Writing Topic: Chapter 27

In Chapter 27 "Choose appropriate verb forms, tenses, and moods in standard English," I found it to be a very interesting topic i like to share with all my classmates.

All verbs in English have five different forms, expect for the verb be. The five forms are Base form, Past Tense, Past Participle, Present Participle, and -S Form. An interesting face about this forms are that the past-tense and Past-principle form regular verbs ending with -ed. On the other hand the irregular verbs are formed by the past-tense and past-principle.

Choose standard English forms of irregular verbs.
With all regular verbs end with -ed or -d. They are formed by past-tense and past- principle. Some base form words are, go, fight and fly. Other like past-tense words can be, went, fought and flew. While past-principle words are gone, fought and flown.

Distinguish among the forms of lie and lay.
Everyone in this world confuse lie and lay. Like for example the word lie is an intransitive verb, while lay is a direct object.

Some of this tips can really help you when your struggling, sometimes either your not sure if it sounds correct or if it even makes any sense. I plan to use this in class when i want to end words with -ed or -s. I know it  cant be sued at my work unless i use it verbally, by making sure my speech is correct ending with the right endings. I hope all of you enjoy this chapter, its helpful.

Smoked Signals

As I watched the movie “Smoke Signals” Victor is this young man who lives on the reservation with his mom. He’s mother kicked out Arnold, Victor’s dad because she would see how much pain Arnold was causing to his family with his drinking problem. I can really relate to Victor in this case because my father also had a drinking problem, and he almost lost all of us. I can understand why Victor had so much anger built up inside of him. He would witness his father beating his mother and also his father would beat up Victor also for no apparent reason.

 
What I really couldn’t fully understand was why Victor was so mean to Thomas. I can understand that the questions Thomas asked Victor about his dad would get him upset but it still didn’t make sense. Thomas seemed like this compassionate, friendly guy who tried to be there for him even though his questions were a little annoying to Victor. It seemed that at the end of there journey they discovered that no matter where life might take them Victor would always have Thomas there, to make him laugh or just to annoy him. Sometimes we don’t realize what we until that person is long gone. That’s what Victor ended up realizing at the end when he lost his father.

Chapter 48 "Evaluating arguments"

When we argue we sometimes tend to think we have won, but when you evaluate a arguement closey, we end up having a unfair arguement. Here are a couple of ways to evaluate different kinds arguments.

"Distingusih between reasonable and fallcious arumentative tactics."
Unreasonable arguments are also known as logical fallacies. Most use tactics that arent true and are sometimes misleading and arent honest as well.
We first genaeralize, writers even us generalize all the time. We make sure when we've came down to our conclusion,we have sufficent evidence to back it up.
Next we need to draw analogies, by drawing analogies we try to point out the similarites of the two topics.
We then need to weight the option and make assumptions. An assumption can be a claim that is true, without proof.
Then finally comes Deducing conclusions. we can now establish a principle and a conclusion.

I plan to use this information in my essay's when i'm writing, because when we write we think we have made a point but at the end our point can be misleading and make no sense. I hope i can use this at work when we have some kinds of arugments, maybe it'll helo, ill just have to wait and find out. I find this usefull information and i bet everyone else does to.

“Happy Endings,” “Obituary,” and “Oompah Loompah” Dialogue

My response to Mr. Harvey is that he sounds like a mean, tough teacher. I honestly think he doesn’t mean to sound rude at all. I think Mr. Harvey probably had a rough childhood because maybe he use to also talk pidgin. He probably learned the hard way of how to speak correct English. I believe that’s why he is tough on his students, because he probably suffered a lot and doesn’t want to see his students go through the same obstacles as he did.

My father is the same way as Mr. Harvey. He is tough on me and my sister, to get and education and a degree. My father was born in Mexico and came here illegally, but became a citizen after a couple of years being here. My father had no education, he basically knew nothing. He tells us he’s mean and pushes us to have a better life then he had. I understand where Mr. Harvey is coming from and I understand some of us had to learn things the rough way. I don’t think Mr. Harvey has a polite attitude towards his students, but I can his view of point. I don’t believe he means to sound rude on purpose, I think he try’s to have the mean attitude so the students take him seriously and not as a joke.

