AndrewAug 15Understanding StyleI guess I don’t really know how to define style. What is the work that I’m actually interested in doing? Fowler makes an incisive point w...
AndrewAug 10How to Write a Longer Paper | Cutting the Fluff vs. Showing Your Work (YouTube Script)What’s that? You have to write a 10 page paper, you say? And you have to come up with 8 pages of fluff because you can make your point in...
AndrewAug 8On Reading Emerson“The best way to enjoy Emerson,” Alton Becker writes, “is to read him aloud, slowly. I suspect it may be impossible to read him fast.” I ...
AndrewAug 3Grammar Bites | Noun Phrase Modifiers (YouTube Script)The noun phrase is probably the most modifiable part of any sentence. You can take my word for it, but it sure would be nice to find a no...
AndrewAug 1Discussion Post | Style as a "Lower-Order Concern"Did I read more this week than Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception? Yes. Do I have to finish a syllabus by the end of the day? Ye...
AndrewJul 27How to Write a Better Conclusion (YouTube Script)All in all, these three principles will help you to write better conclusions. Writing good endings? Well, that’s a-whole-nother thing. In...
AndrewJul 25Style is SubstanceIn the first part of Leech and Short’s Style in Fiction, the authors outline three approaches to style (which are, of course, also addres...
AndrewJul 20Argue Better | Dealing with Disagreement (YouTube Script)Take a deep breath in…and out… Today’s topic is working through disagreements. Intro In his book The Philosophy of Rhetoric, I.A. Richard...
AndrewJul 18Language Comes First—But in What Capacity?Writing in a later edition of his The Rhetoric of Fiction, Wayne Booth comments, “My trouble in this book is not that I subordinate langu...
AndrewJul 13A Guide to Rhetorical Analysis (YouTube Script)Hey, glad you’re back! Today we’re taking on the challenge of writing a rhetorical analysis. To start, here’s a pro tip from someone who ...
AndrewJul 11Doing a Disservice to Your Heroes (A Too-Brief Reflection on Alton Becker's Beyond Translation)Language, according to Alton Becker, is not a list of rules and a system of rules that tell us where to put those words; rather, language...
AndrewJul 4Writing with Clarity Is OverratedIn his famous textbook, Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, Joseph Williams opens by saying, “This book rests on two beliefs: it is good...
AndrewJun 25Grammar Bites | An Introduction to Modifiers (YouTube Script)English, as we’ve stated before, is an SVO language, meaning that sentences in English require a subject and a verb, which is sometimes f...
AndrewJun 15Grammar Bites | Writing Noun Phrases (YouTube Script)When we talked about combining verb phrases with other sentence components, we saw how the vast majority of sentences require at least on...
AndrewJun 13Discussion Post | On PracticeI’m not particularly interested in functional writing—at least, not writing that is only functional.
AndrewJun 8Grammar Bites | Nouns (YouTube Script)Traditionally, we say that a noun is a person place or thing, but, like we saw with verbs, those traditional categories don’t always serv...
AndrewJun 6Discussion Post | Towards the Ethical Critique of Textual ExperienceIn an effort to revitalize ethical criticism of literature, Wayne Booth argues that there is no need to believe that “an interest in form...
AndrewJun 1Grammar Bites | Combining Verb Phrases & Building Sentences (YouTube Script)With an understanding of verb phrases, you’re ready to start building simple sentences. The simplest sentences are built with a single ve...
AndrewMay 30Discussion Post | Lyrical EthicsEmbarking on a summer of reading towards a candidacy examination, I’m navigating a maelstrom of content with what feels like a tissue pap...
AndrewMay 21Grammar Bites | The Verb Phrase (YouTube Script)Now that we’ve taken some time to see how verbs function on their own, let’s look at how they can work together to form longer verb phras...