An example of good speech
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter./ Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace---but there is no peace. / The war is actually begun! / The next gale that sweeps the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! / Our brethren are already in the field! / Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? / What would they have? / Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chain and slavery? / Forbid it, Almighty God! / I know not what course others may take; but as for me , give me liberty or give me death!
It attacks the best minds, and gradually destroys the critical faculties, making it impossible for the sufferer to detect gibberish in his own writing or in that of others. (It does harm to the most intelligent individual and, by and by, wears away his ability to judge, eventually reducing him to being unable to detect nonsense either in his own writing or in that of others.) He learns to write gibberish by reading it, and by being taught to admire it as profundity. (He reads gibberish, and gradually he forms a habit of writing gibberish himself, which he has been instructed to learn as exemplary writing of sophisticated taste.)
The Qualities of Good Writing
1. Economy- main points: efficient (no unnecessary words) and aesthetically satisfying (a maximum of sharply compressed meaning) (para. 4) 2. Simplicity -- main points: natural and unpretentious in style; "Be yourself" (paras.5- 7) 3. Clarity -- main points: clear, orderly, readable, understandable prose; informative, engaging, and even poetic (paras. 8 - 9)
Difficult Sentences for paraphrasing
Despite all the current fuss and bother about the extraordinary number of ordinary illiterates who overpopulate our schools, small attention has been given to another kind of illiterate, an illiterate whose plight is, in many ways, more important, because he is more influential. Finally, with both of us combining our linguistic and imaginative resources, finally, after what seems another hour, we decode it.
A STRAIGHT-A STUDENT VS. A STRAIGHT-A ILLITERATE
A Straight-A Student is a student who gets A's for all the courses he/she takes. Yes, he/she is. A straight-A Illiterate is a well-educated person, typically straightone Ph. D. degree, or working toward it, and with a high I.Q., but disable by long-term exposure to academic jargon to write in clear, plain English. Pleasure principle: Man is both a biological animal and social being. In keeping with his biological endowment, man tends to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. This truism is known as the "pleasure principle". (Collier's Encyclopedia)
way of organizing his essay to attain the aim:
• In the first paragraph what Degnan does is to define the term straight-A illiteracy, which is highly necessary as it is a phenomenon little thought-of by the general public, and besides, the term itself is apparently paradoxical. • Although there seem to be no obvious cohesive ties between the first and the second paragraph, they are closely connected in the sense that in the second paragraph Degnan uses his personal experience as an example to illustrate the definition he has given in the first paragraph. • If we take what he has narrated in the second paragraph as a specific instance of straight-A illiteracy, the third paragraph is a generalization of the phenomenon. • The cause stated in the concluding paragraph is suggested in the third paragraph with the sentence "Taking his cue from years of higher education, years of reading the textbooks and professional journals that are major sources of his affliction . . . ."
Unit ten TEXT II The Qualities of Good Writing
PRE-READING QUESTION BRAINSTORMING:
What are criteria for a good writing?
Main Idea of the passage The author of this passage elaborates qualities of good writing --- three major elements and humanity in writing. Structure of the passage Para. 1-3: introduction of the topic ---What is good writing? Para.4 - 9: three major qualities of good writing Para10—11:the human nature of writing or humanity in writing
Unit Ten TEXT I
STRAIGHT-A ILLITERACY
James P. Degnan
Pre-reading Activities
Warming-up dis: 1) What kind of student is a straight-A student? Is he/she generally admired for his/her excellent scholarship? 2) What do you think Degnan refers to when he speaks of “straight-A illiteracy”? Don’t you think it paradoxical to call someone a “straight-A illiterate”? 3)Why do you think Degnan brings up the subject “straight-A illiteracy”?