English is a crazy language article

Instructions for Summary / Response Essay

Summary/Response Essay

Assignment Description

Please use this article to write this essay:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/opinion/sunday/smartphone-addiction-teenagers-stress.html

For this essay, you should select an article from the "Readings" folder in this unit and summarize/respond to it in a formal essay. The summary/response essay asks you first to summarize the main points of the article and to respond to those points by agreeing, disagreeing, or agreeing with some but not all of the arguments made in the article. You should include evidence (from the article, from your own reasoning, from examples, from experiences, etc.) to support your response.

Due Dates

Please refer to the calendar due dates. Please remember the peer review is a separate grade and has separate due dates.

Purpose and Learning Objectives

The purpose of writing a response paper is to encourage you to read actively and to evaluate the selected articles critically. While it is possible to read an article just once and gain an understanding of the main idea, much of the depth and nuance of the article will only be discovered after multiple readings. Moreover, your grasp of the ideas and concepts presented in the article will remain superficial until you apply those ideas and concepts in your own writing. As you write, you should practice making clear claims about the material you’re writing about and should practice supporting those claims with evidence from the text and from your own reasoning about the subject.

Minimum Requirements

600- 900 words (approx. 2-3 pages)
An interesting and informative title
MLA format with in-text citations and works cited page
An introductory paragraph that tells readers what article you are responding to and that includes a thesis statement
One or more paragraphs that summarize the article
One or more paragraphs that respond to the article
A conclusion paragraph that wraps up the main ideas in the essay
You should not expect to earn a grade higher than a 60% if you do not meet the minimum requirements.

Process for Completion

The first step in writing a good response paper is to actively read the article assigned. Active reading means consciously identifying the thesis, purpose, audience, and tone. It means determining what main points the author is trying to convey with his or her article.
Next, it might help to construct an outline or graphic organizer that will help you visualize the claims and the evidence supporting those claims. Once you have a firm understanding of the article, start formulating your response by asking questions:
What do I really think about this topic? Why do I think that?
Do I disagree with any points being made? Why?
Do I agree with any points? Why?
Can I think of additional examples or evidence that support or refute the author's claims?
Can I connect something in the article to my own personal experience?
Can I apply the ideas presented in the article to some other subject?
At this point, you should start to formulate your response. Once you have an idea of what you want to say, start drafting your essay.
The introduction should clearly identify the author and article you’re summarizing. It may include a bit of brief summary to show what the main point of the article is. It should include a thesis statement that presents your response to the article.
The body paragraphs should begin with a summary of the article that you've chosen (one or two paragraphs). Be sure to accurately represent the ideas and arguments from the source. Next, you should develop your response (between one and three paragraphs), usually with a statement of agreement or disagreement, followed by your reasons, examples, and evidence. Remember that the purpose of a response paper is to add your own voice to the mix, to join the conversation. I want to read your reactions, your interpretations, and your opinions. Take this opportunity to develop your own voice.
The conclusion paragraph should reinforce the ideas you stated in the essay.
Once you’ve drafted your paper, go back and review how you’ve organized your paragraphs (do they have topic sentences?) and integrated evidence (all quotes should be seamlessly incorporated into your own sentences).
When you’re happy with your draft, you should complete the peer review process to get feedback on your writing.
After you have read the feedback provided by your peers, continue revising and editing your draft. You might find that some comments are more helpful than others. You are not obliged to take anyone's advice, but you should at least consider every suggestion. When you are comfortable that the essay is in good shape, upload it to eCampus. The final draft will automatically be sent through "Safe Assign," which is an originality checker used to help identify plagiarism.
Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas without giving credit and is a serious academic offense. It can range from:

Turning in a paper any part of which you did not write,
Cutting and pasting a paper together from various sources without attributing the sources correctly,
Changing a few words but basically keeping most of the words and sentence structure of the original,
Using the ideas of another without giving credit to the person who originally had the idea.
Using the exact words of the source without using quotation marks even if you give the name of the source.
Refer to the syllabus for consequences of plagiarism in this class. For more information, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/

Grading and Rubric

To access the rubric, go to the essay submission and select "View Rubric." Please remember that the grades for peer are listed in the syllabus as separate grades.

eakers should be committed to an

asylum for the verbally insane.” This is a quote from the book Crazy English, written by Richard

Lederer in 1989. In the essay “English is Crazy Language”, which is a excerpt from the opening

chapter of his book Crazy English, Lederer takes a witty and rather genius approach of proving

how English is, indeed, a very crazy language.

