One Thing... from Class March 18, 2014



 

          I definitely learned last class that I did very well on my first test in this class. I was entirely pleased with my grade, and was almost not even surprised I got that grade! I had felt confident taking the test, and actually was not stressed out over it because I had learned so much for that class that I was happy taking it. Especially when it came to the last part of the test, and having to write those three news leads, I was very surprised I had gotten them all correct! I wracked my brain on trying to write an acceptable news lead, and I had done just that.

           However, when it came to the quiz we had taken previously on the news leads, for some reason I had not done as well as the test. I believe this is because I was not as educated on the leads; I had been absent the prior week when we learned about the leads, and I was going into the quiz without any knowledge on them. But once you practice, it becomes a lot easier to write a good lead. Especially with the review we had last week on the best way to write one, it seems like I really get them now. It is hard when there is a lot of information on the leads because many events may have occurred, creating the news story, but being able to finbd that balance and the most important information is important.

           "Good leads contain those interesting details, and can help the readers "visualize" events they describe."

One Thing… from Class February 27, 2014

   While wasting time on Facebook, like I usually do almost every day, I came across this picture that one of my friends had shared. It's perfect! I couldn't help but laugh and save it to my phone because it perfectly explains how myself and a lot of people feel about commas. I remember in class we talked about the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes on the posters around school, and someone had brought up that one of the posters used far too many oxford commas. I wasn't really sure at the time what an oxford comma really was, but I looked it up and understood that we had talked about the use of commas before the word "and" just in a previous class before. 

 "Oxford comma is an optional comma before the word 'and' at the end of a list:

'We sell books, videos, and magazines.'"

        Starting with that simple definition, it all came back to me. I remembered that we had called the "oxford comma" in class the "serial comma." There was a very bold star in my notes saying "No comma before and/or!!" Then it clicked that ever since then I really had found myself not using any commas before and/or, I wanted to make little use of commas, and almost try to eliminate them from being used to much in my writing. But then along came this picture, and it all made perfect sense. It is really hard to not use commas, or especially this oxford comma, because it does paint a picture in people's heads that if you don't use that one extra comma, you imagine yourself eating toast with orange juice on it. I still try and not use them when I am writing, but it does occasionally slip in there because I know that when I read things like that without the comma, I see it as something that should be bunched together, like orange juice toast. So when I write, I like to keep it simple and clarify separate items so they are not to get confused together. Whether I find myself still using a bunch of commas, or trying to use non at all, I think I will forever try and remember to not put those pesky commas in front of and/or, but when it comes to people thinking I eat orange juice toast, I may slip an extra comma in there.