For Google, Everything is a Popularity Contest, by Ian Bogost. You don't HAVE to read this fantastic article during the summer, but you certainly can. I know for sure that I will use this text in class.
A superquick mini-lesson:
Nonfiction pieces are called "texts" or "books" or "articles" -- words like that. We never refer to nonfiction books as "novels." So, you would never call Amusing Ourselves to Death (or The Shallows or Alone Together) "novels." Although -- and come to think of it, this IS a quirk -- you could refer to "Hansel and Gretel, or Annie Dillard's "The Chase", and the Google piece as "stories" since journalists call their work "stories."
Also, notice that full-length books are italicized (or underlined when we are working with pen and paper), but stories, articles, poems and other shorties are placed within quotation marks.
More later.
Oh! One more superquick minilesson.
The singular form of the word for "an agency or means of doing something; a means by which something is communicated" is "medium." The medium is the message, says Marshall McLuhan. The plural for this word is "media." So when we talk about newspaper, television, internet and radio, we don't say "the mediums" -- we say "media."
Same for the word datum. Singular: datum. Plural: data.
These are two simple errors that are easily fixed. It's the low hanging fruit.
AFletcher
I liked that Google article so much that I clicked on the author, Ian Bogost. Interesting fellow, and his book, *Play Anything* looks really good. Maybe I'll use that for summer homework NEXT year.
ReplyDeleteNotice that I cannot italicize OR underline his book title in this comment box -- my formatting options are quite limited -- but I don't want to place the title within quotations because that is MISLEADING and incorrect, so I placed the title between two asterisks.
Do you use formatting and correct grammar in your text messages? I do.
I definitely use proper grammar and punctuation in my texts. I've always just seen it as a quirk of mine. Oftentimes, people will ask me why I use periods so much in my texts. It's actually quite amusing.
DeleteI always use grammar, spelling, and punctuation in my texts. I have never seen a reason not to. I am not a fast texter, so being a little slower seemed like a good trade for being correct. I never use texting abbreviations either, and I am sometimes confused when others use ones that I do not know.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I do not use proper punctuation all the time, unless I am speaking with an adult, or when I am trying to illustrate that what I am saying is important. I just feel like when I'm having a casual conversation with my age mates I do not need to be as proper as I would need to be when I'm speaking with an adult or authoritative figure. My peers understand what I'm trying to say, I figure.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joy because I too, do not always use proper punctuation while texting. For me, it depends on who I am messaging and in what form. For example, when I am texting my friends, I usually try to keep it short and minimal, so several abbreviations and slang words are used. However, if I send an email to an adult, I always make sure my grammar is correct and clear.
ReplyDeleteIn texting, I make sure to spell things out the way I would actually say things to my peers. Usually, I talk really weird, so obviously improper texting would be the outcome of that. If ever I use correct or proper speech in texting, it is because I am trying to convey how serious what I am saying is. This is really important to me for the very fact that I am texting. If I text things in a certain way, people should be able to know the emotion I'm trying to evoke through my words. I would hate it if someone misunderstood me since we are only reading them and not conversing in person.
ReplyDeleteIn my text messages, it depends on who I am texting. If it's one of my friends or one of my siblings I will not use proper grammar. But if I'm texting an adult someone like my dad or teacher, I will use proper grammar. I believe I do this because of how I was raised, I was taught to always talk clearly (without slang) to my elders and to respect them. Not to say I don't respect my friends or siblings when I text or talk to them without proper grammar, it's just that since I'm not forced to be proper I choose not to be. But I believe since I talk to them without proper grammar there should be no miscommunication or misunderstanding through text because it's the way I talk to them normally.
ReplyDelete