Most people don’t consider writing a favorite past time; that’s certain. To some, writing feels unnatural and even painful, thus many students like to avoid it if possible. Avoiding literacy may be comfortable, and there is nothing wrong with being non-literate if you live in a non-literate culture, but our fate is to survive in a literate culture. To the degree we remain illiterate we remain powerless and vulnerable.

This manual provides a clear and straightforward guide to improving your writing skills. You don’t have to like it that much to get better at it although a little enthusiasm helps. Improving writing is very much like developing musical ability: the basic rules are few and simple; it is the practicing that makes the difference between dilettantes and virtuosos. No one expects you to become a master writer, but you should know the basic rules.

In my attempt to pare the grammatical elements of writing down to bare bones, I unavoidably produce a course that appears incomplete¾ especially to language purists. However, I did not write this manual for purists but for people who need to improve their writing skills and don't wish to dwell on the subject for too long. Most grammatical principles can be inferred simply by use as long as the student has accurate models to emulate. I did not develop an ability to write well by practicing grammar exercises; I learned by continually experimenting with the language and making mistakes. My mastery of grammar was largely an unconscious affair. For example, I had long understood the function of an infinitive before I ever discovered what linguists call it. I only learned how to talk about grammar when I went to a foreign country to teach English and suddenly had to articulate principles that I had internalized previously. That may seem backwards and ironic, but it should give hope to those of you who find grammar dreadfully boring. There are a few principles we will need to cover so we have a common language¾ but there is not much to it. You can learn what you need to know in a relatively short time if you put your mind to it. Once you become comfortable with a few basic principles and sentence types, you will then be ready to begin exploring the content of your imagination and experience. Writing is very personal. In a sense it is thought made visible, so what you can write about is only limited by the range of your imagination.

Don’t limit your possibilities.

After working with words initially, you will write and develop four types of sentences: simple, compound, complex and compound/complex. These sentence types are the equivalent of scales in music. First you must learn to reproduce them technically, but when you become adept you can use them as creatively as you want.

Note: A word about being "bored."

Many students, when faced with an assignment they would rather not do, levy the charge that "this is boring." This is a veiled way of saying, "I don’t want to do this; I’d rather do something fun like play Nintendo." Please consider that although being an adult often entails activities that we’d rather not do, responsible adults do them because it’s ultimately in their best interest to do so. The creative, intelligent adult learns to make the most of every situation, even those that could be considered boring. For example, I am writing this while on vacation in Taiwan. Are there other things I’d rather be doing? Of course. This morning I could be out walking on the beach where guards with machine guns stand poised. That’s not boring. I could be having coffee at Wendy’s where interesting people walk up to me, introduce themselves and try to practice their English conversation. That’s fun too. Instead, I’m staying home for a few hours and writing on this manual because I want you to know the things contained in it. I know from years of experience that these things will help you a lot in life. So there are other things I could be doing instead of writing this manual—and please realize that it will take me a lot longer to write it than it will take you to work through it—but instead of whining that it’s boring and that I’d rather be out playing, I’m trying to enjoy the process as much as I can. I look forward to presenting you with this material and teaching you its contents.

The next time you face an exercise that you react to by saying it’s boring, please remember what I could have been doing instead of writing it and how long it took me. I would really appreciate that consideration.

Word Parts

Learning word roots is a good way of developing vocabulary, and it helps decrease reliance on dictionaries. Once you learn a handful of basic word parts, it becomes fairly easy to figure out what words mean by considering their roots and the context in which they are presented.

• Create your own compound words. Write five sentences each containing a compound word not found in the dictionary. Let others try to guess the words’ intended meanings by hearing them in context. Be prepared to explain their meanings: For example, what might a "zoophobe" be?

Craft five sentences using noun phrases in the list. Write another five sentences using noun phrases that you already know.

Define the following words.. They indicate stages of a certain clinical condition. Can you guess what it is?