Chapter 47 "Constructing reasonable arguements"

In "Constructing reasonable arguments" the main goal is to explain to your audience the truth about a subject, to make them reconsider their opinions by giving them new information to make them question there old view of points. Theres a couple of steps that you may need to follow in order to construct a good argument.

1. You'll first need to examine your issue's social and intellectual contexts, this means that you should do some research about how to present an argument paper if it's for your first time.
2. View your audience as a panel of jurors, doing this will make it so you don't automatically think that there going to agree with you on your topic, it'll make you work harder to persuade them.
3. Come out strong, when your working on your argument, make sure your thesis sentence states your opinion, and it establishes credibility.
4. Show enough evidence to support your claim, doing this will have your audience convinced that what you are saying is true, by having back up evidence to show the truth.

Even though there's  a couple more steps missing, these are some simple steps to making an argument paper better, Even though i haven't written an argument paper in this class, i do plan to use it in my English 100, i heard in that class we will be writing most of the time, that's why I'm trying to take advantage of learning everything i can because i know the next class after this will be harder. I know i can use these at my work, because there is alot of arguments that do have some truth behind it. Hopefully i can use this both  at school and outside of school. The more i learn the better of the writer ill be.

Extra Credit "Writing about Fiction"

In the reading ‘Writing about Fiction’ gives you ideas and steps that help you become a better writer when it comes to writing fiction, here are some cool tips that I found really interesting from the reading

“Close Reading a Text”

Highlight; they ask that you highlight the main points, words that attract your intention, key phrases.

Marginal Notes; In the reading they say that making notes on the margin of the reading can help you better understand the story, it can even answer some questions you may have.

Free write Summaries & Response entries;

The author asks that you write after you read. You can ask questions and see if you can come up with an answer or solution. The best question to always ask yourself first is “What is the main point the author is trying to get across to you?”

Avoiding Pitfalls:

Sometimes when we write about fiction there are some assumptions that may get in the way and instead of making us a better writer, it makes our writing sound confusing. Here are some of tips to avoid pitfalls.

Plot Summary Syndrome:

When they ask you to write about the plot summary they simply want you to be able to describe in detail what happened, they don’t want you to go and try to find what the goal of the writer was.

Right Answer Roulette;

The author says that we should not be forced to try to guess the right answer when the only one with the correct answer is the teacher. 

"Developing a Thesis"

1.      After your done reading the author asks that you go back to your notes and look for either patterns of questions or some ideas that may have came up during the reading.

2.      Once you’re done with asking yourself questions, then they ask that you write your own question or idea and then you simply answer it.

3.      After you’ve completed these first 2 steps, now your ready to write your own thesis sentence. To create your own thesis statement, it says that you just turn your question and answer around and put it in a sentence where it all makes sense.

4.      Now that you’ve come up with your thesis sentence, you now need to have sentences that support you thesis sentence.

“Pre-writing Activities”

1.      Freewrtie, they ask that you write for 5 to 10 minutes without stopping, or going back to make any corrections.

2.      Review; go back to your notes to look for evidence that will help you when you’re ready to discuss your topic.

3.      Research, once you have enough evidence to support your thesis statement, you may want to to use outside sources, so you get a better understanding of your topic.

4.      Evaluate, go back to your evidence, see what information may be useful for you topic and leave out information that may not make sense to your topic.

“Drafting Your Essay”

1. Quote; a quotes is a phrase or a paragraph from a story that has some meaning to it.
2. Paraphrasing; you use your own words to describe what the author said, like me for example.
3. Summarizing; this is taking a long paragraph or passage and putting in into 2 or 3 sentences.

I plan to use this helpful information when I write another essay. I don’t know how I could apply it at work, but I know that I can apply this to writing and even when im reading a book for fun. It’s a lot of steps but I know that if I take this steps into consideration it will only make me into a better writer.

