According, to the Fry graph I have a writing level of 6-7. Sometimes I could see that the Fry graph could be wrong and write. I say this because it doesn't see how you are writing or the content in the writing itself. All that it does count how many syllables and how many lines that you have. Therefore, it is correct from that part of the writing but from the other part it doesn't. The readability could be used for many things, newspapers for one, write their news at a level 8 that away everyone can be able to read the newspaper and understand it. I believe that as I get older, that my readability level will go up because I will go through more training on how to write correct and how to have correct grammar. When blogging I try to write at the same level that I do whenever I am writing a research paper or any kind of paper. Sometimes I think I do and other times I don't because it doesn't seem to be as formal as the other writings that I have done.
IQ question: Who can guess at what readability level newspapers in the U.S. are written???
Today, we are going to assess our READABILITY, which means the personal grade level we are writing at. We are going to do this by means of a formula developed by Edward Fry: the so-called "Fry graph."
What we need:
Three 100-word samples.
Take three different blog entries you have made for this class on our class blog. Copy them into a blank Word document. They can be from the beginning of the semester or the end; it does not matter.
TASK 1:
Now, cut down each of these three 100-words samples down to EXACTLY 100 words. You can use the word count of Microsoft Word by pasting your blog comment into a Word document, or you can copy and paste it into the word count tool. Simply delete all the words over 100, even if you have to stop in the middle of a sentence.
TASK 2:
1) Count the number of sentences in your 100 words sample. (If you had less than 100 words, add more. If you had more, just stop after having counted up to 100, and delete the rest.) Estimate the length of your last sentence, even if incomplete, to the nearest 1/10.
2) Count the number of syllables in your 100 words sample.
3) Make a table as seen in these INSTRUCTIONS. Draw this table on the handout I give you, because you will receive points for it, and I will collect it at the end of today's lesson!
4) Do the same for your second and third 100-words sample.
5) Total your numbers, and average them. (A little bit of math ;-)). You can use the Microsoft calculator ;-)
7) Make a dot on the FRY GRAPH I distributed in class where your personal readability lies. Write your name on the handout with your graph and your table, and submit it to your teacher for grading (I'm not grading the height of your readability, only the fact that you participated and understood the procedure!) There are no make-ups for this assignment.
HOMEWORK for Wednesday:
Post a comment to this blog (100-250 words) about what you think about your personal readability level. Do you believe the Fry graph correctly displays the grade level you're writing at? Why, or why not? What could be missing? What could the readability level be used for? Will knowing your personal readability level change anything about your future writing? Do you think you have a different readability level when you blog than when you write a research article like you did for this class?
1. Steadily the actress walked across the tight rope. 2. Unprepared and tired, the student did his best to make it through the presentation. 3. A generally unappreciated class, English can successfully prepare you for the future. 4. Outside of the elevator waited the girl. 5. I witnessed the girl, so dedicated to finishing her work, lose everything she had. 6. My first office job (more like a small town high school) had many clicks.
1) Word order isn’t all that important. With importance being getting the point across, even if it leaves dangling modifiers, some things will just be understood. Things like how squirrels don’t go to English class, as such people will read the sentence correctly regardless of its inherent meaning. 2) Of course! Style helps a person write their own way, making what they write a little more unique to them in a field of people who are writing and have to personify a voice on their papers. 3) Yes, think we that be’s it more problems than it past before has been. Texting part of the problem is this, probably. 4) Not too much, it seems that those who know the language so well (usually native speakers) seem to lose interest in the rules for word order while ESL populations are so conscious about the word order that as long as they know the rules they attempt to follow it as close as possible. 5) Poets. 6) Poetry. 7) Slightly.
All throughout my school years grammar has always been my worst subject. I have never thought of myself as a good writer and have been told on many different occasions that I do not sound professional at all when I write. Word order is not something that any of my teachers have stressed to me and to be completely honest it is not something I generally ever think about when I am writing. I am sure that the word order I choose in my papers is not good at all but I do not really understand how to make it better. I believe there are some people out there who are talented writers and it is probably very easy for them to write in a very clear, powerful way. But, for me this just isn't the case.
this article was talking about how to write a sentence that doesn't sound bad. Also how to put a correct sentence together even if it sounds good to the ear. the first page was on where you are suppose to put the "me" or "you" when you are talking about another person. i agree with the article because it can teach readers how to write effective sentences correctly. "that" is a word i use more than "which" and i think i would need to change it to "which" because it fits in the sentence better, as according to the article on pg. 268.
