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Deviant Usage and Confusing Words - Adika GSK
Academic writing (UGRC110)
University of Ghana
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1 1 Deviant Usage and Common Errors 1 INTRODUCTION Every language has a set of rules that specify how words change their forms and are combined into sentences. In UGRC 110, we examined the basic issues in English grammar and learnt that the following are important ingredients for a well-formed sentence: Sounds (consonants, vowels) and how they pattern in the language; How words form phrases, clauses, and sentences; The meaning of words; and appropriateness of words in the sentence to the discourse community in question. The emphasis this semester is on deviant usage in English and common errors. 1 OBJECTIVES By the end of the lesson, the ability of students to do the following would be enhanced: i. ii. iii. Identify grammatical errors in sentences; Identify the appropriateness of words and phrases to the particular discourse community; Use the knowledge to construct well-formed sentences. 1 DEVIANT USAGE In spite of the fact that our students have studied English for over ten years in the basic and senior secondary school, most of them still write ill-formed sentences. This means that one or more of our objectives has not been achieved. It is difficult to point to what is the real cause of this. My only guess is that enough practical work has not been done by the learner himself to internalise the skills of sentence construction learnt in the lecture room. As it stands students should be taken through some basic issues discussed in UGRC110 lesson 2 (Basic issues in English Grammar). Exercise 1 Time allowed: 20 minutes Read the passage below carefully and correct errors in spelling, grammar and usage. Insert missing punctuation marks. In Akan taught, time is the most critical element that define an event; and there are two significant concern that arise in respect of time insofar as the events impart on human existence. These first is that the time of the occurrence of an event is unique. When events occurs, Akans inquire into the individuality of the LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 2 ocurence: Why did the event occur at this point in time and why at this or that particular place The second concern is that the events impact on individuals for good or ill; and questions flow from the moral impact of the event. One issue is that an event occurring at a particular time might be good, but the same occurrence at that time might be bad. For example, a coconut dropping just ahead of me from a tall tree over head would be hailed as a refreshment and therefore good. But it would have kill me if it had fallen a moment later. If so, this might suggest that the moral properties of an event are dependent only on the differences in time of occurrence. However, time seems to be moraly neutral when we look at a slightly different scenario. The very same falling of a tree brunch might be viewed as good by one who just left the place of the fall, while to another struck depend by the branch, it might be bad. In this case, the difference in moral quality of the event seems to depend wholly upon the individuals affected by it Adapted from: Hagan, George (2003) The Akan Concept of Time In: History and Philosophy of Science Lauer, Helen Ibadan, Nigeria: Hope Publications. Exercise 2 Time allowed: 20 minutes Write on one of the topic sentences below: a. One key experience in primary school made me hate reading out loud in class. b. Books have taught me some things I never would have learned from friends and family. c. There are several reasons why I am not an efficient reader. d. The Academic Writing course has helped me build my self-esteem. Note: The scripts should be marked by the lecturer. Selected scripts should be photocopied and given to students to edit. The students should be in pairs to discuss their own work. There should be a class discussion thereafter under the direction of the lecturer. Grammatical rules should be revised with the students over again. LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 4 Bibliography and Further Reading Adika, G. S. K. (2011). Deviant usage and confusing words. Accra: Black Mask. Campbell, E. (1995). ESL Resource Book for Engineers and Scientists. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Quagie, J. (2010). English: A tool for communication. 2nd Ed. Accra: Hybrid. Quirk, R. & Greenbaum, S. (1973). A university grammar of English. Longman. Strong William, et al. (1996) Writer’s Choice Grammar and Composition. New York: Glencoe McGraw Hill. Yule, G. (2006). Oxford Practice Grammar. Oxford. LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 5 2 Reading for Information THIS SECTION HAS BEEN EXTRACTED FROM: LEWIS (2001) ACADEMIC LITERACY: READINGS AND STRATEGIES 2 OBJECTIVES By the end of this section you should be able to: i. Extract relevant information from a text ii. Identify information relationships in a text iii. Organize information relationships in a text 2 USING PATTERNS TO HELP YOU REMEMBER You can use the knowledge you now have about the relationships between main ideas, paragraph patterns, and details, and about distinctions between major and minor details to help you create visual displays of the information you read. These displays, sometimes referred to as graphic organizers, are frameworks that illustrate the important conceptual relationships between ideas in text. They will help you organize and recall information, and they are valuable study aids. The process of creating them will give you an opportunity to verify that you have understood the connections between ideas. There are different types of graphic organizers. We discuss several types in the following sections. The patterns used in the text direct you toward the type of organizer to create. 