Dawkins and Bryson

Dawkins Before You Read

1. My sister's treehouse made a great place to play with her friends because it was made of wood scraps and cardboard.

2. The treehouse made of wood scraps and cardboard made a great place for my sister and her friends to play.

3. My sister and her friends played in a great place, the treehouse made of wood scraps and cardboard. 

In the first sentence, the sister has possession of the treehouse and there are descriptive words that show why the treehouse was great. In the second sentence, the treehouse is the focus and there is no possession. In the third sentence, the focus is that the treehouse was great and there are also descriptive words about the treehouse. 

Dawkins Summary

In John Dawkins "Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool", he discusses the importance of using proper punctuation. In the article, Dawkins wants the readers (students) to view punctuation and grammar as rhetorical, meaning that is has to do with choices that the writers make. Dawkins discusses things like sentences and independent clauses, single independent clauses, raising and lowering, multiple independent clauses, and many more parts of writing. The goal of this article is to get students to see grammar and punctuation as something that can influence you instead of rules to follow. 

Dawkins Synthesis

Dawkins article can compare to Allen's article on "The Inspired Writer...." because they both talk about what inspires students to write. In Dawkins article, he discusses how students view grammar as rules that they must follow. He tries to show us that grammar is actually meant to inspire us when we read. This can compare to Allen's article because she also discusses what inspires students to write. While Dawkins article can compare to Allen's, it also somewhat compares to Kantz's article. Kantz's article is about how students do not do the right kind of research. These articles are similar because they both discuss how students can sometimes misunderstand things about writing and reading. 

Dawkins Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
I can relate to this quote because I used to think of grammar as inflexible rules that had to be memorized. Growing up, people were always very strict about grammar and using it properly.	“If you’re like most students, you learned grammar as a set of inflexible rules that had to be memorized and never violated.” (pg. 139)
I like this quote because it is a good example of showing that grammar is not always everything when it comes to writing. It shows that grammar is only a simple thing that can give a writing direction and feeling to it.	“There weren’t any handbook rules to tell Annie Dillard to use a semicolon rather than a period or a dash or a colon or a comma splice between the first two clauses; or to follow that with a dash rather than a comma or a period or, yes, a colon between the last two.” (pg. 141)
This quote is showing that punctuation should be used according to the context of the writing. It shows that grammar and punctuation are things that should be used to help the writer get their point across easier.	“-but what ‘good writers’ do, writers like Orwell, is punctuate according to their intended meaning, their intended emphasis.” (pg. 141)
This quote is showing that every writer has their own personal way of using punctuation. I like this because it also shows us that punctuation should not be used as rules, but as guidelines and things that will help inspire us.	“Some writers might have resisted the pressure for the first semicolon and stayed with a comma; most I think would have used a dash instead of the second semicolon.” (pg. 145)

Dawkins Questions for Discussion

5.  Before reading Dawkins, I did not know a lot about punctuation. I am not very good at writing and always make mistakes with grammar and punctuation. After reading Dawkins, I learned a lot about punctuating single independent clauses. I also learned that punctuation is not as hard and difficult as people make it out to be. With the proper instruction and reminders, it can be easy and helpful. 

Dawkins Meta Moment

I believe that my teacher wants us to read an article on asserting that punctuation is rhetorical because it is easier to view punctuation than try to explain it. When explaining punctuation, you often use examples. When you are reading about it in a book, you get to see these examples. If it were to be explained, we would not get specific examples and it would also be very hard to explain without texts. From reading this article, I have gained new knowledge on some simple grammar mistakes that I often make. 

Dawkins Thoughts

Reading John Dawkins article on punctuation was very helpful to me. I am not good at punctuation and always make mistakes. This article was a good refresher on some of the rules of grammar. I believe that this article is important to read for everyone because grammar errors are very often, especially when writing a big paper like we are doing in class. 

Bryson Before You Read

Bryson Summary

In Bill Bryson's "Good English and Bad", Bryson discusses the English language. The audience of this article can be anyone from students to teachers. This article talks about where the English language came from and how it has changed and evolved. It also talks about how grammar is used and what it does for the english language. This article discusses how people tend to attack language and also defend it. Over the years, the English language has changed and some words do not have the same meaning as they used to. 

Bryson Synthesis

Bryson's article can be compared to Berger's article because they both talk about change. Brysons article talks about the development of the English language and how it can be taken and seen in many different ways. This is like Berger's article because Berger talks about how women in the media have been viewed and how people have their different beliefs on the topic. Both of these articles talk about how their topics have changed and how they are viewed. Bryson's article can also be compared to Dawkins article on grammar. In his article, he talks about how people can have different opinions on punctuation and when to use it. These articles are similar because they both discuss how people's opinions can affect how they write or say something. 

Bryson Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
This quote is a good summary of the article because it says that the English language can be difficult. Words have many meanings and can be taken in many different ways.	“We seldom stop to think about it, but some of the most basic concepts in English are naggingly difficult to define.” (pg. 61)
I like this quote because it shows that the English language does not always have to follow its Latin roots. Although many English words came from Latin words, they can be changed and interpreted differently.	“Making English grammer conform to Latin rules is like asking people to play baseball using the rules of football. It is patent absurdity.” (pg. 62)
This is a good example of how the English language has changed. What was acceptable in the past is no longer acceptable. We have developed and improved the English language in vast amounts.	“Until the eighteenth century, it was correct to say ‘you was’ if you were referring to one person. It sounds odd today but the logic is impeccable.” (pg. 65)
This quote is showing that ever culture has different meanings for different words. Just because we use a term in the English language, does not mean that it is used the same was in another language.	“They even attacked ‘handbook’ as an ugly Germantic compound when it dared to show its face in the nineteenth century, failing to notice that it was a good Old English word that had simply fallen out of use.” (pg. 65)

Bryson Thought

I did not enjoy reading Bryson's article on the English language because it was very repetitive and did not have many interesting examples or points. Although i did not enjoy reading it, it still helped me see how the English language has developed and changed.