Your reading is HERE. It's a Picasa slide show, so you have to click on each page separately and use the magnifying glass to read it! You can move the pages around with your cursor to read the entire page.
The reading summaries are due this Friday, Sept. 9th, and are done by:
ENGL300-1: Sherrie Phipps
ENGL300-2: Katelyn Kockler
The responses by all are due on Monday, Sept. 12th.
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by: Katelyn Kockler
Sharpening, by Ken Macrorie focuses on revising your written work after you have stopped working on the piece for a while. Macrorie gives many examples through out this article of how to make yourself a better writer.
Macrorie says one way to catch your mistakes is after your work is written go back through and take out all the verbs is, all forms of to be, of it, of adjectives, adverbs and passive verbs. The reason why is because is links words or proclaims something exists and is causes to many nouns and adjectives in your writing which gives your writing no liveliness. Marcrorie tells writers to circle all forms of to be and look for the meaning. Then circle all adjectives, nouns, and pronouns which usually come from excessive use of is and to be, usually using these cause the writing to be vague. The use of it and there usually should be replaced but are okay if they are telling a place.
Macrorie gives two good examples of what he considers healthy writers, looking at the passages he used showed all the adjectives and adverbs used pulled their weight and were necessary. The author of the passages did not use them to describe his feelings. The passages showed the verbs; make, go, get, have, move and come create dullness to writing. A good writer replaces these words with a different verb that creates life.
Macrorie tells beginning writers to watch out for using to many adjectives and adverbs because they dulls and clogs the story. Repetition of the same meaning with different words is very common with beginning writers, which they need to be aware and conscious of. Good writers test the adjectives and adverbs used but asking questions like; are they pulling weight?, do the other words around render them unnecessary? and if the answer is no they need to be taken out. The answer is not always no to this question and Macrorie gives an example of a good writer who answers yes to these questions and gives an example of Emerson.
The most important thing to take away from this article is to learn where to look for possible weak spots in your own sentences. Macrorie suggest revising old free writings and eliminate weak passive herbs, empty verbs, like; make, have, over use of adjectives and unnecessary use of intensifying words. He also mentions weasel words, which are words connecting with nothing specific, and readers start to believe nothing you say is important.
Returning to your writing and fixing it up is something that Marcrorie not only recommends, but he also finds it pleasurable; it is a process called "sharpening". The author warns against the overuse of the word 'is', 'it', and 'there', and shows how vibrant a passage can be with little to no usage of these words, by comparing the lively text to a more bland passage that contains a plethora of its, theres, and is's. He offers very practical advice--and I think it's a good text to read about revision and why it is important.
ReplyDeleteThe article Sharpening explains how the use of unnecessary adjectives can ultimately make a sentence dull and uninteresting. The author Ken Marcrorie provides multiple explanations throughout the article to provide a clearer understanding to the reader. These explanations were provided so the readers can apply the skills Ken is stressing to their writing techniques themselves. Not only does the elimination of non-meaningful adjectives add more detail to the story, but also adds excitement as well. If a reader is able to follow a story that is full with detail, the more interested they will be into the material that they are reading.
ReplyDeleteThe article talks about using over used adjectives. Then gives plenty of examples of how the sentences can be less dull just with a little bit of rewording. I think its a good way to look or re look at papers and see the over use adjectives.
ReplyDeleteIn the article, "Sharpening" by Ken Macrorie, the author discusses his frustration with the overuse of words such as it and there. Macrorie created the terms "It-ache" and "there-ness" to convey that this overuse was similar to a sickness. He offers examples of words that could be used as replacements. People use it and there as fillers that often lead to the inclusion of more unnecessary words in a sentence. The art of sharpening includes removing unnecessary words and replacing them with words that hold more meaning. Macrorie claims that fluff words are not acceptable in writing and explains other types of words that are equally not needed. "Weasel words" refer to words that take away from the original adjective. These words often make sentences that go nowhere or go in circles. I believe sharpening is a beneficial practice for writers at all stages as Macrorie mentioned about the college professor.
ReplyDeleteThe article "Sharpening" discusses how authors over use adjectives such as is and it. Macrorie describe these adjectives as sickening and gives the reader examples of what he considers good and sickening writing. He also tell us how we can prevent this from happening and what will lead up this. I agree with the author and many of his revised sentence. I feel that people including myself does overuse the adjectives Macrorie discusses. There are alot of unnecessary uses of words that may crowd and make the sentence sound uncertain. This is very beneficial information that can help many good or bad writers become great writers.
