Tuesday, August 28, 2012

8/28

Warm-up:  SUse your TASS book to determine the pattern of each sentence and explain why it fits that pattern.

S1.  Why so many students dread returning to school is a mystery to me.
S2.  Not only did your summer work teach you to argue, but also it taught you to style your sentences effectively. 


Classwork:  go over the Thank You for Arguing Quiz, have students revise their Art of Styling Sentences Quiz.  In order to earn back a point for each incorrect response they must select the correct answer, explain why it is more correct, and write an original sentence in that pattern.  Explain homework and give students an opportunity to start.


Homework:  Due Thursday
 Directions:  Reread pp. 6-21 in The Art of Styling Sentences.  For sentence patterns 1, 2, 3, and 4 (not 4a), choose at least TEN of the “Professional Examples” sentences to work with.

For each “Professional Example,”
1)      Briefly explain WHY the sentence is an example of the particular pattern.
2)     Then, consider what Heinrichs might say about this sentence.  Does it seem to use ethos, logos, and/or pathos? If so, what type, and how? Does it appeal to values, assign blame, or call for the audience to make a choice? What other rhetorical tricks or strategies seem to be present in this sentence?  Is the sentence an argument or part of an argument of some kind?  If so, what does the author seem to WANT from his or her audience?
Example:  “It made no sense to anyone; it was just style.”  SF Chronicle
1)     This sentence is an example of a compound sentence without a conjunction because it consists of two complete thoughts with only a semicolon joining them.
2)     Heinrichs might say that the journalist who wrote this sentence was using ordinary language and clear sentence structure to establish his ethos as a direct, plain communicator who is communicating sense without unnecessary style. He is also using the word “style,” which has both negative and positive connotations, to assign blame to the speech or text he is criticizing.  If something is done with style, that typically implies it was done with grace, finesse, and flair, but something done with “just” style means it lacks substance, or sense. We Americans may like style, but we also value speakers and writers who seem to communicate common, plain old sense. This writer seems to want the audience to condemn and dismiss the text or speaker he is criticizing.

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