Before we hear our mini lesson by Shaina Robinson today, we are going to perform a short in-class freewrite:
Take about 5 minutes to read / skim through the 9-page article posted as a Picasa slide show HERE. It is the chapter "The Order of Words" by Ken Macrorie. Then, post a 100-words comment to this blog of what word order means to you:
a) Do you pay close attention to word order when you write, or does it come to you naturally?
b) Do you shift words around for stylistic purposes? Why, when, and for what?
c) How secure/insecure are you about using the correct word order?
d) Do you know any examples of public texts where the word order has disturbed you / caught your attention?
e) Do you think word order is a problem nowadays for high school / college students?
The above questions are suggestions for your orientation; you can also mention different aspects that come to mind. The whole activity should not take longer than 15-20 minutes (freewrite).
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I rarely considered word order until I was in college, but even now it is not a huge focus of mine when I am writing. The only time I really change my word order is when I am trying to mix up my sentence structure so all my sentences do not sound the same. Once I took this class, however, I started to pay attention more to my order because of dangling modifiers. Many times I would try to be creative with my word order, and it would change the meaning of my sentence. Now I really make sure I do not have any dangling modifiers in my writing. I think word order is a problem among writers because of the want to always say something in a different or creative way. This creates wordy sentences or multiple sentences that could have been combined with each other. I think I am secure about using the correct word order because of the classes I have taken in college have helped me simplify my writing and combine sentences.
ReplyDeleteSince I am a creative writing major, word order is very important – especially in poetry. Because when you are working in poetry you can do some crazy things (make up words, change up word order, and completely get rid of punctuation – just to name a few). Word order in fiction is important as well. Word order can make a sentence even more powerful and moving. That is why it is important for any writing major to be well versed when it comes to grammar and word order. In order to make a strong story you have to know the basics of the language you are working with. You have to make the language work for you. Word order is just another part of that.
ReplyDeleteNormally I will not pay attention to word order if I am writing academically as in research papers and essays where I am relaying information that I have processed. If I am writing for myself or writing poetry I tend to stylistically play with word order more. I am confident in my natural word order abilities since I am a native English speaker. Sometimes the syntax in my poetry, for example, will cause confusion and that makes me a little insecure especially in workshops. There is a sign in some of the women’s restrooms on campus that reads, “Please call if you or someone you know needs sexual assault services,” this may be more of a word choice issue but I believe the word order is also confusing. I do believe that word order is a problem for college students because of the decline in grammatically correct speech.
ReplyDeleteI definitely pay attention to word order, but I think that the proper wrod order comes naturally to me because of its personal importance. I do find myself shifting words around to give my written words a more abstract view rather than getting straight to the point. Although it's interesting because I'd rather read a written work that is more straight to the point, I'd rather write with style. I shift words around usually when I'm trying to explain something in research or when I'm trying to explain something foreign to someone. When I'm writing papers that are self-reflectory, the word order comes naturally to me and I don't really stop to think about it. When I'm turning in assignments to my professors, I am often semi-insecure about my word order, only because I'm afraid their desired writing styles are of the extreme opposite of my own. I definitely do think that this is a problem with high-school students only because they are taught at a young age to write to a rule or adopt the teacher's way of writing. This, in turn, makes students question their own technique and upon entering college, their personal style of writing is meshed in a negative way because of confused instruction.
ReplyDelete) Do you pay close attention to word order when you write, or does it come to you naturally?
ReplyDeleteb) Do you shift words around for stylistic purposes? Why, when, and for what?
c) How secure/insecure are you about using the correct word order?
d) Do you know any examples of public texts where the word order has disturbed you / caught your attention?
e) Do you think word order is a problem nowadays for high school / college students?
I don't pay too much attention to word order when I write. For the most part, if it sounds good in speech it will sound good on paper. But, I do stress the "most" part. Sometimes I might come across a weird order of words when I revise a paper and then I have to think about a better way to rephrase the sentence. If I'm writing for a creative writing class, then yes, I do approach the writing more stylistically. However, when writing for news, you have to be straight to the point. I am very confident about using correct word order. I can't think of any examples of strange word orders in public off the top of my head, but I know for sure that there are some out there that have made me cringe. I don't think word order is a huge problem. Usually, we are taught to write like we talk for the most part, and most people don't talk in a weird order of words.
Word order is something that i feel just comes naturally, i do not really think about word order unless the sentence just sounds weird. I do shift the words around for stylistic purposes mostly because i do not like it when my papers sound repetitive and boring.I feel that i am secure about using correct word order i never really have too big of a problem.I feel that many people do not know how to use word order correctly and they end up with many dangling modifiers and misusing pronouns. I do not feel it is a problem in schools i think it depends on the person and how well they learn grammar and the correct way to write.
