"U R teh uber-newb, d00d!" Oh, spare me!
That brings up a question about how BlackBerry technology will influence the
future of traditional business writing. Do any of you have
thoughts/predictions about that?
Linda
P.S. My spell checker had definite issues with that quote.
Linda Comerford
317.786.6404
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www.comerfordconsulting.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Spruiell, William C
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 4:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Death of the Sentence?
Anyone who thinks that abbreviations and "squiggle" notations like ":-)" are
a problem in current writing should be forced to try to read medieval
manuscripts. Start with really expensive writing materials (vellum anyone?),
make the writing process laborious (sharpen quill, grind stuff for ink, blot
the vellum...) and throw in a bunch of insular monks (well, insular even for
monks), and you get pages of squigglefest. At least the computer environment
prevents some of the excesses of calligraphy that would otherwise occur.
I suspect that the comments about sentences in that piece were actually
comments about punctuation. If so, I'm not really sure how to maintain the
claim that clearly demarcated sentences are necessary for clear thought,
given that -- in all probability -- Plato, Aristotle, etc. didn't mark
sentence boundaries in writing at all. Languages always have clause
complexes; writing systems may or may not orthographically mark these in
various ways.
All that having been said (I don't usually adopt absolute positions, but
I'll certainly use absolutes), I *do* tend to notice a link between
orthographically-unstructured writing, etc. and bad argumentation in my
students -- but I don't think the first causes the second. Instead, it's
simply that students who don't read much good argumentation tend not to
argue well, and if they're reading mainly text messages from other students,
they're not reading much good argumentation. Other studies (including
something from NCTE that I may be able to dig out later) have shown that
students *are* reading a good bit -- but I suspect what they're reading is
the kind of texts that are produced by others in their age group, and that
emphasize easy social interaction over critical thinking. "U R teh
uber-newb, d00d!" is fascinating in its own right, but if that's the kind of
thing you're used to, you'll find academic or business writing quite alien.
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Hancock
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 1:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Death of the Sentence?
>
Carol,
I read the article in part because the inbox announced that Martha Kolln
had been consulted. Martha's comments are about the only thoughtful part of
it. It left me thinking that it's not the death of the sentence that's a
problem, but the general shallowness of conversation about it, including
those (Martha the main exception) in our "discipline" of English who weighed
in. I suspect they thought any working journalist could handle the topic,
but the results in this case are comic.
The idea that the sentence was "invented several centuries" ago and
"brought order to chaos" is the sort of silliness that fills the bulk of the
article.
It's high tine for NCTE to begin advocating at least some direct teaching
about language.
Craig >
Hi everyone. This was in my NCTE inbox this morning, so some of you may
> have read it. (This is only part of the article). I bolded the second
> to last line because it interests me: Does anyone know who "invented"
> the sentence?
>
> The Fate of The Sentence: Is the Writing On the Wall?
> By Linton Weeks
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Sunday, June 15, 2008; Page M01
>
> The demise of orderly writing: signs everywhere.
> One recent report, young Americans don't write well.
> In a survey, Internet language -- abbreviated wds, :) and txt msging
> -- seeping into academic writing.
> But above all, what really scares a lot of scholars: the impending
> death of the English sentence.
> Librarian of Congress James Billington, for one. "I see creeping
> inarticulateness," he says, and the demise of the basic component of
> human
> communication: the sentence.
> This assault on the lowly -- and mighty -- sentence, he says, is
> symptomatic of a disease potentially fatal to civilization. If the
> sentence croaks, so will critical thought. The chronicling of history.
> Storytelling itself.
> He has a point. The sentence itself is a story, with a beginning, a
> middle and an end. Something happens in a sentence. Without subjects,
> there are no heroes or villains. Without verbs, there is no action.
> Without objects, nothing is moved, changed, destroyed or created.
> Plus, simple sentences clarify complex situations. ("Jesus wept.")
> Since its invention centuries ago, the sentence has brought order to
> chaos. It's the handle on the pitcher, a tonic chord in music, a stair
> step chiseled in a mountainside.
>
>
>
>
>
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