Assignment One

1-First Full Paragraph on Page 122

Not all words and phrases that you use with friends can be used in academic writing. And you should not believe that using your own style of language is an excuse for not learning how to use more intellectual and difficult styles. After all, you should be becoming more intelligent as you further your education. However, your own words and phrases can help make your writing more exciting and even more accurate in terms of grammar. Using your own language can make your writing more personal with the reader while still communicating in an intelligent way. You should keep in mind that academic language and the language that you use everyday can be used in the same writing and should not always be kept apart.

2a-John Updike's "Beer Can"

John Updike combines both intellectual language and everyday language/examples in his writing "Beer Can." Even the title of his piece suggests that the writing will be somewhat laid back and light hearted. However, Updike's first sentence proves that while writing about beer cans, he can also make his writing intelligent. He uses words and phrases such as "gratuitous inventions", "tranquil", and "dainty." Updike slips in similes and describes the beer can in detail. Throughout his piece, Updike uses lengthy sentences, showing his fondness for how the beer can used to be. Updike's piece is different from others' because he discusses a serious topic by using an almost trivial example. He wants to prove how sometimes inventions aren't really that progressive and some things are better left alone, and somehow he is able to use humor to drive that point home.

2b-

Personal living space is taken for granted by many citizens of the United States. These people drive their SUVs back to their two-story homes in which only they live. Personal living space will always be taken for granted until a person is thrown into a situation where he/she is living in a shoebox, and not just living in that shoebox, but sharing it with another person. This living condition, believe it or not, is what many of our nation's future leaders have to deal with while they attend college. Picture hardly ever being alone in your own room, or always having to fulfill your digestive needs when another person is in the stall right next to you. It is a different world once a teenager enters dorm life.