• verbose · bellicose · lachrymose · comatose

The structure of English grammar has a logic to it that is independent of the meaning of individual words. For example, if you review the list below of basic grammatical elements, you can determine the parts of speech for each element in this sentence from the poem Jabberwocky:

A verb is action, sometimes involving more than one word like, "did run."

A preposition shows relationships such as in, under, around, etc. A prepositional phrase is a preposition plus a noun, such as "on the carpet."

Activity

Determine the grammatical elements in the following sentence:

Essentially, a sentence is considered complete if it has a subject and a verb¾ an actor and an action. It must also express a complete thought.

That is a valid sentence because it has a subject and a verb. A sentence is always about someone or something. That is the subject. What that someone or something does is the verb. You can add other elements to the sentence, but at the core remain the subject and the verb.

Dogs often bark (before an earthquake).

If a sentence lacks a subject or a verb, it is incomplete. It is considered a sentence fragment.

This sentence is complete:

This sentence lacks a verb:

This sentence is complete:

If a sentence does not express a complete thought, it is considered a fragment. Check the list of dependent words in the section involving complex sentences. When each of these words precedes an independent clause, the whole clause becomes dependent.

This is also a fragment. The phrase can't function on its own; it depends on an independent clause to work.

(Phrase) (Independent Clause)

¾ OR¾

Dogs, having hypersensory abilities, often bark before earthquakes.

Activity

Write a simple sentence using each of the following weak verbs:

Strong Verbs:

I lived in Taiwan for two years.

Taiwan’s aborigines descended from Polynesians.

Sometimes a verb is formed with more than one word. Here are some of the forms of the irregular verb give. The forms in parantheses are regular verbs (past tense is formed by adding "ed.") The highlighted forms don't work for some verbs, so just ignore them.

The following words may appear in the middle of the verb, but they are not part it:

Choose a single strong verb and list it as either regular or irregular. Write original simple sentences based on each verb form listed in the previous chart.

Making verbs and subjects agree is mainly numerical. If the subject is singular, the verb form must be the singular form. If the subject is plural, the verb form must be plural: Here are some examples using weak verbs:

Refer back to the list of descriptive noun phrases on page 6. Choose five of them, and craft a sentence using the apprpriate weak verb for each. Take, for example, "a shoal of bass." Since the subject is singular, your sentence might read, "A shoal of bass is a beautiful sight in the sunlight." The verb agrees with the subject "shoal," not bass. If the sentence used bass as a subject, it would read, "Bass are tasty fish." Just remember that the subject will never be in a prepositional phrase like "of bass." More on prepositional phrases later.

Here’s an easy way to remember how strong verbs agree: If the subject is singular: One verbs. (Note the "s" on the end of the verb.)

If the subject is plural: Two (or more) verb. (No "s")

Carefully craft five sentences using strong verbs that agree with the same subjects. For example, "Tien’s car looks cool." The subject, car, is singular so the strong verb has an "s." "Those cars look ridiculous." The subject is now plural, so drop the "s."

Plural: Some gardens have their own compost pits. (gardens/their)

Using any verb types, write sentences with appropriate pronouns incorporating the words provided: For example, "The boy loves his dog."

boy/dog people/rights boat/sail

boys/dog man/rights boats/sail

Prepositional phrases show relationships between things in time and space, and between people:

I will meet you (after school). Shows relationship in time.

The Rolling Stones have a song called "Under My Thumb." Shows relationship between people.

Prepositions, like the word under," are almost always followed by nouns or pronouns. This group of words is called a prepositional phrase. In the previous sentence, the preposition "under" shows the relationship between the tree and the subject.

Do not mistake the "to" that precedes a verb as a preposition. It is called an infinitive. Example:

He likes to drive. (infinitive)

He drives to the mall. (preposition)

(to go: infinitive)

Prepositional phrases function as adverbs or adjectives in a sentence. Adjectives modify or describe nouns, while adverbs describe or modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs.

(an adjective phrase)

He is going to Egypt next year.

