplaced, disruptive, limiting, and splitting-all types of modifiers- each have a different way they apply to different sentences(7). While squinting modifiers can refer to either the word before or after the modifier, a dangling modifier doesn’t modify anything in particular. These modifiers are the ones that end up modifying the wrong word or words and turn the sentence into something completely ridiculous. In one example, the sentence read,”As a young boy, his aunt told stories of her years as a country doctor.” The way this sentence is constructed leads us to believe that his aunt was once a young boy. The revised sentence then read,”When he was a young boy, his aunt told stories...” The revised version helps the reader to understand that his aunt told him stories when he was a young boy as opposed to the aunt once being a young boy. After reading this chapter about different modifier placements, I have a better understanding of how each type of modifier can alter the meaning of the sentence as a whole. When writing my own essays now, I will be more conscientious of how I am using my own modifiers in my writing.
Tripp 5
I chose to read chapter 40 pages 668 to 674 talking about modifier placement; many types of modifiers occur in this chapter(8). After reading through this chapter, I better understand now how much of a difference misplacing the modifier can make. The meaning of the entire sentence is altered, good or bad, when misplacing the modifier(24). The squinting modifiers section really caught my eye though. The squinting modifiers are words that are placed between words that could refer to either the word before or after the modifier. Once I read through the examples, I realized how the sentence could be interpreted in two different ways. If a squinting modifier occurs, you never know how each person who reads your essay will interpret the sentence. In addition to squinting modifiers, dangling, misplaced, disruptive, limiting, and splitting-all types of modifiers- each have a different way they apply to different sentences. While squinting modifiers can refer to either the word before or after the modifier, a dangling modifier doesn’t modify anything in particular. These modifiers are the ones that end up modifying the wrong word or words and turn the sentence into something completely ridiculous. In one example, the sentence read,”As a young boy, his aunt told stories of her years as a country doctor.” The way this sentence is constructed leads us to believe that his aunt was once a young boy. The revised sentence then read,”When he was a young boy, his aunt told stories...”(11) The revised version helps the reader to understand that his aunt told him stories when he was a young boy as opposed to the aunt once being a young boy. After reading this chapter about different modifier placements, I have a better understanding of how each type of modifier can alter the meaning of the sentence as a whole. When writing my own essays now, I will be more conscientious of how I am using my own modifiers in my writing.
Steffen 5
In the St. Martin’s Handbook I chose to study chapter forty-five on memorable prose. We had previously discussed this chapter during class and I found it particularly intriguing. I chose to do my blog task over this chapter because I need to work on using stronger verbs and special effects to add variety to my compositions. Some of the most common verbs in English—especially be, do, and have—carry little sense of what is actually happening (7). They are overused in many cases, where more decisive verbs would be powerful. Along with precise verbiage, using those verbs in an active or passive voice can help make your prose memorable. A feckless example in chapter 45 reads: “In Gower’s research, it was found that pythons often dwell in trees (703).” In another voice, this sentence reads: “In his research, Gower found that pythons often dwell in trees (703).” I prefer the second version because the passive voice diverts attention from the performer of an action; that makes for dull and difficult reading (8). I have also completed Exercise 45.3 on page 704. This exercise shows students how to identify the uses of repetition. My example of effective repetition reads: “We will not give up; we will fight to the end. We will prevail without surrender (9).”
Chapter 45 of the handbook has taught me a quantity of lessons. Among strong verbs, repetition, active and passive voice, this chapter uses inversion. The inverted word order creates a more dramatic sentence by putting the emphasis at the end of the sentence. An exemplary example by J. R. R. Tolkien reads: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit (707).” Tolkien’s prime example adds emphasis just as much as a long descriptive sentence. As with any sentence structure, variety is needed to create occasional special effects.
Scholten 2
While scamming through the St. Martin’s Handbook, I came across chapter forty four and decided that was the chapter that could help the most with my writing. I chose this chapter because I feel sentence variety is very influential when it comes to the effectiveness of the paper. Different types of sentences can spice up any boring essay; it can transform from dull and monotonous to unique and exciting (8). Writing with the subject first followed by the verb is probably the most used type. However, using variety in the structure of sentences can really change the paper. I think that I lack in this area of sentence styling so practicing the exercises in this section will help me greatly. I chose to do exercise 44.1 found on page 696. The instructions consist of revising the paragraph and improving the sentence variety. The original paragraph can be found in the following passage: (9) Before planting a tree, a gardener needs to choose a good location and dig a deep enough hole. The location should have the right kind of soil, sufficient drainage, and enough light for the type of tree chosen. The hole should be slightly deeper than the root-ball and about twice as wide. The gardener must unwrap the root-ball, for even burlap, which is biodegradable, may be treated with chemicals that will eventually damage the roots. The roots may have grown into a compact ball if the tree has been in a pot for some time, and they should be separated or cut apart in this case. The gardener should set the root-ball into the hole and then begin to fill the hole with loose dirt. After filling the hole completely, he or she should make sure to water the tree thoroughly. New plantings require extra water and extra care for about three years before they are well rooted. My revision of the paragraph is as follows: Before planting a tree, a gardener needs to choose a good location and dig a deep enough hole. Proper soil, sufficient drainage, and enough light are needed for the desirable location of the tree. The hole should be slightly deeper than the root-ball and about twice as wide. The gardener must unwrap the root-ball. The burlap, which is biodegradable, may be treated with harmful chemicals that could damage the roots. If the tree has been in a pot for some time, the roots may have grown into a compact ball; if this is the case, the roots need to be separated or cut apart. After placing the root-ball into the hole, the gardener needs to fill the hole completely with loose dirt. Afterwards, the gardener should thoroughly water the tree. New plantings require extra water and extra care for about three years before they are well rooted. The rest of chapter forty four reviews other ways to vary sentences (having different sentence openings, using different sentence types etcetera)(12). Although I only went into detail about the first portion of chapter forty four, I found all of it useful and informative. Some of the information covered in this chapter was not new to me (the functional types of sentences), the review was beneficial and worthwhile. In the end, my writing will enhance from the review and the practices; I am sure of it.
Tew 1
While searching for something to write about in the handbook, I happened upon chapter twenty-eight (10). This whole chapter talks about language variety, when it is properly used, and when it is not. I also found it hilarious that the handbook used a quote from Dave Chappelle. He said, “Every black American is bilingual. We speak street vernacular, and we speak job interview” which demonstrates the different dialects of the English language. This also points out that every other language has different dialects. Exercise 28.1 has us go back and look at one of the examples used in the chapter and change all of the language into the “standard” of today. In one example I took all of the southern country speech out of the sentence. The next part of the exercise was to compare the original version and see what was different. The version I made was more intelligent but much more dull. The southern version sounded almost to dim witted that a large majority of people might not be able to understand it. I liked the southern version better anyway. If I was reading a story, this would be the line that would keep me awake and interested (4). This exercise was located on page 522 in the handbook. The reason I chose effective language as my topic is because I am going to have to know about this in the future; my profession is a translator and this would be important to know when writing in class or to my superiors (8). Any type of language mixed with English can use this to their advantage. Short stories like California Childhood by Gerald Haslam use a mixture of Spanish and English. The handbook also includes different dialects and ways of speaking. In 28c it has an example of a Hawaiian speaking about people in water with sharks. The word “dan” is used instead of “then”, and “da” instead of “the”.
Hanzel 7
I chose to gain knowledge from chapter 44 of The St. Martins Handbook about sentence variety and style. I also completed exercises 44.1 and 44.2 on pages 696 and 699. I found chapter 44 most engaging because I must to add additional sentence variety to my essays. Within this chapter I found an assortment of useful ways to add more style to every sentence (32). The handbook gives three ways to add more diversity: sentence length, sentence openings, and sentence types (9). To add sentence variety can be as simple as combining two or more sentences to create one extended sentence or dividing a sentence in to two or more individual sentences (20). A short sentence or fragment followed by a long sentence is a simple way to create variety. Varying the sentence openings can be as easy as inverting the sentence, using transitional expressions, or using phrases and dependent clauses. Repeatedly opening a sentence with a subject and verb makes the essay unappealing to the reader. Using the subject and verb opening can also become confusing to the reader. Opening with transitional words establish chronology and connect the sentences. Phrases such as prepositional phrases, verbal phrases, and absolute phrases can be used as sentence openings without much additional effort. Dependent clauses improve sentence variety by avoiding the subject and verb opening. The handbook provides three different sentence types: grammatical, functional, and rhetorical. Grammatical sentences are divided into four groups—simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. Including a assortment of functional sentences would add declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences my writings. Rhetorical sentences add emphasis to the beginning or ending of a sentence. From the handbook I have an enhanced sense of understanding different ways to include variety to my sentences. I will return back to this helpful chapter in the future to continue improving my compositions.
Breitzman 1
I chose to analyze Chapter 34 of the St. Martin’s Handbook (beginning on page 621) because, though it seems like a fairly rudimentary concept, I have noticed that sometimes I use the wrong pronoun in the wrong location in a sentence. For example, I will find myself saying or writing a sentence such as, “The dog scared my brother and I.” After re-examining the sentence, I will often later realize that the proper pronoun to use would be “me” rather than “I,” as “dog” is already identified as the subject. Though I have noticed that this is a problem in my daily grammar, an item I sometimes struggle with even more is the correct usage of the words who/whoever/whom/whomever. Luckily, an exercise—located on page 626 in the handbook (24)—assists with this. I learned on the preceding pages that who/whoever are used as subjects or subject complements, while whom/whomever are used when the noun in question acts as an object. In Exercise 34.1 on page 626, there are several sentences with which to practice using the proper pronoun. Sentence #5 is one example. It reads, “____ received the highest score?” Using the information provided in the chapter, I came to the conclusion that “who” would be used in the blank spot of that sentence. I also learned something else in this chapter: how to better specify (26). I also occasionally use vague pronoun references in my writing. I sometimes jump to the conclusion that my readers know what noun I am referring to—I admit that I assume this—simply because I understand it myself (28). Now, after utilizing the resources that Andrea Lunsford has put out for English students everywhere, I grasp these topics more and have a better understanding of them. I found this chapter to be extremely informative and hope that it will assist me in improving my pronoun usage in all of my future writings.
