The English Miscellany

Essays often fall into two categories: the short and the long. While there is often a virtue in brevity there is more often a vice in prolixity. Writing should avoid repetition and restatement. On the whole, a concise but well thought out response will score higher marks than a sprawling and rambling composition. More specifically, sentences which are too long, or too complex, often prove to be confusing. On the surface, these kinds of sentence may look impressive, but they often come in for critical censure. In his book , Composition and Punctuation familiarly explained, ( 1865), Justin Brenan discussed a classic example of the long-winded style of writing. VERY REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF LONG-WINDEDNESS. I Thought that I had exhausted this subject. Yes, I believed that I had furnished the most glaring examples, but here is one that eclipses them all, and I give it because you cannot have a better lesson. It is from the History of England (Cabinet Cyclopaedia), by Sir Jam

Robert Boyle The reflective essay on a variety of topics can be traced back to Montaigne (1533-1592). His essays display erudite wit and a slippery, speculative, anecdotal approach to a range of themes. In the course of reading his work we start to piece together fragments of his personality and we warm to his humane openness to life. Robert Boyle (1627-1691) was also significant for his ability to compose meditative and inspiring short essays on any topic. Examples are The Christian Virtuoso (1690-91) and his Occasional Reflections on Several Subjects (1665) which included a defence of his methodology. The notion that ordinary, ephemeral topics were suitable for serious readers and profound spiritual reflection was most famously parodied in Jonathan Swift’s Meditations on a Broomstick (1701) But a Broom-stick, perhaps you'll say, is an Emblem of a Tree standing on its Head; and pray what is Man, but a Topsy-turvy Creature, his Animal Faculties perpetually mounted

Nowadays, so much academic writing is simply a rehash of other people's work. Textbooks, in particular, are prone to the vice of uncritical recycling. Clearly, however, there is a virtue in building on the work of others. Work in the humanities has become very specialised (since the 1970s) and this means that we are standing on the shoulders of an army of scholars, not to mention the proverbial giants and geniuses of the past. Nonetheless, excessive use of citation suggests perhaps a lack of confidence in your own thought and creativity. A literature review may be the starting point of a research project, but it is not the final destination. I was led to these rather banal reflections having recently picked up a copy of John Russell Brown's engaging and thoughtful book: Shakespeare: The Tragedies (2001). This book has four citations, two of which refer to the work of Peter Clark, The English Alehouse: A Social History 1200-1830 . (1983) Now that's perhaps the l

That's my last sentence on this topic. Ever. In your view, what are the TOP TEN problems that students experience in their writing? Obviously, it depends quite a lot on the age group, their experience, and whether English is their first language. In this blog I'm thinking about weaker students, aged 11+. It is clear, however, that many of the problems also affect the work of undergraduates and adult business people. And we're constantly striving to improve our writing, as earlier versions of this informal post would undoubtedly demonstrate. In my experience, many common writing problems are persistent and recurrent. Is a quick fix really that difficult? Do you make of a checklist for your students? How do you empower your students to take more professional care and control of their work? Any ideas? Here is my draft list: Many sentences that need a verb don't have one. There is a tendency to use phrases, or sentence fragments, rather than senten

But will your abstract fit inside the box? If you have been reading my blog on The Art of the Abstract , are you now ready for the quick guide? FORMAT Use one paragraph. Stick to the word length. Check the format style guides for the journal or awarding body / institution. Employ a professional style STYLE Use language that will be understood by readers in your field. Consider also the needs of the general reader. Think about the most relevant key words that need emphasis Write short sentences. Very short. Employ transitions between the sentences. Use the active voice, rather than passive constructions Use the third person singular. IT. Choose the past tense in the main body. Check your grammar Avoid abbreviations. Provide clear statements: avoid loose opinions. Employ the present tense for the introduction and the conclusion. PROCESS Learn from other respected scholars in your chosen field. Read journal abstracts in order to beco

  ' Supervisor, I found Yorick's Abstract. ' “ Do you hear, let them be well used, for they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time. After your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live .” --- Shakespeare’s Hamlet . Nowadays there is more pressure than ever to publish often and early. Such is the plight of the doctoral student and the early career academic; such is the life of any career academic. One of the tricks of the trade that every academic learns is how to write an effective abstract. Typically this activity was undertaken at the end of the third year of the Ph.D and was part of the processing of submitting your work for critical scrutiny. But really we were abstracting all the way along. The ability to compose a quick summary of what you have been reading is the beginning of abstraction. It’s a useful habit to acquire early in one’s intellectual development. What you find in the abstract will als

