The English Language
Everyone has a different interpretation of the word, “invention”. However the word is simply defined as; a new device, method of process developed from study and experimentation. An invention is just a mental fabrication; it’s a falsehood (Dictionary.com 2013).1 Although in the essays, “Why I write” by Joan Didion, “Life in a new Language” by Eva Hoffman, and “Basmati Rice: An Essay about Words” by Audrey Thomas, each author has their own view on the English language, how they each began inventing their own writing styles, and also their reasons for why they chose to become writers. These are the three things that make their definitions of invention very particular and their own. In today’s society, there
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Didion also mentions that she comes up with her characters by analyzing a group of people in a specific place. For example, when she comes up with Charlotte from the appearance of a random girl she saw for a second one morning at an airport and from Charlotte she came up with Victor. Charlotte and Victor become an invention of her imagination. Not only did she use other peoples appearance to give her inspiration of a new character she also put herself in the characters shoes and ask herself questions as if she was really the character in the story. Thomas did something similar, although she didn’t invent characters; she invented objects that she had observed. Unlike Didion and Thomas, Hoffman was unable to observe her writings, she couldn’t put herself in someone else’s shoes and she couldn’t use the word, “I” in her writings. She would rather write about a character that she knows, rather than becoming that character like Didion does.
Writing is not just a way of inventing new characters; it’s a way of exploring yourself and finding new ways of thinking. Didion enjoys writing about the people who she invents and then putting her self in their shoes, when she does this she is discovering new feelings and characteristics about herself. Hoffman’s also does something similar; she creates a self - image of herself by writing her diary. By doing so she’s not
Applying the writing skills learned in English 101, which includes determining audience and purpose, organization, and grammar and mechanic usage, is also a major goal for students in their second semester of freshman English. The ability for a writer to determine their audience and purpose is essential for all writing. In my proposal essay advocating a plan to stop texting and driving I said “As the number of collisions from cell phone related distractions rises, something must be done to significantly reduce the regularity of this event. This problem affects all age groups, sexes, and ethnicities and it is in our hands as drivers to create safer, more responsible roadways.” In these two sentences, I stated the purpose of my argument which
While writing, most of us don’t think of the ways we develop and create ideas or how we construct them into words. We don’t think about where we get the ideas from and how we choose to write what we write. Some say our ideas come from our own knowledge and experiences and that we simply make connections. While others say that ideas are always taken from different sources. In the text “Tracing Trajectories of Practice” by Kevin Roozen, Roozen discusses his study which traces the ways in which people write what they write. The text mentions a participant named Lindsey as an example, and explains Lindsey’s process and the methods she uses while writing.
There are many aspects for my mind to conceive while reading the articles why I write by George Orwell and Joan Didion. There are many different factors in triggering an author’s imagination to come up with what they want to write, and why they want to write it. In most writings a purpose is not found before the writer writes, but often found after they decide to start writing.
“Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.” Yusuf Karsh wittily elucidates that character takes time to mature into one of great influence. To achieve this, writers introduce several different literary techniques. Generally, to build a character, writers use direct and indirect presentation. While using direct presentation, the author candidly gives readers information through narration. Indirect presentation occurs when readers receive information about a character from dialogue or an action made by another character. By utilizing these methods, writers can effectively create their characters in a way that successfully collaborate to an intricate plot. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses these techniques to unravel many
Explains the lesson, gives examples, vocabulary, great interaction with students, one on one help, they all participate to answer the book pages, motivates students to speak English, corrects students as they speak, clear and sure of the topic, enjoys class.
Throughout human history, people have been telling stories. Traditionally, stories were not the work of one single author, rather, they used to travel from mouth to mouth in a community, which often resulted in many different versions of the same story. When people finally started writing stories down, it meant that these stories were set in stone and would stay that way for the remainder of time. However, this also meant that stories were a result of a single person thus it was that person’s perspective or version that made it into books. Similarly, the authors of “Red Lights”, “The Boat”, and the “Paper menagerie” have all been influenced by anecdotes and their personal lives are present throughout the stories.