Rollag 5
I read Chapter 26 about writing to the world and those who culture is different than your own(504). It is something you must be aware of at all times even among classmates. A prime example would be if one class mate is of a different religion such as Islam (4). After reading this section it help to show how my composition may have been offensive to some people as I expressed only my own view and did little to consider the views my readers may hold that are in opposition to my own (6). Seeing as how the people that read my essays are not much different than myself little or no conflict has resulted but in other areas of life such as author who are published or members of the media must be very careful with their words. It is also a very important concept to realize if you are running for public office like the current presidential race; they are skilled at saying things that offend as few of people as possible (8). The book also focuses on how other cultures interpret phrases differently and how some messages can be lost in translation. Good advice is when addressing different cultures avoid idioms and symbols that only people in your own culture would recognize such as “it’s raining cats and dogs” or symbols like the owl for wisdom or a rabbits foot for luck. By writing as if to a foreign audience the author is force to be specific about the main point and less narrow minded expanding their thought to the world and not the classroom.
This particular chapter of the book has not work sections so I made up my own sentence revisions
1. The syntax quiz was a piece of cake. Revised. The syntax quiz was remarkably easy.
2. College will cost you an arm and a leg. Revised. The cost of going to college is significant.
3. If you continue to eat only fast food one of these days you’re going to kick the bucket. Revised. Eating only fast food will kill you one of these days (19).
Bauer 7
As I flipped through the pages of the St. Martin’s Handbook we use in class, I came across chapter twenty-eight (10). Chapter twenty-eight talks about language variety and when to use it and when not to. Quoting Dave Chappelle was extremely humorous to me; it was a quote relatable to all people and the different ways they speak. “Every black American is bilingual. We speak street vernacular, and we speak job interview” was the quote. This quote shows the different dictions in the English language. Exercise 28.1 has us go back and look at one of the examples used in the chapter and change all of the language into the “standard” of today. In one of the examples I replaced all of the southern country speech within the sentence. The exercise also had you compare the two versions. The sentence I made had more intellectual diction; however, it was much more uninteresting. The exercise is on page 522 in the handbook. I chose effective language as my topic because it will be beneficial for me to know this in the future. I would be able to write better when writing to my class or to my superiors. Short stories like California Childhood by Gerald Haslam use a mixture of Spanish and English. The handbook also includes different dialects and ways of speaking. In 28c it has an example of a Hawaiian speaking about people in water with sharks. The word “dan” is used instead of “then”, and “da” instead of “the”. Studying the handbook independently really helps me work on my writing skills. I analyze my own writing a lot more with the handbook than I do without it. I now know—with the help of the handbook—when and how to use different types of English verities.
Larson 1
The chapter I chose to study was chapter 29: Word Choice. Word choice (a favorite of mine) is an element that can completely change the sentiment a reader is left with after perusing a work (24). I completed exercise 29.1—an exercise devoted to colloquial versus formal word choice found on page 527—and more fully comprehended the effect my words had on my writing (28). For instance, reflect on these two phrases: she was just kicking it on the bed and lookin’ ratchett, versus the girl sat upon the mattress, looking disheveled. While the essential meaning is the same, each sentence appeals to two very different groups of people, and is appropriate in two very different settings. I also attempted to complete exercise 29.5 found on page 533. Words, arrangement, formality—every one of these things was imperative to contemplate during this exercise (23). It entailed the reupholstering of five sentences to more concretely communicate their meanings. I found this exercise particularly difficult, as all of the sentences were under seven words and the last one only three! How do you reword a three word composition? The meaning was pretty clear to me. This posed much more of a challenge than cutting the fluff out of an obviously wordy sentence. It inspired me to think in a new way about powerful words. When using effective, stimulating words the useless fluff that sometimes fills sentences simply falls away. No further explanation is needed. Thus word choice not only sets a tone, but also cuts to the essence of a topic faster. This is something that will truly help in my essays, as I sometimes feel that I am taking too much time and too many words to fully articulate an idea. A forceful, compelling vocabulary impacts a work in many ways; in my opinion it is truly an art.
Johnson 7
I had the luxury of finding myself in the chapter dealing with adjectives and adverbs—Chapter 35, pages 638 to about 642 (7). Before reading the passage, I scoffed for I figured “Adjectives and Adverbs” was a very pedestrian topic, but I quickly realized how intricate and important adverbs and adjectives are (2, 32). Not only do they give additional information to the sentence, but they provide the reader with vivid imagery and deviate from the mundane writing. Also, if you can decipher between good and well, then you instantly sound much more intelligent in addition to making your writing and speaking much more fluid. To sound intelligent will get you farther in life than reading financial books in some cases (20).
Proving to myself I grasped the concepts of adjectives and adverbs (on a higher level than before), I embarked on the exercises provided. I jumped right into Exercise 35.1. The first two questions were fairly simple, but the third question tripped me up ever so slightly. “Nora felt badly that the package would arrive one week later than promised.” is a decent sentence at first glance (640). However, “badly” is where issues occur. The word “felt” can be overlooked and people may not know how felt is a linking verb in this case. Take “Nora felt badly” and forget the dependent clause behind it. To us Midwesterners, this sentence sounds well (deliberate adverb form of “good” even though it is incorrect in turn proving a point), but it is wrong. “Badly” in this case is suppose to be a predicate ADJECTIVE describing how Nora is. “Badly” is the adverb form of bad and does not fit the predicate adjective bill.
I tend to use these parts of speech correctly more often than not, but now I feel as though I need to be even more conscientious about adjectives and adverbs. This means a lot of double checking of all of my sentences so I can continue to improve my writing for the rest of my high school and professional career.
Anderson 5
I chose to acknowledge the fact that chapter forty four would improve my writing—or composition—the most (7). As I edit my own essays and compare my compositions to those of others, I have come to the realization that sentence variety is an area where I seem to struggle. When get into my flow of writing, I do not seem to think about the length of my sentences. I just write. As I sit here, composing this blog task, I decided that I will soon be returning to my causal essay to increase my sentence variety length. Also, the openings of my sentences are usually the same. Changing the way my sentences begin make my works for composition less monotonous. Before I read chapter forty four, I did not realize how boring my essays actually were (1). I find periodic sentences extremely interesting. When constructing a sentence, one does not usually think about placing the main idea of a sentence at the end of the sentence. Even thought this seems very strange to me, I like the interesting appeal of the main idea being at the end of the sentence. It builds suspense and drama to the sentence. Reading the excerpt on cumulative sentences helps me see that I us many cumulative sentences in my writing. Since cumulative sentences are more common that periodic sentences, I am going to force myself to extend my ability and make periodic sentences become common in my compositions. At the beginning of the school year, we focused on grammatical types of sentences. We have periodically taken syntax quizzes to retain the information we have received on the grammatical structure of our sentences. The St. Martin’s Handbook has helped me improve my writing in many different ways…chapter forty four has helped me expand my ability even more than what it already has been expanded (11).
Voigt 7
For this blog task, I chose to study and review Chapter 28 in The St. Martin’s Handbook. Chapter 28 discusses the role that language variety plays into having accurate and effective language in an individual’s writing. Various kinds of language use in writing exist. Most commonly used, the Standard English form is taught in schools and is written and spoken by influential individuals in the media. Aside from the Standard English form, writers often use numerous ethnic varieties of English as well as regional varieties of English. Being sure to use these ideas correctly can be a difficult task; however, it is not unattainable (8). Language variety is acceptable to use in situations where one is: repeating an exact word or phrase; establishing the realness of a person, place, or activity; building common ground with the reader; making a strong point; or trying to gain the audience’s attention (9). John Steinbeck exhibits this in the following quote from The Grapes of Wrath: “’Ever’body says words different,’ said Ivy. ‘Arkansas folks says ‘em different from Oklahomy folks says ‘em different’” (15). Steinbeck displayed a writer’s ability to use regional variations to bring to life and add substance to the persona of a character. Merely based upon this quote, the reader can more easily visualize a character just upon what is being said, but more importantly – how it is being said. The exercise from this chapter that I completed further proclaimed to me the importance of using language variety in writing. Exercise 28.1 on page 522 called for recognition and then revision an example of ethnic or regional English used in Chapter 28. The purpose was to become aware of how crucial language variety truly is by removing any evidence of variety and seeing how bland a passage becomes. I edited a passage that used Spanish to demonstrate background information about the characters. With this language removed, the reader can infer very little about the character’s lives or situation. In conclusion, I believe independently studying from the handbook has helped me to expand my knowledge concerning writing as well as to better prepare myself for the semester exam.
Beckman 2
I studied chapter 27 in the St. Martin’s Handbook and completed the exercise on pages 513-514. This chapter focused on stereotyping. The main point of the chapter was to help a writer understand that previously learned terms may be considered offensive by people depending on whom they are and where they are from. Assumptions about gender and race were discussed the most—“preferred terms” (514). On page 514 it talked about how terms have changed over the years; what was once accepted as the “social norm” may be considered offensive by that same group of people. Sexist language was also one of the main points of this chapter. Exercise 27.1 took a paragraph from an article that was written in 1968 which was full of sexist language—referring to the babies as he—and had the reader modify the paragraph for modern times, eliminating the sexism to the best of his or her ability. In doing so I realized just how difficult it sometimes is to be sure not to categorize things a certain way. One part of the article originally stated “mothers call it…” which today may not be true. There are more and more males taking on the parenting roles in today’s society who deserve credit for what they are doing. Also mentioned in chapter 27 was how to state disabilities or health issues, using words such as “uses a wheel chair” instead of “confined to [a wheelchair]” as well as saying first that the person is still a person not just purely taken over by their disability. While at other times it is not okay to call one’s state of health a “physical disability” because in doing that the significance of the disability is diminished.
The last section I read was about sexual orientation. This one was particularly insightful for me because I am writing my causal essay on why people are attracted to one another. Section 6 of chapter 27 mentioned the writer should not assume that all readers will be attracted to the opposite sex. After reading that I realized that I must make sure to mention this in my paper, as well as not use sexist language—which is not always easy, but is necessary.