ReplyDeleteThe sharpening document talks about using fluff adjectives to make writing more interesting . the author claims that fluff makes writing all the more uninteresting. The author stresses that "Weasel words" that take away from the original adjective. These words often make sentences that go nowhere or go in circles. Sharpening may make things more concise but unnecessary wording cost the reader more time when trying to get to the heart of what you are writing about. I've seen people write fluff time again. I was also prone to write fluff " to beef up" my writing and make it more flavorful and interesting. I'm learning to scale back. Concise is sometimes boring. The English language has been used and reused. I think it's important to put your own spin on things. I also believe that sharpening is helpful because weasel words are tempting and hard to spot.
ReplyDeleteThe title "Sharpening" is a great name for what is represented in the article. Ken Macrorie compares great writing to poor writing. He shows the what the writer originally put, and then how the passage was sharpened to be nearly perfect. He also mentioned how people use adjectives too much. The papers actually sounds more professional as soon as you take out all of the unnecessary words that it has. Sharpening is a good source to use while writing a paper.
ReplyDeleteThis article is all about checking your work after your first initial draft and removing extra nonsense from your writing. I completely agree with the author when he says that excessive adjectives and adverbs take away from the power of the work. A lot of times people add extra words to lengthen their work or to make it sound more credible. In my person opinion, all the extra "fluff" (as my high school English teacher described it) takes away from the purpose of the actual work.
ReplyDeleteThe article talks about over using the adjectives like, is, it, and there. The article isn't saying that it is incorrect to use adjectives in a your sentence, but your sentences could eventually get a little elementary.
ReplyDeleteThe act of "Sharpening" is rereading your writing and fixing the errors in it. Macrorie warns of some common errors such as overusing the verbs be and is, which takes away from nouns and verbs that make the sentence more meaningful. Overusing it, is, be, etc. waters down your writing and effectively makes it boring and dull read. Typically the cause of this type of writing is cramming to meet an assignment fulfillment. I agree with Macrorie, the overuse of these words becomes very redundant and takes the meaning out of the piece.
ReplyDeleteThe article "Sharpening" talks about the excessive use of the verb is, of it, of adjectives, adverbs, and passive verbs. It talks about over using the word "is" in writing. When you use "is" too many times you loose the honesty of the writing. You loose the meat and potatoes of the sentence when over using "is". In this article, it explains that writing has too many nouns and adjectives and not enough verbs. It also recommends limiting the use of "to be" in a sentence. I personally learned a lot from this article.
ReplyDeleteSharpening is the use of basically fluffing up your papers and taking out too many repetitive words. Especially the word is and it. Most writing these days are very dull and have no life in the work. In this article, Macrorie gives a few suggestions in the reading to help fix "Engfish." One trick I had learned was to make the verbs in the present tense rather than leaving everything in past tense.
ReplyDeleteIn his article, "Sharpening," Ken Macrorie discusses how he is frustrated with overusing words such as “it,” “is,” and “there. He claims that writers often use these words as fillers, which then leads to an abundance of unnecessary words in a sentence. Macrorie describe these words as nauseating and thus provides the reader examples of what he considers is good and “sickening” writing. The process of “sharpening” is the removing of those unnecessary words and then replacing them with words to make the sentence more meaningful. There are a lot of unnecessary words used in a sentence that may make it appear ambiguous. Macrorie’s advice is beneficial for not only bad writers, but good writers as well, because then they can both become great writers. I agree with Macrorie and the notion that “sharpening” is a constructive practice that will help improve the prose of writers—both good and bad.
ReplyDeleteIn this article Ken Marcrorie talks about making your writing more interesting by eliminating the use of unnecessary adjectives. Marcrorie shows us the problems with the overuse of it, is and there. He shows us with comparison how to make a text more lively by eliminating the use of these words, Overuse can cause an otherwise interesting sentence to become very dull and uninteresting
ReplyDeleteAndrea Dimitroff:
ReplyDeleteMacrorie’s advice is really similar to the advice that one of my high school English teachers always gave her students. My teacher told us that we couldn’t use any form of “be” or “is” in our writings. This was very challenging for me, because I was forced to use more specific and meaningful words when I wrote. It was also hard because my teacher told us to insert more specific words into our writings as we wrote them for the first time (unlike Macrorie’s way of inserting specific words into writings as a way of editing what is already there). Although this way of writing was challenging for me, over time, it has made me more effective communicator.
I strongly agree with Macrorie’s advice on improving writing by using verbs that bring the writer’s message “to life”. Every writer needs to continually look for mistakes and ways to prevent those mistakes; there is always room for improvement.
