Powerful Writing

Powerful Writing

Relish every word. Aim deep, but be simple.

Take risks. Seek beauty.

Find the right word. (Sin and Syntax, introduction, xi)

FramingFor twelve years you have learned about nouns and verbs, subjects and predicates, adverbs and adjectives, run-ons and fragments. Many of us properly employ grammar skills on a daily basis.

That said, writing is more than merely a correctly punctuated sentence or a sentence in active voice (rather than a passive sentence). A writing piece is a key into your soul: what you think, how you think it, and how that translates into your research, composition, and thought development.

Writing powerfully is a skill that you will never fully master. 95 year old prolific novelists still fine tune their writing—daily! This unit is designed to give you tools and daily challenges to vault your writing to the next level.

Consider the next unit as a pushup—you will be using your own mind as resistance to build stronger writing muscles.

While this unit is entitled “Powerful Writing” you will also be challenged to model good grammar in speaking. Speaking and writing are two stems of the communication section of your brain. Thus, the way that you speak influences the way that write, and the way that you write influences the way that you speak.

So, in class, expect to be asked to rephrase a sentence if it does not include proper grammar.

The Sentence: Nuts, Bolts, Screws, and Wrenches“The harmony between thought and reality is to be found in the

grammar of the language,” (Wittgenstein, The Deluxe Transitive Vampire, xv)

Types of Sentences

Independent Clause• A phrase that can stand

alone as a complete sentence.

• Subject and Predicate• You should be able to see a

clear picture in your mind of what is happening.

Dependent Clause• A phrase that cannot stand

alone as a sentence• Lacking either a subject or a

predicate• The idea in the sentence

doesn’t have a clear picture—it might have an inkling, but you can’t fully picture what is going on.

Types of Sentences

• Simple sentence: Single subject + single predicate (independent clause=SubPred)– The laughing gas worked. – Moths and mammals swerve through the night air.

• Compound sentence: Two or more independent clauses (SubPred + SubPred + SubPred)– The laughing gas worked, and the mania subsided. – The laughing gas worked, the mania subsided, and

the depression lifted.

Types of Sentences

• Complex sentence: One independent clause (SubPred) and one or more dependent clauses– As the laughing gas took effect, the mania

subsided.• Compound-complex sentence: A compound

sentence (SubPred + SubPred) with one or more dependent clauses. – As the laughing gas took effect, the mania

subsided and the depression lifted.

Which type of sentence is this?

• Our sisters and brothers will be reading the will quite soon.

Which type of sentence is this?

• Our sisters and brother will reading and reviewing the will quite soon.

Which type of sentence is this?

• When the stadium was demolished, the debris was trucked off, and the workers started to prepare for the next phase of the job.

Which type of sentence is this?

• Since the motorist was lost, he decided that he would ask for directions.

Which type of sentence is this?

• I wanted to bicycle to Nashville, but the downpour prevented that from happening.

Which type of sentence is this?

• As soon as the building was occupied, the newspaper reporters interviewed the tenants, and the television crews filmed the workers throughout the day.

Which type of sentence is this?

• Because the cheetah is so fast, this animal provides much interest to us.

Which type of sentence is this?

• Yesterday I made a hole-in-one, but today is a completely different story.

Which type of sentence is this?

• If we see that movie tonight, we will need to leave immediately, and I will be able to use my parents’ car.

Which type of sentence is this?

• Let us try and remember when all of this fun began.

Which type of sentence is this?

• These paintings will be replicated and sold in the next few years.

Which type of sentence is this?

• When you think about your future, have confidence in your abilities.

Which type of sentence is this?

• The youngster sat still for the first two hours, but then she became restless.

Which type of sentence is this?

• While the zookeeper helped the older panda, we viewed the other pandas that were in the large exhibit.

Which type of sentence is this?

• My sister lives in New Mexico, and my brother lives in Texas.

Quiz ThyselfPatricia Greenfield has tracked families in Chiapas, Mexico, over four decades. Many were very poor when she started her study. Slowly, over time, they grew wealthier.Along the way, Greenfield noticed something: As the people she followed grew richer, they became more individualistic. Community ties frayed and weakened.Greenfield expanded her findings to form a more general theory about the effects that wealth has on people: "We become more individualistic, less family and community oriented."In a new , the UCLA researcher makes the argument that the same thing has happened in the U.S. over a longer period.Greenfield bases her finding on an analysis she conducted of more than 1 million books published in the U.S. between 1800 and 2000. Greenfield used the Google Ngram viewer, a tool that allows rapid keyword searches of the frequency of words in the books.

Quiz ThyselfPatricia Greenfield has tracked families in Chiapas, Mexico, over four decades. Many were very poor when she started her study. Slowly, over time, they grew wealthier.Along the way, Greenfield noticed something: As the people she followed grew richer, they became more individualistic. Community ties frayed and weakened.Greenfield expanded her findings to form a more general theory about the effects that wealth has on people: "We become more individualistic, less family and community oriented."In a new , the UCLA researcher makes the argument that the same thing has happened in the U.S. over a longer period.Greenfield bases her finding on an analysis she conducted of more than 1 million books published in the U.S. between 1800 and 2000. Greenfield used the Google Ngram viewer, a tool that allows rapid keyword searches of the frequency of words in the books.