Lenz 2
As I thumbed through the St. Martin’s Handbook, Chapter 30 stopped my hand with its astounding content about the one item I employ more than anything else while typing essays: spell check (10). Intrigued, I ended up reading the entire chapter (13). By reading, not only did I learn that spell check cannot identify homonyms, but this once handy tool also will not flag a compound words written as two words (16). As I worked on exercise 30.6, I gained an improved understanding of the differences in a common homonyms such as accept and except, or already and all ready. My hope—now that I have studied this chapter—remains for myself to be acquisitive and retain the information placed within this chapter. This chapter also ties the spelling of words to the English pronunciation. These weird spellings are exemplified in condemn with the silent n at the end, and in foreign with the silent g. This proves as one of the reasons for misspelling among the English language. As I continued to read and flip page after page, I began to acquire more knowledge which relates to my own writing. I am by no means the best speller. I tend to spell words incorrectly an immense amount. Relying so heavily on spell check used to be my way of improving my language skills. Now that I know of the flaws embedded within the technology so many—including myself—depend on, I may decide to work on improving my linguistics rather than confiding as much faith in a single piece of technology. Reading this chapter has proved especially beneficial to me. I have high hopes that I am capable of no longer relying heavily on technology, but instead improve my own skills. This would indeed help me not only with my current essay and projects, but also in future endeavors.
Pederson 5
Learning about dashes in Chapter 51 of The Saint Martin’s Handbook has helped me immensely (19). A component that once baffled me, I learned that this punctuation tool effectively gives “more rather than less emphasis to the material they enclose” (750). Dashes are something I had never used—or even noticed in writing—until this year (7). Even while typing, I was slightly confused as how to produce them. All you have to do is press the hyphen key two times (but remember not to put a space between the words) (12). This lack of knowledge came as a handicap to my test taking skills eight months ago. While I took the ACT at the end of junior year, I noticed that I had no idea what dashes meant (4). It was not until this class when I was finally taught how to correctly use them.
Practice makes perfect, so I decided to do the exercises on page 751. Exercise 51.2 on page 751 asks “punctuate the following sentences with dashes where appropriate” (15). It provides a terrific example to test knowledge: “Many people would have ignored the children’s taunts but not Ace” (9). Correcting this example is possible by simply adding dashes in these locations: Many people would have ignored the children’s taunts—but not Ace. By creating a dash instead of a simple comma, the reader notices an emphasis on the material at the end. Other ways the dash is utilized is by marking a shift in tone, a hesitation in speech, or to summarize or explain what has come before (5). Another example on page 751 encourages the reader to place the hyphen near the middle of the sentence: “Union Carbide’s plant in Bhopal, India, sprang a leak—a leak that killed more than 2,000 people and injured an additional 200,000”. This example of using dashes is perfect to show the emphases one can create in their writing. By learning more about dashes, I now know how to effectively use them in my writing as well as understand them in my readings.
Olesen 1
I studied chapter 47, pages 727-731, of the St. Martin’s Handbook. In this chapter it shows the correct and incorrect ways to write using semicolons. I chose this chapter to study from because I don’t tend to write with many semicolons in my essays, and I would like to be able to use them correctly in my writing. The first section talks about using semicolons with independent clauses. A semicolon allows a writer to connect two closely related clauses. Instead of using a comma, colon, or a dash, a semicolon creates more flow between the two clauses. Semicolons create a pause greater than a comma, but not as strong as a period. I chose both exercise 47.1 and exercise 47.2. In exercise 47.1 I practiced combining two separate sentences into one flowing sentence using a semicolon. In section 47b the book also demonstrates how you can use semicolons to separate items in a series, making the sentence clearer. The chapter then goes on to explaining how you cannot use a semicolon to separate and independent clause from a dependent clause. After reading these explanations of using a semicolon correctly I completed exercise 47.2. I had to revise the passage and eliminate or adding a semicolon where necessary. Even though the directions seemed simple enough, I soon found out it was actually more difficult to do than I had anticipated. Deciding whether to eliminate a semicolon from a sentence was the most difficult for me. On the bottom of page 730 the directions stated to read the following paragraph describing a solar eclipse, and pay attention to the use of semicolons. If the author of this paragraph used periods in place of semicolons, the paragraph would be choppy and wouldn’t flow. If she had used commons and coordinating conjunctions the writing would become confusing to follow. The sentences would be too long and the different thoughts would become messy. The semicolons give an overall effect of flow from different thoughts; but they also separate the ideas.
Bakke 5
I felt that chapter 11, specifically 11a numbers 1 through 10 on pages 179 and 180, was particularly relevant to the type of essay our class was composing, so I settled upon studying this section. I felt that this section could help me draw focus and clarity to my works. I have gathered from past experiences I can argue any statement. Be it argument or a simple fact I will most likely try to challenge the words that are presented to me. Knowing how to define these to statements can help me with the flow of my writing. Trying to argue with a statement such as “The climate of the earth is gradually getting warmer,” (2) would be ridiculous. The temperature of the planet has been proven to be in constant flux, so the fact that the earth is warming should not surprise anyone. On the other hand, someone stating that “Lord of the Rings was the best moving of the last decade,” (1) could be a very hard thing to prove. Many people have not seen it and some of those have, did not enjoy the movie. Using this knowledge can help towards creating more potent messages within a paper which delivers the overall meaning of the essay much more effectively. Through this a composition is more effective, intelligent, and succinct. Having too many muddy words can get in the way of a point and confuse a reader. Writers need to be able to distinguish between a statement of fact and what people truly do not know or wish to start an argument with. If I can take the lessons I learned from this chapter and apply them to my essay, indeed, all of my essays, I will have brilliant, clear-cut paper that can be turned in with pride and authority.
Weidenbach 1
I examined chapter 29 out of the St. Martin handbook. In this chapter it expresses the different meanings of words within sentences. These words could increase a sentences meaning, or drastically demolish the sentence. In this chapter there are various types of word groups like slang, neologisms, and jargons. This chapter also extensively goes into the different language types we put into our sentences for example: pompous, technical, occupational, general, and specific languages. I particularly studied chapter 29b, which is over the denotation and connotation of words. The denotation of words is the general meaning of a word. The book puts it in the terms of a stone being tossed into a pool. As for the connotation of a word it is the associations that accompany it. Again think of connotation as the ripples spreading out from the stone being tossed into the pool. An example between the distinction of connotation and denotation can be seen in these three words enthusiasm, passion, and obsession. One can see that these words roughly mean the same thing which is the denotation. Examining each individual word one can see though that these words all mean very different things. On page 532 I did exercise 29.3, problems one through four. The directions state to choose the denotation that best fits the sentence. For number one the sentence reads - she listened (apprehensively/attentively) to the lecture and took notes. The word apprehensively means anxious or fearful that something bad will happen so the correct choice must be attentively. Attentively means paying close attention to something since she is taking notes so we can infer she is paying close attention to the lecture. I learned from this exercise that there is a lot more going on in my sentences than I realized. Lastly I learned that being able to comprehend the different languages of sentences can improve the way I write and the way I examine others writings.
Callahan 1
I chose to complete exercises in chapter 7 of the Saint Martin’s Handbook. In this chapter, the development of paragraphs is addressed (30). While length is not a struggle, I sometimes find it difficult to know when to start a new paragraph. I discovered the answer to my problem on page 125, the beginning of 7d. The reasons are displayed in a bulleted fashion, and I realized that the fifth bullet is my kryptonite: to take up a subtopic (26). I specifically remember having difficulty with this while writing my classification essay-- I couldn’t decide if I should split a page-long paragraph into two, or to keep it whole (7). In the end, I kept it whole. Exercise 7.7 instructed that I look at a previous essay and examine why I decided on the paragraph breaks and if I would change any now. After reading this chapter, I know I should have instead broken the lengthy paragraph due to a subtopic. Though the paragraph related to my opening topic sentence, I found that my topic sentence also could have been split to cover both the topic and subtopic. I then decided to flip through the rest of the chapter to sections I had overlooked, and recalled using section 7c during the compare and contrast essay when students were required to use either the block method (when one item is completely described before the second item is) or the alternating method (when information on both topics is used in a back-and-forth fashion). I remembered using the alternating method, and looked back onto my paragraphs in this essay as well. I had contrasted dogs and cats, and my paragraphs covered their body structure, senses, and relations to humans. I discovered that my paragraph on senses could have been split not only into two, but three separate paragraphs: sight, hearing, and smell. I now know how to recognize and repair the problem plaguing two of my previous essays, and will not repeat the chronic fault in the future.
Dutson 1
I began my studies I the handbook by looking in the table of contents for a topic that I really needed to work on to improve my writing. The skill set that I picked is Reviewing, Revising, and Editing (81). With the progression of our essay assignments, I have found it harder and harder for me to critique myself because I lacked the knowledge of the process of reviewing, revising and editing my essay. After reading through the first few pages I discovered I lacked a certain amount of focus on my audience and what purpose I am trying to achieve by writing my essays (81 & 82). I came to the realization that I needed to support my thesis better and not just analyze it to an extent in which I am being repetitive (2). I choose exercise 6.1 on page 82. I used my current rough draft to review the six topics that are presented in this chapter. I than wrote my thoughts down about my essay and what I can do to achieve a better essay that connected with my audience and one that flowed well. After the section about personally reviewing my essay the handbook talks about peer editing; the role and tasks a peer editor should accomplish. The handbook also discusses how varying the types and lengths of sentences are the life of a paper (100-101). The handbook states "As with life, variety is the spice of sentences." (100). This for me, puts emphasis on practicing on using a large variety of sentences to make my essay more intriguing for my audience. I have progressed significantly in my writing – thanks to the St. Martins handbook (7). Although I have much to improve on, I have become a better writer and I have become better at efficiently writing good essays (6).
