Style Academy #5

Isaac Ford

Kaleigh Spooner

Section 23

Style Academy #5

            For my final style academy assignment, I wanted to learn about something that was completely new to me.  So when I was scrolling through the Style Academy website and I saw the section on “Tropes and Schemes”, I knew that that was the one for me.  I had heard of a scheme before, but had no idea what a trope was, so this style academy assignment was very beneficial for me.  From the instruction, I learned that a trope is when you turn the meaning of words to mean something else.  An example he gave in the video was from the movie Forest Gump, “Life is like a box of chocolates.”  He explains that tropes are commonly achieved through the use of metaphors and similes.  In this example, the speaker is making a connection between two unrelated things – life and a box of chocolates.  So anytime someone makes a play on words to change the meaning, it is a trope.

            A scheme is something similar but at the same time different.  A scheme is how you play wit the way words appear in the text.  There are four ways to do that; Repetition, Balance, Omission, and Transposition.  The quote by Winston Churchill we went over in class was an example he gave to show repetition – repeating the phrase “we shall” over and over again.  Schemes are much more common in writing than I had realized, and help enhance rhetorical moves.  I never realized but I have used some aspects of schemes in my writing for a long time.  We had an activity to do where he gave a sentence and we had to identify it it was a trope or a scheme.  Two examples of those sentences are these:

            Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends. 

            More Boots on the Ground for Peace

The first sentence is an example of a scheme.  It uses the omission or the word “and” to create a different effect in the mind of the reader.  The second sentence is an example of a trope because of the play on the word “boots”.  In this sentence, the word “boots” is used to represent all the troops in general and not actually boots. 

            Before watching this video, I wouldn’t have had any idea as to what those two things were, but now I am able to accurately define and identify each one.

Style Academy #4

Isaac Ford

Kaleigh Spooner

Writing 130 Section 23

Style Academy #4

            Every time I sit down to write a paper, an email, or anything for that matter, I try to make it the best possible.  I always try to sound intelligent, informed, and polite.  For some reason or another, that always leads me to want to use the semicolon.  All through high school I wondered how to use it correctly, and so for this Style Academy assignment, I decided to learn more about the semicolon.

            First of all, there are four general rules to use the semicolon as discussed in the video.  The first is used between two independent clauses.  They are separated by a semicolon.  The second is that you use semicolons between two independent clauses that are linked with some sort of transitional phrase, like therefore, accordingly, or hence.  The third is very similar to the second.  You just use them in between two independent clauses, and in front of a transitional element.  And lastly, semicolons are used to separate elements of a sentence that already contain some kind of punctuation.  A good example and exercise given in the video of how the last one is used is this

The U.S. government has three branches: the legislative which makes the law the executive which enforces the law and the judicial which interprets the law.

This is the original sentence, and this is the one I edited with the commas and semicolons.

The U.S. government has three branches: the legislative, which makes the law; the executive, which enforces the law; and the judicial, which interprets the law.

This video was actually really helpful.  I now will not just throw semicolons around with no real idea of how to use them.  Semicolons can also be used as rhetorical moves, as shown in the video.  A much different effect is achieved from combining two sentences with a semicolon instead of just using two different sentences.  I am looking forward to writing in the future with the real rules in my mind about semicolons.

Style Academy

Isaac Ford

Kaleigh Spooner

11/24/15

Style Academy

            The Style Academy lesson that I decided to watch was on active sentences.  To be completely honest, before clicking on it and watching the video, I had no idea what an active sentence was.  However, since watching it, I have realized that that was the exact lesson I needed.  I am a huge culprit of writing passive sentences, and I had no idea.  So, to write active sentences, the instructor gives three rules: 1) No slow starts.  2) Find actors.  3) Give actors actions.  By using these three rules, it is much easier to write active sentences.

            Now, I will take an example of a bad sentence from my Issues Paper, and turn it into a well constructed active sentence by using those three rules.  The sentence is, “Although it is obvious that religious freedom is important on many different levels, we cannot however forget the need and vitality of national security.”  First of all, as mentioned in the video, the introduction to this sentence is awful.  It is a very slow start, so I should just cut it out.  Next, I need to find the actors and give them actions.  However, in doing this I should avoid nominalization, as the video counsels.  The actors need to have actual verbs, not just nouns that come from verbs.  So, after cutting out all the bad parts and trying to reword my sentence, I have come up with, “Although religious freedom is vital for a nations success, so is national security.”  This sentence is much more precise and to the point. 

            I think that the main reason I tend to avoid writing active sentences is 1) because writing passive sentences takes up more space – which I thought was important for a long paper, and 2) it made me sound more intelligent.  However, after doing this exercise and watching that video, it is very clear to me that writing active sentences is always better.  They sound much more thought out, intelligent, and professional.  Even if I could take up more space writing passively, I have made the firm resolution to write using active sentences as much as possible now.