Welcome to Grammar 300-2!

Welcome to Dr. V's grammar 300-2 class!

This is going to be a fun course. Let's jump in at the deep end right away: here's your first prompt, which will be homework for Wednesday, August 20th, in case we don't finish in class today - go to the following link

http://www.kristisiegel.com/engfish2.htm

Read the excerpt "The Poison Fish" from Ken Marcrorie's book Telling Writing.

It talks about ENGFISH, a common form of student writing AND textbook writing that you might have encountered already. This course is all about AVOIDING it!! Learning more about grammar and style will make us better writers and editors, which is beneficial for whatever career we are pursuing.

Your task: write a short blog comment about your personal experience with ENGFISH - are you maybe student teaching, and have seen it in your kids' writing? Or did you produce ENGFISH texts yourself in certain situations? Did you see it in textbooks? What do you think about the term? Does it work for you, or do you think it is inadequate? Better suggestions? Or do you perhaps have a funny example of ENGFISH you want to share? How can its use be avoided? How can you become a better writer?

Hint:
Your blog comment should be about as long as this entry -- if it's too long, people won't be thrilled to read it, and if it's too short, it can't contain very much insight. Consider this blog as a discussion board. You can offer your own stories, or react to your peers'. The only time you have to publish a longer article here is when it is your turn to summarize a chapter reading from our textbooks or articles I distribute.