Too many prepositional phrases in a row can befuddle the reader. Prepositional phrases are wonderful, but they should be used sparingly, and only when necessary.

Instead of writing: "The car of Jane" write "Jane’s car using a possessive apostrophe. "The bark of the dog" becomes "the dog’s bark," and "hair of the girl" becomes, "the girl’s hair."

The main point of punctuation is to clarify meaning for the reader. Read the following sentence and decide if the meaning is clear:

Unless you interpret the sentence as suggesting that a cannibal make a midnight snack out of Grandfather, you will agree that the meaning is unclear. With correct punctuation the sentence reveals that someone is addressing Grandfather, suggesting that they grab a bite to eat before leaving. "Let’s eat, Grandfather, before we go." Or, "Grandfather, let’s eat before we go."

1. People’s Names: Tobey, Adam, Tony

2. Names of Countries and Languages: England, English, Spain, Spanish

3. Names of regions, localities, and geographic features: the Taiwan Strait, the Orient, the East Side, Mount Shasta

4. Name of calendar divisions: January, February, Monday, Tuesday (Note: the seasons are not capitalized; winter, spring, summer, fall)

5. Names of holidays and historical events: Fourth of July, Easter the Battle of Hastings

6. All words denoting the Deity (God or Satan)): Heavenly Father, Him, Satan, Father of Lies, the Devil)

7. Titles of Persons: President Nixon, Lieutenant Dan, Professor Shepard

8. Titles of publications: Elk Grove Citizen, Calvine Planet, Breakfast of Champions

9. Always capitalize the first word in a sentence!

Write a sentence using an example for each way capitalization can be used.

1. Separate two words that might be confused: "Instead of hundreds, thousands came."

2. Set up a direct quotation: Tara said, "This is the most fun I’ve had in years."

3. Link words in a series: "He had a short, sweet, productive life."

4. Are used after an introductory phrase: "Having no money left, Katie left France."

5. Join two independent clauses: "I didn’t study, so I failed the test." (more on sentence types later)

6. Join dependent and independent clauses: "Because I didn’t study, I failed the test." (More on sentence types to follow)

Write a sentence using each of the ways commas are used.

"A sentence should read as if its author, had he held a plow instead of a pen, could have drawn a furrow deep and straight to the end." Thoreau

· Simple

· Compound

· Complex

· Compound/Complex

Who or what a sentence speaks about is the subject. It is always a noun (person, place or thing) or a pronoun (a word that substitutes for a noun)

Every sentence also has a verb. A verb is what the sentence says about the subject. Most verbs show action, although some give information about the subject. You will recall that the common linking verbs include:

She is an author of novels. (weak--passive)

She writes novels. (strong verb--active)

As a general rule, cast your sentences in the active voice. Instead of writing: The cat was kicked by Joe," write: Joe kicked the cat. It means the same thing, but the ability to express an idea in fewer words helps make your meaning clear and is a mark of a good writer. It doesn’t seem like much when dealing with a simple sentence¾ three words instead of five¾ but compounded over the course of an extended essay this can represent a significant percentage of extraneous prose.

Create five sets of sentences, each sentence in its active and passive form.

Activity

Any group of words that has a subject and a verb is either a dependent or independent clause. If two independent clauses are incorrectly fused using no punctuation or only a comma, they are called run-on sentences.

Either way there are two independent clauses incorrectly joined. Run-on sentences can be fixed in several ways:

When one of these words is used, it is always preceded by a semi-colon. It may need a comma after it. Read the sentence aloud. If you hear a pause after the connecting word, the sentence probably requires a comma.

I used to own a typewriter, but I sold it to my friend.

• The sun was intense. They decided not to sunbathe.

• The sun was intense; they decided not to sunbathe.

• The sun was intense; consequently, they decided not to sunbathe.

• The sun was intense, so they decided not to sunbathe.

Use semi-colons consciously. Generally, they should be used when the second clause is closely related to the first:

"She filled him with revulsion; in fact he hated her."

Monica is a good driver she passed her driving test.

