“More, I fear, there is a flaccidity and casualness of style that has come from writing habits born out of e-mail and social media.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/8c60799c-24e2-11e0-895d-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1C01tymmn
Analog by Night
Your comments are welcome, and moderated.
Thanks for this. I had a nice talk with one of my students about it today. Personally, I love Strunk & White, but I can’t stand the idea that all we’re doing is giving our students dogmatic prescriptions for writing (which, far as I can tell, is all we’re doing—have you looked at this stuff?).
p.s. your link gave me an error—I had to cut and paste. If such things bother you…
I did not, but I’m pretty positive that I was not taught the Schaffer paragraph. Makes me realize I might need to pick up some basic writing technique books, and just write more.
I need encouragement too.
Everyone needs encouragement! Writing is a social task, no matter how many people fantasize about their writing being hidden in a drawer until they’re discovered posthumously. And, as far as I’m concerned, teaching the Schaffer paragraph is crap. I get the idea—it’s supposed to be a general scaffolding for the most basic way to “prove a point”, but it’s used as paint by number, which is nauseating to read and even more frustrating to contend with when you’re actually trying to help students think about their writing.