Blog #19

After perusing the remaining chapters from They Say/ I Say, choose one to read. Try to base your choice on a problem area that you would like to address. For your blog post, please summarize your choice chapter and explain why you chose to read it. Finally, please put what you learned to work in your revision. Explain what you changed and the impact that it had on your ongoing paper.

Chapter 9: “Ain’t So / Is Not”

This chapter focused on the benefits of mixing some colloquial language in with academic writing. Many successful writers are able to use the two together to get their point across and still sound sophisticated. The use of relaxed language doesn’t have to be drastic, but it will help make your writing feel less dry. Sometimes, using common language is the best way to get your point across to your readers. A lot of our everyday language uses metaphors that capture big ideas. Blending your writing can be used to surprise your reader or to make a political statement. When considering how to bring in colloquial language it is important to consider your audience and the purpose of your writing. For example, very formal writing such as letters or official emails may not benefit from such usage. However, it is beneficial to academic writing to take a few risks and be less formal.

This chapter is very useful in our multimodal assignment. Multimodal publications tend to be less formal because they use other modes in a creative way. Using colloquial language along with other modes of communication fit nicely together. In my essay I am going to try to use more everyday language to explain gender and sex. Those concepts are easiest to explain in everyday terms anyway. By using everyday language it also makes the topic seem less intimidating, and less like I am preaching to my reader.