Talking to a Wall May Not be So Bad After All…

            We all can agree that in high school our teachers would say the same things: “Never start a sentence with ‘but’,” “Never use passive voice,” “SHOW me, not TELL me,”— and we all listened, pulling and tweaking our writing to guarantee an “A.”  But what Keith Hjortshoj tells us, in his article “Rules and Errors” in his book The Transition to College Writing, is that these rules are broken, and should not always be applied.  He voices: “I can easily find examples from respectable published writing that contradict these rules” (89).  What we need to find, rather is out own set of rules.

            Proofreading, or rather, finding errors, is not based upon a set of rules, like the ones mentioned above.  I believe, rather, that each writer must find a set of rules that he or she abides by and believes in.

            Many people do multiple drafts, and some make one outline and then produce a paper; both are different means for writing a paper, and both unique to the individual.  As for me, I always write multiple drafts and often spend time reassessing topic sentences.  But most importantly, I always read aloud my work after each draft.  Something as silly as “The girl and the boy, who were a couple for many years, bought a dog,” if read aloud, can be corrected to something like “The girl and boy, who had been a couple for many years, decided to buy a dog.”

            Easily, the sentence becomes much stronger and to put it bluntly, less awkward sounding.  Hjortshoj agrees with this technique: “Your ear for language is also more reliable than your eye” (85).  Reading your paper to a friend, or even to your computer screen is necessary to catch those little errors (And even after I write this blog, I will be reading it aloud to check for errors).  So next time you need some advice, read your paper aloud to the wall; it may not answer you, but you will find some answers on your own.