The public education system expects teachers to teach students how to write essays, even at a young age. Obviously,however, an elementary student cannot write with the same eloquence as a high school senior, so elementary school teachers introduce a variety of lazy methods so students can still write at a basic level. These methods range from three-pronged theses, hooks, clinchers, and the infamous hamburger structure. Although praised in grade school, the real world frowns heavily upon laziness in writing. In his satirical essay On Laziness, Christopher Morley employs advanced diction and short sentence structure to mimic the lazy writing style.
Morley’s intentional usage offers an explanation on how writers attempt to create ethos. The
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integration of vocabulary not in the common vernacular falsely persuades readers that the source is credible since the writer believes there is a correlation between intelligence and elevated vocabulary. As a result, the writer incorporates such words to try establishing ethos within their writing. Morley anticipates in his essay “Henceforward we are going to make a determined effort to be more languid and demure”(15-17). The words languid and demure have simpler synonyms, such as relaxed and mild, that could have provided a better alternative. However, Morley purposely includes these words to introduce the other failed result of complex diction: the vague atmosphere. Morley’s vague atmosphere implicitly demonstrate the true effect of sophisticated diction.
It exposes how the author is assumptive of their audience. They are assuming the audience mostly consists of well-educated scholars and not the general public, who would most likely be unfamiliar with the word choice. Thus, the author would be more inclined to write sentences like “He...can ameliorate the earth or assuage the perplexities of humanity”(Morley 26-28). Once more, the words ameliorate and assuage have simpler synonyms, for example, improve and relieve. Yet lazy authors still use these words to make them sound smarter, which, in reality, reveal his weak grasp of the audience. It is equivalent to using a thesaurus to search for complicated synonyms to get a better grade on an essay. Obvious and overbearing use of complex words successfully satirizes lazy …show more content…
writing. His short sentence structure obstructs the flow of the essay. It makes the reader anxious for elaboration and then frustrated when struggling to find explanations to these blunt concepts. When explaining the importance of laziness, Morley elucidates it as “Philosophical laziness, we mean. The kind of laziness that is based upon a carefully reasoned analysis of experience. Acquired laziness”(33-35). The sudden switch to another concept with the lackluster elaboration of the first leaves the reader confused and frustrated. Short sentence structure allows Morley to do that in order for readers to empathize with his frustration on laziness. In addition, it creates unnecessary suspense. The lack of immediate explanation forces readers to ask questions and therefore create suspense.
In some cases, it is not necessary to create suspense as it deviates from the overall message. The author transitions in the essay using “O. Henry said that one should be careful to distinguish laziness from dignified repose. Alas, that was a mere quibble”(Morley 29-31). Not only is the irrelevant subject Henry brought into the passage, but the letter O as a transition as well. These short sentences are the mere definition of laziness in writing, which is why it is a good example to use them when mirroring writing
style. Satirists have to take drastic measures in order to convey their true messages. Some have to introduce “modest” proposals, others have to use fallacious reasoning, and others have to suppress their writing capabilities. Despite how questionable these methods are, they are all done with a purpose. Morley’s lazy writing encapsulated his frustrations with laziness in general and using the lazy writing structure enabled him to mirror the content of his essay. Through satirical writers like Morley,one can further analyze the choices these writers make to address their overall message.
“A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” A wise quote from John A. Shedd. A boat is secure inside the harbor, but it is useless. Inside a harbor, a boat can’t traverse oceans, set wars in motion, or discover new lands. Figuratively, we, the people, are the ships, and our safe haven is our comfort zone. Without reaching out of your comfort zone, you can’t conquer your world. You can’t make a difference. You need take a risk. Leave your safe haven and explore.
In 102 Minutes, Chapter 7, authors Dwyer and Flynn use ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to the readers’ consciences, minds and hearts regarding what happened to the people inside the Twin Towers on 9/11. Of particular interest are the following uses of the three appeals.
Even though some suspense doesn’t let the audience know anything, real suspense involves the audience being aware of everything that occurs. In the essay, it states, “The fact that the audience watches actors go blithely through an atmosphere that is loaded with evil makes for real suspense.” (6) This shows that whenever the audience watches the characters don't know anything that’s going on
Edward O. Wilson, the writer of this satire, writes about the opinions of two disagreeing sides to demonstrate the unproductive nature of these litigations. To do this, the author writes in a horatian manner and uses instances of exaggeration, parody, incongruity, and irony to help him convey his message that these arguments are pointless. The well distributed use of these strategies allows the writer to efficiently illustrate and mock the unproductive disagreement of these two groups of people.
In Downs and Wardle’s article, they argue and identify the flaws in teaching writing in college. Demonstrating the misconceptions that academic writing is universal, but rather specialized in each case. Citing studies and opinions from esteemed professionals, Downs & Wardle state their points and illuminate the problem in today’s many colleges.
