Why Do We Write?

What is the point of writing anything? Mostly its about communication:

Thoughts; Feelings; Self-expression; Sharing some aspect of yourself with others.

Styles of Communication
Many styles of written communication:
Letters. Scribbled notes to yourself. Email. SMS. CVs and job applications. Websites. Reports. Theses and dissertations. Academic papers. Posters. Exams

Do we write the same way for all of them? Why are there different styles? Be carefulthe style you use is part of what youre communicating!

Examples of Bad Style

From an exam paper:
quick sort is really hard to explane cos its usually recersive. I personally dont like it. Its got a pivot.
Spelling Use of first person Related to prev sentence or not? Irrelevant, given the question

Shortened words

Dear Sir, I would be delighted to accept your kind invitation to join you in the upstairs Bar of the Bay Hotel at 7pm. Yours sincerely, Dave.
7 4 8 5 9 6
You dont see SMS like this

+ its imprecisethe last thing you want in an exam!

Another Example
In view of the restrictions on the use of acetyl hydride derivatives as anti-bacterial agents imposed by recent secondary legislation, the attention of members of the estates maintenance staff is drawn to the need, subject to any overriding health and safety considerations, to avoid using proprietary anti-bacterial agents that do not display the relevant certification mark. [from instructions issued to cleaners]

and Another
i want more info about use of hash tabls pls send 2 me thx
[The entire text of an email sent to me about an assignment.]

No name (who is this person?) No punctuation; hard to read. Not very polite (demanding). Not clear (exactly what information do they need?) Text speak is not really appropriate in an email to a lecturer. I might be too old to understand it!

Heartfelt Plea About Email

People treat email as a scribble pad when they are really using it as an alternative to a formal letter. They should be aware that recipients will have many emails to deal with when constructing this 'letter'.
Students who send email requesting advice with exams, marks, or assignments frequently do not bother putting their surname, or even their first name, on the email. This of course means that the member of staff has to log on to the Sequent and do a search on the email id, which doubles the length of time it takes to reply.

If their query is academic related, they also need to put on their college number. If we have to phone academic office to check their paper records, the college number is the first thing we are asked for.

An genuine email I got from a frustrated member of staff who heard Id be teaching this part of CS18010

Word are Imprecise

Draw a picture that represents the word home. Now look at your neighbours pictures: theyre all different!
Houses (detached, semi, terraced), cottages, static caravans, houseboats, etc. All are homes.

Words are imprecise. We need to use words carefully if we are to communicate what we intended.

How to Improve Word Precision

Avoid slang, idioms and SMS abbreviations in formal writing. If you cant express something simply, do you understand it? Clarify unusual words on their first usage. Avoid acronyms (ANNs, etc) unless you know the person understands them.

Document Structure
Words are gathered together to make documents (e.g. a thesis, SMS or post-it note). Formal documents have obvious structure, but even informal documents have some structure. Structure helps you, and the reader, mentally organise whatever you are communicating:
Document / Parts / Chapters / Sections / Subsections / Paragraphs / Sentences / Clauses / Phrases / Words.

Like in coding, structuring your writing properly helps you avoid errors/confusions.

The Importance of the Sentence

The sentence is a particularly important element of writing structure. If it is to be understood, it must obey some rules. Were going to see how theyre built. The rules are not as strict as computer language or mathematical rules. They but matter do. Grammar

Grammar
What is grammar?
Rules for a language. Different for each language. Describes the word order we expect to see.

Why should we care?

We all like to read things that are clear. It helps us to minimise mis-communications.

Broken Grammar and Word Use

When we break the rules of a grammar and its word use, we get this sort of thing.
In a Yugoslavian hotel: The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid. In an Austrian hotel catering to skiers: Not to perambulate the corriders during the hours of repose in the boots of ascension. In a Leipzig elevator: Do not enter lift backwards, and only when lit up. From a Japanese hotel: Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm in you room, please control yourself. From a car rental firm in Tokyo: When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor.

Broken Grammar and Word Use

Mistakes are made because:
1. The person is not familiar with the established use of grammar and words (like the previous examples). 2. The person doesnt care.

Unfortunately, if you cant write your own language well, people will assume the latter.