Becky Borowiak:
ReplyDeleteI agree with Macrorie's article when he says that using be and is are weak verbs. These verbs do not allow the reader to feel what the author is trying to say. By omitting be and is from your vocabulary, it forces you to dig deep into your lexicon and really describe what you are trying to say. By not using those verbs your writing jumps off the page and smacks the reader in the face.
Anne Gayes:
ReplyDeleteIn the article Sharpening the author talks about how using to be and is when stating verbs makes your sentence weak. Also he talks about going back after awhile and "sharpening" a paper is a very good way to correct mistakes and make one's paper overall better. By doing this it helps the writer change verbs, nouns, and other grammar erors to better the paper and make it more professional.
Caitlin Spiller:
ReplyDeleteIn this article the author talks about ways to make our writing better. Often times writers get in a hurry and and add unnecessary words to their writing because they have a specific page or word requirement. It and is are overused and end up detracting from the person's writing. Passive voice is also used to make sentences longer. Using the passive voice lessens the quality of the writing because it does not sound as good as active voice. This article gives us tips on how to 'sharpen' our writing and make it much better than the amateur uses of it, is, and the passive voice.
Ms. Christmas:
ReplyDeleteIn the Article Sharpening, Macrorie talks about how students can become a better writer if they learn how to properly use nouns and adjectives. Always to make sure you analyze everything and not add any unnecessary sentences, you do not need. Any words that you feel you don't need to be added ,you should consider taking out. This article gives you lots of tips on how to become a successful writer.
Hanna McArthy:
ReplyDeleteKen Macrorie’s “Sharpening” talks about numerous ways to sharpen up your writing. First, people use the words is, it, to be, and there too many times, or too vaguely, and it becomes unnecessary. Secondly, people can use verbs that are bolder then the usual dull verbs such as the dull word being “have” and the bold word can be “require”. Another way to sharpen one’s writing is to make sure one adverb or adjective does not take over another word in the sentence. Lastly, Macrorie advises avoiding any words that cause the sentence to be vague to the reader. I’ve been working on my resume lately, and I’ve recognized that my usual words are boring in the sense that they do not properly express what I am trying to say. This means I must require myself to use bolder language in my writing and take out unnecessary words to better market myself.
Blake Harris:
ReplyDeleteIn Macrorie's article "Sharpening" he writes about the weak usage of be and is. I agree with Macrorie that learning how to correctly use be and is it will make you a better and stronger writer. Also i agree with him that it is good to finish your writing and check your work throughly.
Kristen Andrews:
ReplyDeleteMacrorie's article gave me insight and clarity on engfish and concise writing. The first article about engfish elaborated on the way college students write to lengthen papers and not to write efficient or effectively. Macrorie’s acticle gave examples of engfish and how when written it lacks liveliness. Sharpened writing has clear powerful sentences whose verbs and noun and adjectives connect. Engfish writing does not say much on its own, but sharpened writing brings clarity. Using it and be makes writing dull. Writing without it or be adjectives, nouns, and verbs connect more smoothly than with those words included. Macrorie has opened my eyes to sharpened writing techniques.
Abby Fritschle:
ReplyDeleteThe author of this article, Ken Macrorie, discusses that when he is proofreading he always looks for excessive verbs, adjective, and adverbs. He calls these unnecessary words fillers because they do nothing for the sentence besides make it too wordy. To help people understand, Macrorie provided examples of ways to replace these filler words with ones that will help sentences rather than take away from them. This article definitely provides useful information to keep in mind while writing papers.
Emily Dunn:
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Sharpening," Macrorie encourages writers to revise their work. This article uses a student writing in Engfish as an example, further revealing the style in which many students write as opposed to a more personal writing style. I believe it's easier to write what you might think are your personal thoughts, then go back and sharpen out "it" and "is" from the lengthy sentences. Even writing this comment is harder when you are fully aware of what is correct and what is Engfish. Students will write what they expect their teacher wants to read and what falls under the criteria of what they were assigned. By sharpening a paper, the student is creating a more personal piece of work and eliminating the fluff and Engfish that they first believed would earn them the correct grade. Macrorie is correct that by sharpening a paper the student is getting down to their true writing capabilities.
Michael Carnduff:
ReplyDeleteIn the article, the author shows different ways to help improve writing that is already written. By taking out the verb is will help liven up your work and get your meaning across. This article had me think back to some of my work that I struggled with. This gave me some tricks to use to help make those writings a better piece of work.
