Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Improve Your Writing

When you write, above all else, experiment with different techniques to see which word combination best represents the stimuli that you seek to capture.  Cast your picture. Read it. Then ask yourself, “Is this communication representative of the stimuli that I want to capture?” What combination of words best represents the picture you want to capture?


Know your options
  • Sentence Fragment
  • Clause
  • Phrase
  • Word
  • Paragraph
  • Sentence
Adjective Choices   
  • Adjective
  • Relative Clause
  • Present Participle
  • Past Participle
  • Linking Verb
  • Infinitive Phrase
  • Appositive Phrase
  • Prepositional Phrase
  • Past Participial Phrase
  • Present Participial Phrase
Noun Choices
  • Noun
  • Gerund
  • Gerund Phrase
  • Noun Clause
  • Pronoun
 Adverb Choices           
  • Adverb
  • Adverb Clause
  • Prepositional Phrase
  • Infinitive Phrase
  • Absolute Phrase
 Verb Choices
  • Transitive
  • Intransitive
  • Di-transitive
  • Complex-transitive
  • Linking
Voice Choices
  • Active
  • Passive
Mood Choices
  • Indicative
  • Imperative 
  • Subjunctive
Punctuation Choices          
  • Comma
  • Period
  • Em-dash
  • Colon
  • Semicolon
  • Parenthesis
Ownership Choices           
  • Apostrophe/Apostrophe ‘S’
  • Prepositional Phrase
  • Possessive Pronoun
  • Relative Clause
Arrangement Choices
  • Where will I put my adverb phrase?  (Read your sentences aloud.  Your ears will help you decide where phrases, words or clauses fit naturally in a sentence.)
  • How far will I situate my participial phrase or relative clause from the word that it modifies? 
  • Do I want to reverese my subject-verb order? 
  • Will I use an expletive construction to invert the subject-verb order? 
  • Should I make the reader pause?                                                                                                            

                       
           

Paragraphing

Paragraph Theory

Paragraphs make it easier for the reader to follow the directions given to him by a word or words.  They make it easier to see what the words are pointing to.  A paragraph is an organizational tool, reducing the strain on the reader’s eyes and mind.  Writers use paragraphs to help the reader find the pieces that construct his/her picture.  Effective paragraphing, therefore, improves the pace of comprehension.  This quicker comprehension helps the mind hold the picture together.  In other words, paragraphs help a reader see your picture.

Paragraphing Models
·          
A)    Picture (paragraph v)
             Piece 1 (paragraph v)
              Piece 2 (paragraph w)
              Piece 3 (paragraph x)
              Piece 4 (paragraph y)
              Piece 5 (paragraph z)
·        
B)    Picture (paragraph v)
                   Piece 1 (paragraph v)
                   Piece 2 (paragraph v)
                   Piece 3 (paragraph v)
                   Piece 4 (paragraph v)
                   Piece 5 (paragraph v)


A)  Helps a reader most when the pieces are large: more than one sentence.

B)  Helps a reader most when the pieces are small: usually just one sentence.


Paragraph Utility

Writers use paragraphs

               to shift in person.

               to shift in tense. 

               to shift in speaker.

to aid the reader’s eyes.  (It is easy for a set of eyes to get lost in a sea of words.  Words tell ‘where’ but words don’t control a reader and, what's more, they don't control the reader's eyes.  The reader’s eyes have to be able to find their way around prose on their own.)

to organize the parts of their pictures.  (Paragraphs help a reader find the constituent parts of a picture quickly, and they help clear up ambiguous relationships.)

Put simply, paragraphs make comprehension quicker and easier.


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Writer's Block Remedy

Start the writing process by capturing what you see in your head with words and sentences.  (This can be applied to stimuli that you see with your eyes too.)  Once you have found words that represent the pictures in your mind or the stimuli before your eyes, you can then go back to add stylistic features like an introduction or a conclusion.  Sometimes you will have to re-arrange your text.  But who cares? What matters is that the images you seek to share are captured in words and sentences. 

