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After you have practiced on the OWL site, Post a response addressing the following: (1) what grammar exercises did you complete on Purdue’s OWL? Why did you choose those? (2) What do you see as your writing strengths and weaknesses? (3) analyze a piece of writing you did for another class. Search for nominalizations, parallel structure, biased language, wordy phrases, and active voice (try to focus on the writing issues discussed in the readings). Discuss what you find, providing specific evidence to support your explanations (this means share specific statements from your previous writing with your analysis). I would like you to seriously reflect on what you need to do to improve your writing. Remember, technical writing is all about clarity and conciseness. Be thorough, be direct and support your claims.
Note: Be sure to include evidence from your own writing.
Please comment on at least two class members’ posts.( in a different paragraph write like 4sentences response to each classmate)
First classmate post:
The grammar exercises I completed on Purdue OWL were Adjective or Adverb Exercise 1, Appositive Exercise, and Count and Noncount Nouns Exercise 2. I chose these exercises because I felt as though these were things I could use extra practice with within my writing. One of my strengths in writing is the ability to engage my reader during my writing process. I would say one of my weaknesses is the ability to dive deep within my writing and make it a certain length. For my ENGL 1102 class I had to write a paper about OJ Simpson and how he used his stature to evade the law. That is the paper I will be searching within for nominalizations, parallel structure, biased language, wordy phrases, and active voice. In this paper I found an example of active voice. In my paper, the prosecutor was talking to the jury, who was Vincent Bugliosi, he stated, “They would not have convicted O.J even if they had seen a video of him committing the murders.” This was a crucial detail in my paper and I am glad I included an active voice at this point of my paper.
Second Classmate:
I am not a concise writer. The exercises on eliminating wordiness were the most helpful of those offered by OWL but I also reviewed Writing Numbers and i/e Rules. For some reason, I have trouble remembering where the cut off is for writing out a word vs. using the numeral. I google the rules whenever this comes up in my writing. I’m also a terrible speller so I picked one of the sections under spelling. However, just because spellcheck is my best friend, does not mean that I’m not a strong writer.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Engaging introductions
Meaningful conclusions
Unique voice
Tangents
Sentence fluency, particularly sentence openers
Being concise
Integrating source material into my work
Overuse of be verbs
I used a positioning paper that I wrote as a model essay for my students for this activity.
Active Voice
The Bronies lit up when they met one another. They hugged, complete strangers.
Wordiness
Original:
I appreciate that the animation is sharp and the dialogue is clever, but it just doesn’t click for me the way some shows have.
Revised to cut down on wordiness:
I appreciate the sharp animation and the clever dialogue, but it just doesn’t click for me the way some shows have.
Original:
I was a first-generationer. My ponies were chubby, short, and generally pretty pastel; although, my favorite was a baby pony with lime green hair and silver-glitter balloons on its hindquarters (what I have only recently learned is called a “cutie mark”). My Little Pony was never my favorite cartoon–that distinction went to He-Man–but I remembered those toys fondly, so I wasn’t too happy to see a new line of ponies hit the shelves in 2010.
Revised to cut out my asides:
I was a first-generationer. My ponies were chubby, short, and generally pretty pastel; although, my favorite was a baby pony with lime green hair and silver-glitter balloons on its hindquarters (what I have only recently learned is called a “cutie mark”). My Little Pony was never my favorite cartoon–that distinction went to He-Man–but I remembered those toys fondly, so I wasn’t too happy to see a new line of ponies hit the shelves in 2010.
Overused Be-Verbs
There was the blue one with goggles nestled in a shock of rainbow-colored hair, suggesting an animal capable of more speed than the small foam wings pinned to the cosplayer’s back seemed capable of. There was, of course, a pink one who was always carrying cupcakes or a bouquet of balloons and running up to greet other Bronies.
Too Tired? Too Anxious? Need More Time? We’ve got your back.