Dawkins Reading

Summary:
In the article "Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool", John Dawkins attempts to explain grammar and punctuation, not as laws of right & wrong, but rather choices that you as a writer have to make every day- not whether you are going to use them or not- but where and how you are going to use them. Dawkins takes a stance, and tries to explain grammar and punctuation as a choice of the writer as to how they are going to push their point so it jumps off the page and clicks with the minds of the readers.

My Thoughts:
I have to admit, before coming to school- grammar and punctuation were the first things I looked for when I did a peer edit. "You need a comma here, this isn't capitalized correctly, reword the sentence, put the verb and helping verb in a different place here..." That was the easy part of editing to me, and the first place I ran to whenever I got a classmates' paper to look over. I got some strange and creepy adreniline rush from taking out my pen and marking up where comma's should be, and misspellings, and apostrophe's misplaced. It was weird, yet I loved it. However, after reading many articles about constructs, and the true problems behind writing, I am beginning to put my red pen down, and not worry about grammar/punctuation so much. Turns out...it's not that important. Infact, sometimes, it may have more meaning/weight if used in the wrong place. Who knew?

Getting Ready to Read:

1. My sister's wood-scrap and cardboard treehouse made a great place to play with her friends.
2. The tree house that my sister and her friends play in is made out of cardboard and wood-scraps.
3. My sister and her friends love to play in the wood-scrap and cardboard treehouse.

Questions For DIscussion

2. Dawkins makes this claim because he believes that college writing handbooks make the grammar rules look like bold laws, and not guidelines. In the 2nd paragraph, he says that he wanted readers to look at grammar as rhetorical. He wanted there to be choices involved.

3. Raising/Lowering is a "device for gaining rhetorical effect." By raising the comma, you are adding a break in the thought and a pause in the sentence early on in the sentence. And by lowering, you are moving the comma back towards the period (or end of the sentence..) also for rhetorical effect. Semicolons and dashes are examples of these devices also because it builds pressure in the sentence.

4. Dawkins calls his way of grammar "rhetorical" because he wants grammar to involve making choices about how you would like the grammar to effect the reader, and the flow of the sentence/paragraph.

5. After reading Dawkins article I learned the leaniency of grammar. They are not set in stone laws; but rather tools to help you ass emphasis and emotion into your sentences. They can add pauses, which can allow for readers to stop and reflect upon the writing. Grammar is a lot more freeing than I remember. In school we are taught that a comma must go in X spot, and dashes can only go in X spots as well. But writing is about saying "hmm I think I want a dash there. Regardless if my 4th grade language arts teacher taught me it should or should not go there- I want it there. And it's staying."

Meta Moments
I believe Mr. Whicker wanted us to read this article so that when we get ready to type our first papers due next week, we don't have to worry about being binded to laws and regulations that we were drilled with in grade school. Grammar is a tool to get your point across and to add emphasis. Not to make you write like a puppet-- which is something that I am used to doing in regards to "proper grammar and punctuation". By reading this article, I will be less stressed about getting the grammar in my paper "absolutely perfect" and worry more about using it to the best of my abilities, and to use it to benefit the reader in understanding my points of view.