Mark is an artist he understands symbolic language.

Write a good sentence using each of the connecting words previously listed. Always use a semi-colon. Use commas where you think they are necessary.

A compound sentence is two simple sentences combined into one. It is used when you want to give equal weight to two closely related ideas. A compound sentence contains at least two independent clauses. We have already discussed different ways to connect two independent clauses. Here we will focus on coordinating conjunctions:

Join two clauses using a comma plus a coordinating conjunction: Conjunctions are connectors, like coupling devices on a train. They join clauses of equal grammatical rank.

Write a compound sentence using each of the conjunctions in the FANBOYS list.

A complex sentence is composed of an independent clause and a dependent clause. Remember that a clause is simply a word group that contains a subject and a verb. An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone, whereas a dependent clause depends on the independent clause to complete its meaning. Dependent clauses always begin with a subordinating word. Here is the list of common subordinating words:

A complex sentence is used when you want to emphasize one idea over another. Consider the following sentence:

The most important idea the writer wants to emphasize¾ I was tired all day¾ is expressed as a complete thought. "Because I stayed up late last night" is a less important idea and can stand on its own as an independent clause, so we say it is subordinate to the main clause. The technique of giving one clause less emphasis than another is called subordination.

Based on the model above, write complex sentences using each of the subordinate words in the list. (Two sentences for each word)

A compound/complex sentence contains two independent clauses joined with a coordinating conjunction and at least one dependent clause which begins with a subordinate word:

After I graduated college, I started working for a company,

but it was too boring.

Activity

The guy always drove too fast, so it’s no surprise that he lost control of his car one day and died."

(Note that "it’s no surprise that" serves as a transition between ideas; it smoothes out the weld between these two sentences.)

You could also combine these sentences into a complex sentence:

The trick in combining sentences effectively is to always be conscious of what you are trying to do. If you want to link ideas of equal importance, you might want to use compound sentences:

Complex sentences are useful when one part of the idea is considered less important than the other (subordination):

An important but relatively ignored consideration in sentence combining involves rhythm and tone¾ in a musical sense. Besides determining appropriate sentence types, it is important to arrange those sentences in ways that please the ear, either audibly or mentally. It is rather strange, but even when we read silently we "hear" patterns and tones that seem either harmonic or dissonant. Good writers have a certain musical facility that permits them to perceive euphony, which literally translates as: "good sound." Conversely, trying to read bad writing is a tiresome chore¾ it makes unfortunate readers feel as if they are wading through thick mud. Your job, as a competent writer and good person, is to save readers from stumbling over poorly constructed prose. You should show respect to people who are willing to read your writing by trying your best to write well.

It is your job as a writer to make a reader’s job as easy as possible.

The Rhetorical Triangle is a simple diagram to remind the writer to remain conscious of audience and purpose. Consideration of audience and purpose affects choices a writer makes that in turn influences the writer’s effectiveness.

Good speakers/writers know their audiences and tailor their messages to them. Consideration of audience will determine choices you make such as what information to include or exclude, the words you use or avoid, and the tone you adopt for your presentation. The African-American comedian and human rights activist, Dick Gregory, for example, was highly conscious of his various audiences when presenting his material. When he was addressing the students at Compton College, for example, he used black vernacular, or street talk¾ language that violates traditional notions of "correct" grammar but serves as a definite style of communication. Gregory’s audience received him better because he tailored his speech for them. However, he did the same thing when he spoke to an audience at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. Since that audience tended to be more receptive to speakers who observe traditional grammatical conventions, Gregory spoke "proper" English in a formal style. He could do both, and since his purpose in both cases was to persuade his audience, by tailoring his presentation carefully, he was able to maximize his effectiveness.

There are two basic types of audiences: general and specialized. Both of Dick Gregory’s audiences were general¾ that is, they contained people from a general socio-economic group, but within that group there were many differences of gender, race, religion, political affiliation, etc. A specialized group would be an audience that has a specific interest¾ a group of mental health workers, for example, who are interested in the latest research involving mega-vitamin therapy in the treatment of schizophrenia.

