Thursday, April 7, 2011

Writing Topic: Rules for Writers Chapter 13

The main ideas in “Shifts” by Diana Hacker are, constructing sentences with the appropriate written perspective for the kind of text, utilizing the same type of “verb tense” throughout the text, applying the same “mood” verbs throughout the document, and telling the difference between direct and indirect questions.

Diana Hacker explained the author can write three different types of viewpoints, first, second, or third person. The first person standpoint is used to highlight the writer, for example, when the author is addressing personal experiences. The second person should be applied when the author wants to give guidance on how to handle a situation or when writing an instruction guide. The third person viewpoint is used to help reflect the subject. The third person perspective can be utilized to write formal or academic texts. Before beginning a text the writer must decide what type of viewpoint the text will be written in. The audience will become confused if the writer uses different standpoints within the same text.

The author needs to try remaining consistent with the use of “verb tenses“. If the writer is using a form of “verb tense” the text should stay the same throughout. She explained there are three “moods” of verbs within the English language, “indicative, “imperative, and “subjunctive”. Each type of “mood” verb should be utilized dependent upon the style of text being written. She also pointed out when the author is inserting quotes they either need to be direct or indirect. If both direct and indirect are used within the same sentence the audience can become confused on the context.

No comments:

Post a Comment