Students may be more or less aware of their subject, but they are not naturally aware of text. A great deal of textuality occurs at the level of the sentence. Sentences are not independent units. They participate in the construction of text.
Nicely stated, Craig. And your note about cohesion in texts (and ultimately, coherence) ties this thread together with the recent one about passive voice, which can also serve as a powerful cohesive force.
Richard
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hancock, Craig G
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 9:57 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Compound Sentences and Coordinating Conjunctions
One corollary of the fact that “so” is a coordinating conjunction is that a sentence headed by “so” would not, in most cases, be a sentence fragment. (Bill’s “so that” test would apply.)
Any quick look at a corpus would show examples of “so” leading off a sentence. One example I use with my classes is the third paragraph of M. L. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech: “So we are gathered here today to dramatize an appalling condition.” The “so” is meant to characterize the purpose of the gathering as occasioned by everything discussed in the first two paragraphs. (A promise was made by the emancipation proclamation. “But one hundred years later,” the promise still hasn’t been delivered. So….) The second paragraph starts with but, the third with so, and it masterfully fits the relationship between the three units.
I usually get a laugh by differentiating between “a little but” (between two clauses) and “a big but” (between larger chunks of text). Again, if you look at a corpus of texts, you will find plenty of examples. The benefit to pointing this out is that you are calling attention to ways in which successful writers orient a reader to the relationships between sections of text. When we see right through to meaning, the cohesive moves are often invisible. Our job, as I see it, is to make those moves highly visible. Students may be more or less aware of their subject, but they are not naturally aware of text. A great deal of textuality occurs at the level of the sentence. Sentences are not independent units. They participate in the construction of text.
Craig
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter H. Fries
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 12:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Compound Sentences and Coordinating Conjunctions
You might also get them to look at how so is used in a corpus (or on the web).
Peter
On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 9:08 PM, Turner, Tildon L. <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi Nathalia,
There is no mystery. The students were misinformed. It is always stressful as a teacher to have students who have received inadequate or erroneous instruction of any kind. The mnemonic is FANBOYS not FANBOY. The "S" makes all the difference. "So" is the only coordinating conjunction that indicates material implicature, effectively carrying the meaning of "therefore". In the college setting in which I teach, I can be forceful about blaming poor previous instruction for difficulties some students have and can dissuade them from continuing to use incorrect grammar. I appreciate the fact that you may not have such a luxury with younger students. However, they need to be weaned of the misunderstanding regarding "so".
Perhaps the students only think of "so" in its adverbial usage such as: "I went to bed early so I could get a good night's sleep", which of course does not require a comma. They need to become comfortable with a compound like "It is very hot outside today, so I'm not going to wear a jacket", which typically does take a comma.
All the best,
Til
Til Turner
Languages and Literature
Northern Virginia Community College
www.englishiskillingme.com
Ph: 703.323.3269
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