After we hear our two mini lessons today, we are going to perform a short in-class freewrite. Since I have to attend an NCATE meeting (accreditation), you will be left on your own from 12:30 on. You can either stay in the classroom and type your response here, or do it from the computer room or from home. Be aware that this is a required in-class activity, and there is separate homework for coming Monday, too.
Take about 5 minutes to read / skim through the 9-page article posted as a Picasa slide show HERE. It is the chapter "The Order of Words" by Ken Macrorie. Then, post a 100-words comment to this blog of what word order means to you:
a) Do you pay close attention to word order when you write, or does it come to you naturally?
b) Do you shift words around for stylistic purposes? Why, when, and for what?
c) How secure/insecure are you about using the correct word order?
d) Do you know any examples of public texts where the word order has disturbed you / caught your attention?
e) Do you think word order is a problem nowadays for high school / college students?
The above questions are suggestions for your orientation; you can also mention different aspects that come to mind. The whole activity should not take longer than 15-20 minutes (freewrite).
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I do pay attention to word order when I am writing. Word order comes naturally to me when I am writing materials for class and published documents but I always recheck my work when I am finished. I have never had a big problem with word order but I don't want to start now. When I am writing in journalistic style I tend to shift words for style so I can convey a "mood" in my text. I am pretty confident about word order. I have a way of just knowing when something sounds right together. I can’t recall any public texts where I have noticed the word order because I mainly only pay attention to it within my own writing and not others. I do think word order is a problem for high school students because it is a difficult concept to grasp.
ReplyDeleteI believe that word order is a subconscious factor in my writing. I've had to write so many papers that word order just comes natural. I tend to shift words around to make a sentence sound better but I will not shift the words around to make it sound ridiculous. A public text that I actually like is Transworld Snowboarding. It uses word order in a unique way because the jargon for snowboarders is completely different than regular English. I do not believe it is a problem in high school because that is where I learned to correct it.
ReplyDeleteIn response to paying attention when writing, i do, but sometimes i get on a roll and end up just focusing on getting my thought out of my head as fast as i can before i forget what i wanted to write. I also do try and change my words up and use fancier bigger words to add more atmosphere and flavor to the writing to give it more of an edge. I do feel pretty confident about how i write and what i write about, i feel i'm strong with my writing style and how i write; i also do tend to notice errors in newspapers and things that really bother me, but none i can name off the top of my head to be specific. I do believe word order is a pain and a problems for young students, grammar isn't really fully covered in high schools and early college years, and it makes it difficult for students to say what the want to say in a correct format.
ReplyDeletea) Do you pay close attention to word order when you write, or does it come to you naturally?
b) Do you shift words around for stylistic purposes? Why, when, and for what?
c) How secure/insecure are you about using the correct word order?
d) Do you know any examples of public texts where the word order has disturbed you / caught your attention?
e) Do you think word order is a problem nowadays for high school / college students?
I believe that word order is a problem for high school and college students because most students do not remember the order. When I was in high school, grammar was never taught specifically, which made things harder for me writing papers in college. In college, the only class that actually taught grammar was this class, the rest of the classes just made us write paper after paper. One thing that I do notice is that people from Southern Illinois have trouble using me instead of I. They want to say John and me instead of John and I. This would have been something taught in high school but since some people are so used to speaking that way, it is hard for them to adjust.
ReplyDeleteI pay close attention to my word order while I am writing. However, I think word order is naturally easy for me to understand. I believe it is important for writers to try to maintain a casual feeling to their writing. Shifting word order may result in awkward writing and confusing sentences. I feel very confident during writing because I think I have a firm grasp of word order. Some published texts, however, do not seem to use word order properly. The Daily Egyptian often uses confusing word order and often writes convoluted articles. Word order is very important for high school and college students to master. Most students will be writing in future jobs, so maintaining clear word order should be recommended for students.