Peterson 2
In the St. Martin’s handbook I studied chapter 44 “Sentence Variety” on page 695. I chose this chapter because in my own writing all of my sentences are a lot alike and I know that in order to become a better writer I need more variety. My biggest difficulty, as well as many others, is I tend to always start my sentences with the subject. After awhile these sentences start to sound repeated and choppy. Along with always starting my sentences the same, my sentences are all around the same length. I completed exercise 44.1 on page 696 (5). The instructions are to revise the paragraph they give you creating short, emphatic sentences or to combine other sentences making effective, longer ones. The first few sentences in the paragraph are the following: (9) Before planting a tree, a gardener needs to choose a good location and dig a deep enough hole. The location should have the right kind of soil, sufficient drainage, and enough light for the type of tree chosen. The hole should be slightly deeper than the root-ball and about twice as wide. My reversions of the previous three sentences are: Before planting a tree, a gardener needs to dig a deep enough hole in a good location. Sufficient drainage, the right kind of soil, and enough light are needed for the desired location of the tree. The hole should be slightly deeper than the root-ball and about twice as wide. The rest of chapter 44 teaches ways to have different sentence openings and using different types of sentences and even though I mainly focused on sentence length when reviewing this chapter all of the information was beneficial to me. Understanding the importance of using varying sentences, I now know how much it affects my writing (19).
Peltier 5
While flipping through The St. Martin’s Handbook I came across Modifier Placement on chapter 40 page 668 to 674. As I skimmed through this chapter, I realized that many writers, including myself have difficulties when determining where to place modifiers. I especially have this problem in my own writing. I typically will put in a modifier that is not close enough to the word it modifies. If a modifier is place in the wrong location of a sentence, the sentence can become confusing and misleading to what is being modified. For instance, in exercise 40.1 the directions are to move misplaced modifiers to their correct location in the sentence. In number 10 the sentence originally reads as: “Revolving out of control, the maintenance worker shut down the turbine (669).” The sentence becomes confusing because it appears that the maintenance worker is revolving out of control. After relocating the misplaced modifier the sentence is much clearer. Revolving out of control, the turbine was shut down by the maintenance worker. The second exercise in chapter 40 was exercise 40.2. These instructions were to move the limiting or squinting modifier to modify one word. This sentence reads as: “The candidate promised quickly to reduce class size (671).” I changed this sentence to the following: The candidate promised to reduce class size quickly.
My particularly favorite exercise in chapter 40 was exercise 40.3. The directions were to revise the sentences by moving the disruptive modifier so the sentence reads smoothly. I did problem 5 of this exercise. Before editing, the sentence read as: “The stock exchange became, because of the sudden trading, a chaotic circus (672).” That sentence made the sentence seem like the “sudden trading” was a chaotic circus. Thus, I changed the sentence to: Because of the sudden trading, the stock exchange became a chaotic circus. Often times in my writing, I misplace modifiers which makes my sentences confusing. After reading through these sentences, my sentence structure and clarity will be more professional.
I choose to study and review chapter 42 of St. Martin’s handbook. This chapter of the handbook contains valuable knowledge concerning the use and creation of effective sentences. Paging through the chapter, I took particular notice to exercise 42.1 on page 683. (10) To revise each sentence to highlight what you take to be the main idea was the goal of the activity. (20) As I read through the explanations given in this section, I discovered how the order of a list of ideas can change which subject of the list is most and least important. Continuing to read this section, the truth dawned upon me: I do this often. (26) The activity that I choose to work through was a good exercise for me. The first sentence provided was,” The president persuaded the American people, his staff, and Congress.” As I read the sentence in my mind and aloud, the order of the list made me think that Congress was the most important part out of everything listed. Based upon my knowledge about politics and prior experiences this did not seem right. I proceeded to recreate the sentence which became,” The president persuaded his staff, Congress, and the American people.” The sentence I produced sounded much better than the one previously provided. Although Congress is important in this case, the American people are a larger group and who the president really wants to win over if he or she is trying to be persuasive about a platform idea or current world issue. The re-ordering of the listed bodies of people now makes the American people seem as if they are the most important. As I finished the activity my understanding about lists in an essay had improved from before. No longer will I make a poor decision and list ideas and subjects in a way that takes away from the point I am trying to convey.
Redford 7
Studying chapter 36 from pages 646 to 650 has really helped me learn more about an important topic that I had previously not known much about—shifts (7,19). There were several types of shifts that I had been exposed to before, such as shifts in tense and in mood; however, even though I had known about the shift in person and number, upon reading this chapter I found that I often shift in numbers due to problems with pronoun-antecedent agreement (10, 8). I even did this in my last essay. I would write that a person may feel one way due to their personal history. Yet, looking at that sentence, “person” is singular and “their” is plural. To say that shifts in number is my only issue would be a grave mistake (20). I also recall on occasion that I would make unnecessary shifts between direct and indirect discourse. I can usually catch it pretty quickly when I make this shift because it sounds awkward. One of the sample sentences helps reinforce this point. Viet asked what could he do to help? If you were to just be skimming through a paper and not paying much attention, it might not stick out to you. However, when you actually read it carefully, it just seems awkward. There is a simple fix for it too, just change it to “Viet asked what he could do to help.”. It reads more smoothly and it gets rid of the shift. Doing the ten exercises on page 648 that went along with this section also really helped me learn how to not only find shifts, but also fix them. This knowledge I have gained will not only help me reduce use of unnecessary shifts in my writing, but it will also help me figure out the correct time to use shifts to enhance my writing.
Livingston 5
I choose to study and review chapter 42 of St. Martin’s handbook. This chapter of the handbook contains valuable knowledge concerning the use and creation of effective sentences. Paging through the chapter, I took particular notice to exercise 42.1 on page 683. (10) To revise each sentence to highlight what you take to be the main idea was the goal of the activity. (20) As I read through the explanations given in this section, I discovered how the order of a list of ideas can change which subject of the list is most and least important. Continuing to read this section, the truth dawned upon me: I do this often. (26) The activity that I choose to work through was a good exercise for me. The first sentence provided was,” The president persuaded the American people, his staff, and Congress.” As I read the sentence in my mind and aloud, the order of the list made me think that Congress was the most important part out of everything listed. Based upon my knowledge about politics and prior experiences this did not seem right. I proceeded to recreate the sentence which became,” The president persuaded his staff, Congress, and the American people.” The sentence I produced sounded much better than the one previously provided. Although Congress is important in this case, the American people are a larger group and who the president really wants to win over if he or she is trying to be persuasive about a platform idea or current world issue. The re-ordering of the listed bodies of people now makes the American people seem as if they are the most important. As I finished the activity my understanding about lists in an essay had improved from before. No longer will I make a poor decision and list ideas and subjects in a way that takes away from the point I am trying to convey.
Gallo 2
Apostrophes are a necessary component of our English language; however, I must admit I have never exhibited exemplary confidence when using them (8). I have always been particularly baffled by the usage of an apostrophe to show possession by a noun already ending in the letter s. To help reduce my ignorance, I referred to Chapter 49 in our handbook (20). Within this chapter, I completed both exercise 49.1 and 49.2 (22). Here are a few of my revisions along with the respective unmodified sentences:
Exercise 49-1
1. Grammar is everybody favorite subject. Modified: Grammar is everybody’s favorite subject.
3. Charles and Camilla first visit to the United States as a married couple included a stop at the White House. Modified: Charles’s and Camilla’s first visit to the United States as a married couple included a stop at the white house.
Exercise 49-2
4. So I decided that maybe to save further trouble, Id better lie. . . . Modified: So I decided that maybe to save further trouble, I’d better lie. . . .
Completing these exercises refreshed my memory on the usage of apostrophes (19). I found number 3 of Exercise 49-1 to be the most challenging. This revision required two changes I was uncertain about. First, I had to add an apostrophe and –s to a word already ending in –s. For the longest time, I was under the impression that when a word ended in –s already, one added only an apostrophe and not an –s also. I feel as though we had a substitute teacher back in second grade that taught us incorrectly. These memories seem too vivid to be accurate; however, I was under the wrong impression for many years following regardless of the precise cause. Secondly, I had to recall that possession by two or more owners is shown by making each noun possessive. I was tempted originally to make only the second of the two nouns possessive. All in all, this chapter (Number 49) was quite helpful in refining and reaffirming my apostrophe skills.
Rusten 7
As I randomly turned to chapter 27 of The St. Martin's Handbook, I read the title and decided it was a perfect chapter to study and write for my blog task. Chapter 27 urges writers to appeal to their audiences or else they will not get their points across to their readers. The section offers a ton of examples of how writers unintentionally lose their readers by assumptions of race and ethnicity and gender. People, these days are more sensitive about sexist language and stereotypes--deeming it as offensive (7). While reading chapter 27, one section caught my eye, because it is something I use a great deal, unintentionally. This page made me realize that I use he, him, and his to refer to the unknown sex. This offends me already because I am a girl and I believe that we should use she, her, and hers instead of the male version…just to make it fair. Then I think that we should be the superior sex and use nonsexist language.J Page 513 goes on to give us examples of how easy it is to change the sentences using the plural forms, cutting out the he’s and him’s. Then, the page lists sexist words and gives options on what to put instead. For example, fire man turned into firefighter. Just by that simple change to the word you have not alienated half of your audience. Going off from those examples I now look at the exercise on the bottom of the page, exercise 27.1 (513). The exercise asks us to revise the passage by omitting sexist language, the new version is as follows: When you suggest something that doesn’t appeal to your baby, They feel the need to assert themselves. Their nature tell them to. They just say no in words or actions, even about things that they like to do. They psychologists call it “negativism”; mothers call it “that terrible no stage.” But stop and think what would happen to the babies if they never felt like saying no. They would become a robot, a mechanical person. You wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation to boss them all the time, and they would stop learning and developing. When they are old enough to go out into the world, to school and later to work, everybody else would that advantage of your baby, too. They would never be good for anything. Being aware of this chapter, I am now aware of what I write (9). I have used stereotypes and sexist language too often, this has brought light to the subject. Using my new found knowledge, I will not alienate my audience and will do my best to not assume (14). It will not be easy because I have used them my whole life but I believe that it is a challenge I will conquer.
