Style; Take II

One of the first assignments for this class was to write a blog posting about what we thought the term "style," in writing, meant. In my posting, I talked about how everyone has their own personal style. After completing most of the assignments in this class, after reading various texts, and after reading the writing of my classmates, I believe that my statement wasn't exactly true. Style is not something that you put your personal mark on. It is something that is different for all of the genres of writing. However, everyone puts their own personality, per say, into their writing.

In the peer review portion of this course, personalities were certainly apparent in the papers I read. Putting that aside, there was an objective to be met for each of the assignments. There were varied requirements that were given. This was the writing "style" that needed to be followed. Style is not personal; it is more of a guideline.

We learned in the readings of Williams and of Strunk and White that there are some rules of grammar and good writing that cannot be avoided. We also learned that some of these rules have evolved over time and become optional. There are more informal styles that can be used when you are writing in a blog or sending an email. In our most recent assignment, we learned that there are certain styles that are appropriate to use when you are writing on a website. All of these things are not "personal" style; they are rules and guidelines that society follows in writing.

The Important Web Rule

I believe the most important rule to remember when you are building a website is to make sure that the site is easy to navigate. You should make sure that all of your links work and that you are never sent to a page that has no "out." The Spiderpro web style guide refers to this as "dead-end pages." It is very frustrating to have to either use the back browser arrow or to actually have to exit a website altogether and find a way back in. Every page should at least have a link back to the homepage of the website. This was something that I made sure to do when making my Website #2 revisions.
It is also very important that the first page of your website identifies what the website is all about. People want to know right away if the website will have what they are looking for. Lynch & Horton's, "Web Style Guide" advises, "Talk to the people who make up your target audience, put yourself in their shoes, and make the items and services they want the most prominent items on the home page." We were instructed to do this for this assignment and it makes sense. Our home pages only have a brief introduction to what our sites are about and everything else can be accessed through the portfolio link we were asked to create.
While these two things appear to be very simple, and perhaps even elementary, they are both very important to having an organized website that people will actually look at. Lynch & Horton say, "Although people will notice the graphic design of your Web pages right away, the overall organization of the site will have the greatest impact on their experience" (Web Style Guide).

Connecting Paper Style

There are many similarities in rules for "web style" and "writing style." When we write a paper, or anything else, we should always write for our audience. If you were writing something for your job and you were a professional, your writing style would most likely be different than if you were writing a love letter to your significant other. The same rules apply when you are writing something for a website. You should write in a style that is appropriate for the audience that will be viewing your site.
Also correct "writing style" uses correct English. The same is true for proper "web style." Just because things are sometimes abbreviated and shorted on a web site for simplicity, this does not mean that proper grammar usage should be abandoned. This is also true with punctuation. Text on a website should be punctuated correctly, just as if you were writing a paper for an English course.
When you are writing a paper, you should introduce your topic in your first paragraph. This is your thesis statement. The same thing goes for a website. People want to know right away what your site is all about; they don't want to have to go to a second page or to read too far into the first page to figure out if the website they have opened will be useful for them.
There are also many differences in "web style" writing versus every day "writing style." When you are writing text for a web site, you should keep your sentences short. People who are visiting a website are looking to read information quickly and are taking only a short time to digest this information. This does not always apply in every day writing. It is not always possible to keep sentence short when you are a writing a paper for a class or even in a personal letter or an email.
There are both similarities and differences when writing for a website versus everyday writing style. Whether designing a website or maintaining a website, attention should be paid to both the similarities and the differences for maximum clarity for your website audience.

McCloud Part II

We were give the assignment of commenting on one of our classmate's blog entries. In a previous assignment, we were all asked to read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and to choose a comic strip that he created and write about it. I chose to comment on Beth's blog because I thought the comic she chose of McCloud's was very interesting. The comic was titled "Ninety-Five." I found the frame that Beth refers to about daddy being a phone to be what McCloud would label as "inter-dependent" (McCloud 155). You would not be able to determine what the little girl was referring to without the picture; the story line depends on the illustration in this comic.

McCloud #1

After reading Scott McClouds, Understanding Comics, I took a look at his website and read a few of the comics he wrote. The comic I was most intrigued by was called "Zen Dating." The comic has thirty-nine frames, and is an excellent recreation of the dating scene. The man comes to the woman for a date. He brings flowers; she says the petals are soft, but the thorns are sharp. She is already finding fault. He says that it's almost time for the movie to start; she comments about how many previews there will be. He suggests a video instead. She tells him to choose any video he would like. He gives some options; she is does not like any of his suggestions. She tells him that the door is open and basically, "don't let it hit you in the behind." He says, "Same time next week," and leaves dejected. Oh, the hard to please woman!

In this comic, the man and woman could be any man and woman. They are simply outlines of male and female faces. The characters are intentionally drawn with no identifying characteristics. McCloud writes, “…when you look at a photo or realistic drawing of a case—you see it as the face of another. But when you enter the world of the cartoon—you see yourself” (McCloud 36). By not identifying a specific character, the reader is able to better identify and place themselves in the situation, either as the male or the female character.

