Blog #7

In my set of papers I dealt with the Antigone based assignments titled Leader Creon, Antigone, and Haemon. The authors all show a decent use of varying sentence length and structures. However, all three papers struggle with the use of commas, and use almost no other way to separate related independent clauses. This leads to quite a few run-on sentences and comma splices. Each paper does use commas at some point, but not always or correctly. This shows experimentation in the area, and a possible vague understanding of the principles of certain comma uses. I believe teaching these students about comma and conjunction combinations, and semi-colons would be very beneficial. [For example], in the Leader Creon paper the author wrote"This shall be a special wedding and I will like to honor them." This example is the only time a word was used in the improper tense; the lack of a comma before a coordinating conjunction is common throughout all of the papers. All three papers also lack comma use after many of the introductory words that require one at the start of a sentence. In the Hamemon paper the author writes"Hopefully the people of Thebes will understand....." As we know the "hopefully" should have been followed by a comma, and this mistake is present in each paper at least once. In the Antigone paper the author wrote"But then when it was all said and done they wanted to take the credit for what I did even though they didn't do anything." This sentence just does not flow very well. It is a continuation of the previous idea, and has numerous grammatical errors. Understanding the semicolon would help correct this sentence, and go along the same line of thought that teaching the comma and conjunction would.

My only question on these papers is what have these students already been taught, and/or do the other papers have these same mistakes in them. I have already listed what I would teach these students, and I have selected these particular mistakes because all three papers made them. The basis for the lessons would be independent/dependent clauses and the ways to separate them. The simplest of these are the comma and conjunction, and the semicolon. Both are also closely related, and that is why I would incorporate them specifically. I would also give a lesson on introductory phrases followed by a comma for similar reasons.

[An introductory phrase followed by a comma]

Non-Blog #2

For my project I am looking at the various forms of language and accents found in the Cajun culture. I also researched much of the history due to the fact that this language has a far different history then much of the USA. This particular culture is almost entirely in Louisiana and the south eastern parts of Texas. For sources I am using a website called Cajunexpressions.com because it features common cajun phrases and their subsequent translations to English and French. I am also using an Ebook I found on Worldcat called Cajun Country by Ben Earl Looney; this book deals with the Cajun heritage, social life, and customs. I will use some notes from wikipedia, but only for minor details and to clarify something I read elsewhere. I am also using an article, also called Cajun Country, by Barry Jean Ancelet that talks about folklore and history of the culture. I am also still looking for another source that talks about the French colonization of Louisiana, but have not found one specific enough. I plan to incorporate all of this into a poster for my presentation. This poster will feature Cajun phrases and their relations to French and English, and also some general information about the culture, region, and accents. So far I have tried to show how Cajun Creole differs itself from French and Enlglish.

" The Cajun Creole is derived largely and mostly from French. To the ear it sounds like French spoken with a rather harsh accent. However, in writing the language is very different from French. Many of the words are written using English spelling and punctuation, and often these words also take on an English pronunciation. For example, "Bonjou, Sa tchob byen" means Hello how's it going in Cajun. In French this phrase is spelled and pronounced as "Bonjour, Comment Ca va?". So while obviously the greetings are similar, the language in itself is very different even if it sounds like possible French."

The story of english

The version of English covered in my video is version called Cockney English. This is most commonly used in South-East England, and a slightly different version became what is now called Australian English.This version of English began as the speech of the lower and middle classes predominate in the Eastern part of Elizabethan England, but was also common elsewhere. This British accent is very pronounced and noticeable. A key trait of Cockney English is the of the th and h sounds in speech. For example, instead of mother or throw someone speaking Cockney might pronounce them as muvver and frow. Lacking the h sound even occurs in words with only the verbal sound, but not the actual letter. Chains would be pronounced chynes. Cockney started out as very widespread in England until the early dictionaries were published featuring pronunciation guides. This caused many English people to shift their language to a more "proper" usage. This caused Cockney to be considered lower class for quite some time. In the last 20 years or so people in England have begun to embrace bits of Cockney in everyday use, and high class English is often considered pompous. However, much of this is not true Cockney. The Eastern England people who speak Cockney have developed something of their own language. The slang is actually incredibly difficult to understand. Backwards pronounced numbers like ruof conveys the same meaning that four does. They have also been known to use words from other languages like Hindi, Yiddish, and even some Roman influences.

Australians speak a very similar style of English, and there is a very good reason for that. In the 17 and 1800s Cockney was still most common in the lower class system, and England decided to round up all the petty criminals in England, Ireland, and Wales and send them to the colonies in Australia.  These petty criminals spoke a majority of Cockney. These people soon began borrowing terms from the aborigines who already lived in Australia; this is where words like kangaroo, dingo, and bilabong(water hole) came from. The common language here soon became a form of English pidgin. The phrase walk about is actually an early form of pidgin. People then began to form their own slang like G'd'ay as a greeting, ducks and geese for police, and dunny for bathroom. For a long time many Aussies felt inferior due to their heavy accents and differing slang terms; many even attempted to correct their English to the more high class British style. However, this inferiority soon lightened considerably and after this movie came out the harsher more heavily accented Australian language reached the main stream through movies like Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin's famous Crocodile Hunter series. This is the style of language most commonly associated with Aussies today.