Berndt 1
Entering an advanced placement English class at the beginning of the year made me nervous; yet also anxious to enhance my writing ability (8, 18). I have been referring to my St. Martin’s handbook often, and am grateful to have it as a resource. I have wanted to make my essays more effective and intriguing for the reader. To add structure to my sentences I read chapter 42; which helped me make my sentences more effective (20). On page 682, Section 42a taught me that the most effective part of a sentence is the ending. “To protect her skin, she took along plenty of sunblock lotion.” Having the independent clause at the end of the sentence provides new information to the reader. If the writer places unimportant information toward the end of the sentence, the important subject of the sentence will not be emphasized. Page 683, Exercise 42.1, Number 2 reads “We can expect a decade of record-breaking tropical storms and hurricanes, if meteorologists are correct in their predictions.” When I read this example I realized that a lot of my sentences look and sound this way in my previous essays. A better way to phrase this sentence would be: “If meteorologists are correct in their predictions, we can expect a decade of record-breaking tropical storms and hurricanes.” The rewritten sentence is more enjoyable to read and make the reader want to learn more about the storms headed for them. Section 42b was also helpful by reminding me to be concise in my writing and teaching me to eliminate redundant words. Page 684, Section 42b.1 says “Many different forms of hazing occur, such as physical abuse and mental abuse.” I find myself being too redundant in my writing and this section was a good reminder, if the composer eliminated the first “abuse” in the sentence the sentence would still be just as effective.
Guthmiller 5
Chapter 45 of the St. Martins Handbook contains scholarly information (when is information not scholarly?) on memorable prose (12). Headlining the first section is strong verbs (19). This section preaches the absolute necessity in using precise verbs to further enhance our composition abilities with an excerpt from the book “Walden” by E. B. White. An example that quickly showed me just how powerful and influential verbs can be. Already, while writing this blog task, I’m questioning myself if I have used the most precise, potent verb. A quick self-examination of my writing from this past year shows me I haven’t (10). On the contrary to strong verbs, but just as important to add the necessary variety to our work is expletives. Expletives are used to emphasize, if the correct strong wording is around it. Without strong, precise, and significant sentences around it, expletives just become overused and boring. With it comes an influential and dynamic quote like June Jordan’s when she said “It is for us, the living, to ensure that We the People shall become the powerful” (702). This style of writing closely resembles our instructors. Often our instructor will write and speak in convincing, empathetic phrases that command attention and respect. “Do meow”, “Hit harder”, “Play faster” are phrases that come to mind. Although eloquent writing is enjoyable to read, it can stray from the point. Expletives don’t stray.
Exercise 45.3 on pg. 705 challengers us to identify uses of repetition from the previous page and also compose your own passage of repetition. As I begin to finish this blog task I start to wonder. I wonder if this is what is asked for. I wonder if it’s an improvement on past writing. I wonder who exactly St. Martin is. I wonder if I can take the lessons we learn from his book to heart. I wonder if we apply these lessons of composition, what the future will hold. I wonder.
Robertson 2
I studied chapter 12 of the handbook and studied what steps to take when preparing for a research project. This topic is important for not only the current essay assignment, but also for research-driven assignments in other classes. The most poignant tip the book provided me regarded rhetorical stance. My attitude toward both the topic of my paper and the format of the assignment itself has caused a great deal of procrastination on my part as it requires not only an emotionally draining effort (the writing itself) but also a mentally taxing process of dredging through sources credible and less so. With the aid of the handbook, I obtained a fresh look at my task by mentally answering a couple of the directory questions on page 215 in section 12b:
1. What is your attitude toward the topic?
2. What influences have shaped your stance?
Section 12c (217) also helped with my writing, focusing mainly on narrowing a topic down. As anyone who has ever read my work knows, I tend to have a serious difficulty … streamlining. It is not abnormal for me to have too many ideas and either too little time or too little energy to fully address every point. The section was brief, but in a way that is only fitting. Thanks to the advice provided, I managed to pick just one angle of approach to ensure my topic is not too vague.
Finally, and most importantly, section 12e (218-219) brought to my attention that determining what I know about the topic is just as important as finding sources. I employed the brainstorming method to thoroughly, exhaustively, and excessively analyze precisely what points I have to make about my topic. I completed the exercise on page 219 to gather my thoughts and wrote an extensive list of specific support points for my topic and successfully got somewhere. In comparison to the nowhere I was headed to before reading, the progress made with the handbook is one small step toward completion and one giant jumpstart for my writing process.
Petersen 7
In St. Martin’s Handbook, I studied the memorable prose section in chapter 45. (14) I turned to the section 45c and focused on the using inverted word order on page 706. I have noticed with my essays that my sentence structure sometimes does not emphasize my point I am trying to make in the sentence. By changing the words around in a sentence you can emphasize points or change the meaning of the sentence. I did exercise 45.5 on page 707. My sentence was: The journey for them may even be a specific point in which they became a woman or it may be a step by step process. I changed it to: Being a specific point or a step by step process, women’s journeys may vary. By changing the sentence around I am focusing on the process in which they became a woman and not the word journey. I also did exercise 45.3 on page 705. The exercise is about multiple negatives; I have noticed in writing that people use multiple negatives often.(1) Also children use them quite frequently such as my younger brothers. The example they give in the handbook is: I can’t hardly see you. Can’t and hardly are both negative words. When I change can’t to can it changes the double negative: I hardly can see you. Also under section 45c is using repetition. I actually have started using this in my essays. Using repetition is good and effective only if it is used on purpose. I also studied antitheses. Antitheses bring contrast to sentences. In exercise 45.4 on page 706 I create my own antitheses in the following sentence. Dreaming is one thing, working is another. (15) Overall the section I worked on in chapter 45 focused on creating sentence style that draws in readers and creates a more interesting essay or sentence.
Lippert 2
I carefully scoured the Handbook until I found a chapter that looked promising and capable of improving my writing. I eventually settled on the very interesting chapter 42, pages 682 to 687: creating effective sentences. I found it interesting that the smallest of changes can have profound effects in a sentence. For example, if I want to put emphasis on a certain point in a sentence I could set it off with a simple—yet effective—dash (7). There was only one exercise in this chapter so that was the one I did. The exercise asked us to change a sentence so that the main point is highlighted. In number 4 of the exercise, I identified what I felt was the main point by simply moving some words around and inserted a semicolon (8). Here is my sentence: “The presence of the Indian in these movies always conjures up destructive stereotypes of: scalping, horse theft, and drunkenness.” These changes are so simple and yet they can bring so much to an essay. A part of the chapter that stood out to me was conciseness. Too often, I find myself believing I need an incredibly long sentence filled with massive words to make my essay seem even more intelligent. If I use more sentence variety and try to incorporate shorter sentences I believe my essays will improve greatly. Redundant words can be a problem in an essay and can greatly take away from the important parts of a sentence. Conciseness can get the point across cleanly and effectively. Instead of saying “The hurricane was horrible in the destruction it caused,” a simple sentence (5) can be more effective: “The hurricane was horribly destructive.” The smallest of changes can bring the biggest of improvements to our essays. If we pay more attention to how we craft our sentences we can take the reader on an adventure they will not soon forget.
Rist 2
The chapter I chose to study is chapter 44. This chapter is about sentence variety. Sentence variety is important because a written work full of sentences that are the same length is not enjoyable to read. Varying sentences—though it may seem unnatural at first—is a sign of maturity as a writer (24). I did exercise 44.1 to practice sentence variety, which is found on page 696. This involved taking a paragraph and changing the sentences so that there was more diversity in regards to length. Paragraphs, essays, short stories—all of these works need sentence variety in order to remain fun to read (23). While reading this chapter I realized that sentence variety involves more than just length, however. Varying sentences also means changing sentence composition. To better learn this concept I did exercise 44.2, found on page 699. I varied the sentence’s compositions by placing the independent clauses, dependent clauses, and various other sentence components in different orders (22). In general, this is a concept that is good for me to study because as I reread my essays I realize that often my sentences are the same length. This is trouble. Sentences in the same format, and in the same medium length are dull and bland. My essays would be much improved by sprinkling in simple sentences and creative compositions. Sentence variety also makes written works sound more natural. Think about it. When you speak to someone, you use short sentences, long sentences, full sentences as interrupting modifiers, infinitives, and gerunds without even realizing it. For some reason it is only when you start trying to formally compose something that sentences get lengthy. Perhaps it is the use of body language and visual cues that help get your point across and cut out wordiness. Sentence variety is important. Not only is it something I should work on, but it is something I have already learned a lot about.
Waldera 2
Over the past few weeks during team I normally neglect to bring an actual book to read. This has turned out to be quite fruitful for me, however, because I have been simply reading the handbook. Most of the lessons we go over during class I have already read and gone over. I really enjoy reading out of the handbook and always look to it for sentence variety and correct punctuation and grammar while writing my essays. Yesterday during team I was flipping through the pages looking for a chapter to write my blog task over, as I had already found out what the topic was from my peers. While glancing from section to section, a particular chapter stood out to me—Chapter 49, the chapter covering apostrophes on pages 736-739 (7). I briefly read over it rattling my brain to remember what I know about apostrophes. It suddenly struck me that I was, in fact, quite rusty in this particular area. I then decided that this would be the perfect chapter for me to write about and learn. The singular nouns showing possession was fairly simple.
49.1
4. The owners couldn’t fulfill all the general manager wishes.
The owners couldn’t fulfill all the general manager’s wishes.
What I found to be the most difficult and hard to remember were the plural nouns. I had trouble in some of the exercises figuring where and when to put an appositive. I simply reread some of the content and learned it again fairly quickly. The greatest help was the sentence: For plural nouns ending is –s, add only the apostrophe. I had completely forgotten this rule and this is where I came into the most trouble.
Ex. The three clowns’s costumes were bright green and orange.
The three clowns’ costumes were bright green and orange.
To finish off the chapter, I reviewed the section over distinguishing its and it’s (20). Its is the possessive form of it and it’s is a contraction for it is or it has. In this section after reviewing the rules, distinguishing the two became simple (32).
Ex. This disease is unusual; it’s symptoms vary from person to person.
This disease is unusual; its symptoms vary from person to person
You would use “its” in this sentence because it’s the diseases possession of the symptoms.
Its a difficult disease to diagnose.
It’s a difficult disease to diagnose.
You would use “it’s” in the above sentence because there is no ownership you just want the contraction for it is.