The Contents of a Sentence

Nouns: things and concepts. Bob, car, mother, courage, etc. Verbs: doing words. to go, to drink, to believe, etc. Adverbs: more information about the way you did something. He went slowly mad., How did you eat all that? Adjectives: more information about nouns. You are an utter trunklehead.

The Contents of a Sentence

Interjections: expresses emotion, Wow!, Pah!, Uh-oh! Pronouns: in place of nouns, Me, I, you, yourself, anybody, this, whom. Prepositions: introducing words, under, from, about, to (though not in an infinitive), at. Conjunctions: joining words, and, but, either.

The Grammar of a Sentence

Every sentence has a verb. In the last sentence, the verb was has. Sentences may consist of several clauses and/or phrases, or they may be quite simple. This is simple. The last bullet point was more complex.

A Sentence = Subject + Predicate

A sentence expresses a complete thought that includes:
A Subject
person(s) or object(s) causing or receiving action usually the first noun/pronoun & modifiers in the sentence

A Predicate
action taken or received by subject is/contains verb usually follows subject, and may contain an object
The department chair (subject) submitted the statistical report. (predicate)

Clauses and Phrases

A clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a verb, e.g. The man that ate ten pies A phrase is a group of related words that does not contain a subject-verb relationship, such as in the morning or running down the street. Both prepositions and conjunctions often relate two clauses.

Sentence types
Simple - a single complete thought
Subject/predicate: The office was empty.

Compound two complete & related thoughts joined by and, or, but, : ;.
Subject/predicate; subject/predicate: The office was empty, and the computers were running.

Complex two related thoughts; one complete, one dependent; joined by which/that/who or ,
Subject/predicate/clause in any order: The office was empty, and the computers were running, which angered the energy management supervisor.

Punctuation
Short sentences are easy to understand. Longer sentences which have many parts and perhaps a parenthetic phrase or two and which go on and on for a long time need punctuation be be easy to understand this is an example. We can re-write the bullet point above

Punctuation
Longer sentences, which have many parts, and perhaps a parenthetic phrase or two, and which go on and on for a long time, need punctuation be be easy to understand; this is an example.

Sentence Punctuation
All sentences begin with a capital letter. However, not all capital letters indicate the beginning of a sentence. E.g., C++, Amy, Tuesday, March, Welsh. All sentences end with a full stop (I.e., a period if you learnt American English) or a question mark, or an exclamation mark.

The Comma ,
The comma breaks up the elements of a sentence and makes it easier to read. It was mainly commas that made my long sentence, a few slides back, more readable. They can be used to separate off parenthetic comments, like in the previous bullet point. Commas ^ also separate independent, conjoined clauses, adjectives and series.

The semicolon ;
Separates two closely-related main clauses
Im not good at telling jokes; I usually forget the punch line

Separates clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb (accordingly, anyway, besides, consequently, furthermore, however, indeed, likewise, moreover, otherwise, nevertheless, still, then, therefore)
She took several computer training classes; however, she still made spreadsheet mistakes.

The colon :
Introduces list preceded by complete statement:
Many students participate in campus activities: athletics, sports, recreation, clubs.

Used to mean note what follows:

Every employee has a major responsibility: to provide outstanding customer service

Used where second, indepnt clause explains first:

Our objective was obvious: we wanted our football team to win

Other Punctuation
We dont have time to examine all punctuation: The Dash The Hyphen - The Ellipsis The Apostrophe __ Quotation Marks Brackets, [], ()

Punctuation Makes a Difference

Dear John, I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy, will you let me be yours? Maria. Dear John, I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours, Maria.

Fixing Your Sentences.

Once you understand these things, you can fix broken sentences more easily:
E.g. From an recent industrial year report:
I have included the

important parts in my eyes here.

In my eyes is an idiom. here is unnecessary. parts is not precise enough to convey information. Why do I care what he finds important? Use of I means the focus is on him.

Fixing Your Sentences

Before: I have included the important parts in my eyes here.
After: The sections that follow detail key aspects of my time at ABC Ltd.
Not perfect, but probably better.

Verbs rather than nouns

E.g., dont write: Successful identification of commercial opportunities requires the implementation of a new industrial liaison strategy. Write: To identify commercial opportunities successfully, we need a new industrial liaison strategy.

Further Reference
In the end, improving your use of English grammar is up to you. Youll improve bit-by-bit over the years, and never stop learning. An American site that is quite comprehensive: http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm Franks document on document writing!