Digital Texts for Different Users

"To be or not to be, that is the question" (Shakespeare 1).  William Shakespeare's famous line has continued to influence speakers' or writers' decisions to make certain claims. Weinstein and Finn expressed that "teachers" (121) contribute to "the confusing use of 'I'" (121). Weinstein and Finn stated that the use of "I" is "far too often forbidden" (121) in classes. Wienstein's and Finn's claim on the use of "I" are realistic in many ways. For example, I had to be careful and considerate in the use of "I" when I was in a meeting. If I used "I" to express something, I might omitted the contributions of others even though "other" people might not contribute to the group work. However, it was "me" that did the most, if not, all of the work. To appease the others, I ended up using "we" and "ours" to make false claims about what did not happen...

There are many ways speakers and writers can use to convey their messages. Whether they use passive or active voices, their focus is to "create voice" (Weinstein and Finn 56) for their targeted audience. By creating a voice for their audience, speakers and writers can use "contractions and parentheses" as "grammatical devices" to help them conveying such "purpose" (Weinstein and Finn 56).  For example, "Here I am actually 'hooked' on a program" (Weinstein 61). The speaker wanted to emphasize his passive enjoyment of a program by placing the word "hooked" in parenthesis to emphasize the importance of his or her message.  The speaker wants to be "passively real" with his or her intention about the program he or she wants.  The word "hooked" is actually a past participle of "hook," which is a verb." To use "hooked," the speaker or writer must use a linking verb of "to be....

  The use of present tense with regards to someone's action is basically labeling someone (Weinstein and Finn 81).  In reality, no one wants to be labeled. Thus, speakers and writers need to cognizant of what they say and how they say something to their targeted audience.  Example: a) Professor Fowler lost her temper with her students. b) Natasha left a paltry tip-less than five percent of the check. c) You complained.  Instances of Labeling: a) I saw Professor Fowler losing her temper with her students. b) You witnessed Natasha leaving a paltry tip-less than five percent of the check. c) You are a complainer.   I recalled a time when I blamed my sister as insensitive to my mother. Here was the dialogue in the present tense: You really do not make sense. You are insensitive to mom's needs. You do not consider her point of view. I am not sure you are such a person. According to Weinstein and Finn, "nobody likes to be negatively labeled" (81). When I had that...

  Speakers and writers can use semicolons (:) to join two independent clauses together instead of a comma (,) (Weinstein and Finn 64). For example, 1) John's friend new a about a trip to Virginia. She told him how excited she was. The above statements are two independent clauses, which can be combined with a semicolon (;). John's friend new about a trip to Virginia; she told him how excited she was. According to Weinstein and Finn, the above independent clauses have connections because the second clause relates to the first clause (64). Thus, the purpose of a semicolon is to unit two related ideas together.   In my role as a uniter for a workshop, I had a chance to unite ideas from workshop's attendees.  From one attendee: "I can use technology to help students access information. The presence of technology in my classroom is important for my students.  My students know how to use smartphones, computers, and tablets. So it is critical that I know how to use technolog...

Writers and speakers have different ways to present their points of views. Some use simple, complex, compound, complex-compound, and periodic sentences. Other speakers and writers use long sentences to express their thoughts.  For example, one speaker may say, "The cost of higher education continues to rise." A different speaker may make the statement longer to add emphasis to the thought: "The cost of higher education continues to rise due to inflation, global crises, and market demand." One speaker may go directly stating the important point: "In this high-tech age, friends stay in touch easily." In this perspective the speaker stresses the important point at the beginning of the message about high-tech era. A different speaker may say, "Friends stay in touch in this high-tech age because technology is easily accessible for many people whenever and wherever possible." By nature, I am a generous person in many aspects. As a classroom teacher, I...

   Uhm...............I......................  "Fire!" ---  Get out, fire!   " New Glasses? " --- Do you have new glasses? " Just heat and serve. "  Just heat and serve the food. " If only I'd come sooner! "  --- If only I'd come sooner, nothing will happen.  The above thoughts in blue are ellipses because the speaker or writer "feel that certain things don't need spelling out" (Weinstein and Finn 75).  According to Weinstein and Finn, people use ellipses even when they do not know, such as "thank you" or "ready" (75, 76) because "you thank" is actually "I thank you", and "ready" can mean "are you ready." These "invisible" (Weinstein and Finn 75) have "the omission of words or string of words" that speakers or writers feel they do not need to use. In addition, the invisible ellipses depend on the speakers' or writers' needs and situations,...