Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Aaron A. Toscano, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Charlotte Debate
  • Conference Presentations
    • Critical Theory/MRG 2023 Presentation
    • PCA/ACA Conference Presentation 2022
    • PCAS/ACAS 2024 Presentation
    • PCAS/ACAS Presentation 2021
    • SAMLA 2024 Presentation
    • SEACS 2021 Presentation
    • SEACS 2022 Presentation
    • SEACS 2023 Presentation
    • SEACS 2024 Presentation
    • SEACS 2025 Presentation
    • SEWSA 2021 Presentation
    • South Atlantic MLA Conference 2022
  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116-014: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • April 10th: Analyzing Ethics
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Homework
      • Ethical Dilemmas to Ponder
      • Mapping Our Personal Ethics
    • April 12th: Writing Ethically
    • April 17th: Ethics Continued
    • April 19th: More on Ethics in Writing and Professional Contexts
    • April 24th: Mastering Oral Presentations
    • April 3rd: Research Fun
    • April 5th: More Research Fun
      • Epistemology and Other Fun Research Ideas
      • Research
    • February 13th: Introduction to User Design
    • February 15th: Instructions for Users
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters More Effective
    • February 1st: Reflection on Workplace Messages
    • February 20th: The Rhetoric of Technology
    • February 22nd: Social Constructions of Technology
    • February 6th: Plain Language
    • January 11th: More Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Audience & Purpose
    • January 23rd: Résumés and Cover Letters
      • Duty Format for Résumés
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • January 25th: More on Résumés and Cover Letters
    • January 30th: Achieving a Readable Style
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
    • January 9th: Introduction to the Class
    • Major Assignments
    • March 13th: Introduction to Information Design
    • March 15th: More on Information Design
    • March 20th: Reporting Technical Information
    • March 27th: The Great I, Robot Analysis
    • May 1st: Final Portfolio Requirements
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • August 23rd: Introduction to the Class
    • August 30th: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • December 6th: Words and Word Classes
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Fall 2023)
    • November 15th: Cohesive Rhythm
    • November 1st: Stylistic Variations
    • November 29th: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
      • Rhetoric of Fear (prose example)
    • November 8th: Rhetorical Effects of Punctuation
    • October 11th: Choosing Adjectivals
    • October 18th: Choosing Nominals
    • October 4th: Form and Function
    • September 13th: Verb is the Word!
    • September 27th: Coordination and Subordination
      • Parallelism
    • September 6th: Sentence Patterns
  • ENGL 4275/WRDS 4011: “Rhetoric of Technology”
    • April 23rd: Presentation Discussion
    • April 2nd: Artificial Intelligence Discussion, machine (super)learning
    • April 4th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • April 9th: Tom Wheeler’s The History of Our Future (Part I)
    • February 13th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 15th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 1st: Technology and Postmodernism
    • February 20th: Technology and Gender
    • February 22nd: Technology, Expediency, Racism
    • February 27th: Writing Workshop, etc.
    • February 6th: The Religion of Technology (Part 1 of 3)
    • February 8th: Religion of Technology (Part 2 of 3)
    • January 11th: Introduction to the Course
    • January 16th: Isaac Asimov’s “Cult of Ignorance”
    • January 18th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 23rd: Technology and Democracy
    • January 25th: The Politics of Technology
    • January 30th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • Major Assignments for Rhetoric of Technology
    • March 12th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 3
    • March 14th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 3
    • March 19th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 3 of 3
    • March 21st: Writing and Reflecting: Research and Synthesizing
    • March 26th: Artificial Intelligence and Risk
    • March 28th: Artificial Intelligence Book Reviews
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 11th: Knoblauch. Ch. 4 and Ch. 5
    • April 18th: Feminisms, Rhetorics, Herstories
    • April 25th:  Knoblauch. Ch. 6, 7, and “Afterword”
    • April 4th: Jacques Derrida’s Positions
    • February 15th: St. Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
    • February 1st: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2 & 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • February 22nd: Knoblauch. Ch. 1 and 2
    • February 29th: Descartes, Rene, Discourse on Method
    • February 8th: Isocrates
    • January 11th: Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Plato’s Phaedrus
    • January 25th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 1
    • March 14th: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women
    • March 21st: Feminist Rhetoric(s)
    • March 28th: Knoblauch’s Ch. 3 and More Constitutive Rhetoric
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • ENGL/COMM/WRDS: The Rhetoric of Fear
    • April 11th: McCarthyism Part 1
    • April 18th: McCarthyism Part 2
    • April 25th: The Satanic Panic
    • April 4th: Suspense/Horror/Fear in Film
    • February 14th: Fascism and Other Valentine’s Day Atrocities
    • February 21st: Fascism Part 2
    • February 7th: Fallacies Part 3 and American Politics Part 2
    • January 10th: Introduction to the Class
    • January 17th: Scapegoats & Conspiracies
    • January 24th: The Rhetoric of Fear and Fallacies Part 1
    • January 31st: Fallacies Part 2 and American Politics Part 1
