Defining Good Usage
There are thousands of pieces of advice about writing out there. Every English text book discusses it. Every person knows the rules to good writing by heart. In fact it is next to impossible to separate what we have been told from our own beliefs.
Beliefs themselves are formed by what you are taught, yet they still allow you the freedom to do as you choose. This just does not seem to hold true. When good writing is taught to be the rule not something to be interpreted by the student.
Enough about beliefs and teachings. Define good usage, if that's what good writing requires. Is it using the largest, most difficult, word you can in your writing? Is it diction, connotation, denotation, sentence structure, or
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If the word is right to the author it could be absolutely incorrect to the reader because the author first off, knows what they are trying to say and can read things however they see fit, and secondly the author and the reader may connote a different meaning with the same word or phrase.
Big problem here. Nothing has been set as to what is good use. Is that not what you are supposed to be talking about here? All that has been said is that it depends on what you are writing and who has to define it. No, that hasn't even been said you keep asking it in questions so there is no answer. Is that what you want to say? Of course not! Then you would not be doing the assignment correctly, or would you? Great, now you have totally confused yourself. Spell out what you are trying to say in plain English now.
Good writing depends on good usage. Then what is good usage you may ask. Good word usage is different for every type of writing. For instance, in a letter of application or a résumé you should use larger words but not words that your perspective employer would have to keep looking up in a dictionary to understand. This is the same in business writing. Picture your intended audience. Say things in as few words as possible and keep it as simple as possible.
Good writing is good word usage, then? That seem right, yet not complete. Good usage then also must depend on whether you are
Everybody has their own methods for writing; however, I believe there is always room for improvement. Chapter 3 in Everyone’s an Author has shown me that writing involves processes that need to be mastered through constant practice. It also revealed helpful tips on how to develop writing processes that can help write effective papers.
It is essential to understand that classes taken in grade school do not give students a full understanding of each subject. With the topic of writing, there will always be a new lesson to learn, an aspect to improve, or a differing way to explain. Author Craig Vetter states in Bonehead Writing, “This is your enemy: a perfectly empty sheet of paper. Nothing will ever happen here except what you make happen.” Each story, essay, or response comes from a writer’s experiences. With each attempt at a new piece comes an underlying story of emotions the writer is facing. Each person’s writing is unique and the ideas people have are related to their past experiences and what they believe to be familiar with when deciding which writing style to use. As a high school student, I have learned many things about writing that helped me become the improved writer I am today, but the most essential advice I have received is practice makes perfect. Although there is no actual perfect way of writing, I have discovered that each essay I write, my writing improves. It is easier to spot mistakes, find areas to improve, and ponder elevated word choice to use.
The writing process is something that you figure out yourself as you go through school. I personally think that is why they make us take English for so many years. Through the years, I found that some teachers forced you to write certain ways. I believe that
The problem list is a key part of the electronic health record. It lists the patient’s most important health problems and gives the practitioner key information to determine the best treatment plan. Accurate patient problem lists
In the project 1, my use of rhetoric was above average in my opinion. My essay responded to the question of what good writing is. I used clear sentences and many examples to make my point. To explain the idea that good writing has no rules, I used the unstructured format of Whitehead’s text. I wrote that Whitehead did not follow common and basic rules for writing such as having an introductory and concluding paragraphs; however, his writing can be considerate as good because he accomplished his initial goal of convincing the readers that writing is rule free.
Throughout this class I have learn many different writing styles. We used APA form of writing to type our paper and essay. I have also learned that it’s good to take your time and spend more time thinking about what to write, other than just righting a paper right off back. I have learned that it’s not a good idea to write a paper on the day it’s done, that’s more like a ruff daft. My teacher have helped me understand different point of writing. Which all writing deal with an ethos, pathos and logos, either one or all of them will run through anything that tell you anything in writing. From what emotion are there to who have the rights to speak at the moment to what are the facts to agree with this person. As a class we have read articles, bio from many people to understand that it’s more then what the person is writing. Reading between lines and analyzing a part of the story can tell you more then what the writer is saying. Working together to understand something and work better than being alone thinking about a situation you can’t understand.
