{"id":9570,"date":"2023-01-29T14:35:30","date_gmt":"2023-01-29T19:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/?page_id=9570"},"modified":"2023-02-05T23:15:03","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T04:15:03","slug":"engl2116february06","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/engl2116-014spring2023\/engl2116february06\/","title":{"rendered":"February 6th: Plain Language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Overview of the Week&#8217;s Lessons<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To continue our discussion on prose style, I have several webpages that you should review. Because this is new material for most of you, <strong><span style=\"color: red\">there won&#8217;t be anything new on Wednesday&#8217;s page (2\/08)<\/span><\/strong>. Remember, you should be practicing these lessons by writing\/typing the examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/engl2116-014spring2023\/engl2116january30\/revisingprose\/\">Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/engl2116-014spring2023\/engl2116january30\/sentenceclarity\/\">Sentence Clarity<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/engl2116-014spring2023\/engl2116january30\/euphemisms\/\">Euphemisms<\/a><\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Euphemisms aren&#8217;t always bad, but, if they mislead readers, they aren&#8217;t appropriate for technical communication.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jargon is similar: &#8220;jargon&#8221; is just professional slang, so members of the group will understand the abbreviations and neologisms that communicate ideas.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Jargon isn&#8217;t wrong in the appropriate context<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Using jargon with technical audiences who understand it is acceptable, but using jargon with a lay audience can be unethical&#8211;more on that in a few weeks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/engl2116-014spring2023\/engl2116january30\/proserevisionassignment\/\">Prose Revision Assignment<\/a><\/strong>\u2014Due Wednesday, 2\/15\u2014<em>next week<\/em>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You&#8217;ll turn this in on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/canvas.charlotte.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Canvas<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Word Choice &#8216;Fun&#8217;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Is &#8220;Funner&#8221; a word?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do we determine if something is a word or not? The reading (Tebeaux &amp; Dragga Ch. 4) gives you some do&#8217;s and don&#8217;t&#8217;s for word choice (pp. 59-61), but why do some words work and others don&#8217;t?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t ever let theory get in the way of real world contexts and your own common sense. Click below for the scanned dictionary entries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.uncc.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2014\/07\/Fun.pdf\">Fun<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.uncc.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2014\/07\/FunnerFunnest.pdf\">Funner Funnest<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.uncc.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2014\/07\/syllabuses.pdf\">Syllabuses<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Words scanned from <em>Merriam-Webster&#8217;s Collegiate Dictionary<\/em>. 10th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1999. p. 472 and p. 1194, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Normally, you hear <em>syllabi<\/em> for more than one <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/syllabus\" target=\"_blank\">syllabus<\/a>. You also hear <em>alumni<\/em> instead of <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/alumnus\" target=\"_blank\">alumnuses<\/a>. You may also hear <em>colloquia<\/em> as a plural of <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/colloquium\" target=\"_blank\">colloquium<\/a>. However, you don&#8217;t hear <em>autobi<\/em> for <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/autobus\" target=\"_blank\">autobus<\/a> or <em>spectra<\/em> as the plural of <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/spectrum\" target=\"_blank\">spectrum<\/a>. All the above words have Latin roots, but only some seem to retain the Latin plural suffixes of <em>-i<\/em> and <em>-a<\/em>. My explanation is that <em>alumnus<\/em>, <em>syllabus<\/em>, and <em>colloquium<\/em> are all entrenched words of academia. Common words like bus and spectrum&#8211;both have Latin roots&#8211;aren&#8217;t entrenched in academia (although physicists might use <em>spectra<\/em> frequently). The lesson here is that language separates those who a learned and those who aren&#8217;t. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/guides.library.harvard.edu\/c.php?g=405381&amp;p=6465805\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Traditionally, college students were well versed in Latin (and often ancient Greek)<\/strong><\/a>, so it makes sense that academic words hold onto their Latinate suffixes; after all, going to college was (and still is) a marker of education, and one&#8217;s speech and writing reflected that. Although it&#8217;s important to learn the rules of <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/standard-american-english-1692134\" target=\"_blank\">Standard American English<\/a><\/strong> (SAE), it&#8217;s equally important to recognize that it is an agreed-upon convention of academia. It&#8217;s a standard&#8211;not some natural true or pure version of English. Many people still use dialect and non-SAE constructions as markers of education and, therefore, worth. This is having a critical view of style and literacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For an in-depth discussion on the &#8220;proper&#8221; usage of <em>fun<\/em>, check out <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.worldwidewords.org\/qa\/qa-fun1.htm\" target=\"_blank\">World Wide Words<\/a><\/strong> or <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/grammar.quickanddirtytips.com\/is-funnest-a-word.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Grammar Girl&#8217;s Discussion<\/a><\/strong>. Remember, when it comes to word usage, it&#8217;s not who <em>says<\/em> it, it&#8217;s who <em>hears<\/em> it. You can be perfectly correct in your writing choices, but, if the audience is set on an old-school myth about grammar (not ending a sentence with a preposition, not splitting infinitives, not beginning a sentence with <em>and<\/em>, <em>or<\/em>, <em>but<\/em>, <em>because<\/em>&#8230;). I think it&#8217;s better to understand the rules, so you can break them strategically. Enroll in ENGL 4183 &#8220;Editing with Digital Technologies&#8221; if you want a broader understanding of style (Fall 2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Future Work<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For next week, read Ch. 5 &amp; 10 in Tebeaux &amp; Dragga and preview your\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/engl2116-014spring2023\/engl2116spring2023assignments\/\">Set of Instructions assignment<\/a><\/strong> (Due February 22nd).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember, your\u00a0<strong>Prose Revision assignment<\/strong>\u00a0(three paragraphs) is due on Wednesday (2\/15) on Canvas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview of the Week&#8217;s Lessons To continue our discussion on prose style, I have several webpages that you should review. Because this is new material for most of you, there won&#8217;t be anything new on Wednesday&#8217;s page (2\/08). Remember, you should be practicing these lessons by writing\/typing the examples. Word Choice &#8216;Fun&#8217; Is &#8220;Funner&#8221; a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":9408,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9570","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2HAOx-2um","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9570"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9620,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9570\/revisions\/9620"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}