Edgar, And what could be better than the last two lines of Stevens' "The Snow Man"? "And, nothing himself, beholds Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is." I also couldn't help myself in thinking of replacing Teddy Roosevelt's famous "walk softly" statement with "tiptoe". "Tiptoe, but carry a big stick." I don't mean that as a disparagement of the advice. It helps to remember that, at some level, there are no synonyms. Craig> All, > Herb is right. Here is one of my all-time favorite poems (by Wallace > Stevens). Read it without thought of the verbs, just for its beauty. > > Debris of Life and Mind > > There is so little that is close and warm. > It is as if we were never children. > > Sit in the room. It is true in the moonlight > That it is as if we had never been young. > > We ought not to be awake. It is from this > That a bright red woman will be rising > > And standing in violent gold, will brush her hair. > She will speak thoughtfully the words of a line. > > She will think about them, not quite able to sing. > Besides, when the sky is so blue, things sing themselves, > > Even for her, already for her. She will listen > And feel that her color is a meditation. > > The most gay and yet not so gay as it was. > Stay here. Speak of familiar things a while. > > Now look for the linking verbs: IS, IS, IS, WERE, IS, IS, BEEN, BE, > IS, IS, IS, WAS. > BTW, the remaining main verbs are sit, rising, brush, speak, think, > sing, listen, feel, stay, speak. "Strong" verbs? And this poem is by > no means unusual in the work of a poet who was once called "a mighty > hunter of the word." > > Ed S > > On Apr 17, 2009, at 10:58 PM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F wrote: > >> Different types of verb fulfill different functions in discourse, >> and, while linking verbs can get overused, just as passive voice >> can, they exist in language because language needs them to >> communicate effectively. I suspect coaching writers on how to use >> linking verbs effectively would produce better writing—and writers— >> than banning them. >> >> Herb >> >> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar >> [mailto:[log in to unmask] >> ] On Behalf Of Linda Comerford >> Sent: 2009-04-17 19:05 >> To: [log in to unmask] >> Subject: Re: An expert speaks? was ATEG Digest - 14 Apr 2009 to 15 >> Apr 2009 (#2009-86) >> >> Much to my dismay, I used to recommend using adjectives and adverbs >> for more colorful writing--until I learned that the two most >> powerful parts of speech are the subject and the verb. Now, I >> emphasize using active versus linking verbs. When I used to teach >> at our local university, one of the professors used to give his >> students an assignment of writing a paragraph without any linking >> verbs. Although the students struggled with it, they valued their >> resulting learning from it. I'm now a true fan of active verbs! >> (Ooops, I just noticed I used a contracted form of a linking verb in >> my previous sentence.) >> >> Linda >> >> >> Linda Comerford >> Comerford Consulting >> 317.786.6404 >> [log in to unmask] >> [log in to unmask] >> www.comerfordconsulting.com >> >> >> >> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar >> [mailto:[log in to unmask] >> ] On Behalf Of Paul E. Doniger >> Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 6:44 PM >> To: [log in to unmask] >> Subject: Re: An expert speaks? was ATEG Digest - 14 Apr 2009 to 15 >> Apr 2009 (#2009-86) >> For the record, although I never analyzed this in any statistical or >> methodical way, many of my (high school - honors level) students' >> papers seem to run into trouble when they get carried away by >> adjectives and adverbs (I'm talking about academic, not creative >> writing here). I wonder if anyone else has any experience with this. >> >> >> Paul D. >> >> >> "If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an >> improbable fiction" (_Twelfth Night_ 3.4.127-128). >> >> >> From: Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> >> To: [log in to unmask] >> Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 9:05:43 AM >> Subject: Re: An expert speaks? was ATEG Digest - 14 Apr 2009 to 15 >> Apr 2009 (#2009-86) >> >> Bill, Scott, >> If the corpus grammars tell it accurately, writing with nouns and >> verbs is good advice for fiction (Biber found a negative correlation >> for attributive adjectives), but not for journalism or academic >> writing, which build lots of meaning into the noun phrases. Of >> course, saying adjectives should be used sparingly is not the same >> as saying they are unimportant. The lone adjective may be the most >> important word in the sentence. But English teachers especially seem >> to equate literacy with literature. >> I thought Pullum was a bit arrogant in the review, a bit >> disrespectful of the writing teacher's perspective. And it may very >> well be that linguists are much to blame for not giving us a >> discourse friendly grammar to work with. There's some good advice in >> the little book, but enough problems to negate that out. I usually >> tell students who own the book not to pay attention to anything but >> the style sections. >> >> Craig >> Spruiell, William C wrote: >> > Scott: >> > >> > I've had similar students --- but the advice they need is more >> along the >> > lines of, "use specific nouns, not fluffy ones." The problem really >> > isn't the adjectives and adverbs. And at least some of those >> students >> > aren't deliberately being verbose, or displaying signs of functional >> > illiteracy (they probably know a fair number of highly specific >> > nouns...but