Essay Workshop 2

Chang-Rae and I

In the reading ‘Coming Home Again,’ Chang-Rae is this young, sweet, intellgient boy, who leaves his home about the age of 15 to attend a fancy boarding school, little did Chang-Rae know his mother was dying slowly without his acknowledgement. Chang-Rae’s memories of his mother were always in the kitchen, he would always have to sneak in to watch her cook because she felt ‘that her work would only weaken him.’ (12) Now that his mother has passed away, he finds himself in the kitchen, cooking the same meals that his mother once cooked for their family. In this reading, the story is more than just about his mother cooking food for their family, its about how we all share a special bond with a closed loved one, without realizing it until their gone.

When I read about Chang-Rae’s mother I couldnt help but also think about my mother and the similarties they both share. My mother always makes sure there is food ready, so as soon as we get home, dinner is already prepared and ready to be served. In my family it was okay for the girls to watch their mothers cook, because in our reilgion, the girl is the one who has to cook for the husband and clean up after him. To tell you the truth, I don’t believe in that, I believe everyone has to give a hand when it comes down to husband and wife duties. Chang-Rae on the other hand wasn’t allowed to watch his mother cook, but he did learn some of her dishes without having to know the recipe. He would watch her every move until he remerozied every recipe, “My moher never left me any recipes, but this is how I learned to make her food, each dish coming not from a list or a card but from the aromatic speard of a board” (12) 

             

As I read on through the story, I started to realize that Chang-rae and I share a couple of similiarties. Chang-rae would cook meals to remind him and his family about their mother. Me on the other hand, I cook my mother’s meals to remember her and her smile’s as she cooked dinner for me and my family. My mother is still alive unlike Chang-rae’s mother. I decided to move out of my home unlike Chang-rea who decied to go to boarding school. For me cooking my mothers meals only brings me memories of how our family once use to be. Even though my meals taste nothing likes her, I just love to cook just to remember her. I don’t use cook books, because I learned cooking just by watching her and the amount she would grab with her hand. Cooking to me is more than just being able to eat food, but it makes me feel like like I’m back home again, although my mother even though she is a 10 minute drive from my house.

            
 Even though Chang-rae lost his mother, he knew he carried a special bond with her, that not even his father nor sister had. Its hard to accept the loss of a parent, espcially a loved one. I don’t know how it feels to loose a mother but I do know how it feels to loose a close friend. We as children and adults have taken our parents for granted. ‘You don’t know what you have, until its gone.’ Even though Chang-rae was hurt by his mother’s death, he knew cooking her meals would only bring him closer to her. We all know and accepted that we take people for granted but what if that person doesn’t live to see the day of tomorrow, what will we be regretting about that person.? Don’t let the ones you love the most slip right through your fingers, instead hold on to them tight, because tomorrow isnt promised.

Chapter 4 'Builing effective paragraphs.'

In chapter 4 Diane hacker talked about ways we can build effective pargraphs, that only takes a couple of steps. First Diane explains how to focus on a main point. The main point should be clear and understandable to all the readers and all paragraphs that follow have to somehow relate to the main point. Like a thesis, a topic sentence usually comes first in a paragraph. Some writiers either chose to put there topic sentence either in the begining or towards the end. Diane goes to explain that some professional writiers 'dont alway use clear topic senteneces.' She says we need to be careful that we have good structure sentences becasue if we have sentences that don't suport the topic sentnece it may ruin the paragraphs of the essay. Diane says its okay to wirte a short paragraph, but to be careful that the short paragraph doesnt leave out any missing information. Professional sometimes use different writing skills to make there essay's work. For example like cause and effect, narration and etc.. As she goes on the chapter mainly focuses on how to build a good essay so everything at the end comes out good.
I plan to use these steps that Diane hacker explains to make a better essay and make sure each paragraphs makes sense and it relate back to my main point. They sound a little confusing but i will try my best on my next essay assigned.