    • Major Assignments
    • March 28th: Nineteen Eighty-Four
    • March 7th: Fascism Part 3
    • May 2nd: The Satanic Panic Part II
      • Rhetoric of Fear and Job Losses
  • Intercultural Communication on the Amalfi Coast
    • Pedagogical Theory for Study Abroad
  • LBST 2213-110: Science, Technology, and Society
    • August 22nd: Science and Technology from a Humanistic Perspective
    • August 24th: Science and Technology, a Humanistic Approach
    • August 29th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 2
    • August 31st: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 3 and 4
    • December 5th: Video Games and Violence, a more nuanced view
    • November 14th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end
    • November 16th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Preface-Ch. 8
    • November 21st: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Ch. 9-Ch. 16
    • November 28th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ch. 17-Ch. 24
    • November 30th: Violence in Video Games
    • November 7th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes Ch. 1-17
    • November 9th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes, Ch. 18-26
    • October 12th: Lies Economics Tells
    • October 17th: Brief Histories of Medicine, Salerno, and Galen
    • October 19th: Politicizing Science and Medicine
    • October 24th: COVID-19 Facial Covering Rhetoric
    • October 26th: Wells, H. G. Time Machine. Ch. 1-5
    • October 31st: Wells, H. G. The Time Machine Ch. 6-The End
    • October 3rd: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 12th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 19th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Prefaces and Ch. 1
    • September 26th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 2
    • September 28th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 5 and 6
    • September 7th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 5 and 6
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology
    • August 19: Introduction to the Course
    • August 21: More Introduction
    • August 26th: Consider Media-ted Arguments
    • August 28th: Media & American Culture
    • November 13th: Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Part 3
    • November 18th: Feminism’s Non-Monolithic Nature
    • November 20th: Compulsory Heterosexuality
    • November 25th: Presentation Discussion
    • November 4: Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Part 1
    • November 6: Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Part 2
    • October 16th: No Class Meeting
    • October 21: Misunderstanding the Internet, Part 1
    • October 23: Misunderstanding the Internet, Part 2
    • October 28: The Internet, Part 3
    • October 2nd: Hauntology
    • October 30th: Social Construction of Sexuality
    • October 7:  Myth in American Culture
    • September 11: Critical Theory
    • September 16th: Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality
    • September 18th: Postmodernism, Part 1
    • September 23rd: Postmodernism, Part 2
    • September 25th: Postmodernism, Part 3
    • September 30th: Capitalist Realism
    • September 4th: The Medium is the Message!
    • September 9: The Public Sphere
  • Science Fiction and American Culture
    • April 10th: Octavia Butler’s Dawn (Parts III and IV)
    • April 15th: The Dispossessed (Part I)
    • April 17th: The Dispossessed (Part II)
    • April 1st: Interstellar (2014)
    • April 22nd: In/Human Beauty
    • April 24: Witch Hunt Politics (Part I)
    • April 29th: Witch Hunt Politics (Part II)
    • April 3rd: Catch Up and Start Octavia Butler
    • April 8th: Octavia Butler’s Dawn (Parts I and II)
    • February 11: William Gibson, Part II
    • February 18: Use Your Illusion I
    • February 20: Use Your Illusion II
    • February 25th: Firefly and Black Mirror
    • February 4th: Writing Discussion: Ideas & Arguments
    • February 6th: William Gibson, Part I
    • January 14th: Introduction to to “Science Fiction and American Culture”
    • January 16th: More Introduction
    • January 21st: Robots and Zombies
    • January 23rd: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • January 28th: American Studies Introduction
    • January 30th: World’s Beyond
    • March 11th: All Systems Red
    • March 13th: Zone One (Part 1)
      • Zone One “Friday”
    • March 18th: Zone One, “Saturday”
    • March 20th: Zone One, “Sunday”
    • March 25th: Synthesizing Sources; Writing Gooder
      • Writing Discussion–Outlines
    • March 27th: Inception (2010)
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • A Practical Editing Situation
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Fordism/Taylorism
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • How to Lie with Statistics
    • How to Make an Argument with Sources
    • Isaac Asimov’s “A Cult of Ignorance”
    • Judith Butler, an Introduction to Gender/Sexuality Studies
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • Oral Presentations
    • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • Our Public Sphere
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • Punctuation Refresher
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire
  • Video Games & American Culture
    • April 14th: Phallocentrism
    • April 21st: Video Games and Neoliberalism
    • April 7th: Video Games and Conquest
    • Assignments for Video Games & American Culture
    • February 10th: Aesthetics and Culture
    • February 17th: Narrative and Catharsis
    • February 24th: Serious Games
    • February 3rd: More History of Video Games
    • January 13th: Introduction to the course
    • January 20th: Introduction to Video Game Studies
    • January 27th: Games & Culture
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
    • March 24th: Realism, Interpretation(s), and Meaning Making
    • March 31st: Feminist Perspectives and Politics
    • March 3rd: Risky Business?