The English language is particularly complex in almost all aspects. Many of the words in the English language have different meanings for the same word. This is not unlike the definition of the different levels of usage. McCrimmon defines the three levels, formal, moderate, and colloquial, by their sentence structure, diction, and tone (McCrimmon 193). ¹ Using McCrimmon’s definitions, authors can determine what type of writing is applicable to each of the three levels. For the formal writings, an adequate example of where readers can find it is in a professional journal, and an appropriate place to find an example of the moderate level is in a weekly news magazine. Also, the best place to look for an example of the colloquial level is in certain sections of the newspaper. All of the levels of usage apply to these different types of writings and assist in defining what each level involves.
Have you ever experienced what it feels like to be bullied for your differences? I was in the 5th grade when I first encountered what it meant to be ridiculed for the way you speak. There was a time when my classmates made fun of another boy for the way he was speaking English. The boy was very quiet and only spoke to his cousin during class. The only language he was comfortable speaking was Chinese. My classmates at the time were taking turns recreating what they thought his language sounded like. Every so cruelly they mocked him in a way that was extremely racist; they were bullying him. I specifically remember one girl telling him, “Does your language sound like, ching chong, chong?”, she proceeded to laugh while she asked him. I never stuck up for him when I heard this, and I feel ashamed till this day that I didn’t speak up for him. Language shaming can come from anyone, and it takes many forms. In “Coming to Language” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, the passage gives us a personal experience, he has with language shaming from a teacher and how it affected his life and his journey of finding freedom through writing. In addition we see, another example of language shaming in “Living with Dyslexia” by Gareth Cook where he talks about his learning disorder and how it altered his relationship with teachers and his life. There is great similarity between Baca, Cooks and I’s encounter with teachers and language shaming. Since I’ve been in college, I have had three professors tell me
Throughout her writing Joan Didion brings up many important points and reasons to write that apply to all types of people from professional writers to average people. Didion uses an approach that allows many people to understand the importance of writing in everyone’s life. In both “Why I Write” and “On Keeping a Notebook” readers are able to find the personal importance of writing from recalling the past, to finding an answer, and even simply expressing personal thoughts and feelings.
Fiction is all over the world, and most people have been influenced by a fiction story, whether the influence is noticed or not. Authors of fiction stories have written for many different reasons. Most authors write to express their life experiences or relationships, where the fiction characters represent real people in the author’s life. Fiction changes the
In order to show a correct interpretation of ‘Text 1’ and its features, its purpose must first be explored and deconstructed through the ‘text user’ feature of the four resource model. This feature asks generally asks three questions; what
Modern English was much more standardized then early modern English. It slowly and gradually established throughout the world and got the most attention in histories of English because it was much more standardize as compare to previous English periods. It was considered as a language for the management of different organizations so, it expanded due to these organizations. Its establishment lead to the industrial revolution. The industrial advancement resulted in the increase of vocabulary of modern English which was related to technology and industry which gave new name to industrial techniques, products and technology, which resulted in the global restructuring of language. With the global restructuring of modern English, it established as the language of advertising and consumerism.
They are allowed to decide whether to work for five or six days each week. In addition, they get satisfactory wages for themselves. Their salaries are decided according to their language background and regions. Normally, tutors from English-speaking countries in Asia earn CA$8 for an hour, and the ones from western English-speaking countries earn about CA$24 an hour. The tutors from English-speaking countries in Asia such as Philippine earn less than the ones from Europe or North America. Still, they are happy with that because each hour they work means more than two hundred bucks in Philippine. Anglophone tutors from various places increase their ability to satisfy needs, for the simple reason that they not only get enough people working but also provide consumers with two different levels of services.
Papa Shen, my father in law, has faced and continues to face some challenges with language since
Have you ever had to learn a completely new language that you had no idea even existed? My parents would only talk in Bosnian at home, so I learned that language from them. I had no idea that the English language was even a real thing, all I knew was Bosnian. When I first started kindergarten, I had no idea what people my age were saying to each other. I couldn’t make any friends back in kindergarten because I didn’t understand anybody. My parents honestly thought I was going to fail kindergarten, because I took so much longer than the rest of the kids in my class to figure out simple words and what they meant. For example, I didn’t know what an apple was. In Bosnian, an apple is called Jabuka (ya-boo-ka). There are some words in certain languages that sound similar, so it would be easier to recognize and learn. But there is no similarity in Bosnian words and English words. I learned the English language, as well as slang, from my teachers and friends, even though it was a long and slow process.