However, though John Warner’s argument is strong, Kerri smith’s argument is stronger. In Kerri Smith’s article “In Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay,” She claims that the five-paragraph essay should stay taught in schools as a guideline for a well-structured essay. She explains the five-paragraph essay as an “introduce-develop-conclude structure” that even great expository writing follows this structure (Smith 16). She purposefully communicates to her audience this idea to show that this structure gives students the knowledge and capability to write a professional essay. The five-paragraph essay includes the three key points to have a well-structured and organized essay. By mentioning that other great writers use this form of structure, she creates a stronger argument as to why the five-paragraph essay is important to education. She continues her article by explaining her early stages of writing and how she was taught; over time, her teachers would show her new ways to improve her writing which, in the end, she was told to think “of those five paragraphs simply as a mode of organization” (Smith
“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” This mantra from Margaret Mead is a somewhat humorous yet slightly satirical spin on how people tend to think of themselves as one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable human specimens. However, one English teacher from Wellesley High School takes this critique one step further with his polemic presentation at the school commencement. David McCullough, a Massachusetts English teacher, gave a seemingly somber sendoff to his graduates in 2012, with a speech that contained some unapologetically harsh sentiments. However, by looking past the outwardly dismal surface of the speech, the students can infer a more optimistic message. By incorporating devices of asyndeton, paradox, antimetabole, and anadiplosis, McCullough conveys to each student that even though none of them is unique, their commonality is not a fault they all have merit and should strive to view the world through a more selfless lens.
In Patricia Limerick’s article “Dancing with Professors”, she argues the problems that college students must face in the present regarding writing. Essays are daunting to most college students, and given the typical lengths of college papers, students are not motivated to write the assigned essays. One of the major arguments in Limerick’s article is how “It is, in truth, difficult to persuade students to write well when they find so few good examples in their assigned reading.” To college students, this argument is true with most of their ...
Mark Twain told us in his speech on October 17, 1907 "We build a fire in a powder magazine, then double the fire department to put it out. We inflame wild beasts with the smell of blood, and then innocently wonder at the wave of brutal appetite that sweeps the land as a consequence." Twain’s word convey the fact that as society we build an environment that enrages these wild or “insane” people then we call To fix the people that we have made into a certain way……... Twain's quote both ties into gun violence and us as Americans it's our responsibility to look out for one another be each others backbones and hold each other up when times are hard.
Elie Weisel once said this: “I know and I speak from experience, that even in the midst of darkness, it is possible to create light and share warmth with one another; that even on the edge of the abyss, it is possible to dream exalted dreams of compassion; that it is possible to be free and strengthen the ideals of freedom, even within prison walls; that even in exile, friendship becomes an anchor.” Compassion is not something that is easy to understand, or even easy to show sometimes. The Holocaust was a difficult time to comprehend: how could one man have so much power and hate towards a society of people that he started a genocide? There may never be the right emotional explanation to describe the disturbing events that happened during the Holocaust, but Elie Weisel was able to share his. His message was that compassion and friendship can refrain someone from sinking so deep into a dark sea like the Holocaust.
As I look back into my high school years, I thought I wrote papers well. But then coming into a college environment, my papers were mediocre. By overlooking at my past papers, I found that they were unorganized, sloppy and had bad use of diction. From now on, I will use the tools I learned in English 1100-40 as a foundation for the future papers I intend on writing in college. Following the criteria of organizing ideas so that they flow, impacting the reader with diction and also by being creative, will help become an ideal writer. Following the criteria of staying motivated in short and long term goals, taking responsibility for actions and finally the ability to study well will help me develop into a supreme student.
We would do research on a subject or a person, and write about them. We, once again, were not allowed to be unique in our writing or think creatively or critically. This is the time when I was taught the five paragraph essay. As stated in Gray’s article, the five paragraph essay is detrimental to students’ writing. This format for writing is damaging because it doesn’t allow students to express their own ideas about a topic. It does not allow for any creativity or uniqueness in a paper. In tenth grade, I wrote many papers for my English class, but I never once got an A on them. I was led to believe that my writing was weak because I could not relate to what I was writing about. I did not have any emotional connection to the research papers I had to write, and it made it harder for me to write them. I had grown up not being allowed to think critically, and therefore, my papers in high school lacked creativity and deeper
Success. Seven letters, two syllables, and essentially, the goal of almost every person to walk the planet. The interesting thing about success is that it isn’t a set in stone goal, but an ideology. With each person, success is redefined, argued, and tried. Success comes in different forms and levels, but at the end of the day every person who has been deemed successful mentions one word: failure. Yet, it isn’t failure in of itself that produces success, but the determination and desire to work through it. Failure can only indoctrinate when an individual decides to work past it and improve from it. Often, however, the strenuous process of failure and grit is glamorized, and the true factors that play into success are forgotten. For example,
The subject of death is one that many have trouble talking about, but Virginia Woolf provides her ideas in her narration The Death of the Moth. The moth is used as a metaphor to depict the constant battle between life and death, as well as Woolf’s struggle with chronic depression. Her use of pathos and personification of the moth helps readers develop an emotional connection and twists them to feel a certain way. Her intentional use of often awkward punctuation forces readers to take a step back and think about what they just read. Overall, Woolf uses these techniques to give her opinion on existence in general, and reminds readers that death is a part of life.
The use of sophisticated diction helps to allure the readers to become lazy. The author advertises laziness in an attractive manner. Morley is able to communicate with the audience by showing he understands the “common man.” In the passage, Morley states, “It is our observation that every time we get into trouble it is due to not having been lazy enough.” Additionally, he used an amiable tone