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 » September 6th: Sentence Patterns

September 6th: Sentence Patterns

Review #1 Due next week on 9/13

Plan for the Day

  • HOMEWORK #1 DUE on Canvas before 6:00 pm tonight–9/06
  • Sentence Pattern Fun!!!
  • Spelling
  • Word Usage

Sentence Patterns

Kolln & Gray’s Ch.2 “Sentence Patterns” is very helpful in identifying parts of speech. Although you’ll have to identify sentence patterns for HOMEWORK #1, I’m not asking you to remember each pattern for the rest of the semester; however, knowing them does help recognize parts of speech easier, so it’s a great lesson. Identifying sentence patterns isn’t the most helpful for proofreading, but, as I try to move you towards thinking about re-visioning and considering your writing choices for your own work, understanding the parts of a sentence helps you learn grammar vocabulary, which (in theory) improves your writing. The more choices you’re aware of, the more versatile* your writing will be. Remember, this doesn’t mean throw in every technique you learn into each sentence you write–that would be too much. Your goal is a lifelong goal to enhance your writing, so, when the occasion for a particular technique arises, you can use it effectively. I want you to use these techniques but also appreciate good writing, which an editor must be able to do.

*It’s a writer’s versatility–ability to adapt messages for a variety of audiences–that makes them effective, meaning employable. While I’m on the subject of writing and employability, if you aren’t reading, you will never become a good writer. That goes for professional, technical, legal, and creative writing. The best writers are avid readers. The creative writing faculty will 100% back up this previous statement.

Think of it this way: If you only put butter on your pasta, you’re missing the cornucopia of possible flavors to enhance what is essentially a bland noodle. Which sauce would you rather eat?

Childish SauceMarinara SaucePuttanesca Sauce
salt
butter          
salt
extra-virgin olive oil
garlic
crushed tomatoes
basil
oregano    
salt
olive oil
onion
garlic
Roma plum tomatoes
Kalamata olives
tomato paste
capers
anchovy fillets
fresh basil
crushed red pepper flakes

Clearly, puttanesca sauce is the more flavorful sauce for mature palates.* Of course, some diners will scoff at such deliciousness as “anchovy fillets” or “Kalamata olives.” This is where audience and purpose comes in. If you’re serving a meal with the complexity of flavors puttanesca sauce offers, but your guests (the audience) can’t appreciate that complexity, your meal is doomed. Sometimes you just need to heat up some (faux) chicken tenders and pass judgement…silently. I once worked a pasta place in the food court of a shopping mall. We had the BEST food, the freshest ingredients, and the highest prices. It’s hard to compete with cheaper food. Having the best tasting food isn’t the only factor.

*By the way, what’s the difference between palate, palette, pallet?

The key isn’t to throw everything into the essay, document, or pot; instead, you should find words, structures, etc. that complement your writing, leaving readers satisfied with your creation. Additionally, you should recognize when certain prose styles are more appropriate than other. You have to remember AUDIENCE and PURPOSE. To stick with our extended metaphor on sauce, consider the above as bland, average, and elevated. You wouldn’t serve puttanesca to children because they can’t appreciate such flavors–they’re too strong. Likewise, you wouldn’t serve salt and butter with pasta to a group with refined palates, foodies and other such folks. If you’re preparing dinner for more average tastes, you’ll probably serve a typical marinara sauce for dinner. The same logic goes for writing: if your audience is children or readers below an 8th grade level, you’ll aim for less complex prose. If you’re writing for a wide general audience, you’ll aim for an average level of diction and compound sentences but not too many complex sentences. Finally, if you’re writing for an academic or specialized audience, you’ll probably aim for a more elevated prose style.

However, don’t mistake “elevated prose style” for complexity for complexity’s sake. Trying to obfuscate your meaning through cumbersome prose isn’t ever appropriate. In fact, it’s unethical to intentionally (or inadvertently) confuse you audience. Technical communication, specifically, and professional writing, generally, may deal in situations where unclear messages can cost organizations time, money, and reputation (ethos). You need to match your prose style to your intended audience to have the most effective message possible. This course is supposed to help you build the choices possible.

Ch. 2 Sentence Patterns

I hope you read and re-read the chapter.

Types of Verbs

From this chapter, we learn these categories of verbs:

  • be verb patterns…look for am, is, are, was, were, and, of course, be.
  • linking verbs…look for verbs that link the subject to a subject complement.
    • Yes, there are linking be verbs, and we need to understand the distinction.
  • intransitive verbs…these are action verbs and the sentence can be complete with a subject and intransitive verb. “No complements required” (p. 21).
  • transitive verbs…these are also action verbs, but they ALL take a direct object.

Below are the seven basic sentence patterns (from p. 24):

  • Pattern 1 (P1): Subject + Be + Adverbial
  • Pattern 2 (P2): Subject + Be + Subject Complement
  • Pattern 3 (P3): Subject + Linking Verb + Subject Complement
  • Pattern 4 (P4): Subject + Intransitive Verb
  • Pattern 5 (P5): Subject + Transitive Verb + Direct Object
  • Pattern 6 (P6): Subject + Transitive Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object
  • Pattern 7 (P7): Subject + Transitive Verb + Direct Object + Object Complement

The book isn’t too clear on this next point, but Commands (Declarative) and Questions (Interrogative) have other sentence patterns. If this were a linguistics class, we might explore those in detail. Because our focus is on writing, editing, and rhetorical effects, we won’t spend time on those other sentence patterns. Again, memorizing sentence patterns isn’t the goal of this course; instead, understanding the parts of speech and how to make appropriate prose choices is. For instance, wouldn’t the previous sentence flow better this way:

  • Again, memorizing sentence patterns isn’t the goal of this course; instead, understanding the parts of speech and making appropriate prose choices is.