Unfortunately, writing a piece because it is a required assignment is one of the worst possible reasons to write. In school we are coerced, in a sense, into performing the commonly uncomfortable act of writing under threat of punishment (losing points and ultimately failing the course). Writing under such conditions does not foster warm feelings toward the subject, and that is unfortunate since writing is such a powerful and enlightening tool. My best advice is to somehow make your writing assignments meaningful to your own life. Even if you don’t like a particular assignment or subject, there is usually a way to personalize your approach to it. There may be occasions in your schooling when you will be penalized for attempting to make an assignment meaningful, but sometimes making your education relevant is more important than getting points.

Option #1 Write two letters on this subject: your new hot romance. Write one letter to your best friend and the other to Grandma (audience). Consider the appropriate tone and determine what facts and details you will include or exclude for each. Also, determine why you are writing (purpose). Your purpose in writing to your friend might be to impress, share your happiness, make the friend jealous¾ there are many possibilities.

• expressive

Persuasive writing tries to influence readers’ attitudes and actions. To some extent all writing is persuasive, but in school an essay is considered persuasive if it argues for or against a particular proposition. You present a thesis statement, which states exactly what you intend to prove, then you attempt to prove it in the succeeding paragraphs. Besides the definite structure of the academic essay, which you will soon master, there are some broader rhetorical concerns than influence effectiveness. As we will see in the next section, persuasive writing involves appeals to emotion, logic and the character of the speaker.

These are different types of appeals writers make in their efforts to convince their audiences to act or change their attitudes.

Although this argument could be easily countered, it is primarily an appeal to logic.

• Pathos Pathos is an appeal to emotion. It lacks logic, but exploits how people feel about an issue.

That sentence appeals to emotion, but it is not a very logical argument. War implies, among other things, killing people (the definition of murder), so the argument really says we shouldn’t go to war in Bosnia because war is war.

• Ethos Ethos is an appeal to the character of the speaker. The arguer tries to convince her audience that her motives are pure. In Jonathan Swift’s "A Modest Proposal," the author ends his argument by saying:

"I profess in the sincerity of my heart that I have not the least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the public good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich."

The writing process is sometimes arbitrarily divided up into four categories: Planning, Drafting, Revising, Editing. Theorists remind us that these elements of the writing process are recursive, which means they recur, or happen again and again throughout the production of a single piece of writing. Think of writing as a holistic process, not a sequential, linear process.

Planning is what writers do to assemble the components of their project before casting it into prose, much the way carpenters obtain the lumber they need before beginning to frame a house. For writers of academic essays this may simply involve writing down the point they intend to prove in a single sentence, then listing a few points that prove" their thesis.

You might want to try freewriting to get your ideas flowing, but at some point you should try to draw a simple blueprint of what you are planning to write. This isn't necessary for personal letters, but for academic essays it is essential. Your plan doesn’t have to be complex. It can be as simple as this:

• Social (The negative or positive social impact of handgun ownership)

• Medical (The medical evidence that indicates why handgun ownership should or shouldn’t be more heavily regulated)

• Constitutional (What the country’s founders did or did not mean that supports your particular proposition)

Draft a simple plan based on the preceding model. Cast your thesis statement in the active voice and make a short list of evidence types that seem appropriate to support your thesis. Choose a topic that interests you because you will be working with it for awhile.

• Shirley is a lobbyist for the Buhao Chemical Company.
• The worker was a victim of his employer’s verbal abuse.
• He was under the order of a court to cease and desist.
• It seems that the question is whether or not one should actually continue to be, or if, in fact, the superior choice would be to cease being.

• (Medical) It causes shortness of breath.

• (Environmental) It damages the ozone layer.

• (Economic) It is expensive.

