TSIS Voice Blog

PartI:

Truthfully, in high school I wrote very few papers. In every English class I’ve taken at my high school, I never wrote more than four papers a year. The longest paper I had to write all throughout high school was, my graduation paper, approximately six pages long. On the other hand, since I do not have much experience writing papers, I found writing papers in college quite difficult. The papers I have been asked to write by my professors are not as simple as what my high school teachers asked me to write. The papers I had to write for my college classes require more thinking. Most of my papers in college so far, require me to analyze more than summarize. In high school most of my papers were research papers, so I just had to look up facts relating to my topic and paste it to my paper, and cite it.

Instead of my professors expecting awesome writing, I feel like they first want to know where I am at with my writing ability. Most of the diction I use is very simple, high school vocabulary. However I strongly believe my professors want high, college level diction out every one of their students. I feel like it is hard to use tone in papers. Many of my papers are formal so I find it difficult to show emotions. I feel that college professors expect their students to at least be able to use tone, especially in times of joy or anger.

Blogs and essays are different in several ways. In blogs I feel that it is okay to use slang and contractions. Also, when one writes a blog, he/she does not have to be formal. Usually blogs are meant to be short and concise. On the other hand, essays are supposed to be written formally, without using second or third person. Essays are usually on the longer side.

From experience I feel most confortable writing when I am in a room or library with close to zero people. Listening to music such as “Kiss in the rain” or “River flows in you” by Yiruma, help me write passionately. When I am forced to write during a class, under a certain time frame, I feel most uncomfortable.

English 101 sounds very intimidating to me, because all my life I called English class, just “English”. I feel like whenever I am in English 101 I have to speak formally, better yet write formally. Also because it is my first English class in college, I should speak properly, and write deeply.

PartII:

With this cartoon, I feel like Roz Chast is trying to remind the viewers who read this cartoon, how much society changed. The English that was used hundreds and hundreds of years ago are no longer the same as the English used today. In the year 2013, if a person was randomly selected and asked to read something from Shakespeare and interpret it, the chances of the person understanding the text and being able to translate William Shakespeare’s texts are low. However, if the same person were asked to read the cartoon he/she would most likely be able to understand the cartoon text.

I definitely agree with what Roz Chast is implying. Especially now that we use technology for almost everything, we get lazy and IM/text as short as possible to get our message across. It is very simple to IM/text and let someone know what you are trying to say, unlike before cellphones were invented one had to meet face to face or write a letter to get the message across.

The Conversation between Romeo and Juliet

Juliet: Hello Romeo, are you busy?

Romeo: No, Juliet! How have you been?

Juliet: I am very busy these days, but I am alive. How have you been enjoying college so far?

Romeo: College? College is fun but…

Juliet: But?

Romeo: Honestly, I am having trouble managing my time.

Juliet: Oh, no.

Romeo: Yes I know, but there are so many fun activities to get involved in around campus.

Juliet: I agree but Romeo you need to get your priorities straight.

Romeo: I know I have been procrastinating lately.

Juliet: How? It is only the first week of school.

Romeo: I actually have to write a five-page paper for English 101, and it is due tomorrow; I have yet to start.

Juliet: Wow. Who is your professor?

Romeo: Professor Browning.

Juliet: I know her; she is the awesome professor with the pretty smile, right?

Romeo: Yes.

Juliet: Well it was nice talking to you. I will let you go so you can start your paper. Bye!

Romeo: Thanks, let us talk soon. See you!

Overall the content itself is about how difficult college is, and how important it is to have time management. In my opinion formal “academic” English is needed everywhere, in every situation. In final analysis, in the end grammar does matter, especially in one’s conversation.