2 CONCEPT MAPS (FOR KEY VOCABULARY) Recall that the definition/explanation pattern introduces new terms or concepts. Once you establish that the primary purpose of a section of the material you are reading is to define or explain a new term or concept, you can think about preparing a concept map for it. The basic layout for a concept map is shown in the figure. Notice that the term, or concept, is placed in the middle of the map. The broad definition for it appears at the top. On the right is space for indicating characteristics or properties of the term or concept. At the bottom is room for examples of it. On the left is space for writing another term or concept that is different from the one in the center but that will help you make comparisons with the new term. Here is an example of material for which a concept map could be created. Read the material, and while you do so think about what such a map would look like for this selection. Then study the example map that follows. Diagram [INSTRUCTOR TO PROVIDE] Example: Optical Fibers The revolution in ground-based communications has depended not only on the invention of the laser but also on the development of the optical fiber. An optical fiber is a hair-thin, flexible LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 7 Example diagram [INSTRUCTOR TO PROVIDE] Plants are able to use hormones to regulate their rate and direction of growth, to control the time at which they produce flowers and drop leaves, and even to coordinate the functions associated with germination. A hormone does not necessarily affect every cell of an organism in the same way. In fact, many cells cannot respond to a hormone message at all. In order to respond to the message carried by a particular hormone, a cell must contain a receptor for that hormone. Receptors are molecules to which hormones bind, forming a receptorhormone complex that then affects cellular metabolism. Cells cannot respond to a hormone unless they contain the proper receptor. Those cells that do contain the receptor are known as target cells, and it is to such cells that the hormonal message is directed. The nature of the response depends on the amount of hormone that reaches the target cell, and it may also be influenced by the presence of other hormones that affect the same cell. Joseph S. Levine and Kenneth Miller, Biology, 2nd ed. (Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1994), 654. Notice that the topic is in the middle of this map. Each important point (main idea) that is discussed and that is related to the topic is noted separately, and a line is drawn from it to the topic. The major details pertaining to each main idea have also been noted; lines extend between the detail and main idea. Minor details are drawn on lines that extend from the major details. Even someone who had not read the text would be able to see the relationship between the ideas on this web. 2 HIERARCHICAL ARRAY When an author presents ideas in order of importance (one type of simple listing pattern), you can diagram these relationships on a hierarchical array. This type of visual display is illustrated in two figures. In the example text, on which both displays are based, signal words tell you to expect that some details will have greater importance than others. This should alert you to read actively and to try to visualize the hierarchy while you read so that you are prepared to create the array immediately afterward. Example: Death aboard Slave Ships Death in the crossing was due to a variety of causes. The biggest killers were gastrointestinal disorders, which were often related to the quality of food and water available on the trip, and fevers. Bouts of dysentery were common and the "bloody flux," as it was called, could break out in epidemic proportions. The increasing exposure of the slaves to dysentery increased both the rates of contamination of supplies and the incidence <?f death. It was dysentery that accounted for the majority of deaths and was the most common disease experienced on all voyages. The astronomic rates of mortality reached on occasional voyages were due to outbreaks of smallpox, measles, or other highly communicable diseases that were not related to time at sea or the conditions of food and water supply, hygiene, and sanitation practices. It was this randomness of epidemic diseases that prevented even experienced and efficient captains from eliminating very high mortality rates on any given voyage. LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 8 Although time at sea was not usually correlated with mortality, there were some routes in which time was a factor. Simply because they were a third longer than any other routes, the East African slave trades that developed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were noted for overall higher mortality than the West African routes, even though mortality per day at sea was the same or lower than on the shorter routes. Also, just the transporting together of slaves from different epidemiological zones in Africa guaranteed the transmission of a host of local endemic diseases to all those who were aboard. In turn, this guaranteed the spread of all major African diseases to America. Herbert S. Klein, "profits and the Causes of Mortality," The Atlantic Slave Trade, ed. David Northrup (Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1994), 118. In Model A, the hierarchy is noted by the size of the print as well as the order in which the items have been placed beneath the heading. In Model B, the distance of each item from the heading indicates its relative importance. This type of diagram