Bryson sept 24

Bryson.

Before You Read.

I consider good english to be something that is able to be understood and made clear. Bad english to me is throwing out words that don't make sense in the middle of sentences and not pronouncing words correctly. I believe I consider all of this because of how I was brought up. The english I use is what I am used to and what I consider good english.

Summary.

In Bryson's article, "Good English and Bad", he explains and talks about the "laws" of the English language. Yes, the English language is mainly from the Latin language, yet they aren't that similar. Overall, he goes on about the struggle of what "Good English" is and what "Bad English" is.

Synthesis.

I feel that one person that is able to connect with this article is Porter. Porter wants rules to be in place but shouldn't make the writer not be him/herself. He wants the writer to be able to write whatever they want without having to think that what they are writing is right or wrong. A second person I think that can relate to this is Dawkins. Both him and Bryson talk a little bit about the "rules" of the english language. Overall, there is really no right or wrong way to write.

Response	Quotation
To me, this is saying that within our nation, English is what we make of it. People may say things differently, but most people will be able to understand them if they are from this nation.	“In English, in short, we possess a language in which the parts of speech are almost entirely notional” (61).
This was funny to me because the English language can be very confusing. There are so many things that people don't understand even though we speak the language everyday.	“The complexities of English are such that the authorities themselves often stumble” (61).
I found this cool because our language came from Latin grammar. I have never taken the language Latin, but I hear it is very close to the English language. -This is why.	“The early authorities not only used Latin grammar as their model, but actually went to the almost farcical length of writing English grammars in that language..” (62).
There is really no “one person” to have them say something is right or wrong about the English language. The language just relies on what has happened over time.	“Without an official academy to guide us, the English-speaking world has long relied on self-appointed authorities such as..” (64).

Thoughts.

This wasn't my favorite article to read. Yes, Bryson does a good job at explaining everything and what he had to say was very interesting. I was able to learn more about the "rules" of the english language.




Dawkins.

Before you Read.

1. My sister's tree house,  made of wood, scraps and cardboard was a great place to play with her friends.
2. My sister's tree house, made of wood, scraps and cardboard, made a great place to play with her friends.
3. My sister's tree house made a great place to play with her friends; it was made of wood scraps and cardboard.

In the first sentence I used two commas to break up the information. In the second sentence I used three commas to break up the information so that it was different than the first. In the third sentence, I used a semi-colon to break the sentence into two parts.

Summary.

In Dawkin's article, "Teaching Punctuation as a Rehtorical Tool", he basically is trying to say that people have issues with understanding punctuation rules. He says in what manners we can actually use punctuation and when it is necessary. He also says that there really isn't too many ways to use punctuation in a wrong way. Overall, he just gives so many examples having to do with punctuation.

Synthesis.

For one, I believe that McCloud can be related to this article. Dawkin used visuals in his article and I found that very helpful to visually see what he was talking about. It helped get the point across. Second, I feel that Porter is another person that can be related in this article. I think this because it seems that both Porter and Dawkin think that the writer should be able to write without worrying if what they are writing is incorrect or not.

Response	Quotation
When I read this I basically just thought that it was said in a way that punctuation is so normal. No one really thinks about not having it in writing. It is just a “mechanic” of writing. Ordinary.	“Punctuation-just one the “mechanics” of writing, after all..” (140).
For me this was saying that handbooks give no room for lead way. They are straight and right to the point. If you follow what the handbooks say, it won't be the best work produced.	“According to the handbooks, Orwell is wrong, for their rules are essentially a right-or-wrong approach, providing little-if any-basis for considering options according to rhetorical intentions” (141).
This is just saying that there are many ways to write a sentence. Using different punctuation, it is possible to say a sentence many different ways.	“-there is a number of other options for making this boundary between independent clauses” (142).
Again, I just think it is very interesting to see that with punctuation, sentences can be written in so many different ways.	“Sentences can be analyzed as single independent clauses with or without attachments or as multiple independent clauses with or without attachments” (143).

Q5.

Personally I learned that punctuation can vary depending on the writer of the article. There really isn't a right or wrong way to use punctuation. -It depends on who you talk to.

MM.

I feel that my teacher wanted me to read this because I am able to learn a lot from just this simple article. It was very through and I did learn some new things. I will be able to use what I have learned and put it towards my work for the future.

Thoughts.

I feel that he talked a lot about the same information over and over. yes, it was effective and all but maybe a little too much. Punctuation is very important and can help get points across easier in anything a reader is reading. I did learn some new things, so it wasn't a waste.