Posting by lottie

http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=174

After reading the "borrowing and Corruption" article, I understand Dr. Goodword's theory on the English language. The biggest dilemma today is the use of text messaging on a cell-phone and the typing abbreviated e-mail. When someone sends a text message or e-mail they try to shorten the message by using abbreviations or shortened words. After using this form of language, it comes natural to speak this shortened version of the English language, making it harder for others to understand the language.

by lottie

Posting by nikki s.

The article I decided to read was "From car sales to prostitution: phonological fun in every day life," from the link http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2005/10/ This article's main topic was on phonology, or the study of the sound systems of a language. Phonology is very important when learning another language. It's rather easy to memorize words and grammar of a second language. The hard part is being able to disregard the rules of your own language and apply the new rules of the new language, especially if your own language has an accent. Through time the accent will go away, but it's usually the last stage of learning, and it could take a number of years.

by nikki s.

Posting by nicole steele

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/washington/26rap.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

This article was about the language that has been in rap and hip-hop music. There have been new CDs out for many different famous rappers. It was recently when rap-artists have been set in court about the sexism and violence in their music. They also questioned [if] the marketers have done enough to shield young listeners from the violence. The graphic content has been claimed that the rap-artists are telling their stories of what they went through. I thought this article could have explained more about the parents who let their children listen to this music. It's their own choice. It is also the rappers' choice to sing and write what they feel. I believe that is what they are doing. The language has changed throughout the years and how it is used. The language in music is up to who is listening to it. The language is often used like it is in the music. the graphic content has been known to be out there in everyday language. It is just about how someone feels and the way they express themselves. It is a freedom of speech.

by nicole steele

Posting by j.p.derrick

http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/there-they-go-again/

After reading this blog posting I am so literally confused that I don't know right from left, literally. There comes a point where a topic has been over discussed. That point, for me, was about halfway through the article. I felt that the recap of the podcast was appropriate, but the page and a half that followed, explaining in detail his son in his pajama bottoms, was utterly unnecessary.

by j.p.derrick

Posting by l yohnk

I chose this link for the first extra credit assignment:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/podcasts/grammar_grater/archive/2007/11/08

I really enjoyed this article because it gives writing in the passive voice some credit. The writer said that writing in the passive voice can sometimes be beneficial. I agree with his opinion. I find that writing in the passive voice can be beneficial because writing in the active voice can place blame where the passive voice can be more diplomatic. I do think that writing in the active voice can be better sometimes as well though, as in a case where a person might be trying to evade responsibility or give an excuse for poor behavior by using the passive voice. Anyway, I was happy to read an article that was for the use of the passive voice.

by l yohnk

Blog Extra Credit

You may participate in the Blog Extra Credit if you choose. There are two parts. You may participate in both, one or the other, or neither (no points then!). For all comments, the same rules apply as did for the blogging assignments in Weeks 2 – 6.

Part 1: (30 points) DUE TO ME BY WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21
Locate a web article using one of the links show below under the heading “Links” that deals with one of the subject shown. Read the article, then write your comments and include the link to the article. Email your comments to me for approval. If I approve your link and comments, I’ll post it to the class blog for you.

Links: Locate an article from one of these sites. If you have a good article you would like to use, you may submit the site address to me for prior approval.

Choose an essay from one of these blogs/sites:
http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/podcasts/grammar_grater
http://literalminded.wordpress.com/

OR

Find an article on writing, grammar, language use, communication, or cultural diversity/multiculturalism from one of these blogs/site:
http://www.wpr.org/
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/
http://www.nytimes.com/
http://www.aldaily.com/#weblogs
http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Part 2: (10 points) POST COMMENTS BEFORE MIDNIGHT, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29
Post a comment to one of the entries posted in November in your class blog, the other class blog, or my personal blog. You can access all the blog links through the “View my profile” screen or enter the URL in your browser. You can only earn a maximum of 10 points regardless of how many comments you post. You will NOT get credit unless you actually post on the blog, so you must sign on and enter the comments. Emailing your comments to me won't count.

Official ending of the weekly blog assignments

An old album for stamp collectors--an image from the old days when all words were written instead of electronic.

The last blog assignment, posted last Sunday, 9/30, is due by midnight tonight. There have been five formal assignments. If you haven’t responded to them all, please do so! This week, I will hand out in class the instructions and the rubric for the Blog Reflection. If you haven’t already done so, read the entries posted by your fellow class members in preparation for your Reflection. I will keep the blog open for the semester and we may continue the online conversation. I’ve enjoyed this experiment and feel it was successful for the following reasons:

• It allowed people who (like myself in a classroom situation) don’t always feel comfortable speaking up in person to also contribute to the discussions
• It provided another way to communicate besides our in-class work, my lectures, and the textbook readings
• It furnished a greater variety of voices than what was possible in the classroom situation through the links to other websites, blogs, and authors.