also works well for material that includes classifications. An essay about Indo-European languages, for instance, might result in your creation of a hierarchical array similar to the one shown here. Diagram [INSTRUTOR TO PROVIDE] Diagram [INSTRUCTOR TO PROVIDE] 2 LINEAR ARRAY A linear array, sometimes called a flow chart, may also be used to show a sequence of events as in the simple listing chronological pattern, or a process, as in the definition/explanation pattern when used to explain how something occurs. The example text discusses a process, and the linear array for the details appears beneath the text. Notice on the array that the connections between the parts of it are made clear by lines and arrows. It would be possible to understand the information on this visual without reading the text. When you create a visual such as this, be sure that you have included all the steps of the process. Example: Organizational communication is a complex system involving people's feelings, attitudes, relationships, and skills as well as the goals of management and the process of change, adaptation, and growth. Individuals can both send and receive information. Both the receiver and sender have their own personal frame of reference, developed over time. Each also uses his or her own communication skills, such as reading, writing, and listening abilities that either strengthen or lessen understanding. . In the communication process between a manager and another organizational member, the receiver accepts the message and transmits either verbal or nonverbal feedback, thereby becoming the sender. Verbal feedback is a written or spoken response. Nonverbal feedbackis a body movement or actions. Noise is the interference or the barriers that may occur at any point in the process, distorting understanding. The organizational environment also affects sending, LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 10 Table [INSTRUCTOR TO PROVIDE] Some shatter easily. Others do not. Some are very hard. Some crumble at a touch. These different properties of crystals are due to many causes. Let's look at some of them. The way the atoms are arranged in a crystal affects its properties. Two crystals may be made up of the same kind of atom and yet have very different properties. The difference is caused by the way the atoms are arranged in each crystal. The "lead" in a pencil is really a kind of crystalline material called graphite. Graphite is a form of the element carbon, so graphite crystals are made up entirely of carbon atoms. Diamond is another form of carbon. Diamond crystals are also made up entirely of carbon atoms. Diamond and graphite appear to be as different as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Or, as one scientist has put it, they are "beauty and the beast among crystals." Diamond is the hardest material known. This is another way of saying that diamond will scratch or cut through all other materials. Diamond drills and saws are used to cut through rock. Diamond dust is used to grind and shape metal tools. Diamond crystals when cut and polished make brilliant gems. Graphite is usually dull black in color and has a greasy feel. It is a very soft material. Like mica, graphite can be sliced easily into very thin sheets. The fact that thin sheets of graphite slide past each other very easily makes it useful for "oiling" moving parts in machines and makes it work in a pencil. The difference between graphite and a diamond is the result of one extra atom of carbon in the building block of the diamond. Let's take a look at the building block of graphite first. Malcolm E. Weiss, Why Glass Breaks, Rubber Bends, and Glue Sticks (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974),24. The center part of the Venn diagram shows how the two types of crystals are similar; hence, the circles overlap. The left and right parts list the differences. This diagram could not have been prepared unless the reader understood the material. 2 WORKING TOGETHER With a partner, decide which type of visual aid would be best for each of the following passages. Then work together to create a visual aid for one of them. 1. DECISION-MAKING STRATEGIES There are two different schools of thought on the decision process analytical and intuitive. Analytic, or systematic, decision making (sometimes called scientific decision making) is based on the theory that problem solving can be reduced to a systematic selection process. Proponents insist that decision theory should construct an ideal procedure for rational choice-a step-by-step, logical sequence for picking the best alternative as a solution to a business problem. Intuitive decision making is based on the belief that good decision making is an art, not a science. Proponents contend that sound problem solving is largely intuitive and unconscious. They argue that good problem diagnosis and decision making result from an esoteric blend of experience, imagination, intelligence, and feeling joined almost unconsciously. Considerable evidence suggests that managers use both approaches in solving problems and in making decisions. The analytical approach is more orderly, logical, and systematic; the intuitive LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 11 approach is more prone to trial and error, or haphazard decisions. Studies reveal significant differences in how the two types of decision makers approach problems. Adapted from Jerry Kinard, Management (Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1988, 142.) Type of visual aid to create for this text: ________________________________ 2. HIV: WHERE WE ARE TODAY, WHAT TOMORROW MAY BRING Although people with HIV now have treatments that can prolong their lives, it is not an easy way of life. Protease