Summary Of Prescriptive Writing By David Foster Wallace

Another aspect that Wallace goes in depth with is our current writing system. He describes how currently, our education system is leaning more toward a descriptive type of writing style, rather than the traditional and formal prescriptive writing style. Language changes so often that even the way teachers are expecting their student to write are different from that of 20 years ago.

When I first entered english composition 1101, I expected this course to be manageable. As an outstanding english student at Clarke Central high school, I believed that I had enough knowledge to excel in this course with no challenges. Dr. Catherine Rogers was able to knock me off of my high horse and make me realize that I has a lot more to learn about reading and writing. She is very comprehensive and analytical, which caused her to give me a c average on my midterm assignments. I put the blame on myself because I believe that I should have been more open to Dr. Rogers’ methods with pre-writing and revision. Now I think highly of reading and writing.

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.

Lavenders’ ESL class, she decided that it was time for me to attend regular classes. I was so afraid, not because I would not be competent in the classes, but because I did not think I was ready for a full emergent in the language. I was competent and knowledgeable on the subjects assigned, Geography, Math, Science, but English? I was just completely in a mortified stage. Would I understand the teacher, classmates? Would I be able to speak clearly enough, so they would understand me? That weekend, before I was to report to my first all-English class on Monday, I did not sleep nor could I eat anything thinking about that moment. Monday morning I walked into Mr. Garfield English classroom. Mr. Garret was aware of me been assigned to his class; he was standing right at the door. When I came in, the first thing Mr. Garret did, was to ask the class to be quiet for a minute. He then proceeded to introduce me to them. I had never felt such a panic as I did at that moment. I was sweating, quivering; I felt a thousand eyes just staring at me. Mr. Garret quickly noticed my somber demeanor and immediately asked me to have a seat. I am sure he thought I was going to have a panic attack, and I’m not sure if I wouldn’t have if he did not step in quickly and asked me to have a

In high school, I took both AP English Language and AP English Literature. These courses prepared me well for college composition courses, but left me in the dark regarding the personal style development in writing and writing patterns. I was trapped in the high school, five-paragraph essay form that constricted my thoughts for so long. Discourse 300 enabled me to move past the form and explore new ways to compose writing. This in turn has made my thoughts more complex and concise. I have learned to sustain a logical argument in a much more organized manner and justify it as well. My writing was finally rid of all the “fluff” and “padding” that was a necessity in high school to reach a word count. Another improvement I made

Kolbe Griffith Professor Sanders English 1010, PS5 3 October 2016 Annotative Bibliography Wallace, David Foster. " David Foster Wallace, In His Own Words. " College, Chattanooga State Community. Writing on the River.

In sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, I was blessed with a wonderful English teacher, Mr. Trucano. Many of my classmates felt he was strict and maybe a little OCD, but I felt different. Mr. Trucano developed his own system for teaching English. His system came every easy to me and brought enjoyment. I was learning college level English at sixth grade. For three years, I learned how to structure and edit sentences, create outlines, write papers and so much more. However, three years were not enough time for him to teach me everything there was to English. I discovered high school would not compare with Mr. Trucano since I had not learned anything new.

My junior year was the first time I had enrolled in an Advanced Placement (AP) English course. Going into this course, I was expecting to read a lot of books and write a multitude of papers (which we did). What I was not expecting, although, was to learn how to read faster, write effectively, defend

Coming into college, I have had experience in writing analytical essays, research papers, and creative writing projects. For two years in a row I had the privilege to be taught by the same honor’s English teacher—Mr. McConahay. Mr. McConahay constantly stressed the importance of writing. He spent the past two years preparing us for college level writing because he knows that in college, writing is a big part of one’s English class. We wrote about American citizenship and what it meant to be a citizen of the world as well as a citizen of one’s community. Mr. McConahay valued structure and a good thesis the most out of anything. This writing was very difficult for me because my mind works more creatively than it does analytically. Academic writing has always been my weakest attribute when it came to schooling. I would much rather write a paper full of opinions or made up people rather than write a research paper. Though his class was hard for me, I noticed a difference in my writing as it improved over the course of the years. Mr.

Throughout middle school my classes were all the same, I showed up, learned, received my assignments, and left. There was one class that was different; it was my Language Arts class. The teacher’s name was Mrs. Lorentsen and she was not the average teacher. For example, in her class we rarely had lectures and I can remember vividly my adventures with her. We completed assignments that were called Independent Study Projects (ISPs), Common Place Books (CPBs), and completed 3D book reports. These are all different ways of presenting information through creativity and problem solving. These foreign type assignments seemed strange at first, as they are different from a traditional classroom setting. I quickly adjusted to her classroom, and learned that I enjoyed this style of learning. Throughout the class Mrs. Lorentsen and I both noticed a commonality in my writing. Putting my thoughts and opinions on paper became a struggle for me.

In the 5th grade I had a teacher that taught me the basis for where all my reading and writing skills come from today. I still use little hints and trick while writing that I encountered way back in the 5th grade. For instance, she taught me a trick to spell friend, she said friend ends in “end”. She also taught me one of the most basic rules of English; I before E except after C. The only thing I remember about my 6th grade English class is that I absolutely hated it. I do not know for sure whether it was the teacher or the repetitive structure of the assignments but my attitude towards English class took a turn for the worst. My 8th grade year is where I had to start getting serious about English again because I was going to be a big high school student the following year. This was the year where I started paying attention to the structure and techniques used while writing. This is also where my reading comprehension skills started to

​In the beginning of my educational career, I detested anything that pertained to writing: paragraphs, fill-in-the-blank sentences, and especially poetry. However, a 10th-grade English class changed my perspective on the necessity of conveying my thoughts onto paper with effectiveness, and writing became the cargo boat of my thoughts- the manifestation of my progressively maturing mind. I began to write daily- approximately 4 pages per day- and I developed a writing skill that my friends envy and a unique eloquence that their tongues could only wish to formulate on their own. As an extension of my 11th-grade AP English class, I read additional works of writers we learned in class from different periods- Emerson, Twain, Fitzgerald, and Thoreau-

Throughout my academic career, I haven’t given writing much of a chance. Instead, I gravitated towards math and science subjects. I believed that writing wasn’t one of my strengths, which caused me to not enjoy past composition courses. This opinion changed during my writing process for “Strategic Devices,” my rhetorical analysis of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail. As I analyzed the skillfully crafted letter, I was reminded of how powerful writing can be, and, when used for good, words can transform the situation that they are spoken into. In English 121, I have learned many new aspects of writing, grown as a writer, and developed a fresh perspective towards composition. Through this progress, I hope to become a positive impact in my sphere of influence.

I have had numerous English classes from the time I was six until now. In these English classes I have learned much, ranging from forming simple sentences to learning about adverbial clauses. In my most recent English class, however, I learned little. Mrs. Childers, my English II teacher, taught us how to analyze different texts, and she taught several dozen grammar rules- most of which I had already learned. Even though I experienced high and low points in the class, I discovered a strength that I did not know that I possessed.

Flateby (p 190) argues that critical and creative writers must use descriptive words. I am now able to utilize descriptive words in my writings that are capable of creating a scenic imagination to the reader. I am also able to write a reported speech. These are writing skills that I gained after writing the paper on Obama’s acceptance speech. I believe that these are very critical skills that will help me throughout my entire course and even after my studies.