The Last Word By Kristen Harris

Before I knew our class would be creating its own blog this semester I was always very curious about how blogs worked. I am not gifted in computer technology or design so the thought of actually beginning my own blog was a little intimidating. Luckily, I got to learn what blogging is all about in a friendly and supportive environment. This term we have covered a variety of composition parts that are necessary in professional writing. Creating posts that review what we have learned in class has been a great tool; it has allowed me to retain more than what I would have in just a pure lecture session.

Through this process I have learned some of my own limitations as a writer. I have also been able to experience new challenges that have made my writing stronger. Now I have the courage to begin using the internet as a platform for my future writing. I think the majority of my future work will find its way to the internet, after many hours of proofreading that is. If this does happen, I may use this website to know where to start! From here the world is my oyster, and I am a pearl peeking out of my shell. We have come a long way since our first project together. I look forward to reading everyone’s final posts and I wish everyone luck in their future endeavors.



My Posts:

1. Introductory Blog Post
2. Grammar Detective
3. Agreement of Pronoun and Antecedent
4. Dangling Modifiers
5. Word Power
6. The Dictionary

My Comments

1. Murriel Mapa
2. Cassiby
3. Brieanne Graham
4. Sarah and Rachel
5. Ramona Korpan
6. Jennifer Kerr
7. Jessica Lloyd

Lecture 13: Final Class

Come to class to collect the exam outline AND to collect some marked work.

You will then be able to go to the library or to a computer lab to complete your blog term projects which are due by 5:00pm on Monday.

This way, hopefully, we'll avoid the "blah blah blah" as noted in the cartoon.


PROW-100-2 Foundations of Composition Exam CAC 435 14-Dec-2009 13:00 - 16:00



Note: Cartoon from Abdur Rahman’s Corner

Learning is a Process By Shayna Fehr

Brieanne Graham said this in one of her posts, “Although “knowledge is power”, I believe that there is also power in learning new words, new tenses or new facets of English grammar.” I agree with her. I’ve learned much throughout this term, most of which has been about grammar. While some concepts came easily, others did not. Perhaps some of the most complicated subject matter for me to master was complements. Don’t ask me why, but it took me a while to grasp the concept of completing the verb. Even now, after typing it out, it seems so simple.

To review lets go over what complements are what their role is in speech. Complements are pronouns, nouns, and adjectives. They are used to complete the verb in a sentence. A complement can be a predicate noun, a predicate adjective, direct object, indirect object, or an objective complement. To view a video, and learn more about these types of complements go to this website.

We also need to understand that we may not know everything, but we can come a little closer after accepting that learning is a process, and being open to new material is a great first step.

Starting to Notice by Brent Stempfle

Ramona's post on poor grammar in public locations certainly made sense to me. I myself have noticed on several occasions that billboards, advertisements, etc. are severely lacking in grammatical expertise. Certainly the use of proper grammar is secondary in marketing to the success of the advertisements. Certainly marketing firms don't care about grammar, and there's no reason for them to care.

It is just very interesting to spend my days learning proper grammar in this professional writing course, and to then see billboards using the wrong form of the words their, there, they're, your, you're, to, too, its, it's, and countless others. Beyond this, whenever I visit home, I often happen to notice a number of these errors, and being the only one of my friends taking a professional writing course, I am often the only one who notices them. I am then faced with a dilemma: play the nerd card and criticize the error with people who don't care, or keep quiet. If only people could just use proper grammar all the time, life would be so much simpler.

"Senseless" by Brent Stempfle

There are a number of different forms of writing that populate the internet. Shawna made an interesting post covering a number of these phenomena. Despite the large number of intelligent, coherent writers, the advent of public internet use has provided a haven for complete and utter idiocy. I am referring to what is known as "leet speak," or, as it is written in it's own form, "1337 $P34I<."

This has been found across the internet, most notably on public sites such as facebook and youtube. The main question is why. It doesn't make things any simpler to write as txt spk does, in reality it makes things harder to write. It is extremely difficult to read, and yet not hard enough to read to be used as code. It seems as though leet speak is used by people who need to feel different, regardless of how.

Let's Talk Text-Speak by Kayla Gaffney

Text-speak is defined as a way of conveying longer words and phrases by using substitutive letters, numerals or characters. Oddly, this new form of writing can not be translated easily into a verbal format. As demonstrated in the assignment asking us to re-type articles into text-speak, this form of language comes with it's own form of difficulty. Young students are incorporating text-speak words into formal essays. As Shawna Blumenschein writes is her own text-speak blog,"The habit of using text speak in one's writing is a mistake." It is a strong belief that shortening the English language ruins the beauty that words express.  

John Humphrys speaks about how slang words are affecting the English language in a negative way in his article I h8 txt msgs: How texting is wrecking our language. He expresses his view on how  dictionaries are becoming a thing of the past and that without searching for a word in a dictionary, there is no voyage in writing. While I agree that text-speak has no place in settings that are formal, such as schools or an office environment, I believe that using this form of language is sufficient for sending personal messages. It adds variety to language while not resorting to a thesaurus. Text-speak creates its own art by taking letters, numbers, and symbols and turning them into pictures. Text-speak may not be ruining our language, but it has no place in formal environments. 

Add a Little Spice – Shayna Fehr

Adjectives and adverbs bring a special element to writing. They bring something no other part of speech can – spice. We learned this in our very first class in PROW 100. These two types of words modify, or change a word’s meaning.

First, let’s take a look at adjectives. This website has a detailed definition of adjectives. As I mentioned before, adjectives modify the meaning of a noun. Take this sentence for example, “The best men are kings.” In this sentence, “best” modifies men. Adverbs are very similar to adjectives in the way that the modify words. The difference between the two is which words they modify. Adverbs modify verbs. Go here to learn more about adverbs.

Kristen Harris used the phrase in one of her post, “The greatest resource writers have is their own minds.” I’d really have to agree strongly with her thought here, but adjectives and adverbs are also a powerful resource to use. They allow writers to bring a broader scope to their writing, by enlarging their parts of speech toolbox. They also allow writers to expand their imaginations. All of a sudden a fence can be blue, red, or pink! Use adjectives or adverbs to bring an interesting aspect to your writing.