Simple

Quiz ThyselfPatricia Greenfield has tracked families in Chiapas, Mexico, over four decades. Many were very poor when she started her study. Slowly, over time, they grew wealthier.Along the way, Greenfield noticed something: As the people she followed grew richer, they became more individualistic. Community ties frayed and weakened.Greenfield expanded her findings to form a more general theory about the effects that wealth has on people: "We become more individualistic, less family and community oriented."In a new , the UCLA researcher makes the argument that the same thing has happened in the U.S. over a longer period.Greenfield bases her finding on an analysis she conducted of more than 1 million books published in the U.S. between 1800 and 2000. Greenfield used the Google Ngram viewer, a tool that allows rapid keyword searches of the frequency of words in the books.

Complex

Quiz ThyselfPatricia Greenfield has tracked families in Chiapas, Mexico, over four decades. Many were very poor when she started her study. Slowly, over time, they grew wealthier.Along the way, Greenfield noticed something: As the people she followed grew richer, they became more individualistic. Community ties frayed and weakened.Greenfield expanded her findings to form a more general theory about the effects that wealth has on people: "We become more individualistic, less family and community oriented."In a new , the UCLA researcher makes the argument that the same thing has happened in the U.S. over a longer period.Greenfield bases her finding on an analysis she conducted of more than 1 million books published in the U.S. between 1800 and 2000. Greenfield used the Google Ngram viewer, a tool that allows rapid keyword searches of the frequency of words in the books.

Simple

Quiz ThyselfPatricia Greenfield has tracked families in Chiapas, Mexico, over four decades. Many were very poor when she started her study. Slowly, over time, they grew wealthier and they grew in status.Along the way, Greenfield noticed something: As the people she followed grew richer, they became more individualistic. Community ties frayed, and relationships weakened.Greenfield expanded her findings to form a more general theory about the effects that wealth has on people: "We become more individualistic, less family and community oriented."In a new study, the UCLA researcher makes the argument that the same thing has happened in the U.S. over a longer period.Greenfield bases her finding on an analysis she conducted of more than 1 million books published in the U.S. between 1800 and 2000. Greenfield used the Google Ngram viewer, a tool that allows rapid keyword searches of the frequency of words in the books.

Compound

Sentence Fragment

• An incomplete sentence, lacking either a subject, verb, or both.

– Knocked for five minutes but got no answer. (No subject)

– The restaurant with three hundred items on the menu. (Lacks verb)

Sentence Fragment

• EVEN IF YOU HAVE A SUBJECT AND A VERB YOU CAN STILL HAVE A FRAGMENT. – Example: Because his car was in the shop.

Sentence Fragment

• EVEN IF YOU HAVE A SUBJECT AND A VERB YOU CAN STILL HAVE A FRAGMENT. – Example: Because his car was in the shop.

Sentence Fragment

• EVEN IF YOU HAVE A SUBJECT AND A VERB YOU CAN STILL HAVE A FRAGMENT. – Example: Because his car was in the shop.

Sentence Fragment

• If a sentence begins with although, while, after, therefore, until, as…

• AND doesn’t have an independent clause (SubPred)

It is a sentence fragment

Although the students, teachers, and faculty who work tirelessly every day were around

during the storm.

Run-on Sentence

• Two or more complete sentences written as though they were one. – TWO COMPLETE SUBJECT AND PREDICATES– Could be a compound sentence written without a

comma before the conjunction• “After school I walked my dog and I went for a run.

– E.B. White was an essayist, he was also a children’s author.

– Walt Whitman was a poet he wrote Leaves of Grass.

How can I tell if my sentence is running on?

1) Find my independent clauses. Underline.

2) Find my coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS).

1) Do I have one?2) Does it have a comma?

3) If I don’t have a coordinating conjunction OR it doesn’t have a comma…

I have a run-on.

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus it is very garlicky.

[My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus] it is very garlicky.

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus [it is very garlicky.]

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus it is very garlicky.

Coordinating Conjunction?

RUN-ON

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus it is very garlicky.

Form your sentence intoa question.

Is my favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus it is very garlicky?

Form your sentence intoa question.

Is my favorite Mediterranean spread hummus?Is it very garlicky?

Form your sentence intoa question.

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus it is very garlicky.

How can I fix it?

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus it is very garlicky.

Add CoordinatingConjunction

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus, for it is very garlicky.

Add CoordinatingConjunction

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus it is very garlicky.

Add Semicolon

(PLEASE, not All the time!)

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus; it is very garlicky.

Add Semicolon

(PLEASE, not All the time!)

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus it is very garlicky.

Add Period(PLEASE, not All the time!)

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus. It is very garlicky.

Add Period(PLEASE, not All the time!)

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus it is very garlicky.

Add Dash

(PLEASE, not All the time!)

My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus—it is very garlicky.

Add Dash

(PLEASE, not All the time!)

Although he had been an often decorated soldier during World War II and had fought many battles for the losing cause of liberalism in Congress.

This is going to be the most difficult exam of your college career, you had better start studying now.

Right after the Christmas holidays and during those three weeks before class begins in January.

Simplicity is powerful.