Well-Written Text: Language Use

Properties of a Well-Written Text

• Effective paragraphs and compositions need organization, coherence, cohesion, appropriate language, and correct mechanics.

Appropriate Language Use

• Proper language use is key to conveying the intended message to readers by choosing words that precisely capture ideas.

Elements to Consider in Writing

Misused Words

• Writers should ensure they know the exact definition of a word before using it
• Misuse often occurs with words that sound or look similar

Words with Unwanted Connotations

• Writers should be aware that some words have context-specific meanings and use them carefully to avoid confusion, humor, or offense.

Technical or Highfalutin Words

• Writers must be cautious when using very technical words, as they can make the text harder to understand, even if niche genres may benefit from it.

Formal-Informal Language

• Writers must determine if formal or informal language is appropriate.
• Informal language is for personal writing to family, friends, or colleagues.
• Formal language is for academic, business, or official texts.

Direct and Simple Sentences

• Language should be straightforward for easy understanding, especially when writing for youth.

Unbiased Language

• Writers should use unbiased language to avoid offending any individual or group.
• Unbiased language is free of racial, religious, and gender bias.

Effective Language Use Tips

• Use clear, concise sentences, aiming for an average sentence length of 18 words
• Writers should avoid redundancies, wordiness, clichés, and highfalutin language
• Writers should limit the use of "there" and "it" structures.
• Use precise vocabulary, condensing lengthy phrases into fewer words
• Maintain consistency in pronoun point of view.
• Avoid sexist language.
• Use an appropriate level of formality.

Mechanics in Writing: Spelling

• Consistency in spelling is important, noting the differences between American and British English.

American vs British Spelling

• American: color, defense, organize, traveled, theater, learned, airplane, anesthesia, analyze, aging
• British: colour, defence, organise, travelled, theatre, learnt, aeroplane, anaesthesia, analyse, ageing

Mechanics in Writing: Punctuation

• Punctuation uses symbols like commas and question marks to structure and organize text, guiding the reader.

Quotation Marks

• Quotation marks show that words have been directly quoted.

Apostrophe

• Apostrophes indicate omitted letters in contractions (e.g., It's)
• Apostrophes indicate possession (e.g., Chicago's winters).

Hyphen

• Hyphens form compound words and can be used after a prefix.

En Dash

• En dashes indicate a range of numbers or a period of time, often with numerals (e.g., 1939-1945).

Em Dash

• Em dashes indicate a big pause or emphasize the end of a sentence.

Ellipsis Points

• Ellipsis points show that something has been removed or indicate a pause or unfinished sentence.

Comma

• Commas join ideas or separate items in a series.

Colon

• Colons introduce information or indicate that something is coming.

Semicolon

• Semicolons connect two complete, related sentences.

Exclamation Mark

• Exclamation marks show strong emphasis or emotion, used rarely in formal writing.

Question Mark

• Question marks indicate that a question is being asked.

Period

• Periods end a sentence
• Periods indicate an abbreviation, especially in American English.

Capitalization

• Capitalization is writing the first letter of a word in uppercase and the rest in lowercase.

Words that Require Capitalization

• Proper nouns (Alex, Manila)
• Proper adjectives (Canadian)
• Days of the week (Sunday)
• Months of the year (January)
• Specific course titles (Theater 101)
• Kinship names before personal names (Grandma, Dad)
• The first and last word and all adjectives, verbs, adverbs, nouns, and pronouns in a title (Through the Looking-Glass)
• Historical periods, events, and documents (Great Depression)

Critical Thinking vs. Critical Reading

Critical Thinking

• Critical thinking is evaluating information and ideas to decide what to accept.

Critical Reading

• Critical reading is careful, active, reflective, and analytical and involves reflecting on the validity of what is read based on prior knowledge.

Critical Reading vs Critical Thinking example

• In the sentence "Parents are buying expensive cars for their kids to destroy them", critical reading identifies to whom "them" refers
• Critical thinking decides if that meaning is true and if the reader should support that practice.

Critical reading + Critical thinking

• Critical reading precedes critical thinking, enabling evaluation of assertions only after fully understanding a text.
• "Thinking critically is the ability to understand a concept fully, taking in different sides of an issue or idea while not being swayed by the propaganda or other fraudulent methods used to promote it." -Denise Selleck