inhibitors are now part of "the AIDS cocktail," a carefully balanced mix of several drugs, which fights HIV. Patients need to take as many as 30 pills a day, some with food, some without, and always on a strict time schedule. While protease inhibitors suppress the virus and allow the immune system to become strong again, they are not cures. For one thing, the body can become resistant to the drugs so that they no longer work. For another, doctors have found that HIV "hides" in various places in the body, such as the brain and eyes. "The virus is eliminated from the blood but it's still in the body, and it's still able to infect new cells," says Dr. [Lawrence] Friedman. Will there ever be a cure for AIDS? Maybe, but it's not likely to happen soon. Right now, researchers are looking at different methods of killing the virus that hides in the body. One method, for example, involves removing a few of a patient's killer T-cells (white blood cells that kill invading germs) and growing them in a laboratory. Massive numbers of the cells are then reinjected into the patient to destroy his or her infected blood cells. They do, but the effect is temporary. Methods such as this are so expensive and complicated that they're not practical for use in the general population. To complicate things even more, HIV, like any microbe, has the amazing ability to mutate, or change. The medicines that help one person may not help another who has a slightly different strain of the virus. For now, say doctors, the best protection against HIV is prevention. Avoid getting it in the first place. Typically, a vaccine contains a weakened virus, or a protein from a virus. It's injected into a healthy person so that his or her body will produce the antibodies or killer immune system cells needed to fight that virus. If that person comes into contact with the virus in the future, the antibodies will be ready and waiting to destroy it. That's the way a vaccine works. Now the big question: will there ever be a vaccine to protect people from AIDS? "Scientists are looking at more than two dozen different approaches to developing an AIDS vaccine," says Victor Zonana, vice-president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) in New York. "Right now, none is even close to being ready for use in the general population." Finding a protein or antigen. that looks as if it could be the basis for a vaccine is just the beginning, explains Jorge Flores, M., chief of the Clinical Development Branch of the AIDS Vaccine Prevention and Research Program at the National Institutes of Health. "From there, we LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 13 movement in t'ai chi describes circles, spirals, or arches. To achieve this effect is sometimes termed "curved seeking straightness." This refers to the necessary curvature of limbs. Al Guinness, Family Guide to Natural Medicine (Pleasantville: Reader's Digest, 1993), 230-231. Bibliography and Further Reading Lewis, J. (2001). Academic literacy: Reading and strategies. 2nd Ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin. Kelly, W. & Lawton, D. (2006). Odyssey: From paragraph to essay. 4th Ed. New York: Pearson. Glendinning & Holmstrom (2004). Study reading. 2nd Ed. Cambridge University Press. LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 14 3 Summary Writing 3 OBJECTIVES By the end of this lecture, students will be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. do close attentive reading, distinguish between essential point and illustrative details, write summaries of given texts, integrate summed-up material in their essays. 3 ESSENTIAL REQUIRED SKILLS 1. ability to write an outline 2. paragraph writing skills 3 CONTENT What is a summary? A summary is a shortened version of a text. What is involved in a summary? When you summarize a text, you 1. 2. 3. 4. Identify the key points of the text, Restate, Very briefly and concisely, Using your own words in restating an original text. 3 THE SUMMARIZING PROCESS 1. Identify the key points made by the original author a. Read the text very carefully b. Put down the key points made by the author in an outline 2. Restate the key points made by the original author a. Restating the key points of the original author means saying exactly what the original writer has said b. Restating the points means making sure you do not pass your comments on what the original writer states c. Someone who has read your summary of a text must get the same idea as he or she will get reading the original text, but in a briefer form. 3. Be brief and concise a. Brevity in the summary can be achieved by concentrating on the gist; b. Brevity can be enhanced if one is concise; that is when one goes straight to the point when one says what one has to say LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 16 sleeping, deny themselves certain pleasures and avoid certain caprices that the ordinary person will think nothing about and engage in. 3. Adverts make us feel the comfort in the things we see on the screen: the jingles tickle our ears and increase the desire for those things, we even seem to smell the sumptuous meals that are displayed on the billboards and long for a bite into them: adverts do not suggest to us for a moment to rationalize. 