We might describe editing as a little final polishing. Even professional writers have editors whose job it is to catch typographical errors (typos), misspellings, or flaws in grammar that the writer probably understands but occasionally overlooks. It is quite difficult for anyone to write a full-length essay without making a few errors, so anytime you can find someone who is competent and willing to edit one of your pieces, you should appreciate the opportunity. I commonly have other writers inspect my work before letting it go public.

While the 1954 Brown vs. Bored of Education case laid a legal foundation for a more just society and heralded an "era of social revolution," we should not assume that the advancement of civil liberty and justice are linear. If it was, social progress would develope more quickly, but such victories is won and lost through tedious cycles of struggle. US history proves that rites, although theoretically "inalienable," is most commonly purchased through suffering and sacrifice, for powerful intersts customarily thwart such rites to maintain an unfair advantage. Currently, this elite has in their arsenal the corporate medias’ big guns: persuasive techniques," which they use too misinform, manipulate and stupefy the populace conversely, community radio enlightens and empowers citizens to actualize the nation’s professed ideals; It is a marketplace. Of ideas. That stocks its shelves with something more than Wonderbread. Free speach radio constitutes a source and sanctuary of intellectual and spitrual sustenance.

At this moment in our national history we seem to be loosing ground. Advances gained over the passed few decades in civil rights, environmental protection, and afirmative action are being flagrantly undermined, and the nation increasingly appears as the antithesis of its ideal self. Characterizing our countries media and prevailing mental climate are the malodorous bleatings of a malevolent bellwether who leads his faithful flock to hate "librals" and other red herrings. We need community radio to serve as the voice and conscious of those who value liberty and justice more than petty self interest.

"Writing is architecture, not interior decorating" Ernest Hemingway

Learning to write a persuasive essay is probably the single most important skill required for success in school, especially college. Even if you don’t plan to attend college, life still at times requires that you be able to defend a point of view, and that’s all a persuasive essay really is: you’re just defending an opinion. Whether you are trying to defend yourself against unfair accusations or attempting to convince others that your political or social opinions are sound, constructing and presenting an argument is truly a life skill. The persuasive essay has a simple but definite structure that you will need to master. It is fundamentally an inductive argument in that it offers premises in the form of supporting evidence, then it arrives at a (hopefully) logical conclusion. In the academic essay, the conclusion must be stated up front as a thesis statement. A simple plan for an academic essay might look like this:

Guns should be more heavily regulated (thesis statement).

• Social (topic sentences)

• Historical

• Constitutional

Topic Sentence: The topic sentence is a general statement that lets readers know what the paragraph is about. It is followed by supporting evidence¾ examples, illustrations, anecdotes, statistics, etc. Make clear transitions between sentences: "In the year 2001, the fumigant Methyl Bromide will be banned by federal law. However, until that time, people will continue to get sick."

An essay should finish, not just stop. The conclusion should gracefully bring your essay full circle. See the following section for suggestions.

Introductions serve to introduce your subject and arouse readers’ interest. Instead of hitting your readers in the face with your point, you need to set the tone and warm them up to your thesis. One way you can do this is to relate a story, true or symbolic, that illustrates the point you will put forward. For example, in an essay arguing why guns should not be more heavily regulated, the writer might begin with a brief account of one nation that took away its citizens’ right to bear arms and then immediately turned totalitarian. The story sets up readers to accept what the writer wants them to believe. The thesis statement usually appears as the last sentence in the introductory paragraph. Guns should not be more heavily regulated.

Write an effective introduction based on a previous draft.

A paragraph is a grouping of sentences that develops an idea. When you address a subject--any subject--you need to decide the most logical and effective way to divide the pie. The "pie" is your essay. Like a pie, essays are difficult to consume all at once, so we divide it into units more easily swallowed. I doubt that I can stretch this metaphor any farther, so I will just give you some examples of the concept:

(Note: If you have lots of information and are planning to write a long essay, it is possible that each specific point would receive its own paragraph, but most of you won’t have to worry about having that much material for some time.)

