Fraggle Rocker, Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I use to write free style, but now I am studying bullet or numbered writing. Each paragraph has a point or points I want to make as if in a argument. It is not that I am right, but to learn how not to argue a point, but to say I am wrong and how not to create a argument and accept if convinced they are right and I am wrong and then to see if I could understand where I went wrong in my assessment, thinking I was right. I would also like to learn how if it's possible to meet the other person half way and try to understand their point of view for my personal point of view (my way) and we still are in the same ball park, but in on the same place (the ball park is a big field). I believe in words and want to learn word structure as a art form or to be believed. There is a lot of defining a word to mean this or that. I believe in word structure and sentence structure and the subject matter to be the whole piece...paraphrased. I would like to learn how to write interpretively and read the same. Thank you. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Paul
You start a new thread and address it to Fraggle Rocker. Why not send an IM or email? If you want to meet people halfway or see their side you can play the "Devils Advocate", and write a letter to yourself from their point of view. Put yourself in their shoes and consider everything from how the situations makes them appear to others and how the situations would need to be resolved to your satisfaction. When arguing Abraham Lincoln would often argue the opposing side of the argument first, as this would take away the opponents ammunition". i.e. "I know your friends parents let Johnny stay up until Midnight on Weekdays, and if you didn't want to be on the swim team so much I would consider it, but you have a responsibility to your team and yourself to be well rested for school and your team."
This is not a good way to write something that you're going to send to another person, but it is a GREAT way to organize your thoughts as you prepare to write something. Computer technology has made this even easier and better. Use the VISIO program to make your "list" two-dimensional as well as dynamic. Put each of your ideas in a box, then move the boxes around to make the sequence more coherent. And connect them with forward- and backward-arrows as you begin to understand the relationships between the ideas. Keep this up until eventually you're happy with the organization and the layout. Then use this diagram as an outline for your article, letter, presentation, etc. My favorite advice columnist, Carolyn Hax (in the Washington Post but she's now syndicated) was once asked by a reader for advice on writing, since she's obviously a good writer or she wouldn't have gotten the job. Here are her pointers: The only time I get writer's block is when I'm not sure what I want to say. Blabber-write your way to some sort of a point, then discard all the blabber. Skip trying to write the whole thing and instead concentrate on writing one sentence that contains your main point. If you can express yourself while talking to a colleague, recruit a good-hearted colleague to listen to you for a few minutes and take notes. Outline your essay in “duh” form: These are the points I need to make. Just start writing and look for a theme statement to emerge in the middle of the disorganization. Don't fall in love with any one phrase, sentence or paragraph; sometimes you have to throw your “best” stuff away in order to make your point best. The best cure for writer’s block is to expect your first draft to be lousy. (This is from another writer, Jay Mathews) This is absolutely essential to communication. If you can't do this, then you can't communicate. You keep harping on the word "interpretively." As I said in one of your other threads, you are completely, absolutely, on the wrong track. These efforts will not help you. In fact, they will probably confuse you and make the problem worse. Take the definitions of words from the dictionary and stick with them. Yes, many words have more than one definition but it's not hard to decide which is right in any context. He does that too. But I think everybody realizes that I participate in almost every discussion on the Linguistics board, so it's fair to assume that I will read whatever you write. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