Rasmussen 5
I chose to focus on chapter nine which was the chapter on analyzing arguments. In particular, I was going through exercise 9.1(p.161). Exercise 9.1 told me to analyze an essay that was talking about freedom of speech and its limits/bounds. Knowing that this is a fine line, the author, Derek Bok, was sure to be careful when righting about his perspective on the topic (19). What I though was interesting about the analysis was that you had to go into the emotions as well as the assumptions of the author. I learned that authors in essays that express their opinion throw in assumptions that you might think of as facts. In the essay, Mr. Bok was predicting what could happen if restrictions were put on free speech at the University of Harvard regarding the hanging of a confederate flag on campus. By predicting, I am saying that he thought that this would be a very negative thing for the United States. Although I agree with his statement, he can’t say for a fact that this will be a bad thing. He doesn’t do a very good job in saying that this statement is an opinion and not a fact. To add to that, I think that he defiantly included his emotions in this essay (20). After I read the exercise thoroughly, the handbook told me to compare my analysis with another scholar by the name of Milena Ateyea. The evidence part of an argument is undoubtedly the most important part of making a solid argument. Evidence is the part you need to convince others that your essay isn’t just an opinion, it is fact. Including a lot of evidence in your argument essays will help your point seem more valid and you essay stronger as you look to convince others that your point is the correct one.
Nifong 2
I studied chapter twenty six. Chapter twenty six is entitled Writing to the World. A point that was made is that what seems to be common sense to you might just be a foreign language to someone else. What is considered “normal” is all about perspective. For effective communication you should allow yourself to become cultured. Grow familiar with lots of different cultures throughout the world. Be aware of the norms in different societies. Another interesting point that was made spoke about assumptions and prejudices (504). When you are so accustomed to a certain normality other things may seem wrong or less right to you. Therefore, you might just have preconceived notions about other cultures, whether they are negative or not, be careful when considering assumptions and prejudices. In writing clarification is huge (505). Someone from America may think that a word has one meaning; meanwhile another student from another country has a totally different perspective on the world and therefore, associates it with a different meaning or connotation. American writing is all about declaring authority within the writing (505). Not all cultures embrace this idea. The tone should be evaluated for appropriateness. The goal of the paper should be clear and obtainable for the reader and the writer. When organizing the paper consider the different layouts you could use. Most of the potential layouts are ones that are widely accepted and used throughout America. Humans are creatures of habit; we stick to what we know and what we are familiar with. Variety in layouts adds flare to your writing (508). Some writing can become dry and tasteless after a while. Spicing up your writing through layout changes allows for the surprise element to creep back in to your writing. Style adds voice and character to writing. When writing a worldly paper refrain from slang or jargon (509). The slang takes away from the overall meaning of the paper.
Miller 2
After working some time tonight with my partner on our essay, I decided to flip through our St. Martin’s Handbook and find a chapter that would be very beneficial. After searching a good ten minutes I found chapter 14 (pg. 249-269). Chapter 14 is all about evaluating sources and taking notes. I practiced with exercise 14.1, which entailed evaluating the usefulness of a print and an electronic source. Since we have to have a multitude of sources in our causal essays I thought I would “kill two birds with one stone” as it were, and use the citations from my partner and me. I also attempted to do exercise 14.2, which in and of itself proved very difficult. I was to print an online source, cite it, and annotate it. Aside from the point that I kept getting distracted, the source I found had some terminology that I did not understand; therefore I had to keep looking words up online, which wasted more time.
Chapter 14 has, not only gives informative examples on how to evaluate sources, but also gives a great deal of ideas on how to take notes and get the most out of each of your citations. I feel a great deal better about how I cite sources and even how I look at them know. Reading through this chapter has enabled me to look more critically into my sources, and really dig deep to find the information that is most relevant to my topic and my point. This is in no way meant to say that I will not need this chapter again. I have read through it once, but there is always more information and clarity that I will find by looking this and other chapters over many times. This handbook will most definitely become my best friend this year.
Arrowsmith 7
Wanting to better my word choice, I read chapter 29 pages 526 to 538(19). I believe all writers, including myself, can improve on this topic. Writers must consider the purpose, topic, and audience to choose appropriate words. Audience and topic are especially important when deciding on the formality. I use formal language on number 3 of exercise 29.2 on page 530. Discovering treasure in King Tut's tomb marks as one of the biggest archeological finds of the twentieth century. It is also important to know when using slang, neologisms, and jargon are acceptable. To know the difference between denotation and connotation is also substantial(20). I chose the word with the denotation that makes the most sense in the context of the sentence for number 1 of exercise 29.3 on page 532. She listened attentively to the lecture and took notes. A talented writer uses a blend of both general and specific language. Too general of terms bores the reader and makes them imagine details on their own, while over-specific writings cloud the main point with too many details(10). I practiced general and specific language on number 3 of exercise 29.5 on page 533. Our Thanksgiving dinner was delicious. Figurative language helps paint pictures in readers minds and can help in understanding. Similes and metaphors aid in connecting two things by making comparisons. Cliches and mixed metaphors, however, can render a writing and bore the reader. Many words in the English language have similar yet slightly different meanings. Challenging and rewarding, mastering word choice helps both writer and reader connect and comprehend.
Kirkus 2
I chose to study chapter 11 in the St. Martin’s Handbook. This chapter is about a topic very important to most essays: argument (9). To win is the major goal of many arguments (20). Winning an argument is defeating your opponent(s) and validating your point (19, 21). You want to prove your side of the argument to your audience and make your stance seem more appealing than your opposition’s. Winning, however, is not the only goal of arguments (24). You may be arguing a point with yourself, and if your goal was to win in this situation, you would be attempting to defeat yourself—in which case you are probably a paranoid schizophrenic. Rather than trying to triumph over an opponent, you would be making a decision, taking all sides and factors into account. You could also argue to come to a decision with others rather than trying to beat them; all members of the group can contribute to come to a final consensus. Before all this can occur, however, there must be a topic able to be argued (some topics are not). In exercise 11.1 on pages 179 and 180 in the St. Martin’s Handbook one must analyze several sentences and decide whether the given topic is arguable or not. One example is the following sentence: “The Lord of the Rings was the best movie of the last decade.” Although I agree with this statement, others may not; in other words, we could argue about it. For a subject to be arguable, it must abide by three guidelines: it must try to convince the audience of something, change their minds, or compel them to do something; it must be a problem with no clear solution or a question with no definite answer; and it must be something that the audience could have varying opinions toward. The sentence “Shakespeare died in 1616” is not arguable because it is a fact that cannot be changed. If someone believes otherwise, they are simply wrong; there is no opinion involved. Reading this chapter has been beneficial for me and I hope to develop better arguments in my future essays.
Logan Johnke 5
Flipping through the St. Martin's handbook, I came across section 44, Sentence Variety (19). While all three sections are extremely helpful and I will go back and look at them all more carefully, I found section 44a the most helpful. My last couple essays have been fairly decent in my opinion but my biggest problem is sentence length variety. Section 44a addresses this problem. This section helps identify passages that require repeated short sentences such as a childrens story. On the other hand an article on nuclear disarmament requires something else: long sentences (9). However, this passage suggests alternating long sentences and short sentences. Long sentences for images and complex ideas. Short sentences for emphasis. In excersise 44.1 I was able to come up with this revision.
To plant a tree, a gardener must choose a good location and dig a deep enough hole (20). The location should have all of the following: right kind of soil, sufficient drainage, and enough light. The hole should be deep and wide. The gardener must then unwrap the root-ball (7) to avoid root damage. Some roots may have grown into a compact ball from being in a pot for so long. They must be separted and cut. The gardener should set the root-ball into the hole. After that fill the hole with loose dirt. After filling the hole, water the tree throughly. New plantings require extra water and extra care for about three years before they are well-rooted.
After reading through chapter 44 I will hopefully be able to use the skills I learned and apply them to my essay.
Ullom 7
When flipping through the St. Martin’s Handbook, I stumbled upon chapter 43 (7). Chapter 43 is about coordination and subordination. In the beginning, I chose this chapter because it was only a few pages long (32). Then I realized I do not really remember what they were, so I decided to read the chapter and learn in the process. As I began reading, the aspects of coordination and subordination started to come back to me. The exercise I completed was 43.1 on page 689, which was about coordination. This exercise was a paragraph of just short, simple sentences. The task was to take these short sentences and put them together to make longer sentences. In order to do this I had to use words like but, and, so, and a semicolon. I liked this exercise because the work taught me how to effectively create long sentences that flow smoothly. Also, this section was full of useful tips about how the technique will easily connect two closely related ideas.
The next section in the chapter was about subordination. Until reading this, I did not realize how big of a difference emphasizing your subordinate clauses could be. Changing around a few commas can create a slightly different meaning (19). I found a great example of this on page 690. Here is an example sentence that the book gave, “Mrs. Viola Cullinan was a plump woman who lived in a three-bedroom house somewhere behind the post office.” In this sentence, the emphasis is placed on the size and location of her home. The same sentence was used again but the emphasis was in another place. Let us see the difference with this one, “Mrs. Viola Cullinan, a plump woman, lived in a three-bedroom house somewhere behind the post office. As you can see, this time, the author wants the reader to focus on the size of Mrs. Viola Cullinan. It can be outstanding how the placements of commas can alter a reader’s perception of a sentence. Surely, I am glad I found this chapter and improved my understanding of coordination and subordination.
Hensley 5
As I scoured the book for something relevant to my writing, I discovered chapter 29a (4). Chapter 29a deals with the idea of carefully selecting the type of words you choose to compose an essay (5). One idea stuck with me the most from chapter 29: Jargon (9). Jargon is the terminology of a specific group in order to communicate clearly and efficiently with one another. This can contribute to problems with conveying a message to your audience, because if they can not understand what you are describing in a paper, the general effect is lost. This pertains to me specifically because I find that the majority of my essays our composed of activities from my daily life, most of which the average person does not participate. By carefully selecting the wordage I use to compose my essays, I can make my main points more clear and precise, allowing my audience to understand my compositions. To reinforce my newfound knowledge of careful word choice, I dedicated myself to completing exercise 29.1 on page 527. The exercise asked that I used colloquial language and slang to describe a topic, and then describe the same topic not using slang and colloquial language.
Mr. C is always seen cheezing out in the hallways and in his room.
