I know that grammar exercises in class can be just about the most boring activity of all time, so instead I thought we'd try them online, where you can complete them from home on your own.
Please read each of these pages, and complete the exercises on them. Then, by midnight tonight, post a comment here with a brief description of how you did, and what you learned (if anything). This sort of writing work will help ensure that your paper is polished on the surface and solid in its content. Thanks!
Conciseness (complete all three exercises at the bottom): http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/concise.htm
and/or
Conciseness (complete all three): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/6/9
and
Paraphrasing: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/28/12/33
Stephany Simmons
ReplyDeleteIn the first exercise I learned how to shorten sentences and exclude words that filled space. I think that I did a pretty good job.
Rewriting sentences in the boxes helped me to recognize unnecessary words. I also practiced writing in the active voice.
In the second exercise, paraphrasing those paragraphs helped me to not only write in the active voice but also to organize a paragraph. I became aware of how easy it is to start babbling in a paper. Getting straight to the point, like we discussed in class today, is key. Performance wise, I think I did average. When looking at the answers, I saw how I could have paraphrased even more than I had done.
Chloe Pappas
ReplyDeleteI am that writer that uses a lot of junk phrases and words in my papers. So I found it helpful to see sentences and then see what phrases were not necessary. I also didn't know exactly what a euphemism was until this assignment. I learned how to organize paraphrasing and restructuring sentences was good practice. Now back to the Raiders!
Janai Harris
ReplyDeleteIn the first exercise, I realized how much can be taken away from what you're trying to say the wordier your sentences get. You can still sound just as intelligent, if not more, by making your points concise. It also helped me realize how unnecessary 'filler' words are.
In the second exercise, I realized that I could still work on my paraphrasing. When I saw the answers, there were things I could have condensed better or eliminated completely. The longer the paragraph, the harder it was to paraphrase effectively for me. Time for some more practice!
I learned how to write to the point by removing words and phrases that don't add anything to the overall meaning of a sentence. I found that I did well in making sentences concise, but had a harder time with paraphrasing.
ReplyDeleteJessica O'Day
ReplyDelete(I forgot to write my name in the above comment)
I learned how to write to the point by removing words and phrases that don't add anything to the overall meaning of a sentence. I found that I did well in making sentences concise, but had a harder time with paraphrasing.
Misty Schubert
ReplyDeleteConciseness is a word I have heard many times in English classes, but I never thought I needed to practice it. Turns out, I do. The exercise made me realize that I used unnecessary words. I would cut out (what I thought) were obvious mistakes, and then see an answer even more condensed.
It was definitely good practice.
The second exercise just further proved how much I babble in my writing. It made me realize I just need to get to the point.
Jason Elperin
ReplyDeleteThe website gave a list of phrases and how they could be reduced. I learned to not add fancy lead in phrases and filler words. At the beginning of the exercise my sentences were still slightly wordy compared to the grammar version but by the end of the exercise my sentences were very similar to the grammar version. The paraphrasing exercise showed me how to summarize a quote instead of using the whole quote in an essay. This exercise was harder than the first because a whole idea had to be paraphrased whereas in the first exercise only a sentence had to be re-written.
Kris Lai "with a K"
ReplyDeleteI had difficulty paraphrasing the original sentences into something less concise than the grammar's answers. Other than that, cutting down the lengths of the sentences became somewhat of a breeze when more and more appeared. Even though I have done a couple of these exercises for practice, I still feel that I am going to have many of these errors in my essay still, so thankfully I have the time to proofread my rough draft before the hard copy is due.
Kevin Wang
ReplyDeleteThe websites both gave common grammar instructions and lessons on what words to avoid and how to paraphrase efficiently. I did not do that well on the exercises and quizes. However, I did slowly improve after each quiz, but still did not get any 100% correct. I learned that there are many words that we all like to use but mean the same thing twice in a row. Also, I learn how we can find different synonyms to shorten phrases.
Reikan Lin
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part was deciphering what the sentence was trying to say in the first place, but I found it a useful reminder nonetheless. For me, this exercise was more of a reflection--at first, I thought, "who would write like this?" to some of the sentences, but eventually I found a few similar redundant phrases I have used before.
Good night, and have an enjoyable and responsible weekend!
Andy Wang
ReplyDeleteAfter the first set of exercises, I realized how often I use unnecessary phrases and cliches. The first two exercises were straightforward and helpful, but the third one I had a bit of trouble with since it involved rewording the phrases. The paraphrasing exercise showed me how to identify sentences that are unnecessary. Also had a hard time with this but it was definitely helpful.
Sean Cheng
ReplyDeleteI did pretty well on the three conciseness exercises on the first page. Though my sentences did not match “Grammar’s Version” word for word, my answers had about the same number of words. I felt confident in writing concise sentences and skipped the other conciseness exercise at Purdue.
Paraphrasing was more difficult because I have bad memory, but it was much easier when I reread the original passage halfway through my paraphrase. Completing the exercise helped me recognize some common words I can cut out in the future for conciseness.
Eddy Monge
ReplyDeleteThis excercise showed me that when I write I tend to use repetitive or unnecessary words. Paraphrasing can be hard, but it is useful when using someone else's words.
Brandon Rude
ReplyDeleteI did well on all of the conciseness exercises. The paraphrasing exercises were the easiest. I learned nothing.
seanna widjaja
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to learn how frequently I use "junk" words/phrases in my writing. The exercises helped clarify the key words necessary to state certain points without redundancy.
The paraphrasing exercise was the most challenging for me because I often caught myself re stating it essentially as a direct quote, instead of a paraphrase.
Linda Huynh
ReplyDeleteAfter taking the first two quizzes, I realized that I overused unnecessary phrases, such as "due to the fact that", in previous papers. When I took the third quiz, I found paraphrasing particularly challenging.
The exercises pointed out that I tend to be a bit too wordy...I think that it stems from trying to stretch a little bit of real content into multiple pages.
ReplyDeleteI knew about paraphrasing before doing the exercise, but it was nice to have a refresher.
Melbin M.
ReplyDeleteOverall the exercises were helpful. However, I don’t think I learned anything because this was practice to improve on my writing skills.
Justin Phang
ReplyDeleteThe conciseness exercises were pretty easy, although I still had some trouble getting perfect scores on most of them. However, the paraphrasing was more difficult. The exercises just taught me how to improve on editing.
Cat Pohlman
ReplyDeleteWow. Literally just woke up and realized that I never posted my comment on here. I hardly ever matched the comment perfectly to the one the website offered, but I think I did pretty well. The exercise just showed me how annoying or confusing it can be to read writing that tries to hard to sound smart. Even as I write in this blog I wonder if I'm being concise enough.
Molly Rose Morrissey
ReplyDeleteSorry about the delay. These exercises were interesting. Being concise is key. There are a lot of words even I still might have added (and still thought I was being concise) so this is a good resource to not only practice on but to look back at when you start writing. Luckily, I'm pretty good at not using cliches in my writing (the ones listed were pretty bad!)
Paraphrasing can be really hard, especially when trying to sound authentic.
Alyssa Hinojos
ReplyDeleteI did not do very well in the paraphrasing quizzes. I was very surprised at some of the words that I thought were concise but turned out to not be. The table of examples really helped me to get the hang out what is concise and what is not. After awhile I started doing better with paraphrasing but still never got them completely right. After doing these quizzes I found that I paid significantly more attention to concisessness in my essay.