In frames four and five of the comic, McCloud bridges the two frames together by drawing flowers in the “gutter” between the two frames. The gutter is the space between the two frames. This is normally where the mystery of what happens between the frames is up to the reader’s imagination. He says, “Here in the limbo of the gutter, human imagination takes two separate images and transforms them into a single idea” (McCloud 66). In this particular instance, McCloud is taking that the imagination away from the reader and letting them know that the man handed the woman flowers.

In frame 23, McCloud uses lines jutting out around the man’s face to show that his character is becoming distressed. There is nothing in the writing that would indicate his distress, but the jutting lines are a symbol of his distress and are just something I recognized without being told that with words. McCloud writes, “If enough artists begin using the symbol, it will enter the language for good—as many have through the years” (McCloud 129). This is obviously a symbol that has caught on and is easily recognized.

The reading of Understanding Comics made the interpretation of the comic I read much easier and interesting.

What Do Others Think?

While reading through my classmates comments on William Struck and E.B. White's, The Elements of Style, I came to the conclusion that most of my classmates did not enjoy this text as much as Joseph William's, Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. In fact, Michelle stated in her blog, "My first impressions of this book, was that I couldn't believe I paid money for it." I have to disagree with Michelle about this book. It think that everyone can use a bit of a refresher course every now and then. We all have moments we have to stop and think, "Should we put an apostrophe after the 't' in the possessive form of 'its'? or, should we use 'there' or 'their'?" While I agree that, as college juniors and seniors, good grammar should be second nature to us, I think it's helpful to have something that you can refer back to when you question yourself. Even the best writer makes grammatical errors from time to time. I found that Rebecca, in her blog, agreed with me that Strunk and White's book is at least somewhat helpful. She started out her blog entry by saying, "Oddly, Strunk and White's Elements of Style addressed one of my biggest pet peeves in the very first couple of pages. I absolutely hate when anyone writes the contraction "it's" when they really mean the possessive "its." People do this all time. Smart people do it. Educated people do it. I believe it would occasionally be a good idea to "review" grammar rules.

Comparing Strunk and White with Williams

In my previous blog entry discussing William Strunk and E.B. White’s book, The Elements of Style, I talked about how Strunk and White explain the hard-fast rules for the use of “who” vs. “whom.” They explain how the words are used reflective of what pronoun they are referencing. There is no talk of this being an option; it is simply what is the proper usage is for the words (Strunk 11).

In Joseph William’s book, Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, he also talks about the rules for the use of “who” vs. “whom.” He gives the same rules Strunk and White, and he also gives examples of the correct usage. The difference between two books is that in William’s book, he prefaces the rules with the word “optional.” He gives examples of the misuse of the words by famous writers and acknowledges that the breaking of this rule is rarely noticed anymore (Williams 186). My favorite sentence that he writes with regard to this rule is, “Whom is a small but distinct flag of conscious correctness, especially with the whom is in fact wrong” (Williams 187). Many writers try to use the word “whom” to make something sound more formal, more grammatically correct. What usually happens is that they use it incorrectly.

Strunk & White discuss syllabication in their book (Strunk 38). I did not find any reference to this type of technical style rule in William’s book. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace does not have the detailed, hard-fast, rules that The Elements of Style has.

Strunk and White wrote a whole section of their book on “Misused Words and Expressions (Strunk 39-65). Williams does not talk much about the misuse of words. He gives a list of what he calls, “real rules” (Williams 180). However, he also writes this wonderful paragraph that sums up for me how he really feels about writing rules in general:

The facts of the matter are these: a few especially fastidious
writers and editors try to honor and enforce every rule of usage;
most careful writers observe fewer; and there are a few writers
and editors who know all the rules, but who also know that not
all of them are worth observing and enforcing, and that they should
observe other rules only on certain occasions. (Williams 178)

I found the Strunk and White book to be a better “tool” to use when you are unclear about the hard-fast rules of writing. I think that William’s book is much more realistic in letting you know how to apply the hard-fast rules to today’s writing.

Revising With Williams

Eastern Michigan University is open to students who have the potential to succeed academically as determined by a review of official high school records and/or college records. Admission to the University is based on a combination of factors including, but not limited to, the review of high school or college grade point average, high school or college curriculum and scores on standardized tests.

Students having the proven academic potential to succeed are welcome to attend Eastern Michigan University. This potential is determined by a review of official high school and/or college records. This review determines admission based on, but not limited to, the following factors: high school or college grade point average, high school or college curriculum, and scores on standardized tests.

The first paragraph is from the EMU catalog page, The Undergraduate Experience-Admissions. The second paragraph is my revision of the original. The first problem I addressed in the EMU paragraph was with clarity. In the first sentence, it took me a couple of reads to figure out that the students were the subjects of the sentence. By moving them to the front of the sentence and making the subjects of the verb “attend” involved in the action, the purpose of the sentence is immediately clearer. Joseph Williams suggests this in his book, Style (Williams 43).

The next problem I addressed was the cohesion between sentences. The EMU paragraph was made up of two very long sentences that did not flow together well. I broke up the sentences to make shorter, clearer sentences that flowed from one to the other using words from the previous sentence.

