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Subject:RE: Tina the Techwriter Reopens the Great Debate From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 15 Jun 2004 09:03:58 -0700
Quoting Daniel_Hall -at- trendmicro -dot- com:
> Several folks have mentioned how common it is for people to communicate
> verbally in incomplete sentences, fragments, and other grammatically
> incorrect forms. The implication seems to be that because this type of verbal
> communication can be effective, written material in the same format is
> equally effective. I respectfully disagree. :-)
Yeah, but...
Your argument seems to assume that, because so-called grammatical errors and
rambling structure are both part of speech that written sentences with errors
must also be rambling. However, I don't see any necessary connection between
them. Why couldn't you use incomplete sentences and so on with a high degree of
structure?
In fact, that is what writers who are praised for how closely their work
resembles speech actually do. They use some of the characteristics of speech,
but structure what they write so that it resembles prose. Even stream of
consciousness on the page, when used by a skilled writer, is actually far more
structured than speech.
--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604-421.7177
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