In Ken Marcrorie’s article sharpening, he discusses the revision and tightening of writing. In writing there should be no reason that the work is not tightened and no weakness should occur, because there is always a chance to revise the work itself. By avoiding dead patterns and weak spots within the writing, a work can become a very strong piece. This article discusses how using the words it and to be can be distracting, and if used excessively drag in other unnecessary words as well. While reading the article the author states, “In years of experience with editors and other readers who criticize his writing, a professional comes to identify some of the common weaknesses in all writing. –sitting down to go over his first of second draft to fix it.” This quote implied that an author should be able to recognize the dullness within their excessive usage of boring words such as it. An extremely great way to fix a piece of work is to pick verbs that are much more meaningful. Doing so can not only sharpen the work, but also take out the other unnecessary words that go along with the dull verbs.
ReplyDeleteThe article, "Sharpening", is about revising writing. The article discusses, in depth, words that make writing weak and how a good writer should go back during the process of revision and eliminate these words. The words that make writing weak, according to the article, are any form of the verb "to be" and the word "is". When these words are eliminated and replaced by stronger words it makes the writing stronger. Also, the article introduces the idea that adjectives and adverbs should pull their own weight and that they should have meaning based on the words around them. This is a very effective article about revision. I had been introduced to these concepts previously in poetry classes; however, it was helpful to actually read an article on the technique of revision.
ReplyDeleteAfter writing anything, you should revise it. For one, it is important that there are no spelling mistakes, grammar errors, or fragments in whatever you are writing. The article also talks about using too many words. Learn to keep things simple. Especially when writing papers that will be graded, you do not want to over use too many words, it may become boring for the person reading it.
ReplyDeleteThe article "Sharpening" is about just that concerning a written work. It is about beefing up one's work by avoiding the use of lackluster adjectives and words such as "it" and "is". Removing the "fluff" from written documents is something that should be done as part of a revision process once the document is finished. Learning to not use too many unnecessary words is also stressed, which is something I have always had an issue with. My work tends to turn out to be wordy at times and revision often proves to be a useful tool to cure this.
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Sharpening," author Ken Macrorie describes how too many writers rely on words such as it and there. When this happens, sentences and even single words loose weight and meaning within the sentence. Macrorie suggests cleaning up these "unhealthy" sentences with a process he calls sharpening. He states that sharpening should be done later on in the writing process, as in the second and third drafts. Taking out these unnecessary words help sentences become shorter and more concise,and if done correctly, gives words more meaning without the sentence "filler." Macrorie provides many examples of how simply removing these overused words can make a long and mundane sentence shorter and more powerful. Macrorie even used Shakespeare as an example. Would his writing have been as influential if he had written long, rambling sentences? Probably not. I think sharpening is an important practice for High School and college students. The proficiency level at which students of higher learning must be able to write is why proofreading, redrafting and sharpening must be utilized in order to meet these higher standards.
ReplyDeleteI thought that "Sharpening" made some very good points. I believe that students often use extra words and rewrite the same ideas to make there papers seem longer and more thought out then they actually are. Very few teachers actually teach their students the art of sharpening their work or at the very least encouraging the idea of someone looking over their writing to ensure that what they are saying makes sense. I was always taught that you should have another set of eyes re-read something that you have written because you are sure to have missed something.
ReplyDeleteKen Macrorie talks about ways to revise your work. I think it is important for one to kno how to revise your work because if a person was to work in a Public Relations company, they would want to represent their company as best to their ability, so if they make a mistake (which couldve been prevented by revising), it may jeoprodize the company's image.
ReplyDeleteMany of us don't know an efficient way to revise our written work.This article "Sharpening" is helpful because it shows us techniques to check our sentences and improve our writing.Macrorie mentions words such as make,go,get,have,move as dull.It would be challenging for many of to stop using such words since they are common. A good writer, as he states should replace these words. I specially liked the bubbling technique which seems a bit confusing but can be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteThis article is about the importance of revisiting previously written works. In "Sharpening" the author notes that it is some times hard to catch grammar mistakes as well as entertainment value while one is writing. He mentions that another crucial point of writing is to include adjectives and to refrain from using words like; make, go, get have, and move.I do agree that it is important to include description when one is writing, but I do not think that the choice word when using prepositions, verbs, and adjectives are really that important.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Adrian did a great job of summarizing the article "sharpening" written by Macrorie. We as untrained writers do tend to use the words "is", and "it" in place of verbs. "Is" and "it" lacks details and description of what we're trying to convey or show. We as writers do need to sharpen the skill of saying exactly what we mean and not just expect the writer to understand
ReplyDeleteI am always one for improving my writing skill so "sharpening" is an interesting concept. It is a good idea to take a break from ones own written material and come back later to revise. When I work on something and get caught up in it, I can easily miss things and it can fluster my mind. So coming back to a piece later when it has not been on your mind can greatly benefit someone.
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