| This is the book used by the experimental
group in Lester Faigley's 1978 study, a study which, according to Hillocks,
shows that teaching grammar is ineffective. Note what the text says about
grammar. Faigley's experimental group demonstrated overall better writing,
but, in addition to their study of grammar, we need to look at the overall
differences between the Christensens' book and McCrimmon's, which was used
by the control group. (Click here to see the Table
of Contents of McCrimmon's book.) In addition to the way in which
the Christensens taught grammar, they also focussed on many fewer concepts
-- and taught each thoroughly. McCrimmon's text, like most textbooks, "covers"
the material, but does not give students the opportunity to assimilate
it.
-EV |
Preface xiiiPART I THE PROCESS OF WRITING 1
1. Introduction 3PART II THE LARGER UNITS OF COMPOSITION 832. Basic Principles 6
Addition 6
Direction of Movement 7
Levels of Generality 8
Texture 9
EXERCISE 153. Two-Level Narrative Sentences 19
Representational Writing 20
Grammatical Elements 22"It is hardly necessary to insist again that the meaning, or perhaps here the interest, is in the modifiers. We need now a language for discussing them. The next few paragraphs are the foundation of our treatment of the sentence. You should master them so well that you can apply the principles creatively, in writing, and analytically, in the discussion of writing. The language we need is of two sorts--grammatical and what we will call rhetorical." (22) [The following paragraphs assume knowledge of "subject," "verb," and "subordinate" and "main" clauses. They explain, among others, adverbs, prepositional phrases, verbals, verb phrases, absolutes, relative clauses, adverbial phrases, adjectival phrases, "free noun phrases" (which turn out, later, to be appositives, and "the noun with an adverbial function...."]Rhetorical Elements 24
Bringing the Grammatical and Rhetorical Together 25
Advice for Writing 28"Do not write "As Vickers hunched forward, he smelled. . . ." Such sentences do occur and they may be logical, but they violate the whole-part relationship that is so characteristic of modern writing." (28) [This is an example of where I profoundly disagree with Christensen. Throughout his work, he "argues" for right-branching modification. Students (and some teachers) may accept his "whole-part" argument here, but how does an adverbial clause reflect a whole/part relationship? Even if Christensen is right in his conclusion, he is wrong in his method. Once students are taught to identify modifiers (and given lots of practice in it), they can examine texts and decide for themselves if constructions such as "As Vickers hunched forward, he smelled. . . ." should be avoided.]EXERCISES 294. Multilevel Narrative Sentences 32
Relationship of the Additions 33
Graphic Representation 36
Discrimination of Levels 38"Analyzing and writing multilevel sentences is a good way to develop the syntactical dexterity that is as valuable to the writer as digital dexterity is to the dentist. But since you can't add levels unless you have materials to fashion them from, each added level forces a closer interrogation of the action. Each added one is a step away from the habitual, the already generalized and categorized, toward what is individual or unique in the occasion. If depth of exploration, if concreteness, is of value, then work with multilevel sentences is a way to have it forced upon you." (39) [As Faigley notes in one of his articles, it may be this combination of learning how to analyze sentences, and learning to generate content for them, that created the improvement in writing quality that he reported in his study.]EXERCISES 395. Description -- The Appositive Noun Phrase 42
Base Clauses 42
Free Modifiers 43
The Noun Phrase 45
EXERCISES 516. The Language of the Senses 55
Visual and Nonvisual 56
Sound 58
EXERCISES 64
Smell 66"the vocabulary of a people (as of a person) is a pretty good index of what it preoccupies itself with." (66) [An interesting statement in general, but also interesting in relation to our concept(s) of cause/effect -- we have no generally used words to distinguish the various types of causes.]EXERCISES 70
Touch 71
EXERCISES 75
Taste 77
7. A Short Narrative 85
The Assignment: A Paragraph 85
Student Examples 88
EXERCISES 938. Dominant Tone 97
Techniques 98
Subjects 100
EXERCISES 1039. The Longer Narrative 110
Techniques 110
EXERCISES 11410. Paragraphing -- An Introduction to Discursive Writing 126
Structural and Supporting Sentences 126
The Cumulative Nature of Extended Sequences 126
The Problem of Paragraphing 127
Graphic Devices 128
Organization 128
Punctuation by Paragraph 132
Ordering a Series 133
Like Things in Like Ways 133
EXERCISES 13411. The Structure of Paragraphs 142
Simple Coordinate Sequences 143
Simple Subordinate Sequences 147
Mixed Sequences 149
Mixed Coordinate Sequences 150
Mixed Subordinate Sequences 153
The Topic Sentence 154
Paragraphs with Extrasequential Sentences 159
EXERCISES 16412. Methods of Support 166
Identification 170
Details, Particulars 172
Examples, Instances, Illustrations 173
Definition 175
Elimination, Negation 176
Restatement, Repetition 178
Comparison-Contrast, Analogy 179
Explication 181
Causes or Reasons; Effects or Consequences 183
Evidence and Authority 185
Other Methods 187
The Writer's Obligation 187
EXERCISES 188Index 195