I found this video to be rather interesting. I had seen before English accents that were very difficult to understand and I had never attributed that to their being different version of the same accent. Also I found it very interesting where the accents and language in Australia came from. The slang on both languages was pretty entertaining because it really shows how a foreign person will not understand your slang even if you are technically speaking the same language.

Blog 6

Original:
In her article Lisa Delpit touches on some very interesting points in her article. In particular, the cases of code switching, Ebonics, and accented workers being considered less intelligent. All of these things are brought forward with a background based, at least somewhat, on race. This is what makes this issue difficult. There is close ties to racism in Delpit's article, and really serves as a lightning rod for controversy. For example, the issue of Ebonics targeted specifically what is called "African American English". Is it a surprise that many people were upset? Not at all. In my opinion it may be difficult to understand someone who speaks with what Delpit calls a "ghetto" or "chetto" accent, but it also can be difficult to understand a deeply southern drawl type accent regardless of color. This I think is an important idea. Anytime a problem is labeled with a race or color, regardless of whether or not it is true, the issue becomes more controversial. However, Delpit is right in saying that more proper English can help many be more successful. I also believe Delpit is correct when she talks about code switching. In reality it is nearly impossible to force a style of language on kids; they will often ignore this as Delpit said. This is where code switching can be stressed. Kids learning when and where to speak a certain way can be very important to success, regardless of where they are from and what accent they may or may not have.

Revised:
Lisa Delpit touches on some very interesting points in her article. In particular, the ideas of code switching, Ebonics, and accented workers being considered less intelligent. All of these things are brought forward with a background based, at least somewhat, on race. Race makes this issue difficult [simple]. There is close ties to racism in Delpit's article, and this really serves as a lightning rod for controversy [compound/coordinating conjunction]. For example, the issue of Ebonics targeted specifically what is called "African American English". Is it a surprise that many people were upset? No [one word sentence]. In my opinion it may be difficult to understand someone who speaks with what Delpit calls a "ghetto" or "chetto" accent, but it also can be difficult to understand a deeply southern drawl type accent regardless of color. This is a critical idea [long+short sentence for emphasis]. Anytime a problem is labeled with a race or color, regardless of whether or not it is true, the issue becomes more controversial. However, Delpit is right in saying that more proper English can help many be more successful [complex]. I also believe Delpit is correct when she talks about code switching. In reality it is nearly impossible to force a style of language on kids; they will often ignore this as Delpit said [compound/semicolon]. This is where code switching can be stressed. Kids learning when and where to speak a certain way can be very important to success, regardless of where they are from and what accent they may or may not have.

Blog 5

This week I will be illustrating the use of a complex sentence, with the dependent clause and subordinating conjunction first, and then followed by a comma before the independent clause. This is a grammatical pattern I am aware of and know how to use, but it is not one I use very often. I really have no particular for this I just don't use it much. However, this really is a decently common usage, and is fairly simple to learn.

To help show this pattern I used examples from a paper I wrote on Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I was only able to find one example of this throughout my entire paper. The paper was only two pages long, but I still expected to find more examples of this.
Example:
Before the cops arrive, Christopher hides himself in the baggage closet.[Pattern 2]

This is actually not the exact way I originally used this sentence. In my first attempt I used the opposite pattern of a complex sentence with a dependent clause following the independent clause, and without a comma.
Original Example:
Christopher hides himself in the baggage closet before the cops arrive. [Pattern 3]

As you can see this example features all of the same parts as the first, only without a comma and with a slightly different order. I personally prefer this way of using complex sentences. I feel as if this style just fits better in my writing, or possibly I am just more comfortable with it. I also understand, partially, why this pattern does not often appear in my writing. For me, these patterns work very well to summarize something, and in most of my papers I am not supposed to summarize excessively. This is not to say that these patterns are meant only for this use, but it is how I prefer to use them. Since, I do not summarize often I believe I do not consider using this pattern quite as much as maybe I should. Looking through my other I really stick to the trend of using this pattern in a summary. Because of this I don't use the pattern as often as I could. I believe this should change simply to add something different to my writing, and I plan on using this pattern more.