Mr. Christensen can be seen displaying his positive attitude (through his contagious smile) in the hallways or in his classroom.
By carefully selecting my wordage, I can convey my message to a much broader audience who will be better able to understand my message, then through the use of slang and jargon. This enables me to more perfectly tailor my essay to my audience creating the opportunity for my writings to make a bigger impact with its message. This ultimately leads to a more successful essay.
Hensley 5
As I scoured the book for something relevant to my writing, I discovered chapter 29a (4). Chapter 29a deals with the idea of carefully selecting the type of words you choose to compose an essay (5). One idea stuck with me the most from chapter 29: Jargon (9). Jargon is the terminology of a specific group in order to communicate clearly and efficiently with one another. This can contribute to problems with conveying a message to your audience, because if they can not understand what you are describing in a paper, the general effect is lost. This pertains to me specifically because I find that the majority of my essays our composed of activities from my daily life, most of which the average person does not participate. By carefully selecting the wordage I use to compose my essays, I can make my main points more clear and precise, allowing my audience to understand my compositions. To reinforce my newfound knowledge of careful word choice, I dedicated myself to completing exercise 29.1 on page 527. The exercise asked that I used colloquial language and slang to describe a topic, and then describe the same topic not using slang and colloquial language.
Mr. C is always seen cheezing out in the hallways and in his room.
Mr. Christensen can be seen displaying his positive attitude (through his contagious smile) in the hallways or in his classroom.
By carefully selecting my wordage, I can convey my message to a much broader audience who will be better able to understand my message, then through the use of slang and jargon. This enables me to more perfectly tailor my essay to my audience creating the opportunity for my writings to make a bigger impact with its message. This ultimately leads to a more successful essay.
Westcott, 5
I read Chapter 16 out of the St. Martins Handbook. (5 simple sentence) It talked about how to cite sources properly and the different types of plagiarism. In exercise 16.1, the task was to read the paragraph and decide the correct ways of citing the source following. To know the rules of plagiarism helps in finding these errors. (20 infinitive to start sentence) On page 286, five sentences are laid out for the reader and the task is to decide which correctly source the quote from the following page. I found number one to be incorrect because the quote claims people who commit plagiarism are often smarter than the work they copied. The example states the plagiarizers are always better writers. Example two is correct because there are quotations in the correct spot and they mention the author. According to 16c, section one; example number three would need quotations around the quote in order to make it legitimate. The example given in number four does not include information given in the text previous. It also does not include the author’s name. To some extent, the example mentions the author’s point that most plagiarizers can come up with their own ideas better, but does not cite that source. The final example is sourced correctly. The author is named, the ellipses is used correctly, as are the quotation marks. When quoting, an ellipses is required when a few words to an entire sentence is taken out in a certain spot in order to shorten the quote and make it relevant to the topic and the paper. In this section, I learned it is better to be safe than sorry and to always quote when undecided. If it is a question of whether or not information needs to be cited in your essay, always do it, just in case.
Woodward 5
Chapter 45a on page 702 of the St. Martin’s Handbook discusses memorable prose and how to incorporate it into your own writing. By taking lengthy, and sometimes redundant, phrases out of your writing and replacing them with simple, yet powerful, words can add distinctiveness to your essays. For example, saying that “It is necessary for presidential candidates…” is much less effective than saying “Presidential candidates….” Flowery language full of loose information made to look important will only confuse the reader. Preciseness is key. The second half of chapter 45a centers on changing nouns to verbs. Writing “abolition” instead of “the process of abolishing” will make your writing look more professional and gain your writing more respect. Again, preciseness adds forcefulness and power to your words that would otherwise not be there. Realizing that my sentences need much more variety if I am to succeed as a composer of literature has helped me greatly and influenced the style and individuality of my writing (19). Simple, boring verbs—do, had, etc.—used to be included in almost everyone of my sentences; if not for these tips, it could have led to my downfall (7). Luckily, though, I studied the lessons and now endeavor to integrate significantly more interesting verbs and adjectives. To practice using recently learned methods is, in my opinion, a sign of an open mind, which is certainly a good quality in today’s highly debated and controversial world (20). For the first time in high school, I feel that my writing skills are nearing the level accepted by college professors.
Peterson 1
For my independent learning, I found the colon chapter (51) in the St. Martin’s Handbook on page 751 (12). I have always been scared to use a colon because I was not sure on how or when to use them. I would ask myself, “Are they like semi-colons.” Even during our essays this year I have been carefully asking people if I was using them right and never looked it up myself. When I read this chapter I found out that you can use colons for separating the introduction and the quote. This is only correct though if the introduction is a sentence by itself. I also figured out that you cannot use a colon after a verb or preposition. Knowing this information will help me be more confident in my essay writing. I can also add more sentence variety. I did some of Exercise 51.3. This is an example of one of my answers: The article made one point forcefully and repeatedly: the United States must end its dependence on foreign oil (9). Another more simple example is number five which says “Sofi rushed to catch the 5:45 express but had to wait for the 6:19.” I inserted a colon due to the fact that times need colons (5). Today, colons are mostly used in text lingo. They make great eyes to a smiley face. Another use for colons is ratios. Ratios are used mostly in math. Colons are seen before listing examples. Girls like to dress up: high heels, dress, earrings, and make-up (10). That last sentence is an example of having a colon with examples. Colons are not as scary as I thought they were. I will be more willing to use a colon in my writing for this class and in the future.
Stephens 7
For my chapter to independently study out of the St. Martin’s handbook, I choose chapter 7 page 110. This chapter is about developing paragraphs. I learned that paragraph length in college writing there is no set rule about how many sentences are required. You can write as many as you need. As long as you address the topic or idea and develop that idea with examples and evidence, you many use as many sentences as you want. To keep a paragraph unified, you should focus on one specific topic. The topic sentence is generally placed at the beginning or end of the paragraph, but does not have to be blatantly stated, it is wise to imply the meaning. For topic sentences at the beginning, that would be used if you want your readers to see your point immediately. This method works well for letters of application or argumentative writing. If you place your topic sentence at the end you can lead up to it, and is wise if your examples are specific, but your topic sentence is generalized. Paragraphs should also hold readers’ interest and cover the entire topic using whatever necessary. In good essays, generalities are backed-up by specifics. A paragraph should have a happy medium for amount of generalities and specifics. If the entire essay is specifics it may be hard to follow or understand. Likewise, if the paragraph is all generalities the audience will become bored and tune it out or stop reading. Paragraphs should obviously be written in a logical pattern. A few common essays that are used that people should be aware of are definition, division and classification, compare and contrast, cause and effect, process, problem and solution, analogy, reiteration, combining patterns. The reasons to start a new paragraph are: to turn to a new idea, to emphasize something, to change speakers, to lead readers to pause, to take up a subtopic, to start the conclusion.
Kasma 5
While rummaging through the St. Martin’s Handbook, I came across chapter 33, entitled “Subject-Verb Agreement.” A refresher is beneficial to keeping the mind focused and ready in case I come across sentences requiring some “tweaking” with the subject-verb agreement. When editing such sentences, rules need to be followed when the sentence structure demands it, or else what you compose onto the paper won’t sound natural. The first rule of determining the relationship is to identify the subject that goes with each verb. Cover up any words between the subject and the verb to identify the agreement more easily. The sentence, “A vase of flowers makes a room attractive,” is a simple example on page 614 of using the first rule. The subject “vase” and the verb “makes” are in agreement with the subject-verb relationship, making it a perfect sentence structure. The second rule is to check for compound subjects. Those joined by “and” usually take a plural verb form. While vice versa, those joined by “or” or “nor,” the verb form agrees with the closest to the verb. The sentence on page 615, “Each boy and girl chooses a gift to take home,” is an example of compound subjects joined by the word “and,” making the verb plural. The sentence, however, on page 616, “Either the witnesses or the defendant is lying,” is an example of the verb form agreeing with the closest noun due to the word “or.” Confusing as it is when determining the effects of “and,” “or,” and “nor,” just fall back into the handbook to better yourself if having problems with sentences like these. Rules three and four are included with the other two on page 619, but I should leave that to you as the reader to decide whether or not to look into it. I certainly did, and because of it, I’m more aware of the subject-verb agreement. Though basic, every writer needs a refresher to help them jolt their creativity. As I further explore the texts and works within the book, I hope that by following it, I could become a great writer by the end of this senior year.
Anderson 2
As I perused my previous works of literature, I fumbled upon a common phenomenon I unintentionally insert into my writing. Nevertheless, the St. Martin’s Handbook conveniently covers the area where I struggle the most in my prose. Chapter 36 entitled “Shifts” became of the greatest importance to my success as a writer. Working diligently in the wee hours of the morning, I typically write with unintended emphasis to unusual or complex shifts in the direction or focus of my essay (19). One moment I will be describing the process of fermentation involved with yeasts in the production of grain alcohol; the next moment I will be discussing a controversial side note such as our dependence on foreign oil and Saudi kings in the Middle East (8). I willfully understand that I write with passion and periodically disperse my jumbled thoughts on paper without providing necessary links for a successful transition. Ultimately, these abrupt alterations result in inconsistency which consequently depreciates my final grade.
To improve upon my unfortunate literary tendencies, I performed sample exercise 36.1 on page 648 (18). The five main shifts the author points out are as follows: tense, mood, voice, person and number, as well as direct and indirect discourse (9). Example three is a primary case where shift is altered using tense. It reads “She studied the package, wondered what could it be, and tore off the wrapping.” Structurally, this sentence is awkward and is represented in two different tenses – the present and past. One is certain to notice the incongruity and irregularity with the flow of that sentence. Using my gained knowledge from the reading, I would re-create the sentence such that the tense is held constant. “While studying and wondering what the package may contain, she tore off the wrapping with great haste.” When one reads this sentence, the fluidity is intangibly grasped and the murkiness is effectively diluted. My last example is problem number seven. Undoubtedly, ‘The flight attendant said, “Please turn off all electronic devices,” but that we could use them again after takeoff’ is not a concise sexy sentence. My revisions would entail embellished grammar. The flight attendant temporarily commanded that all the passengers, “Please turn off all electronic devices, “ until the plane has taken off into the stratosphere.