4. The man says that the leaves of the pawpaw are valuable for the cure of many kinds of fevers and the seeds are excellent worm expellers, the bark of the mahogany good as blood tonic, and malaria cannot stand the potion prepared from the leaves and root of the ‗nim‘ tree: in fact, there is no ailment that there is no plant known or unknown cannot deal effectively with. 5. The mango, orange, pear, banana, pineapples, all have certain chemical substances that are essential for the growth of the human body. 3 PARAGRAPH-LEVEL SUMMARY The first thing to identify is what the text is about. We shall ask the same questions we asked when we were dealing with the sentences here. One clue to identifying what a paragraph is about is the topic sentence (if there is one in the paragraph). Read through the following paragraph quickly So fierce was the Black Death that swept Europe in 1348 that people were driven to try some rather extraordinary remedies. Certain of these bizarre cures were aimed at ridding the air of its ―badness.‖ For example, towns would ring bells all day in the hope of scattering any plague gasses in the air. People would also douse the walls of their homes with scent, hoping to offset the foulness of the disease with the sweetness of perfume. Other unusual treatments involved animals. Smelling a pig, for instance, was thought to help a person suffering from the disease, and toads were considered useful for extracting the poison from plague boils. Perhaps the most curious of the remedies was that of writing the magical term ―abracadabra‖ in exotic shapes on a card and hanging the card from a string worn around the neck. In spite of their imaginativeness, though, none of these remedies proved to be at all effective. What is the paragraph about? Answer: the Black Death of Europe (1348) Read the paragraph again, this time more carefully. Take your eyes off the page. Now ask yourself the question: What does the paragraph tell us about the Black Death? LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 17 Answer: people used very unusual kinds of treatment which did not help them My summary: During the time of the Black Death of Europe in 1348, people used unusual kinds of treatment for the plague. All of them failed. Now, read the following short paragraphs and summarize them. Read the paragraph quickly the first time. Then ask yourself the question, What is the paragraph about? Read the paragraph again, this time more carefully. Take your eyes off the page and then ask yourself the second question, What does the paragraph tell us about . . .? The truth about pigs is that their reputation for being dull and dirty is undeserved. The pig is actually a curious and intelligent animal. For instance, a pig will not take anything for granted; it will poke, and prod something until it arrives at a conclusion. A pig‘s intelligence is so keen that the animal needs to do something only once – such as turn on an automatic drinking fountain – to know how to do it again. Furthermore, pigs are basically no dirtier than any other farm animal. Because pigs don‘t sweat, they seek out water in order to cool off. On a farm, the water that a pig finds is usually in a mud puddle. However, the pig would be just as happy splashing in a bathtub, since it is water, not dirt that pigs enjoy. When surnames began appearing in Europe eight hundred years ago, a person‘s identity and occupation were often intertwined. A surname was a direct link between who a person was and what the person did. Taylor is the Old English spelling of tailor, and Clark is derived from clerk, an occupation of considerable status during the Middle Ages because it required literacy. The names Walker, Wright, Carter, Stewart, and Turner indicate occupations. A walker was someone who cleaned cloth; a wright was a carpenter or metalworker; a carter was someone who drove a cart; a steward was a person in charge of a farm or estate; and a turner worked a lathe. One of the few occupational surnames reflecting the work of women is Webster, which refers to a female weaver. Share-cropping was a very slow way of building up one‘s own barn. After all the toil, one got only a third of the harvest. But for a young man whose father had no yams, there was no other way. And what made it worse in Okonkwo‘s case was that he had to support his mother and two sisters from his meagre harvest. And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father. She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved. And so at a very early age when he was striving desperately to build a barn through share-cropping, Okonkwo was also fending for his father‘s house. It was like pouring grains of corn into a bag full of holes. His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women‘s crops, like cocoyams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crops, was a man‘s crop. No one can behave like a gruff bear at home and then, when he wants to impress outsiders, suddenly become a charmer. This is as impossible as it would be for you to become a football star if you played only on odd Thursdays and on other days let your muscles go soft. Could you sit down at the piano and give a beautiful performance of Mendelssohn‘ ―Spring Song‖ if you LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 19 functions of the two hemispheres and found their relationship to be quite complex. Unfortunately, however, most people have tended to over-generalize. The left brain is supposed to be logical, rational, and analytical, whereas the right brain is supposed to be creative and emotional. The brain‘s hemispheres are not so simplistically split into two neat divisions. In fact, both halves of the brain participate in almost all our mental activity. To begin with, both sides of the brain are in operation when we reason. The left brain seems to dominate in the kind of reasoning it takes to translate symbols, recognize abstract differences, and handle algebra and geometry problems. The left hemisphere may be dominant in these types of reasoning, but the right hemisphere also reasons. For example, the right half functions to integrate information and draw conclusions while the left hemisphere is dominant in recognizing abstract differences. Also, the right