[Aside] We create words to represent some sensory stimuli--usually visual but also audible, emotional, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory--group of stimuli or collection of groups of stimuli.  Many words can represent a visual stimuli in one context and then an audible stimuli in another. Sentences function similarly to words; however, a picture often accompanies whatever sensory stimuli we set out to show, if we show it by writing a complete sentence.  The combination of subject and verb usually effects a picture.  Active verbs almost always effect a picture.  Ask yourself, what stimuli do I seek to capture here?  What is the best way to capture it? With a word? A sentence? A paragraph? Etc.

1.      What is your purpose for writing?

One big picture?  One big picture and some little pictures?  A bunch of little pictures?

2.      What pictures do you need to achieve this purpose?


When choosing pictures, it is important to consider the assumptions (the conclusions) that your reader already holds, so you can properly assess what you need to establish before you can reveal your picture.  This tenet is vital to the process of communication in general.

            What assumptions do my readers already hold?

How big is each picture in this list of pictures that I want to show?  Do some of these pictures belong to one of the other pictures that I have listed?  Is my picture concrete?  Is my picture abstract?


3.      What kind of progression do I need to achieve my purpose?

A chronological progression? A thematic progression? A spatial progression? A comparative progression?  A deductive progression? An inductive progression? Progression by concession? Progression by addition? Progression by repetition?  Progression by example? Progression by intensity?  Progression by option?  Progression by emphasis?  Progression by qualification?  Progression by visual spur? Progression from the general to the specific? Progression from the specific to the general? 

What picture are all of the pictures modifying?  Is this biggest picture worth viewing?  Does it have significance?  Or is it just a way to hold together all of the smaller pictures? (which, presumably, do have significance to your reader) How can I fold up my pictures? Or what picture can I unfold into them?

4.      How do I want to construct these pictures?

A simple sentence? A complex sentence? A compound sentence?  A compound complex sentence? A loose sentence?  A periodic sentence?  A combination of these?  Is the passive voice an effective way to show this picture?  Have I achieved rhythm with my sentences?  Should I mix in more phrases?  Do I want to jam a bunch of pictures into one sentence?  Do I want to spread them out over several sentences?  Do I want to spread one picture out over multiple sentences?  Do some of my pictures need multiple sentences to be captured representatively?

5.      How will I help my reader find my pictures?

How will he/she know that I have moved on to a new picture?  How will he/she know which pictures advance my purpose?  How will he/she know where each picture belongs?  How will he/she know where to put each picture?

Use paragraphs to make it easier for your reader to find your pictures and their various parts, but let words do all the pointing.


Sunday, January 16, 2011

Inductive, Deductive and Circular Logic

Inductive Logic:

Observations:
X then Y
X then Y
X then Y
X then Y
X then Y
X then Y
X then Y
X then Y
X then Y
X then Y
Therefore:
Assumption: if X then Y (major premise)

In the above, the conclusion is proven by the afore-mentioned observations.  The observations—taken with the physical senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, touch—are the evidence.

Deductive Logic:

Assumption: if X then Y (major premise)
Observation: X (minor premise)
Conclusion: Y (conclusion)

From sensual observations, assumptions are created. Then from assumptions and observations conclusions are drawn.
                       
Senses--> Induction-->Deduction

Circular Logic:

No observed evidence exists to support the assumption.  Instead, an assumption is made with unobserved evidence.

Assumption: if A then B (major premise)
                        Observation: A (minor premise)
                        Conclusion: B (conclusion)
                                    Therefore:
                                                A then B
                                                        Therefore:
                                                              Assumption: if A then B (major premise)

No observed evidence exists to support the assumption: if A then B.  The only evidence that exists to support the assumption, if A then B, is the  unobserved evidence delineated above.  A then B was never observed.