ReplyDeleteI do pay close attention to word order when I am writing. Writing has always been one thing that I have always been very good with word order; therefore, it is one thing that I do not spend time worrying about. I guess in some aspects Ido shift things around for stylistic purposes based on what I am writing. I am more dormal when I am doing assigments or papers for school than when I am working on personal stuff. Every now and then I do see articles in the Daily Egyptian that have mix ups when it comes to word order.
ReplyDeleteI do not pay attention to word order when I write because I have never had a problem with it; it seems to come naturally for me. However, I sometimes shift my words around for stylistic purposes but only when it makes the sentence better. I believe that word order is a problem for high school/college students because grammar is usually not taught to them very effectively. Students typically have a hard time with grammar and they often confuse "me" and "I" in their writing because they try to write how they talk and not what is grammatically correct.
ReplyDeleteI pay attention to word order when writing. I think that I definitly pay more attention since I have taken this class. I think that most word order does come naturally. I think the one thing that I have noticed that I have had problems with is dangling modifiers. Sometimes I am trying to get a thought acrossed and forget to pay attention. I try to say a statement in a different way and I do not place the words in the correct spot. I think that usually I am secure in using the correct word order. I think that words such as he or she is not usually confused with him or her for high school or college students; however, I think that dangling modifiers can be problem. People may not realize the are even using words incorrectly until they have taken a grammar class. I do not remember learning about them in my high school.
ReplyDeleteI believe that word order is important in a sentence. I have always tried to pay attention to word order in the sentences I write for school or sentences that I know will be critiqued. I believe that high school students and college students do not get the proper lessons on grammar that they need. I believe that grammar should be required in high school so that incoming freshman do not struggle so much when they get into college. Although I believe that word order is important in professional settings,I believe that word order is not necessary in creative writing. I love creative literature and the fact that it often neglects word order makes it even more appealing to me. I enjoy trying to piece together what authors are trying to say in their unique sentence structures. I don't think there is anything wrong with having no word order in creative writing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I am writing I tend to write how I would speak to someone. So sometimes my word order doesn’t make sense. But once I read my paper out loud I tend to change some of the word orders in my sentences. I don’t really shift words around for stylistic purposes; I’m not that creative or that great of a writer. I can’t think of any examples where public texts caught my attention. I do think word order is a problem for high school students not so much college students. I agreed with everything the article said, it made sense.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the article, "The Order of Words", I feel that there is a difference between word order in speaking and writing. When speaking, in a social environment, I tend not to focus on the order of words, because in situations like these, I tend to speak informally. Opposed to speaking, when writing, I tend to focus on the order of words because in most cases, like school, my writing consists of professional and formal topics. In general, I believe that the order of words develops within an individual throughout time, as they become more intelligent and older.
ReplyDeleteWhen I write I do pay pretty close attention to word order however, it comes pretty naturally to me. I will occasionally shift words around not necessarily for style but to make the point of a certain sentence more clear and easier to understand. Although sometimes I will shift words around to make a sentence sound nicer when read and more emotional by adding clarifying words and adjectives. I feel fairly secure in my ability to use the correct word order however, i could probably use a little more work in that area just to make sure that I do actually understand how to use it correctly. I don't really notice word order in work done by other people however, I have had some friends ask me to look over a paper for them in which case I look out for things like word order. I believe that word order is a problem in both high school and college students.
ReplyDeleteWord order is essential to writing. However, it is something that comes with the writing flow rather than something that needs to be analyzed by me while writing. I do not ever tend to shift words around, but instead let them come naturally to give it a more realistic sound. Insecurity is a non-issue with word order. I have been writing papers long enough to understand word order and what sounds correct. I do recall letters from my teachers in high school where the word order would be odd sounding, often chaning the meaning of the entire letter drastically.
ReplyDeleteWord order is something is a fundament part of writing. Misplaced modifiers and other grammatical errors can make the purpose of a sentence unclear.I find that i switch my words around a lot to make my statements more clear. Also, I feel like I need to switch my words around to make the reading more interesting. I like to vary my sentence structure so i don't sound like a robot. In general I feel like I have a pretty firm grasp on writing in clear context. I have however learned a few more things in course of this class to aid me in writing more clearly.
ReplyDelete