hemisphere tends to recognize sameness. For example, the right side is where we mediate facial recognition and recognize shapes. In addition, the two hemispheres act as partners in language and communication. It appears that the left hemisphere is dominant when it comes to understanding grammar and syntax, but when it comes to interpreting emotions in communication, the right brain excels. Moreover, the right brain can interpret tone of voice and facial expressions. Thus, whenever we use language, both sides of the brain process the information. Furthermore, the brain is not totally divided about music. Many people assume that music is mediated solely in the right brain. That is not so. It is true that the right brain recognizes chords and melodies and seems to mediate pure and slow tones. However, the left hemisphere is also involved in music. Fast music, such as bluegrass, requires its services. When words are involved, again the left brain dominates. Finally, both halves of the brain are involved in our mental activities. The corpus callosum and other bridges between the two hemispheres obviously serve to integrate the functions of the two halves, which are in constant communication to make sense out of life. 1. What is the passage about? The human brain 2. What does the first paragraph tell me about the human brain? The brain is divided in two halves, and both halves take part when we engage in most mental activities. 3. What does the second paragraph say about the two halves of the human brain? Both halves are active when we do reasoning. 4. What does the third paragraph tell me about the two halves of the human brain? The two divisions are in action when we interact using language. 5. What does the fourth paragraph tell me about the two halves of the human brain? The two halves of the brain contribute when we appreciate music. 6. What does the fifth paragraph tell me about the two halves of the human brain? The activities of the two halves of the brain are coordinated to help us understand what goes on around us. My outline will look like this: 1. The human brain a. has two halves; LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210 20 b. c. d. e. f. each half contributes to most processes the brain engages in; each half plays a part when we reason; each half contributes when we interact using language; each half contributes when we listen to music; the activities of both halves are coordinated to help us understand . My Draft The Human Brain The human brain has two divisions. Each division plays a part in most of the processes that the brain engages in. Each half contributes when we reason. Each half contributes to the process when we interact using language. Each half contributes when we listen to music. Activities of the two halves of the brain are coordinated and this enables us to understand things around us. My final summary The passage is about the human brain. According to the writer, the human brain is in two halves, each of which contribute to most of the processes involved when our activities involve using the brain. The two halves act together when we do reasoning, interact using language, and when we listen to music. In fact, the activities of the two halves of the brain are coordinated to enable us understand our environment. Now, read the following passage carefully and summarize the writer’s concerns. Universities today face many serious challenges, not the least of which is filling classrooms with paying students. To do this, colleges have created a consumerist mentality in which the students are dictating the manner in which the material is presented, rather than the professor teaching the material in the way that is most conducive to learning. This has created an environment that is stifling personal creativity in all aspects of academia. In ―On the uses of a liberal education‖ Mark Edmundson points out that students in today‘s colleges lack a passion for learning and creativity. The consumer mentality has taken over to the point where students purchase a degree, that is, in essence, a certificate to enter the workforce. One of the reasons for this lack of expression is built into the academic institution itself. In the professional arts, which is the path that most students follow, there is very little room for personal expression. On the other end of the spectrum are the liberal arts, where personal expression and self-improvement are the main values. Students are affected in very different ways by this difference in the two curriculums, and George Houston fails to recognize this in ―Bury the Liberal vs. Professional Arts Debate.‖ Students in the professional arts are working for the grade, in sharp contrast to students in the liberal arts who work for the sake of learning and knowledge itself. This major difference in attitudes is a reason that students do not display passion towards their studies. The professional arts students, who are in majors such as business, engineering, and so on, take courses that directly apply to the jobs or careers they will be involved in after graduation. The material is useful on the job and helps them to become more ‗successful‘ in their careers. The course material prepares the mind to think, reason, and analyze in the way that will benefit them in the workforce. The mind is being trained, but only insofar as to help in the workplace. This is in stark contrast to the liberal arts curriculum and philosophy. A liberal arts degree prepares the student for a lifetime of learning, where the professional arts degree is a LANGUAGE CENTRE ACADEMIC WRITING MANUAL UGRC 210
Deviant Usage and Confusing Words - Adika GSK
Course: Academic writing (UGRC110)
University: University of Ghana
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