AAAWWUBBIS clauses

Going over complex sentences last week gave me some things to think about. Looking in the newspaper for AAAWWUBBIS clauses helped me determine what exactly clauses and complex sentences are. These clauses include "although, after, as, while, when, until, because, before, if, and since". These words are used to separate clauses. Usually AAAWWUBBIS words come in between dependent clauses. I understand independent clauses "as" full thoughts, or sentences. I know that even with independent clauses a semi-colon can be added "if" the next sentence is connected to the first. "As" far as dependent clauses, an AAAWWUBBIS word is necessary to separate the clauses. "Although" such words can be used to separate clauses, they can also be used to start an independent clause. "After" awhile AAAWWUBBIS words are easy to pick out of a sentence "because" they are a specific set of words. My question for the week deals with dependent clauses, or fragments. Has anyone ever written a fragment in an essay to prove a certain point, only to have the instructor correct it? Also "when" is it alright to begin writing against the rules? Even in college I feel like I have to follow the rules to achieve a good grade, instead of being able to experience with my writing. Does anyone else have a similar experience? Another question, does awhile count "as" an AAAWWUBBIS word? ps- I'm putting the AAAWWUBBIS words in quotes "because" the bold function is not working.

Week 5

This week in class we read an important essay about a fictional student, Dora. Dora showed how a student usually responds to writing and grammar if only given the right prompts. It impressed me how the teacher handled the situation in order to give her students as much free learning and exploration as possible. One of my favorite parts in the essay is when Dora is learning to separate her words. At first all Dora’s words run together, followed by being separated by ‘dots.’ Dora puts her ‘dots’ in between every word before hearing the teacher calling them ‘periods.’ This was amusing to me because after a while Dora starts calling her ‘dots’ ‘periods’ and still puts them in between every word. It was also fascinating to see how Dora’s language and writing skills improve over time. I was furthermore blown away by the confidence that Dora achieves by simply being able to explore with grammar and writing. My only question would be that why do college professors not teach writing by letting the writer explore with writing? It seems to me that exploring in writing would be a great tool in analyzing or expressing something without the constraints of rigid rules.

Week 4 of learning

This week we went over “closed class” words. It’s still interesting to me that there are different classes of words in which words can be added and not added. Going back to “open class” words, the expansion of this class could be infinite, which is a little shocking. New words and phrases can always be created in the upcoming years. Already we have words like ‘homie’ and ‘y’all’ that were not present a few decades ago. It makes me wonder if the “closed class” words might ever change?

We also went over prepositions and helping verbs. Looking at newspaper headlines seems to be an excellent way to section off titles. By doing this yet again in class I have gained a knack for figuring out what certain words are classified as. Helping verbs were a little difficult, with trying to figure out transitive or intransitive verbs. However I think that after time and newspaper practice that anyone can know what each word is without a problem. It simply amazes me how much of the little grammatical rules that I have forgotten since grade school. It’s rather refreshing to be able to go back and relearn some of the rules and classes of grammar. I am not really having problems with the content of the course so far, but I do have a question about the “closed” and “open classes” words. Do you think that possibly in the future all words and classes will be placed into an “open class” and be constantly expanding? Could a new word take the place, or be exchangeable, with a word like “I” or “you,” and if so do you think this word would ever catch on in society?