Body Paragraph One¾ topic sentence: Regulation of gun ownership will lead to an erosion of rights. Clearly state your first topic sentence. Remember that each paragraph presents evidence that helps support your thesis. The topic sentence should clearly indicate the main idea of the paragraph. Following the topic sentence, the writer offers specific illustrations, concrete examples testimony, statistics, etc. that support the topic sentence. Note that topic sentences tend to be general statements that are supported by specifics (We will discuss this in depth later).

Body Paragraph Two¾ Topic Sentence: Virtually every government that has taken away its citizens right to bear arms has subsequently exploited the people. Followed by specific supporting evidence....

Body Paragraph Three¾ Topic Sentence: The Founders knew what would happen if gun ownership were restricted...Followed with supporting points.

Using your rough draft, write effective body paragraphs for your persuasive essay. Concentrate on creating artful topic sentences.

Conclusions¾ Conclusions often summarize main points and may suggest that readers take a certain action or change their attitudes in relation to the subject. It is often useful to actually come to a conclusion of some kind. What is the significance of your essay? Why should people take it seriously? If possible, your conclusion should leave readers with something to consider. Your last comment will be what they remember most. Other ways to conclude an essay:

• Draw readers’ attention to larger issues. Show how the significance of your topic can be applied to other issues.

• Augment the importance of the main idea by referring to the introduction.

• Rephrase the thesis. You begin a persuasive essay by presenting your conclusion. Then, in subsequent paragraphs, you attempt to convince your readers why your conclusion was sound. The college essay demands that you state your conclusion up front, in the form of a thesis statement, but there’s no universal law that says you can't organize your material in other ways. For example, you can reverse the order and present your evidence before stating a conclusion. Another way is to let readers draw their own conclusions. This is a good technique when the reader may resist your conclusion.

Activity

On the subject of reasoning¾ A deductive argument begins with generalizations called premises. Premises can be applied to specific instances and conclusions can be drawn from those instances. The formal deductive argument is called a syllogism.

minor premise: Sam is a cow.

Major Premise: Some students are lazy.

(Note that qualifying words such as all and some affect the wording of the conclusion)

Activity

Based on the preceding model, write seven pairs of general/specific statements

The rhetorical modes are lines of inquiry, or ways of approaching your subject to generate material. Any combination of the modes may be used in a persuasive essay depending on what modes best support the thesis. For example, in an essay arguing for the decriminalization of certain drugs, writers may begin by defining what they mean by "drugs." When asked, many people will categorically say that "drugs are bad," yet they might drink coffee, take aspirin, and occasionally get tranquilizers from the doctor. I once saw a hospital that, in support of Nancy Reagan’s "Just Say No" campaign, had taken out an ad to claim that it supported a "drug free environment." A drug free hospital? This was a case where a definition of terms would have been appropriate. We know what they had in mind, but the wording still seemed ridiculous. Also, the writer of this essay could use classification to demonstrate the specific types of drugs she thinks should be decriminalized. To support this classification, the writer might use comparison/contrast to demonstrate the similarities and differences between truly dangerous drugs and relatively benign substances. The writer might use narration to relate a story of a well-liked city councilmember who was jailed for ten years for possessing a small amount of one of the relatively benign drugs. Depending on what your essay focuses, you could also use cause and effect. You might argue that putting people in jail for certain relatively benign substances" (cause) results in unneccesary clogging of the court system and prisons (effect). There are many cause/effect relationships that writers can use to argue their points. Consider also that effects can become causes in an endless chain reaction. Considering the overcrowding of prisons with drug offenders as a cause, you could argue that an effect is the lessening of prison space for violent and truly dangerous criminals.

• Persuasion

Persuasion is trying to convince others to act or change their attitudes in some way. In terms of the college essay, persuasion involves having a point and backing that point up with evidence. In persuasive writing it is okay to argue an opinion, but to support your opinion you need to rely on facts. As a general rule, you should use climactic order" in arranging your evidence: put your least strong piece of evidence first and the strongest point last:

This activity will require a lot of effort. You are to write a paragraph each for every rhetorical mode listed previously. Keep in mind that in a legitimate essay, several rhetorical modes will be used in the production of a single piece of writing.