they're part of the students' passive vocabulary, rather >> > than being part of the active pool that is deployed when writing). >> > Instead, they've adopted a common strategy of marking out a >> general area >> > with the noun and then using modifiers to home in on a particular >> spot >> > in within it. >> > In fact, it's the same thing professional writers do when they >> come out >> > with sentences such as "The fact that these results have been >> observed >> > indicates that the phenomenon is real." "Fact" is fluffy -- but >> since I >> > know the genre, I know when I can get away with using it (if that >> > sentence bothers you, all I can say is that amazing numbers of >> articles >> > have been published with near-equivalents). Students pick up on that >> > kind of practice, but they don't yet have enough exposure to >> scientific >> > genre to know which words can be used in particular cases without >> coming >> > across as "gauche." >> > >> > This simply highlights one of Pullum's points: One of S&W's major >> > injunctions is that writers should be clear and concise, but they >> wrote >> > THEIR OWN RULE in a way that attacked a side effect of the actual >> > problem rather than the problem itself, and implied there was >> something >> > wrong with entire classes of words that are only problematic when >> > they're used as part of a compensation mechanism. It's as if I >> watched >> > someone using glue to connect two pieces of wood that should instead >> > have been nailed together, and then proclaimed that glue is a bad >> thing. >> > I'd probably figure out my mistake once I saw people trying to nail >> > wallpaper. >> > >> > Bill Spruiell >> > >> > >> > >> > -----Original Message----- >> > From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar >> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott >> > Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 1:08 PM >> > To: [log in to unmask] >> > Subject: Re: An expert speaks? was ATEG Digest - 14 Apr 2009 to 15 >> Apr >> > 2009 (#2009-86) >> > >> > Pulliam is the stupid one if he does not understand what The >> Little Book >> > means by "Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and >> adverbs," they >> > insist. >> > (The motivation of this mysterious decree remains unclear to me.) >> > >> > Anyone who had ever graded English themes, especially descriptive >> > writing, >> > has been exposed to students who use plain verbs and generic >> nouns, both >> > of >> > which are accompanied by a plethora of adverbs and adjectives >> > respectively >> > when more descriptive verbs and nouns would do a far better job with >> > less >> > effort. The only explanation that I can give for such students is >> > either >> > functional illiteracy or sheer laziness (many theme assignments >> have--or >> > used to have--a minimum number of words). The slovenly among them >> use >> > any >> > gimmick to expand their impoverished thoughts and expression. >> > >> > I cannot believe that Professor Pulliam has taught English without >> > having >> > encountered such students: his extreme prejudice towards The >> Little Book >> > seems to have blinded him to the extent that he can only see vices >> and >> > never >> > virtue. The Little Book has its faults; however, I would trust >> Shrunk >> > and >> > White over a "grammarian" who has had too little contact with >> writing to >> > understand the motivation for the very sound advice: >> > >> > "Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and >> adverbs." (The motivation of this decree is quite clear to me and >> has been since >> > Freshman English.) >> > >> > Scott Catledge >> > Professor Emeritus >> > >> > During the "God is dead" fad of the 60's, I had a bumper sticker >> that >> > said, >> > "My God is alive--sorry about yours." >> > >> > My understanding of the "motivation" is clear to me--sorry it's not >> > clear >> > to him. Perhaps he should teach a Freshman English course sometime. >> > >> > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web >> > interface at: >> > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html >> > and select "Join or leave the list" >> > >> > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ >> > >> > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web >> interface at: >> > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html >> > and select "Join or leave the list" >> > >> > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ >> > >> > >> > >> >> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web >> interface at: >> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html >> and select "Join or leave the list" >> >> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ >> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web >> interface at:http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and >> select "Join or leave the list" >> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ >> >> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web >> interface at:http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and >> select "Join or leave the list" >> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ >> >> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web >> interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and >> select "Join or leave the list" >> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ >> > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface > at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html > and select "Join or leave the list" > > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/