Blog 4

This week I am working with some punctuation that I am much more familiar with. The rule is compound sentences  punctuated with a comma appearing before the coordinating conjunction.This is something I that I incorporate often into my writing without really thinking about.  However, I did not previously have much of a  grasp on the rules and concepts behind the two. For example, I had never heard the FANBOYS acronym. I did know how to use these conjunctions correctly, but I usually stick to the words and, or, and but when using this rule. To show the use of this rule I have found examples from a recent paper of mine on Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. In this paper I used a comma before a coordinating conjunction 11 times, but 10 of these times used the words and or but. This actually annoys a little after noticing this. It feels repetitive. Now I will simply try and use more of the FANBOYS to help avoid this repetition, and hopefully give my work a better flow overall. (Yes I am aware that I just used a ,and again)

As I have already said my topic is compound sentences punctuated with a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction. A coordinating conjunction can be defined simply as a connecting word. However, you must know that there are only a few words that apply here. They are the words for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Many of these words can be used without a comma and still be correct. A comma before a coordinating conjunction is used only to connect two ideas relating to the same topic or idea. These are usually in the form of independent clause, but this is not requirement. 

Example 1 and 2

Sam and Patrick are both critical to Charlie’s overall growth in the story, but in entirely different fashions. (Comma and a coordinating conjunction)

Sam and Patrick actually have several poor qualities, yet these are nearly erased by their overwhelming positive ones. (Comma and a coordinating conjunction)

This is actually a rule I understood, and already often use in my writing. I chose to work on this merely because on my review of this rule I noticed that I really only utilized a small portion of the options I could have used. For me it is something that I decided to fix, and not necessarily something that needed fixing.

A list of ands

This week I am going over using or not using and in a list. The authors I have been assigned to read in my classes often toy with using and in list form. Using ands instead of commas seems to give the next word in the sentence added emphasis. This also can slow pace down in order to cause the reader to focus more on the list. The alternative is also true as a list without an and seems less emphasized and often, but not always, comes with a faster pace. I used examples from my own article on Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games.

Using all ands instead of commas:

Readers learn early on in the story that protagonist Katniss does nearly everything for her family. She does nearly all of the housework and gets the food and clothes her family and still has time for school.

In this sentence I was attempting to draw focus to what this character does, and the overall impressiveness of these actions. However, i'll admit this was not an intentional usage, but looking back at this paper I prefer this way over the more normal alternative.

Using a list with no commas:

These Hunger Games are used by this totalitarian government as a means of reminding the people who is in charge, and why rebellion is a bad idea. Because forcing people to witness children essentially being kidnapped, forced into an arena, followed by forcing them to kill each other is a great to show how much a government cares.

In this case I did intend to use this grammatical rule. I was attempting to put the focus on what follows the list and not on the actual list itself. This is of course the exact opposite of what I wanted in the first example.

Semicolons

This week I chose to post about one of the lesser used forms of punctuation, the semicolon. The semicolon does not get used much in modern writing. Often times papers or essays will have one or no semicolon present in the work. I believe this is due to the fact that there are several other grammatical ways to punctuate a sentence that could use a semicolon. This is why I, and those in my presentation group, really did not initially understand the use for a semicolon. The truth is that there are really very few situations that absolutely require a semicolon for a passage to be grammatically correct, and semicolons only two definitive rules on when to use one.The first rule is much less common, and more specific. This rule is that a semicolon should be used to separate a list that is already using commas. This is most commonly found in a list featuring cities, states, and countries. However the rule that I am focusing is the more commonly utilized one.The second rule is that a semicolon can be used to separate two closely related ideas. These ideas are usually two independent  clauses. For example, I could have inserted a semicolon in between the previous sentences. Semicolons separate two related closely ideas as does a period followed by a new sentence, or a comma followed by the words but or and. Instead of punctuating the way I did I could have said: The second rule is that a semicolon can be used to separate two closely related ideas; these ideas are usually two independent clauses [Pattern3]. This sentence is just as correct as the previous example, and it is pronounced the same way verbally. Punctuation is the only difference, and it really only comes down to personal preference. This is something I genuinely had no understanding of until very recently. If I ever used a semicolon in my own writing it was because the auto-correct told me to. In reality, semicolons are rather simple, and I have already been unintentionally using them more frequently.

Trervor

Self-Assessment

My writing and my grammar are nowhere near perfect, something I've long since accepted. I very well could have multiple glaring issues present in my writing at any given time. However, there is one particular segment that I am very aware that I struggle. I won't sugar-coat it commas generally kill me as far as my grades on papers are concerned. This is not to say that I do not know what a comma is, or that I don't know what a comma is used for. This is merely something I have had to work extra hard on as far as grammar is concerned. Comma splices and run-on sentences are usually responsible for my issues in this area. I do know what each of these things are, and I can usually identify them when editing papers. This is where my problem is. I often do not notice when one of these instances happens while I am writing and if I do not edit rather carefully I will miss many of these occurrences. I am aware of this particular problem because I have had previous teachers point it out and I still do on occasion. More than anything else, I notice this problem simply because it happens fairly often, and I get a little frustrated about this particular topic. That being said, I do look forward to learning more about this and my other grammatical mistakes in the future.