Strunk & White, Part 1

In William Strunk and E.B. White’s, The Elements of Style, I found many answers to rules that I question each and every time I write a paper. This book should be given to every high school student as a graduation present. In fact, my oldest daughter is graduating in two weeks. She might be horrified to find a copy of this book wrapped up as a gift, but I think she would be happy when she wrote her first paper in September.

There are a lot of grammar and style rules that you learn at a young age that aren’t used often and don’t, consequently, stick with you. I honestly don’t remember ever learning the proper rule for “who” and “whom.” If I did, it was back in junior high—back when they called middle school junior high. All in all, the first chapter of the book is a nice refresher course in grammar and is a good idea to read at least once a semester. Sometimes you know the rules, but they evade you when you are in the heart of a writing project. I found that the first three chapters of Shrunk and White were the most helpful and up-to-date.

Strunk and White discusses syllabication as a writing rule—the rule of when to divide a word at the end of a line (Strunk 38). Most writing is now done in some sort of word-processing format, and the program that you use generally will divide the words for you. Rarely would there ever be a need to use this rule. I also was intrigued by the following found under “Misused Words and Expressions:”
Care less. The dismissive “I couldn’t care less” is often
used with the shortened “not” mistakenly (and mysteriously)
omitted: “I could care less.” The error destroys the meaning of
the sentence and is careless indeed. (Strunk 42)

I have always used “I could care less.” I believe that, through time, this phrase has come to mean exactly what “I couldn’t care less” meant originally.

One other “misused” word, which I found the author’s perspective quite awkward on, was the one for the word “data.” The book suggests that instead of saying, “the data is,” you should say, “these data are” (Strunk 44). If I was talking about a collection of data, I would treat the word as if it was a singular item, even if it was comprised of many things.

It is my opinion that there are a lot of instances in this book where these “rules” about word usage are up for individual interpretation and where they are just the author’s preference. Language evolves with cultural changes. Some grammar that was not “proper” twenty-five years ago is now acceptable. Grammar rules change. I know that, in my lifetime, I have seen the comma come and go at least three times, before and, in a series of three or more terms.

My Writing Technology Project

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, first line.

I spent hours today trying to figure out a writing technology I could "invent" without using anything that was store-bought or man-made. I tried to crush dandelions into a paste to write with; I thought about writing on my 18-year old's back. It was literally giving me a headache. Finally, I decided that I would go all "cave man." I found a stick in the back of my yard and I used a store-bought lighter (there was no time to rub two sticks together) to light the tip. I found two pieces of wood in my garage and I painstakingly alternated between lighting the tip of the stick on fire and forming the letters on the pieces of wood. (I'm actually not sure if cave men ever even wrote anything).

When I was considering the portability of my writing project, I thought about Manguel's essay and the evolution of the book. Barron's essay made me think of how grateful I am for the technology of today's writing utensil's that I can go to my local Walgreen's and buy. I do not think I would have enjoyed living in the time of the inkwell.

Manguel and Barron

Barron's essay talks about the evolution of writing utensils, from the pencil to the computer. Manguel's essay talks about the evolution of the recipient of the writing utensil, the book. They both discuss how technology has evolved to make our lives easier. While making our lives easier, this new technology has also done exactly what Plato said that it would, it has made us lazier and more forgetful. Barron talks about how the calculator and the word processor have done just this. Students no longer need to memorize their multiplication tables; they are able to bring a calculator into class. There is no longer a need to agonize over the spelling of words; the spell check function on our word processors won't allow us to turn in papers with spelling and grammar errors (unless we are lazy enough to ignore the spell check warnings). There is no longer even a chance that we will turn in a paper with a fragmented sentence. From personal experience, I have found that when I am asked to write an in-class essay question, my writing skills are not as good as they were when I was in high school. I have digressed. I did not grow up with calculators; I did not grow up with computers. All of my papers in high school, and most in college, were written on lined paper. I was considered a good student with good writing skills. Without the aid of the the crutch I now use, my computer, I'm not sure my high school teachers would think as highly of my writing skills.

What is Style?

Style is the way you express yourself. When referring to "writing" style, everyone's is fairly unique. However, when you are writing a paper for a class, there is an "acceptable" writing style that is expected to achieve a good grade. Most papers that are written for an English course, and most other college courses, need to be written in a formal style that is 100% grammatically correct. This is also true for reports that are written for your job.
A casual writing style is usually acceptable for in-class writing assignments. Personal emails and blog postings are often written in a style that is not always grammatically correct but is acceptable because of the format it is in. A professional email is usually casual in style but should always contain proper grammar. Writing style is a reflection of a writer's personality, work ethic, and many times, level of education.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog! My name is Julie Berger and I am a senior majoring in Language, Literature and Writing. I am a mother of three beautiful children, Lauren (18), Robert (14) and Lucy (7). I have returned to EMU and work after taking a long hiatus to raise my children. I love to read (this is what lead me to my major decision) and to garden. I've recently discovered that I am highly amused by silly comedy (i.e. "Superbad"). I love going out to eat and just being with my children and my friends. My life isn't very exciting, but it works for me.