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 255F
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies » December 6th: Words and Word Classes

December 6th: Words and Word Classes

Plan for the Night

  • ENGL 5183 Rhetorical Analysis Presentations
    • Dyamond and Marian have been generous enough to provide you with these presentations
  • Grading the Copyediting Assignment together
  • Tonight’s Reading
  • Final Exam Fun

Ch. 12: Words and Word Clauses

I think much of this chapter is review, so we’ll treat it as such. That’s nice because you have a cumulative Final Exam in one week (12/13)! I hope you’ve been paying attention and doing the reading. Then again, the final’s only 20% of your entire grade…

Types of Nouns

You probably know that nouns describe people, places, things, and ideas. I like Kolln & Gray’s definition based on form: “A noun is a word that can be made plural and/or possessive” (p. 197). Nouns are one of the parts of speech, and you use them without thinking about that. Let’s consider some types of nouns and rules, pet peeves, and good suggestions.

Countable/Non-countable Nouns

Pretty simple definition. If you can count individual items, you have a countable noun; if the noun is more conducive to a mass–a mass or abstract noun–it’s a non-countable noun. Non-countable nouns (pasta, homework, democracy, etc.) don’t sound right with an indefinite article in front of them (a or an) or in a plural form, such as pastas.*

*Of course, pasta comes from another language that does make the word plural (paste), but that refers to types of pasta: penne, spaghetti, linguine, macaroni, etc. In English, it is more standard to refer to multiple pasta forms as “types of pasta.” Then again, some people call marinara sauce gravy and the noodles spaghetti regardless of the exact type of pasta used…Even worse, Voldemort used to want bland sauce or–it pains me to mention this–butter and salt on her pasta.

The most important thing to remember about these nouns is when to use fewer/less, amount of/number of, and much/many. If you can count individual items, use fewer, number of, and many:

  • Light beer has fewer calories than regular beer.
  • If we reduce the number of cars on the road, we can cut down on pollution.
  • How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man? (Bob Dylan “Blowin in the Wind”)

If the noun doesn’t have discrete items to count, use less, amount of, and much:

  • Light beer has less taste than IPAs. {This is a fact, by the way.}
  • The amount of fat in buffalo wings is enormous.
  • How much (money) for that doggie in the window?
    • When referencing specific currency, use “many”:
    • How many dollars did you make?

On currency, euro is singular and plural, but languages vary on this standard: see England’s and Italy’s usage. While we’re here, ever wonder about compound possessives? I’m sure you have. Notice the difference in the following:

  • Alison and Aaron’s cat is an adorable black kitten.
    • We share one cat, so you only make the second word possessive (‘s).
  • Alison’s and his cat is adorable.
    • If the compound possessive uses a pronoun (his in the case), the noun that comes first is possessive.
  • Alison’s and Aaron’s cars are Hondas.
    • This shows we have two different cars that happen to be Hondas.
    • Too bad they aren’t BMWs…
  • England’s and Italy’s usage is different.
    • Here, the usage is different in the different countries. English speakers often say “euros” for plural, but Italians use “euro” for singular and plural.