This was my Hall of Residence at University in Scotland Personal Statements for entry to British Universities Scrap any items that are trivial, too personal, or really not relevant to your university course. Link facts about your experience to the values and skills learned Language should be clear and precise. Avoid rhetorical flourishes and stilted language Check reports, comments and reviews of your work for tangible positive statements. Always ask other professionals to read your draft statement. Thinking critically and creatively about the feedback offered. Don’t let yourself down with grammatical mistakes, awkward style and spelling mistakes. These send alarm bells ringing and indicate that you lack a professional approach. Humour is always a risk and generally to be avoided, unless you are applying for a degree in  Comedy. Remember that any claims that you make will be tested at your i

The Rep Theatre and the Library of Birmingham This blog briefly shares parts of a recent exercise with students. The first aim was to undertake reading and writing exercises in order to gain a better understanding of techniques of persuasion . The second aim was to turn the exercise upside down by writing a highly critical review , or a letter of complaint . We also deployed speaking exercises in the form of  radio-style interviews, a phone-in, and social media interactive engagement such as short text and tweet responses. The underlying aims were vocabulary building and confident use of language. Our first task was to study the vocabulary used in advertisements and marketing/advertising material. These were drawn from a Children's Guide to Leisure Activities in the Black Country (West Midlands, UK);  Rewriting the Book - Discovery Season - Library of Birmingham; and What's On at the beacon Arts centre, Greenock, Scotland. Initially students were asked to s

Connected Brain Zones § 371. IV. The use of connectives . The words of connection and transition between clauses, members, and sentences, may be made, according to the skill or the awkwardness of the writer, sources of strength or of weakness. It is always a source of weakness for two prepositions, having different antecedents, to be co-ordinated in connection with a common subsequent . This mode of expression has been called "the splitting of particles;" a name not very applicable to it as it occurs in English construction. The proper name for it is the one implied in the italicized words above. The following is an example. "Though personally unknown to, I have always been an admirer of, Mr. Calhoun." The way to correct it is to complete the first clause, and let the last, if either, be elliptic; thus: "Though personally unknown to Mr. Calhoun, I have always admired him," or "been an admirer of him." It is pro

Let's be clear: it is not incorrect to write 'he said' or 'she said.' In fact, it may be advantageous to let the dialogue do the work and to leave the specific manner or tone of speech to the reader's imagination. The reader often has an intuitive grasp of the flow of emotions. Close examination shows that there are many options if you want to replace the word 'said', but sometimes you don't need to use it at all. The word 'said' also preserves a potential ambiguity. Again this can be helpful in creative writing if you do not want to direct the reader to a specific interpretation. Why not trust the reader to unmask irony and double-meanings in the speech? Often, the writer who lacks confidence wants to fill in all the gaps . Sometimes it is better to be less busy, and to leave some space for the reader to work on the prose. Writing presupposes a partnership; it is not a dictatorship. The word 'said' can also be complement

Are you still sharpening your use of academic language, or are you loosening the reins? The title of this blog points to the tensions involved in professional educational writing. In one sense the purely personal, original, pre-academic voice is a fiction. By joining the ranks of academe your voice has already begun to switch from a personal to a public voice. Taking the micky becomes parody or satire , for instance. Academic writing loses colloquial speech-like qualities and takes on the jargon of professional authenticity. And speech also tends to lose the accent and dialect of your class roots. Sadly, standard academic English is a rather middle-class business proposition. There is a gain but there is also a loss. But academic voice in the arts and the social sciences need not be the bleak accent of dry neutrality and emotionless abstraction. Surely there's an error in losing the individual idiosyncrasy of the human pulse in this domain of work? While it is true that

The witty banter and rivalry that we encounter in the plays of William Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde, or the novels of Jane Austen, often presents difficulties for students who are unsure how to write about it. It's not enough just to say that a speech is funny or humorous. Even 'witty' is at times quite vague given the complexity of rhetoric and style that characters had available to them. First, there are the professed attitudes to love and relationships. Typical roles taken up by characters include the scorner of love, and the woman who rejects her suitors. Whether the underlying motivation is authentic, realistic, or psychologically coherent and credible often matters less than the sheer pleasure to be had from the verbal battles that ensue. Second, audiences are expected to enjoy the 'badinage' of witty courtiers. This is an opportunity for malicious sentiments to be expressed with wit. Communication shifts in mood and tone from shrewdness and wisdom to ext

In recent years we have moved a long way from teacher-led Practical Criticism Q&A. As learners we are always searching for fun ways to explore texts. Experience demonstrates that allowing children to be creative is an excellent way to build critical engagement. Fun means deeper learning, and in my view, play cultivates questions. So let's have the courage to allow our students to play with plots and create their own interpretations of them. This approach need not displace traditional literary/critical writing exercises. Rather, it serves as a way of incubating enjoyable and engaging point(s) of entry to the text. How does this approach work? I'm not going to write up a detailed lesson plan, but you will find a short case study below. The newspaper model can be adapted to any text. (I recently worked with this approach using Charles Dickens's Great Expectations .) The project briefly sketched below will also help the learners to be more aware of style, tone, a