Thank you all for your good work in these assignments!

Reviews often use multiple rhetorical strategies

Each week on my blog at http://writingisconversation.blogspot.com I post one or two book reviews that I’ve written. Read at least three of them (scroll down, or click on Blog Archive on the left side of the screen to find the entries with titles that begin “Recently Read”).

Notice that I usually give some background (why I like the author or type of book. Is this book is part of a series? Is this an author I read often or a new one to me?), a brief summary of the plot and characters, and my opinion/advice on the value of reading the book.

After you’ve read my reviews, write your own review of something you’ve read, seen, heard or attended. You can review a book, a movie, an event (like a sports game or concert), a TV show, a CD, or anything that would suit the requirements of this assignment. To effectively write your review, you’ll be using at a minimum the rhetorical strategies of narrative and reflection. You may use more. Your review must be one to three paragraphs and contain:

• Background information (do you usually see this TV show? Did someone recommend the movie to you?)
• A summary of the plot or action. Remember what you’ve learned the past few weeks on how to summarize content.
• Your opinion (do you recommend it? Was it boring? Should someone else skip it or see it?)

More article summaries

The ability to write effective summaries is a key component of all types of rhetoric. A summary requires you to:
Synthesize and analyze information
Present that information in a succinct and logical form to the reader

For this week’s assignment, select an article from the news, local, feature or business sections (NOT sports or entertainment) from one of the following sources:

http://www.dunnconnect.com/
http://www.leadertelegram.com/
http://www.twincities.com/
http://www.madison.com/wsj/

Read it, then write a summary. Remember, a summary should include the key items in the article. A summary should also be brief and to the point. A reader should be able to clearly understand what the article was about, any conclusions by the article’s author, and where to go to read the full article. Write your summary and include which of the above sources you used, the title of the article, the date and the author.

Article summaries to help with writing the compare/contrast essay

To help with the pre-writing and writing phases, choose ONE of the following links, read the article there, then summarize in one paragraph and post your summary as comments for this week. Read each other’s summaries so you learn from them as well. You may select the same article link as someone else, but you will need to produce a significantly different summary.

“The Writing Process—time management and general writing guideline” at
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/writeproc.html
“Assessing the credibility of online sources” at
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/research/credibility1.html
“Comparison-contrast essays” read sections 1-4 at
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/comparcontrast.html
“Strategies for writing a conclusion at
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/conclude.html
“Developing an introduction—the Top Down Model” at
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/intro.html
“Thesis statement” at
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/thesistatement.html
“Transition cues” at
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/style/transitioncues.html
“Strategies for reducing wordiness” at
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/style/wordiness.html
“Using specific, concrete details” at
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/sensorydetails.html

The more effort up front, the better the result

No matter what you are writing—a report, an essay, or any other document—I can’t stress enough how important it is to spend time on the pre-writing phase. At Lucent Books, my editor said she had found that the more time she and the writer spend thrashing out the proposed book content before writing is begun, the faster the book goes. She and I spent hours on the phone, I did tons of research, and we had almost weekly exchanges of FedEx documents. We spent three months doing this, and I was thinking, “holy smokes, I’ll be ready to retire before this book gets written.” Once we had all our thoughts aligned and expectations synchronized, I started writing. It took me one month.

In your comments, explain exactly how you will tackle writing the compare/contrast essay. What are your pre-writing tasks? What will you do to write it? What will you do to make sure it will get an A? BE SPECIFIC!

The Grammar Vandal

When I was in Madison in mid-July, I noticed that the metro bus stops around the Capitol Concourse were each decorated with a different theme . One was whitewashed, with the words, “It’s you’re [sic] stop” painted on it. So of the three words, two are commonly misused. The artist got one hard one right, but wasn’t quite up to writing a three-word English sentence correctly. Someone had scratched at the paint and corrected “you’re” to “your” using proofreader’s marks.

The following week, I was listening to Wisconsin Public Radio as is my wont when driving (no, “wont” is not supposed to have an apostrophe since it is the word meaning “habit,” not the contraction), I heard a wonderful interview with the Grammar Vandal. The Vandal is a young woman who takes the step most of us are too timid to, and perches on ladders, paint brush in hand, to correct the despicable grammar she sees on billboards, ads, signs, and even graffiti. Check the radio web site at http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=5 and look for the July 23, 2007 show titled “Grammar Vandal Goes on Vigilante Comma Crusade” in the archives. The Vandal, Kate McCulley, also blogs. Check her out at http://www.thegrammarvandal.com/

Register with blogspot first (see instructions on the right side of this blog), then enter a comment in response to this question: After visiting McCulley's blog site, what is your reaction to what she does?