Revision needed: The number of pollutions individuals creates is far fewer than the number families generate; therefore, have less children to protect the environment.

Make sure you review the Group Discussion on pp. 195-196. Pay particular attention to #5.

  • We have less than ten dollars to last until payday.

Should you change it to “fewer than ten dollars” because ten, a number, is countable? In standard usage, we say less with money and distance, especially in these situations:

  • I have less than $5,000 saved.
  • This $19.99 price is less than $20!
  • The Flying Saucer is less than five miles from my house.

At this point in your college careers, you shouldn’t be blindly repeating rules; instead, you should be able to explain why some word or phrasing or punctuation is more standard than another. Check out this link for a brief discussion on the less vs fewer issue.

For Group Discussion (pp. 195-196)

Make sure to do this exercise on your own (if we don’t do it in class), but consider that when countable nouns are distances, sums of money, units of time, and statistical enumerations, we often think of them as amounts rather than numbers.

Collective Nouns

These nouns, “nam[ing] a group of individual members,” require context to decide if they should be singular or plural (Kolln & Gray 198). When you refer to the entity as a whole, use the singular; when you refer to the individual members, use the plural.

  • The faculty go their separate ways when the semester is over.
  • The faculty is revolting against upper-administration.

Remember, some, all, and enough will often use the singular form of the verb. But notice the subject-verb agreement of the following:

  • Some of the class is doing well.
  • Some of my students are doing well in class.

Do Exercise #38 on p. 200 to reinforce this material.

Adjectives

We’ve covered adjectives in general, but we haven’t had any fun or funner discussions. Consider the following chart with comparatives and superlatives:

PositiveComparativeSuperlative
bigbiggerbiggest
tinytiniertiniest
heavyheavierheaviest
randomrandomerrandomest
sarcasticmore sarcasticmost sarcastic

What’s the rule?

Now, turn to pp. 210-211 in Barrett’s Perfect English Grammar and think more about funner things…wait! Why is “funner” not a word? Doesn’t it follow the comparative rule above?

Adverbs

These verb modifiers are your friends. Identify the usage rules for the following adjectives and adverbs.

  • The slow driver drove slowly in the slowest Honda ever made.
  • My fast Acura gets me home fast; in fact, I’m home faster than my not-so-fast neighbor.
  • The graceful dancer twirled gracefully across the stage; she performed more gracefully than her fellow performers.

Speaking of “not-so-fast neighbor,” if you’re interested in learning more about when to hyphenate, here’s a great resource, particularly Rules 10-12. Barrett has a cleaner discussion of compound nouns on pp. 113-116 and a discussion of compound adjectives and written numbers needing hyphens (or not) on pp. 192-193.

Also, remember that language conventions change over time, and we tend to close compounds after a while. Also, as we learned (I think we did this) with “high-temperature oxidation” and “high-water mark,” conventions might be different based on different style guides. For instance, what about these words below?

  • video games
  • videogames
  • video gamer vs videogamer
  • video-game player

Wired magazine has a standard: “when in doubt, close it up” (very bottom of webpage). Just be consistent, and consult your specific style guide:

  • MLA Style for hyphens …this is the Modern Language Association
    • not to be confused with the Medical Library Association style
  • APA Style for hyphens
  • Chicago Manual of Style for hyphens
    • Take a look at 7.80: Terms like “web” and “internet”

One more thing…

  • webpage
  • web page
  • Web page

I know, I know…”just give us the $&*%#*@ answer!” It depends on your style guide or organization’s preference, but I’ve noticed a move to “webpage” as the standard.

Qualifiers

I mainly want us to focus on the rhetorical aspects of these words. If you read George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, you may recall Newspeak, the campaign to reduce the number (or amount…) of words in the English language. Instead of excellent or close synonyms, they wanted doubleplusgood. Kolln & Gray tell us qualifiers “modif[y] an adjective or adverb…amplif[ying] or diminish[ing] the meaning of the word it precedes” (p. 205). I don’t want to tell you to eliminate qualifiers, but try to limit them by picking more precise verbs.

