The importance of development and revising

Have you ever written several paragraphs, and then realized that the words didn’t come out quite as you had anticipated? I know I have. At times I can’t quite put into words every thought, plot, and plan that is floating around in my head. After writing a paragraph, I’ll read it a second time and deem it to be a bit wide of the mark. I’ll find myself refining it several times until I get it to come out right. Each time I refine my work, it usually comes out better than it had been beforehand. In fact, the paragraph that you are reading now has been edited and revised numerous times.

Development and revision hold a very important role in any piece of writing. For example, if somebody were to write a four page essay without revising or further developing any ideas at least once, then the essay would probably be a very deplorable one. Development will further expand your ideas that may contain too little meat. It adds more framework, and will usually help the reader to better understand your writing. When you refine your work, you are perfecting it to get it just right. You are examining your ideas with a magnifying glass to see where the impurities are, and then removing them. Any written piece can always be improved to outshine its original.

Checklist:

1. Get all your ideas out on paper. It doesn’t matter if it’s not exactly how you want. Do not look for any grammatical errors!
2. Develop your ideas more thoroughly.
3. Take a break from your writing, and then come back so that your mind is refreshed.
4. Look through each paragraph and make sure all ideas are related.
5. Cut anything that is irrelevant.
6. Go buy yourself a mocha.

Essay 1 Readings

In my English course, we had a discussion about what we read. We read about six essays which were mainly about how technology is changing, or even more specifically, cyberspace. Most of these essays talked about our ever changing technology in a good manner, although some did not. Our discussion in class helped me better understand what these authors were trying to convey in his or hers text. It added to my own opinions and thoughts when I heard some of the other student’s thoughts on these texts.

After reading Woodcock’s essay, I found that I could understand it quite well. The author made efforts to clearly explain his point. He started by showing what time was to man, and how it was first measured. He then explained how time’s measurement and role changed as our technology understanding increased. In paragraph 1 the author says “Time was seen in a process of natural change, and men were not concerned in its exact measurement.” This leads me to think that men had no use of clocks or the exact measurement of time. In the next few paragraphs, Woodcock explains how time’s measurement improved and got increasingly accurate. He gives us the assertion that, after this improvement, “the clock dictates [people’s] movements and inhibits [their] actions.”

While reading through George Woodcock’s essay, I came across an interesting sentence. It went like this: “the clock turns time from a process of nature into a commodity that can be measured and bought and sold like soap or sultanas.” This rhetorical device catches my attention because it’s unexpected and it places a mental picture in my mind. The rhetorical devices in George Woodcock’s essay make the text more interesting. These rhetorical devices often help the reader to understand what the author is trying to convey in his/hers essay more thoroughly. 

Rhetorical Devices Link: http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm

The role of Grammar in Writing

Lately, in today’s modern society I have noticed a lot of people using truncated words like ‘u’ for ‘you’ and the number ‘2’ for ‘to’ or ‘too’ when they write to their peers. They write to each other in a way that they think is fast and efficient. Most people use this way of communicating to get a quick note across. I think that this is certainly fine, but I find it disturbing when it turns into every e-mail, every text message, every blog post, and letter. Although using a single letter instead of a whole word may be faster, it is certainly not any more grammatically correct.

I believe that grammar is extremely important in writing; I honestly don’t think anyone should write anything without at least some standard of grammar. When we write, we should write in a way so that everyone, who chooses to, can read and comprehend our writing.

What if grammar started to lack in our society? What is going to stop other things from lacking as well? Imagine a business whose website’s content has sentences like “100% satisfactun or you're muny back garuntee!” It would make me ask (possibly legit) questions such as: “I wonder if their customer service is as bad as their spelling?”

If you read the Jack and Jill excerpts, you will notice that punctuation is everything. It changes the whole meaning of the excerpt if you just move a few periods and commas around here and maybe change some periods to exclamation points there. People form in their mind what they think you mean by the way you write and your grammar usage.

Even if I had the power to change grammar’s standards in our society, I wouldn’t. I feel it plays an important role in our ever changing world. I fear that, without it, we would become uncivilized people.


Link: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Argumentative Culture

Everywhere you look you will see an argument of some kind. Maybe it’s a brother and sister arguing about whose turn it is to do the dishes. It could even be two people at a convenience store arguing about who should get the last bag of skittles. Turn on the TV, switch to the news channel, and watch how the media tries to distort everything. They will take extreme sides and try to argue the fact that one side is better than the other.

It’s as if we don’t even question why we argue. We have been raised in a culture where we are taught to argue and to fight for what we think is right. It is second nature to us and we have become experienced in using it. Perhaps it is just easier for some people to argue certain points, than to try to compromise and strive to get to a resolution in which we both win.

We seem to live for the thrill of the conflict. I think it’s because our emotions tell us that we need to come out on top. Maybe some people feel they can’t lower their “prestige” a little bit to make it a win-win situation. Some people may even enjoy arguing. They like to prove their point and show that they are the one who is right.

So, do I think we live in an argumentative culture? Yes, I do, and I don’t think it will ever be different. Our human nature tends to make us want to be right, and that leads to arguments.