I appreciate the opportunity to improve my writing in simple ways with the swiftness and relative ease and understanding of the St. Martin’s textbook. Chapter 36 was extremely helpful and successfully utilized with the intention of improving literature bit by bit. I am confident that this shall not be the last moment of aid I receive from this textbook.
Heisel 5
While perusing The St. Martin’s Handbook I found the sample essay (18e) to be very helpful. It gives you applicable examples of many requirements for the final exam. Showing you how to cite paraphrases and direct quotes will be of significant benefit to anyone attempting all the requirements.
In other parts of chapter 18, the words of Andrea A. Lunsford were concise and effective—no fluff of filler here. When giving directions for quoting an email, she wrote “Include the writer’s name; the subject line, in quotation marks; a description of the message that mentions the recipients; and the date of the message. (MLA style hyphenates e-mail.)”(329) This makes quoting possible professor email replies simple. The book is very helpful, using direct statements without being dry. It keeps you interested by containing interesting concepts.
In my quest for professor emails, I have been unfortunately unsuccessful. I understand this isn’t exactly on topic, but I made a weak link to it in the paragraph above. Also, I wanted to complain. I may have pushed the envelope too far in requesting replies from professors from different countries around the world. I sent emails to professors in the UK, Canada, and South Africa. I hoped that other countries would have more polite resident intellectuals, but it seems I’ve been mistaken. None of the emails I sent out were replied to, but I will attempt to reject feelings of cynicism—hoping the professors were just overly busy.
With my increased knowledge in quoting and citing, I will hopefully dominate the next essay. The handbook is particularly effective in giving specifics and using understandable language. Needing more research, my rough draft will be rather…rough. But by using will power and determination, I will prevail with or without prior procrastination.
Lunsford, Andrea A., and Robert J. Connors. The St. Martin's Handbook. New York: St. Martin's, 1989. Print.
Boerhave 7
The chapter I had selected was chapter 6 in the handbook. This chapter enhances ones knowledge on Reviewing, Revising, and Editing (81). I felt the need to study this chapter because I am not as picky or detailed when it comes to editing a peer’s essay. I feel as though I need to ask more questions and give more feedback. What I found in this chapter was more than ways to better peer edit but also ways to better revise my own work. This chapter mentions the highlight tool (86). I found this to be great help with my own essays and revising other students’ essays. The handbook suggests using different colors for different points in one’s revision process. The handbook uses an example on Emily Lesk’s draft (93-94). The different colors: green is material found ineffective, yellow for unclear language, blue for material that needed to be expanded, and gray for material that may be deleted (93). I found this much clearer and easier for me to edit other essays and revise my own. I have started to and will continue to use this tool when reviewing, revising, and editing my essays as well as my peer’s essays.
andrews1
I chose chapter 45 (701-707) which is about memorable pose. Using memorable prose helps hold a reader's attention extraordinary better than just stale boring prose. We can gain more attention by using strong precise verbs. A sentence like, "The words came of the page", is just too general. Instead, "The words leaped off the page" would have the strength that we want to include in our sentences to keep attention. We yearn for a reader to stay attentive to our writing and including words like these help this process. Reading this chapter helped me improve and broaden my writing and made me look at my sentences in a different way. Instead of using overused and dull words like be, do, and have I can now change them to more effective words to better my sentences. Another great prose to use is a special effect like repetition. The past prime minister, Winston Churchill, would frequently use these in his speeches he would use them to great effect. He would use the constant hammering of we shall accompanied by with words starting with F like flag, fail, and fight. He used these to good effect but repetition should be used for a deliberate purpose. We need repetition sounds to be memorable and make an effective stylistic device. Also, we can use inverted word order which is when writers put a verb before the subject or the object before the subject and verb to make it more dramatic. "Out of the tree plummeted two dead birds", is more dramatic than, "Two dead birds plummeted out of the tree." When using these use them less frequently to create an occasional surprise. When we use sentences like this it makes it more enjoyable for the reader and the writer. At the end of our essay or paragraph, we want our reader to still be reading and entertained and if I use these I will help achieve this goal.
Wehrkamp 5,
Details when writing are vital. Understanding the reading makes a world of difference. How are details in a novel/essay easily misinterpreted? In the St. Martin’s Handbook, chapter 40: Modifier Placement, imperative in any style of literature, wording sentences correct immensely helps augment concrete visualization of a story. Misplaced modifiers are words, phrases, and clauses that cause confusion because they are not close enough to the words they modify, or because they seem to modify more than one word in the sentence (668). Studying the chapter I realized my writing was in need of practice on misplaced modifiers. If phrases are not located close to the words being modified, a sentence could have a few different meanings. Example: Billowing from every window, we saw clouds of smoke. (People cannot billow from windows, therefore you should start the sentence with: We saw clouds of smoke.) We saw clouds of smoke billowing from every window (668). Limiting modifiers in particular I find to have the most difficult time with. Be especially careful with the placement of limiting modifiers such as almost, even, hardly, just, merely, nearly, only, scarcely, and simply (670). In general, these modifiers should be placed right before or after the words they modify (670). Putting them in other position s may produce not jus ambiguity but a completely different meaning (670). An ambiguous example: The court only hears civil cases on Tuesdays. Clear example: The court hears only civil cases on Tuesdays. Another clear example: The court hears civil cases on Tuesdays only (670). Does the writer mean that civil cases are the only cased heard on Tuesdays or that those are the only days when civil cases are heard? I decided to improve with modifiers while working Exercise 40.2 (671): 1. The candidate promised quickly to reduce class size. I change the sentence to state: The candidate promised to reduce class size quickly. The sentence given shows the word “quickly” modifying the word, “promised”. I changed the sentence so the word “quickly” modifies the pace of reducing the class size. 2. Through the exercises and examples given in the handbook you can get a grasp of understanding as to how important it is wording sentences correctly.
Dawn 2
For this week’s blog task, I decided to read and write about sentence fragments—as described in chaper 39—and do the excercises 39.1 and 39.2. (664-667) When I began I thought I knew it all but as I progressed throughout the chapter I did in fact learn new concepts. In exercise 39.1 I flew through the first seven sentence examples but when I got to number eight I became caught up. At first glance I was unable to even notice there was a sentence fragment in that specific example. Looking at the sentence more thoroughly I discovered I had been incorrect. (19)There was in fact a fragment—a phrase fragment to be precise. (7) Phrase fragments are groups of words lacking a subject, a verb, or even both. “Attempting to lose ten pounds in less than a week.”, includes a verbal but does not have a verb—or auxiliary verb—making it a sentence fragment. When I first encountered the example I really thought it was a sentence, and until investigating further I had no clue why it was in that exercise. I also found exercise 39.2 rather interesting. By reading the sections around the exercise and completing the exercise itself I was able to obtain a clearer understanding of independent and dependent clauses. When I got to example six I stopped and had to do a double take. I knew that I had trouble with recognizing “leeches” and I barely noticed “which” hiding in plain sight. I looked at “which” and took it to be a pronoun—oddly enough—without much thought, after reading the example in depth I understood why it was a leech and I then easily understood why it was a dependent clause. When trying to breeze through exercises in as little time as possible I made some ignorant mistakes. I skipped over words and ignored leeches. I looked at different sections of the sentence instead of looking at the parts as a whole. When I read the exercises thoroughly and looked at the examples closely I was able to understand fragments better. Sentence fragments have never been my weakest point in syntax, but I now know that next time we have a syntax quiz I will dominate the fragment portion.
VandeBerg 1
I looked through The St. Martin's Handbook and studied within chapter 15. I ordinarily have issues integrating sources and citations into my writing. Mostly I don't use citations so it was definitely a skill that I needed to perfect. Chapter 15 covers everything from quotations to paraphrasing to summaries. I needed the most help with how to cite a paraphrase. Citing a quote is much more common because it is the verbatim from the original author. A paraphrase is giving credit to the original author but changing the wording. I also needed help with signal verbs leading up to a quotation. I had also stuck with the "He said/She said" sort of introduction. On page 273, there is an entire table of signal words. I will have to memorize these words so that I can pull them out at any point in my writing. There are 32 words that make an introduction to a quote much more interesting rather than "he said/she said". I had also never thought about adding graphs and such into my writing. Chapter 15 covers this on page 278. It shows me that I can add certain elements to my writing I hadn't even considered before. All in all, chapter 15 greatly helped me in acknowledging how to cite each and every source in my writing as well as adding elements.
Svartoien 1
Porque leí capturo 28, ahora soy más inteligente! (Because I read chapter 28, no I am more intelligent.) According to the St. Martin’s Handbook, I can use other languages and dialect in my writing to add flavor and style. I am in my fourth year of Spanish and not once have I ever considered using it in my English writing assignments; however, I plan on using it more often (when appropriate). Not only can languages—such as Spanish, Arabian, German, ect.—be used, but regional dialect is acceptable too! Folks down south in Arkansas says ‘em words different from us Yankees. Inserting different dialects allows your writing to take on a whole new feeling and tone. (For the record, I am fully aware that not all southerners lack grammatical understanding.) While this technique is very entertaining and adds variety to writing, composers should be cautious when adding this feature to their piece. The dialog must be appropriate; it must help connect with your readers, make a point, or get the reader’s attention. One must also be careful when venturing to use language or dialect that is not of their own background. The St. Martin’s Handbook makes it clear that it is indeed okay to use other’s dialect, but be extra cautious to not discriminate. It also mentions not to sound too proper. However, that doesn’t quite make sense. As I understood it, you can write creatively using dialect, but not too harsh as to not offend others. Also, you can write correctly, but not too proper as to not reject readers. In that case, writers are limited in writing by abstaining from risqué dialect as well as proper dialect! I suppose what Andrea A Lunsford meant was these extremes are acceptable, but only when used appropriately. In that case, I plan on inserting dialect and language variations into my writing from now on.
Good day very niсe website!! Guу .. Exсellent .
. Suрerb .. I wіll bookmaгk your web sitе and taκe the feeds additіonally?
I am glad to ѕeеk out so many helрful іnfo
here ωithin the submit, wе'd like develop extra strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
My weblog coffee pure cleanse and colon cleanse
Post a Comment