  • The manager very softly spoke to his lawyer.
  • The manager muttered to his lawyer.

Your turn. Change the underlined words to more precise verbs:

  • They very quickly ran across the field.
  • The cat very quietly walked across the couch. {Maybe keep one qualifier…but what do cats do quietly? Not sing, of course.}
    • My cat stalks across the couch.
    • Isn’t she adorable?!?

Do the few sentences from Exercise #40 on pp. 205-206. I have suggestions for #2 and #4 below:

  • #2: The foreman gives his orders in a very abrupt manner.
    • The foreman gives his orders in a blunt manner.
    • The foreman gives his orders in a brusque manner.
    • The foreman gives orders abruptly.
      {Does this lose any meaning?}
  • #4: The basketball players seemed really tired as they took the court for the second half.
    • The basketball players seemed exhausted as they took the court for the second half.

Phrasal Verbs

Ever heard not to end a sentence with a preposition? I’m sure it’s something you’ve heard about. Although you may still want to avoid that if you’re writing to someone with an old-school approach to grammar (meaning–outdated), don’t lose too much sleep over it. The following are easy fixes:

  • Where will you be at?
  • At where will you be?
  • Where will you be?

Sometimes using the 2nd approach sounds pretentious and out of place. Know your audience. Also, know what is and is not a preposition. Words can be in multiple parts of speech. Phrasal verbs consist of multiple (usually just two) words, a verb and what looks like a preposition. Verb particles don’t have to follow the verb, but prepositional phrasal verbs do. Consider the following:

  • I looked up your phone number. (particle)
  • I looked up the street. (preposition)
  • I looked up to you. ( particle )
  • I looked up at you. (preposition)

*Highlight the ( ) with your mouse to see the secret.

Notice how you can move the particle up in a different version of the 1st sentence:

  • I looked your phone number up.

If someone attempts to correct you, make them explain the rule. When they can’t, tell them this:

  • Your inability to use English correctly is something up with I’ll not put.

Tell them to “think about it,” and walk away. It’s your mic drop moment.

Pronouns

I only want to pause on two aspects of pronoun usage: 1) hypercorrections and 2) they as the gender-neutral pronouns.

Hypercorrections

  • Buy a beer for Rick and I. (for me)
  • If you have any questions, address them to myself or one of the staff members. (to whom?)
    • This one is particularly pretentious, and you hear it often in formal situations: politicians speaking to the press, business leaders addressing a conference, and managers who don’t really know correct usage.
    • The sentence should read, “If you have any questions, address them to me or one of the staff members.”
  • I glued myself to myself.

Below I don’t have a hypercorrection but an ellipsis. Which is correct and why?

  • You are taller than I.
  • You are taller than me.

Gender in Language

The English language is sexist, and I can easily prove that with one word, but that’s for another context. Kolln & Gray (p. 209) don’t recommend using they as a gender-neutral singular pronoun. However, Barrett claims there’s a 600-year tradition of using they or them as a gender-neutral singular pronoun (pp. 154-156). I advocate using “they” as a singular pronoun. However, be aware of the revision possibilities if you know your audience–possibly the group paying you–has an issue. Like most problems with sexism and racism, they lessen over time as people…expire.

I do recommend following Kolln & Gray’s advice for making subjects plural to avoid labeling gender. I highly advise not using his or her as in:

  • A reporter must leave out his or her personal opinions.

This phrasing has been an interesting 30-year or so experiment. However, while it’s better than using the masculine pronoun to stand for all genders, it still maintains a gender binary of masculine OR feminine, and we’re well beyond such a reductive concept. FULL DISCLOSURE: in work I’ve published and class materials, I’ve used his or her. And, when I’m not careful cutting and pasting, I let his or her back in. I’m fully committed to using they, them, their as both third-person singular and plural and will not apologize in the least. In fact, here’s what I wrote on this subject in the video game book:

It is past time for English to have non-gendered singular pronouns. I use they, their, them, and themselves for both plural and singular pronouns instead of maintaining the he/she binary.

Toscano, Aaron. Video Video Games and American Culture: How Ideology Influences Virtual Worlds. Lexington Books, 2020, note 14, p. 15.

