Blog Post They Say, I Say: Part 3

In Chapter Eight, Graff and Birkenstein bring to our attention how writers sometimes struggle with making sure that they’re sentences connect with each other. In this chapter they teach us how to connect our writing with our sentences and make sure that it can flow smoothly. Certain phrases can make our sentences confusing or make our sentences sound choppy which is what no writer wants. Transitions is one of the main lessons were taught in able to help us with out writing and overall making our writing readable.

Personally, I tend to struggle with making my writing flow and making sure that my sentences connect with one another. When I think that my writing is going well and I would submit it, I remember seeing all the corrections I had to fix. Hopefully with the continuous reading of this book I can become a better writer after every chapter.

In Chapter Nine it’s brought to our attention how us writers tend to use a different voice when writing. Graff and Birkenstein teach us that it’s okay to use our everyday voice. Although, the voice we have with our friends is advised not to be put on paper. It is recommended that we have others critique our writing so that we can learn where our strengths/weaknesses are and can later improve.

While reading about the language we should be using in our writing, I find myself guilty with using a voice that I use in my writing that is different from my everyday voice. It would probably help if I make sure I sound like myself in my writing as well.

Throughout Chapter Ten, The readers are taught about Metacommentary. Graff and Birkenstein want to assure their readers to use certain phrases to avoid confusion and paragraphs of explaining about what one sentence meant. The templates in this chapter also explain to us the different ways to introduce metacommentary to our readers.

Before this chapter I’ve never heard of metacommentary. This was an interesting chapter to read because I was able to learn the definition of metacommentary and how to properly phrase my paragraphs in able to avoid complicating metacommentary.

In Chapter Eleven, Graff and Birkenstein teach us that it’s important to revise our writing. Often we hate having our writing criticized or having to criticize someone else’s writing but it can teach us how to improve our own writing and how to look out for the mistakes in others work. We are then shown templates on how to revise our writing or others.

I do enjoy having my writing critiqued so that I can learn from my mistakes and knowing what to avoid in the future. Being able to follow along with a revised text of Family Guy helped a lot. It also showed me on what to look out for and the type of revising that can help me critique others or my own writing.