Date: Sun, 27 Oct 1996 23:02:47 EST From: just tink Subject: EXERCISE: Smoothing Out Joints This is a bit late, but... [based on "St. Martin's Guide to Teaching Writing" by Robert Connors and Cheryl Glenn, ISBN 0-312-06787-9, p. 233...] W. Ross Winterowd in a 1970 article "The Grammar of Coherence" argued that transitions (at the paragraph or "discourse bloc" level) are crucial to form and coherence, with coherence being consistent relationships among transitions. His seven relationships and the terms that express such relationships are: 1. Coordination - and, furthermore, too, in addition, also, again 2. Obversativity - but, yet, however, on the other hand 3. Causativity - for, because, as a result 4. Conclusativity - so, therefore, thus, for this reason 5. Alternativity - or 6. Inclusativity - the colon 7. Sequentiality - first, second, third; earlier...later, etc. [please allow me to express my extreme displeasure at such ugly labels - obversativity, indeed! They could have used And, But, For, So, Or, Inclusion and Order, but no, they had to take a healthy word like Cause or maybe Causality and wring its little spine into Causativity? Yech, poo, some English instructors should be tested for linguistic sensitivity and then fired!] Okay. The exercise assumes you have a piece of your very own sitting there in front of you. It can be an essay, fiction, even (horrors!) poetry. First, go through the piece and identify the "discourse blocs" - the chunks you have used in writing the piece. Next, look at the transitions used to tie the pieces together. Butt joints in writing, like those in carpentry and plumbing, need some finishing - a little smoothing and glue to help the reader across without splinters in their head from the edges. So identify your transitions. Consider whether they are the best for this part of your piece, or whether another one might be better suited. Simple, right? Just walk through your piece and make sure you have used transitions between the various pieces. But...try it. You may find that just making sure the transitions are correct helps make the structure of your piece coherent and well-developed, which makes the whole piece work better. It's a little like the chiropractor manipulating your spine - get it right and everything works well, leave it crooked and nothing seems to fit. schoolmaster tink (mbarker@mit.edu)