Of course, there was slip…I wrote one chapter nearly ten years before the book was finished (it was an article that got rejected because the editors of the journal were unappreciative of the work) and still had that his or her style choice. Even after my thorough, no doubt impeccable, proofreading, this happened:

  • Once a player understands the grammar of the game, he or she is rewarded by pursuing the best strategy. (p. 87)

Ouch! I also wish I could say that that was the only error I found. It is much easier to proofread someone else’s work then [sic] your own.

Ch. 17: More Usage and Style

This was a quick chapter, so I’m not going to repeat what it tells us. I do have to address funner and funnest. These much-maligned words should be standard usage. I was floored that no one in the English Department understood why they were nonstandard even though they follow the superlative rules above.

Please heed Barrett’s advice to stop double spacing after your sentences (p. 215). Unless you’re using a typewriter–and I’m nearly certain none of you have ever even seen one outside of a museum or movie–you don’t need those double spaces. If you do find you have to edit a document where the author put two spaces after each period, there’s an easy solution. Using Find and Replace, put two spaces in the Find text box and a single space in the Replace text box. Issue solved.

Find and Replace command in Microsoft Word.
Please note that the underscores are supposed to be spaces. Don’t search for ‘_ _’ and replace with ‘-‘.

For my dissertation, which I wrote on a computer, I used two spaces after periods because my committee was still set on that standard, and you write to your audience. When I revised my dissertation into a book, removing those spaces was easy. By the way, reversing this–adding a second space after a period–isn’t an easy fix. Because you have, presumably, a single space between each word, so the universal Find and Replace won’t work. You’d need to Find period + space and Replace with period + two spaces. Of course, you might have periods that don’t just end sentences, so your editing strategy might be a bit more tedious.

Did anyone catch the mistake in Barrett’s Ch. 17? Well, look over p. 211. There will be a final exam bonus question on it. Remember, the page has four corners…

Also, he approves of funner and funnest! Even WordPress puts red squiggles under them, but don’t give in to techno-standardization!

Final Exam Preview

The cumulative Final Exam will have 12 sections. You’ll have about 90 questions and two and a half hours (150 min) to finish.

  • Section 1: True/False Covering Nearly All Topics
    • T/F. Beginning a sentence with “Because” is universally considered incorrect.
  • Section 2: Multiple Choice on Punctuation Violations
    • Jennifer who was recently hired as a management trainee.
      a. correctly punctuated sentence
      b. fragment
      c. comma splice
      d. run-on sentence
  • Section 3: Subjects and Verbs
    • Akiko changed the diaper while riding in the backseat.
  • Section 4: The Rhetorical Effects of Punctuation
    • Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
    • Think “Dancing Queen”
  • Section 5: Revising and/or Combining Sentences
    • Derek’s two-bedroom apartment that was within walking distance of his job. Derek’s apartment overlooking the park.
    • Derek’s two-bedroom apartment…
  • Section 6: Prose Revisions
    • Tonight, presentations were given by your smart, engaging, and able to amuse classmates.
  • Section 7: Coordinating Conjunctions (FANBOYS)
    • This semester has been challenging. We somehow managed to get through it. {Seems like a contrast…}
  • Section 8: Correlative Conjunctions
    • We must be concerned not only with our own health and safety but also with the needs of others.
  • Section 9: Conjunctive Adverbs {I’ll give you a list of words}
    • Corporations and consumers have been polluting the environment for centuries. The planet will most likely not be able to sustain life in the future.
    • Seems consequential, huh?
  • Section 10: Fill in the Blank Punctuation
    • In order to emphasize an aside and speed up one’s prose, Dr. Toscano advocates using a _____________ sparingly.
  • Section 11: Punctuate Appropriately
    • Although I have spent lots of time in Florida I have never gotten used to the humidity
  • Section 12: Punctuation Multiple Choice
    • Which of the following sentences is punctuated correctly?
      a) I’m sitting in the morning sun, and will still be sitting here this evening.
      b) I’m sitting in the morning sun and will still be sitting here, this evening.
      c) I’m sitting in the morning sun and will still be sitting here this evening.
      d) all of the above
      e) none of the above

Next Class

Well, there is no “next class,” but you do have to turn in your Portfolios before Friday, December 8th. Your Final Exam will be December 13th, but I hope to have it available this weekend. You’ll just have to finish that two and a half hour behemoth by 11:00 pm on Wednesday, December 13th, 11:00pm.

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