Fallacies are flaws in logic that weaken an argument. Fallacies may be the products of faulty thinking, but they may also be used intentionally (Doublespeak) to bamboozle the listener/reader. Regardless of why they occur, it is important to recognize them. There are dozens of fallacies. Here are a few common ones:

• Ad Hominem "Of course Clinton voted that way; he is a pot smoking bleeding heart liberal" (Attacks the person instead of focusing on the issue).

• Appeal to Ignorance "No-one has ever captured a Loch-Ness monster; therefore, such creatures do not exist."

• Appeal to Authority (Usually the wrong authority) "Rush said it, and he knows about education."

• Two Wrongs Make It Right "Mom let him smoke, so she has to let me do it."

• Bandwagon "Conservative values are popular right now, so obviously they are the best. (Many factors determine the popularity of political climates that have nothing to do with being "right’."

• Begging the Question "Eating meat is wrong because it is immoral."

(Immoral means "wrong," so the argument says eating meat is wrong because it is wrong).

• Irrelevant Thesis "One should never practice meditation. I know someone who meditated and he went crazy."

• Dicto Simpliciter "Bread is the Staff of Life. Everyone should eat bread every day." (Although most people associate bread with healthy food, some people are allergic to wheat and will suffer severe reactions if they eat it).

• Equivocation Feminists often disapprove of words using the word "man" because it reflects a male bias. The word actually comes from a root which means to think and refers to males and females. Perhaps some people would also object to words which contain the root "son," as in the word "spokesperson." "Son," after all, reflects a male bias. Actually, the suffix means "sound," as in "sonic boom." The word "person," or "personality," has roots derived from ancient Greek drama that mean: "The mask through which the sound comes."

• False Cause "I walked under a ladder and had bad luck all day."

• False Analogy "If I am old enough to go to war and die, then I should be old enough to buy alcohol."

• False Dilemma (Either/Or) "We either prevent the banning of methyl bromide or California agriculture will be completely destroyed."

• False Dichotomy "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."

(Just because guns are illegal doesn’t mean people won’t own them. The police would still have guns, as would the military, criminals, and average citizens who disagreed with the law and refused to surrender their armaments).

• Genetic "Joey believes in Christianity because his father is a rich minister."

(Joey’s belief in Christianity may have nothing to do with his father’s occupation).

• Guilt By Association "He must be a communist because his friend believes Karl Marx. (Just because one friend is a communist doesn’t mean the other is. Also, the friend might not be a Communist. One can agree with Karl Marx’s ideas without accepting a political affiliation).

• Hasty Generalization "Religious people are mushy-minded. I was with a group of religious people this weekend and they were really weird; they kept saying the rational mind was inconsistent with ultimate truth." (Weird ideas have often become scientific fact. For example, claiming the earth was not the center of the universe used to nominate you for auto de fe (slow roasting at the stake), but now it is an accepted truth).

• Loaded Question "Are you crazy, or just stupid?" (Any way you answer, you lose).

• Past Practice "Tobacco companies have always been subsidized by the taxpayers, so we should continue to give them welfare." (Changing information and circumstances may necessitate changes).

• Poisoning the Well "Don’t take her class. She’s a pinko-lefto-communo feminazi who uses her lectern as a pulpit. (This person might have good things to say, but the well-poisoner already has tainted your impression of the teacher).

• Strawman "If we legalize marijuana, pretty soon, so many people would be lazy from smoking it that our work force would collapse. We simply can’t afford to have our workforce collapse." (Making a mountain out of a molehill, then demolishing the mountain, leaving the molehill intact).

• Slippery Slope "If marijuana were legalized, pretty soon people would be snorting cocaine and shooting up heroin." (This fallacy has to do with escalating consequences beyond reason).

• Suppressed Evidence "Bohemians were simply a mushy-minded group of n’er do-wells who did drugs and complained about the government.