tailieunhanh - Essential guide to writing part 8

the student's purpose determines her strategy in approaching the subject and in presenting herself. About the topic, the writer is serious without becoming pompous. As for herself, she adopts an impersonal point of view, avoiding such expressions as "I think" or "it seems to me." | For more material and information please visit PARAGRAPH UNITY 103 And and but present a special case. Most often they act as conjunctive adverbs joining words phrases or clauses within a sentence. But they can also function adverbially. Sometimes one hears the warning Never begin a sentence with and or but. The fact is that good writers do begin with these words the italics are added Is not indeed every man a student and do not all things exist for the student s behoof And finally is not the true scholar the only true master Ralph Waldo Emerson I come finally to the chief defiler of undergraduate writing. Andi regret to say that we professors are certainly the culprits. And what we are doing we do in all innocence and with the most laudable of motives. Willard Thorp Natural philosophy had in the Middle Ages become a closed chapter of human endeavour. But although the days of Greek science had ended its results had not been lost. Kurt Mendelssohn As sentence openers and and but are very useful. But is less formal than however while and is less formal and ponderous than furthermore or moreover or additionally. Don t be afraid of initial ands and huts. But use them moderately. l Syntactic Patterning Syntactic patterning simply means repeating the same basic structure in successive or near successive sentences. It often holds together the parts of a comparison or contrast In bankless Iowa City eggs sell for ten cents a dozen. In Chicago the breadlines stretch endlessly along the dirty brick walls in windy Streets. Wallace Stegner That New York was much more dry non-alcoholic on Sunday during the summer is true. That it was as dry as Theodore Roosevelt believed it I have for once absolutely enforced the law in New York is improbable. That it was dry enough to excite the citizenry to new heights of indignation is clear. Henry F. Pringle For more material and information please visit 104 THE EXPOSITORY PARAGRAPH Syntactic .