Appendix J. . .On Writing

     Writing is conceptually a recording of speech into tangible symbols.  
The alphabet is intended to be a set of symbols for the sounds of speech.  
Once you have learned the mechanics of writing, you can simply write down
the words that you would say.  Although that is the fundamental basis of
writing, it is not the whole story.

     There are many facets of face-to-face communication in addition to
the actual words spoken.  In speech, some information is conveyed by tone
of voice, accentuation, pacing of sounds, pauses, inflections and pitch.  
We also use "body language" in posture, facial expression and gestures.  
Furthermore, the listener is present to give signs of understanding or
confusion. Thus, a mere record of the words that one might speak is a very
incomplete report of verbal intercourse.

     A good writer tries to make up for these missing ingredients in
various ways.  Instead of using the first word that comes to mind, the
writer can take time ear; meat/great/threat versus suite/straight/debt;
dread versus heard versus beard;  and dose versus rose versus lose; etc.  
Our ancestors certainly made this aspect of our lives difficult.

     As a self-test, underline the correct spelling or, if you think that
neither is correct, place your spelling on the blank line.

absence abscense __________            neccessary necessary __________

arguement argument __________          ninety ninty  __________

baloon balloon __________              occurence occurrence __________

believe beleive __________             priviledge privilege __________

catagory category __________           preceed precede __________

climn climb __________                 proceed procede __________

defenitely defenately __________       proceedure procedure __________

description discription __________     professor proffessor __________

essential essensial __________         repitition repatition __________

forty fourty __________                rediculous ridiculous __________

grammar grammer __________             separate seperate __________

holaday holiday __________             sertain certain __________

illegitimate ilegitimate __________    supprise surprise __________

leisure leizure __________             truly truely __________

license lisence __________             twelfth twelvth __________

morgage mortgage __________            until untill __________



     Indeed, even one of the familiar spelling mnemonics is sometimes
wrong. You probably know, "i before e, except after c, and for sounds of
an a, as in neighbor and weigh."  Among the exceptions are either,
leisure, and seize.  Accordingly, to be a good speller, one has to learn a
large number of special cases.

     Nevertheless, correct spelling is essential if you want to present
yourself as an educated person.  This does not necessarily mean that you
have to be a good speller.  What it does mean is that you have to learn to
look up the spelling of a word when you are not completely certain of it.  
It is much better to be certain than sorry. Many's the admission, job, or
advancement that has been lost because of a few misspelled words.  If you
find that you have to look up the same word frequently, it is worth your
while to make up a mnemonic.

     At one time, I had difficulty remembering that the "u" in four drops
out in forty but returns in fourth, while the "e"  in nine stays in for
ninety and drops out in ninth.  By making up verbal mediators, "I have
looked up forty for the last time," and "There are nine tees on a golf
course,"  I am able to recall the correct spellings without having to look
them up.  I now remember how to spell "precede" and "proceed" by the
mnemonic, "There are only two e's before the d."  I was taught that
stationery and paper have an "er"  while stationary does not.  Some
children learn to spell "arithmetic" by the acrostic, "A rat in the house
may eat the ice cream."  In sum, when phonetic spelling fails, mnemonic
spelling succeeds.

     Citations.  The cardinal sin in writing is plagiarism, copying
someone else's writing without citation.  If you submit a composition as
your original work, it must be original.  Certainly you can quote other
writers, but you must indicate the source of any quotation.  A few short
quotations may make your composition appear scholarly, but it is wise to
avoid extensive quotations.  Remember that professors want to know if you
understand something, and the best way to show
 them that you do is to say it in your own words.

     Finally, "proofread your writing to see if you any words out."
Writing is so much slower than thinking that it is easy to make mistakes
while trying to keep up.  Like the other verbal skills, writing is a
mental time-sharing task, with attention divided between the mechanics of
putting marks on paper and the cognitive processes that generate the words
to write.  Errors are especially likely if you are already thinking about
the next sentence while writing this one down. It is best to focus on the
sentence that you are writing, but proof-reading is the best safeguard
against submitting a paper containing writing errors.

absence description license precede separate argument essential mortgage
proceed certain balloon forty necessary procedure surprise believe grammar
ninety professor truly category holiday occurrence repetition twelfth
climb illegitimate privilege ridiculous until definitely leisure