It might not be clear now, but the above revision is more concise, which is usually a goal for technical communication. After reading the next few chapters, you’ll understand the names of a variety of clauses, which will help you both write more effectively and explain your editing decisions more thoroughly.

Knowing the structure of a sentence means you can change emphasis based on placement. This–considering emphasis in a sentence–is more important than memorizing names. Notice how writers can focus or emphasize readers’ attention through word placement. Pattern 2 has the subject complement at the end of a sentence and “puts greater emphasis on the adjective” (p. 20). In Pattern 6, we can “[shift] the indirect object to a position following the direct object” to emphasize (usually) the recipient of the action:

  • Alison bought me a beer.
    Subject [Alison] + Transitive Verb [bought] + Indirect Object [me] + Direct Object [a beer]
  • Alison bought a beer for me.
    Subject [Alison] + Transitive Verb [bought] + Direct Object [a beer] + Prepositional Phrase* [for me]

I know which I’d want to emphasize…Remember, the Indirect Object is usually (not always) a person, animal, or group and receives the Direct Object–“a beer”. The Direct Object is the goal of the verb–“bought” is the action in the sentence above. The subject is usually the one doing something to the direct object.

  • Who or what is doing something?
    Alison bought.
  • What was done to the beer?
    The beer was bought.
  • For whom was the beer bought?
    The beer was bought for me.

As Jim Morrison would say, “I woke up this morning, and I got myself a beer.” Notice the sentence emphasizes beer.
Also, the alternative “I woke up this morning, and I got a beer for myself” doesn’t have the same tone: emphasizing myself is less artful.

Prepositional Phrases: Preposition + Object of the Preposition

In the above sentence,

  • Alison bought a beer for me.

“for me” is a prepositional phrase, and “me,” specifically, is the object of the preposition. This issue won’t come up for us, but I have to mention that the unit, while it operates pretty much the exact same way as an indirect object, technically isn’t one {I will not test you on this distinction}. I’m taking the time to name this structure to highlight a common mistake. The object of the preposition spot must be in objective form. Therefore, these often misunderstood phrases are correct:

  • You need to buy Rick and me beers.
  • You need to buy beers for Rick and me.
    {‘I’ is the subjective form and not appropriate in the object of the preposition spot.}

For rhetorical grammar, I’m more interested in you(r) knowing that what comes at the end of the sentence has the most emphasis, so you can consciously choose what you prefer to emphasize in your own work.

HOMEWORK #1 is based on Exercise #4 (p. 21), #5 (p. 26), and #6 (p. 28). The questions aren’t identical, but, if you can do the ones in the book, you should have no trouble with the assignment (or the later assignments). Do all the internal chapter exercises. The end-of-chapter exercises are beneficial, but you should do all the sentence exercises for practice.

Barrett’s Perfect English Grammar

Barrett’s Perfect English Grammar will be supplemental for this semester, but you’re required to read it, and the material will show up on quizzes and exams. You should notice some overlap between the two textbooks, but, if you find any contradictions between them, take note. Remember, think of grammar not as autochthonous rules but conventions or standardized practices.

Words to ponder…

  • Likable or Likeable
  • Movable or Moveable
  • Lovable or Loveable
  • The OED has a say…Likable, Movable, and Lovable
  • O vs. 0 {subtle…the letter ‘O’ and the number ‘zero’
  • Fricking
  • Frigging

Barrett makes a nice attempt to make us feel better about our misspellings when he claims, “studies show that good spelling isn’t necessarily a sign of intelligence” (p. 41). While I agree with him, we all know how embarassing it is to mispell words or use the wrong spelling. Doing so effects our self worth, making those of us with self-depreciating values whale with lamint. Due yourself a favor and review those homophones (homonyms) on pp. 44-46. Your going to understand there impotence, and I hope I’ve peaked you’re interest. {Please note the above “mistakes” are for a specific effect.}

I once wrote an e-mail to the happy hour crew explaining where we’d be congregating at the Flying Saucer (a bar where you can see my plate, #112), and I gave the following directions:

  • We’re in the back room of the Saucer. When you come in, go back to the kitchen and turn right passed the bathrooms…

Well, I never heard the end of it from one particular person (who may or may not have been the President of the faculty at the time). Most of the University loves it when English professors make mistakes, and they love to point them out. Beware of your audience…they can be brutal.

Word Usage

Barrett advises writers not to “use a thesaurus to find new words….because a thesaurus does not always indicate which words are appropriate for which contexts” (p. 18). Let’s consider a lesson that highlights this. Look back at August 30th’s lesson on Word Usage for more details on that.

Next Class

Keep up with the syllabus! Next week, we’ll cover Ch. 3 in Rhetorical Grammar and Ch. 6 in Perfect English Grammar. Review #1 is due next week, so submit that on Canvas before 6:00 pm on 9/13.

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