ReplyDeleteThe main concept of this article is related to the idea that we use words in the wrong order when trying to explain something because we can be too worried about the grammatically correct way of writing that we get confused. When we use the wrong “word order” we can change the meaning of the whole sentence. This is also common in pronoun-antecedent disagreements. I agree with the reason we are believed to do this so often. We are taught so many different grammar rules they can become confusing. Grammar is very important, especially in today’s time, but sometimes it interferes with other sentences and things that people say or write. I know that I try and pay attention to word order when I am writing papers, but I know I change words around a lot while revising assignments and essays.
ReplyDeleteSince I've been in this class, I've been trying to pay attention to word order. I find myself having so many ideas to write about but after I write it down on paper, I have to do so many revisions. I think it's because I love to write and tell what's on my mind, but as I'm writing it doesn't come naturally. My major is Journalism-Advertising so I'm glad I needed this course to help me with my grammar. Sometimes I switch words around if it's an English paper, just so I won't keep repeating the same thing throughout my paper. Now since I've taken this class I've become more aware of how to write correctly. I learned some things I never knew or barely paid attention to. One thing I read in the article that I used to get confused about is when to use "that and which". I used to didn't care if I got that incorrect or not but now that's something I pay attention to. Yes, I think word order is a problem for students, especially high school. A lot of students type how they talk and most of the time we do not use correct word order while speaking with friends. Maybe if it was practiced more and people were more aware it wouldn't be so much of a problem.
ReplyDeleteWord order to me is the construction of a sentence to convey the meaning in a concise and meaningful way.When I write word order comes naturally. When reviewing a paper it is one of the important factors I look at to make sure sentences flow properly. I feel very comfortable with word order when typing a paper.Word order being switched around for stylistic purposes may cause the paper to seem jumbled, and it is important to let the words flow properly using correct grammar to make writing stronger.I find myself comfortable when word order issue occurs. It is my first language and I feel I can properly use word order to strengthen my work. I do think there are some problems with upper level students but not at the same level as "engfish". There are times when something just sounds right to a person but maybe they use a split infinitive to confuse word order.
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ReplyDeleteWhen I write, I am constantly checking my word order. I'd like to think it comes naturally to me, but I am always rearranging things in order to get my point across effectively. I shift words around a lot, for stylistic purposes. It depends on what I am writing. If it is a creative writing project, my word order depends on the voice and the tone of the writing. If it is a research paper or something like that, then it depends on the audience, as well as the tone. I spend a lot of time on this aspect of my writing process and I am fairly confident that I use correct word order. I think word order is a problem in highschool and college writing. In my h.s. English classes, we never focused on that. Even in English 101 and 102, we did not focus on it.
ReplyDeleteWhenver I am writing I do not necessarily pay close attention to the word order because after so many years it does seem to come naturally. I've always excelled more in reading and writing than in mathematics and science which might explain why word order is easier for me. I do find myself shifting words around to create more stylish sentences that make my writing more interesting to read. I would say that I am fairly secure about using the proper word order, although everyone makes mistakes. I cannot think of any public texts off the top of my head that disturbed me, but I recently saw a church sign that read, "Don't let your troubles kill you let the church help." I think word order is a growing problem today because technology has replaced books in most households, so children and teens are not seeing as many examples of proper word order as they should.
ReplyDeleteThis article called "The Order of Words” was an extent of the “Engfish." The main point of the article is to have good word order. Word order makes a sentence more interesting and strong. It's also important to use the correct word for the sentence such as picking between "that" and "which." You must make the language work for the piece your writing and word order is very important for that. When I write I don't pay that close attention to my word order it just comes naturally and I usually don't make too many mistakes. I usually don't switch words around for stylistic purposes. I only do it to make the sentence sound smoother. I feel pretty secure using good word order and I do think word order is a problem for students today because many students are taught from a young age to include a lot of words in their sentences and in high school if they make a sentence sound complicated then a teacher will give them a good grade, which instills in the student the wrong mindset for word order from a young age. Technology such as videogames has also replaced reading in households across the country, which also hurts word order and writing skills overall.
ReplyDeleteI really began paying attention to word order in high school. It was during this period that I played around with how different sentence structures affected both the sound and meaning of a sentence. It was also during this period that I attempted to write the longest sentences humanly possible.
ReplyDeleteToday, I write in a manner that is almost completely natural to me. Occasionally, I will produce a sentence which feels awkward, and then I will take the time to play with its word order. And its the lengthy jumbo-sentences I still sometimes produce that give me the most headaches.
Word order definitely comes to me naturally. I know this because I have never really thought about it until right now, as I am currently writing about it. Now although word order is a natural idea for me, I do however, shift words around to change the idea, emphasis, and style of certain sentences. For example, if the writing assignment is more formal, I would change the words around in order to sound more professional, but if I am writing for myself or if it is a less formal writing assignment, I usually go with what feels natural. I usually feel most secure about my writing when I write using my natural sense of word order too. There are definitely times when word order can be confusing and a cause for distress though, and that is when sentences are extremely long, and contain a lot of information. Usually I find these in academic materials, and most of the time I have to re-read the sentence. When thinking about if word order is a problem for students nowadays, I really don't think so. If you write what feels natural, correct word order will follow.
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