In 2009 president Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, which is also known as ObamaCare, into law. ObamaCare is a national health care plan, which its main goal is to reform the American health care system so that every citizen would be insured by the year 2014. Healthcare providers are overwhelmed by the amount of patients they visit everyday due to the shortage of doctors we are having. One article from New York Times estimated that by the year 2025, America would be in shortage of 100,000 primary care physicians, based on the amount of doctors graduating and an increase demand of healthcare. Having said this, the atmospheric state in the
I did not have a firm writing philosophy before this semester, but I to some degree I understood the importance writing can have on a situation. Now I understand that writing has two outcomes: gaining support or losing support. When writing an essay it is best if the writing is as specific as possible. This way the audience is hopefully not left with a confused opinion about the topic. Since the beginning of the semester I have put a conscious effort to change my writing style. Instead of the box format that is learned in high school I try to use a more graceful approach while still being organized. Also, I evaluate the credibility of a source before I use the information to support my thesis and understand the roles of using ethos,
1. Many people believe that crude and effusive style is a familiar writing style. However, writing in the way you speak is the most familiar way to write. You should regard writing as a public speech which you should use precise and proper language to express your thought clearly. Therefore, avoiding too vulgar or too pedantic words is crucial for writing. It is hard to find words which are exactly matched with your purpose, but this ability is necessary to write familiarly. Crude and pompous words can never make your writing natural.
Writing is different for everybody. After reading the first part of On Writing Well by William Zinsser my perspective toward writing changed; starting off by the fact that he admitted that “writing is indeed hard” (12). This author, with humorous stories and anecdotes, explained several principles that help one understand how to write efficiently. First of all, be yourself! Zinsser emphasizes the fact that you should be true to yourself and your writing in order to engage a reader in your piece. Other essential principles are: Be precise and avoid clutter. He claims that “the secret to good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components” (7). As I read, I noticed how important engaging a reader becomes to an author but Zinsser reminded me how my writing was made to “please myself first” and then an audience (25). The last but not least rules to follow are: to “avoid clichés” (Zinsser, 35) and “separate usage from confusing jargon” (Zinsser, 45). It is important to maintain your reader active by expressing clear thoughts and avoiding typical sayings that only make a literary piece
As Goshgarian states in Exploring Language, “Most college writing is an exercise in persuasion – an attempt to influence reader’s attitudes about the subject matter” (90). In order to effectively persuade our audience, we must not only write skillfully, but also be able to send a clear, interesting, and concise message. In chapter two of the above mentioned book, Goshgarian provides various articles with insights on how to improve our writing. I found “Beware the Trap of Bore-geous Writing”, by Ayelet Waldman; “The Case for Short Words”, by Richard Lederer; and “Saying is Believing”, by Patricia O’ Conner very interesting as they all highlight the importance of writing clearly and provide valuable advice on how to do it better. However, I personally found “Saying is Believing”, by Patricia O’Conner, to be the most helpful resource due to the reasons I intend to explain in this essay.
The biggest factor that plays in good writing in my opinion is how much emotion the writer puts into his or her work. Honestly, a good reader will be able to tell how much effort was put into a writing from the first couple of sentences. If the reader gets a sense of the writing trying to force words into a sentence or trying to stretch out a page you will lose your reader right then and there. If you honestly believe in what you are writing and have interest in the subject matter the reader will be able to read between the lines and actually have a feeling of being there,
There are many different forms and styles used in writing. Writing is a form of communication that is used to document and express ideas people have. Through the years as people grow and learn knew ways of writing, writing awareness of a person will evolve into a much higher level of thinking. From the first term paper a person writes in high school to the papers they hand in at the college level, the writing will have matured over the years. The authors of writing develop new and more sophisticated ways in expressing themselves through the words they use in writing. Throughout history writers have found ways in which they can achieve the goals of gaining the readers attention and keep them interested. A good form of
Furthermore, perhaps the greatest contrast and the most evident of how language works differently in various types of writing is the discussion blog post. The blog post allowed the class to engage in different types of formality of language. The formality of the language one uses should match the formality of the situation and the relationship between the writer and reader. Therefore, as the public audience was a class of online students taking a required writing course in the summer, the formality of my writing has often been very informal. For example, in my blog post addressing my concern over the unworthy power of Beyoncé I wrote, “It was the year 2008 when the world was blessed with the images of Beyoncé (unapologetically) dancing around in a leotard. Not only is Beyoncé’s single lady video one of her most notable hits it begins her what is now a decade long relationship ending spree” (Marquis, 2016 ). The formality
Mostly, words represents simple language communication and stand for a carrier of people’s emotion. For example, I felt very upset and frustrated when I got a few deny letters from some universities I applied in the last year of my high school. During that time, every single word from these letters turned to be sharp and dreadful. However, when I have a chat with my old friends, I usually enjoy every moment of texting and also enjoy every word I type during those chats. In general, whether I like or dislike some certain words, it is not only depends on words itself, but also depends on the words-using in its different situations.