The exercise is not the
game
Some misunderstandings about writing
academic English
http://goo.gl/yt3Rh
Brett Reynolds
The exercise and the game
The exercise has become the game
By Georges Seguin (Okki) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)]
via Wikimedia Commons
How the exercise becomes the game
What the teacher says:
“Two common ways to organize an essay comparing two
topics are…”
What the student remembers:
“The two ways to organize an essay comparing two topics
are…”
How the exercise becomes the game
The student becomes the teacher.
What the new teacher says:
“The two ways to organize an essay comparing two topics
are…”
What the student remembers:
“The two ways to organize the comparison/contrast essay
are…”
What we really mean:
• Sometimes, when students are practicing to be better
writers, following a formula or copying a structure is a
useful exercise.
• This simplifies things for them by allowing them to
focus on certain elements and ignore others.
It’s not a free-for-all
•
•
•
•
It’s she went, not she goed.
It’s I saw him, not I him saw.
Sentences end with punctuation, usually a period.
Sentences are organized into paragraphs.
Some areas of confusion
•
•
•
•
Number of paragraphs in essays
Use of first-person
Sentence-initial coordinators
Use of contractions and -n’t
5-paragraph essays
• Introduction
• Hook
• Background
• Thesis
• Body 1
• Support 1
• Support 2
• Support 3
• Body 2
• Support 1
• Support 2
• Support 3
• Body 3
5-paragraph essays
• Think of a five-paragraph essay you’ve read in the last
year.
5-paragraph essays
• Think of a five-paragraph essay you’ve read in the last
year.
• Now think of one outside of the context of a writing
course.
5-paragraph essays
• Many students (and teachers) believe this is what
academic writing is.
• It’s helpful to understand the history.
5-paragraph essays
Exercise
Or
Game?
5-paragraph essays
Exercise
Contractions and -n’t
• “You can’t use contractions in academic writing.”
Contractions and -n’t
• “You can’t use contractions in academic writing.”
• In conversation:
• Contractions used in 50% of possible cases.
• -n’t almost 100% of the time
• In academic: about 1–5% of the time.
• Academic articles in the COCA have more than doubled
their use of n’t since the early 1990s
Contractions and -n’t
Exercise
Or
Game?
Contractions and -n’t
Both
First and Second person
• “You can’t use I or you in academic writing.”
First and Second person
• “You can’t use I or you in academic writing.”
• From the OWL website: “Although you may have been
told that ‘I’ is never used in academic writing, that is
not true. It is okay to use it, but only if the ‘I’ is a vital
part of the thing that is being discussed.” (Cimasko,
2012)
First and Second person
• “You can’t use I or you in academic writing.”
• From the OWL website: “Although you may have been
told that ‘I’ is never used in academic writing, that is
not true. It is okay to use it, but only if the ‘I’ is a vital
part of the thing that is being discussed.” (Cimasko,
2012)
• You is about 50% as frequent as I.
First and Second person
Exercise
Or
Game?
First and Second person
Exercise
Old-fashioned English is formal English
• “You must put a semi-colon before sentence adverbs
such as however.”
Old-fashioned punctuation is formal
• “You must put a semi-colon before sentence adverbs
such as however.”
; =
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Old-fashioned punctuation is formal
In the 18th century, semicolons were all the rage
Old-fashioned punctuation is formal
Frequency per million words in COCA
word
. + word
, + word
; + word
897
433.6
353.2
37.5
however
95 73.9
2.4 0.8
furthermore
129.4
92.4
11.541.44
moreover
Old-fashioned punctuation is formal
Exercise
Or
Game?
Old-fashioned punctuation is formal
Neither
And whom?
Whom is only slightly more frequent than thee
FANBOYS
• “The coordinating conjunctions in English are for, and,
nor, but, or, yet, and so (FANBOYS). You have to put a
comma before them.”
FANBOYS
• “The coordinating conjunctions in English are for, and,
nor, but, or, yet, and so (FANBOYS). You have to put a
comma before them.”
• The coordinators are and, but, and or.
• In academic writing
• but follows a comma about 50% of the time.
• and is only preceded by a comma about 25% of the time and
• or only about 17% of the time
FANBOYS
Exercise
Or
Game?
FANBOYS
Neither
Sentence-initial “conjunctions”
• “You can’t use ‘conjunctions’ such as and at the
beginning of a sentence.”
Sentence-initial “conjunctions”
• “You can’t use ‘conjunctions’ such as and at the
beginning of a sentence.”
• While it is true that these are less common in academic
writing than in other types of writing, it is very common
to find them.
Sentence-initial “conjunctions”
• “You can’t use ‘conjunctions’ such as and at the
beginning of a sentence.”
• While it is true that these are less common in academic
writing than in other types of writing, it is very common
to find them.
• About 10% of buts in academic writing come at the
beginning of a sentence in the COCA.
Sentence-initial “conjunctions”
• “You can’t use ‘conjunctions’ such as and at the
beginning of a sentence.”
• While it is true that these are less common in academic
writing than in other types of writing, it is very common
to find them.
• About 10% of buts in academic writing come at the
beginning of a sentence in the COCA.
• Sentences like Because he was young, he had trouble
finding work are fine.
Sentence-initial “conjunctions”
• “You can’t use ‘conjunctions’ such as and at the
beginning of a sentence.”
• While it is true that these are less common in academic
writing than in other types of writing, it is very common
to find them.
• About 10% of buts in academic writing come at the
beginning of a sentence in the COCA.
• Sentences like Because he was young, he had trouble
finding work are fine.
• Sentences like Because he was young are considered
incomplete and non-standard.
Sentence-initial “conjunctions”
Exercise
Or
Game?
Sentence-initial “conjunctions”
• BUT… sentence-initial and is often overused by
inexperienced writers, especially younger children.
Sentence-initial “conjunctions”
Exercise
Only one and per sentence
• “You can only use one and per sentence.”
Only one and per sentence
• “You can only use one and per sentence.”
• And can come before the last item in a coordination
(e.g., big, bad, and ugly.)
Only one and per sentence
• “You can only use one and per sentence.”
• And can come before the last item in a coordination
(e.g., big, bad, and ugly.)
• But a sentence can have more than one coordination
(e.g., they’re big, bad, and ugly, and they’re my friends.)
Only one and per sentence
Exercise
Or
Game?
Only one and per sentence
Neither
Brainstorming and Outlines
• “Students should begin the writing process by
brainstorming and writing an outline.”
Brainstorming and Outlines
Exercise
Or
Game?
Conclusion
Too often teachers and the textbooks we use tell students
not to do x in academic English or to be sure to do y for
the wrong reasons.
We forget that we are setting them an exercise and
instead present our contrived rules as facts about how
academic English is written.
Drills and exercises are useful, but students should be
allowed the freedom to play the game and write with all
the flexibility that experts and professionals do.
Contact
• Brett.reynolds@humber.ca
• editor@teslontario.net
• My blog: http://english-jack.blogspot.ca