Lederer starts the book off with facts about the English language, emphasizing about how

it is “the most widely spoken language in the history of our planet.” I find that this is a very

clever way to prove to the readers that he is knowledgeable in this matter. Lederer then states

“nonetheless, it is now time to face the fact that English is a crazy language.” From here on, we

are faced with a whirlwind of Lederer’s ridiculously brilliant examples and play on words of the

English language in an almost poetic-like stance.

He begins with “the blackbird hen is brown, blackboards can be blue or green… if

blackberries were really black and blueberries really blue, what are strawberries, cranberries,

elderberries, huckleberries, raspberries… supposed to look like?” This clearly already shows the

readers how absurd the English language really can be. If a blackboard is green, why is it called a

blackboard and not a greenboard? Why aren’t strawberries called pinkberries and raspberries

redberries? Lederer also includes other examples like “hot dogs can be cold, darkrooms can be

lit, homework can be done in school, nightmares can take place in broad daylight…” These

professor� 4/26/15 8:18 AM Comment [1]: The first paragraph introduces the text that the student will respond to. Both the title and author are identified as well as the general topic of the text.

professor� 4/26/15 8:19 AM Comment [2]: In this paragraph the student gives a little more detail by identifying the thesis of the original text.

2 examples particularly stood out to me because I feel like they have completely contrasting

meanings. In a way, they can be similar to a juxtaposition of sorts.

Lederer then begins to question what other languages use the same ironic and, shall I

say, confusing phrases used in English. “In what other language do people drive in a parkway

and park in a driveway? In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?”

These examples made me really wonder, is English really the only language that does this? After

giving it much thought, I’ve come to this conclusion: English may be crazy, but it’s not any

crazier than most other languages.

Although they might not have as many ironic phrases and words as English does, I do

believe that there are many other languages that do. One, for example, comes from Spanish:

huevos rancheros is an omelet served along with vegetables for breakfast. When translated, the

meaning of huevos rancheros is eggs from a ranch or farm. Ironically enough, though, the eggs

used in this meal do not particularly come from a ranch, nor is it eaten at a ranch. Another

language comes from my roots, Vietnamese: alligators are called cá sấu which, when translated,

means “ugly fish”. Sharks are called cá mập which means “fat fish” when translated and

dolphins are called cá heo which is translated to “pig fish”. Also, whales are called cá voi which

translates to “elephant fish” and, of course, sounds absolutely ridiculous to me. Another great

example is thương which means “to love”, whereas bị thương means “to be wounded”.

With all this being said, I must commend Lederer on his views and points. Before I

read his excerpt, I thought to myself, there’s no way English is really this crazy. I thought I

wouldn’t agree with what Lederer says but I found that I’ve really appreciated reading this

chapter. It’s really opened my eyes to a broader spectrum. I’ve come to realize that English is, in

fact, absolutely crazy, but so are most other languages. And in the words of the brilliant Richard

Lederer himself, “when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I shall end

it.”

professor� 4/26/15 8:20 AM Comment [3]: In this paragraph the student has summarized the supporting examples for the original text.

professor� 4/26/15 8:28 AM Comment [4]: Here we begin the student’s response and we have the student’s thesis statement.

professor� 4/26/15 8:25 AM Comment [5]: This paragraph includes the students support of his/her thesis. He/She claimed that English is no more crazy than any other language and in this paragraph he/she proves that by giving several specific examples from another language.

professor� 4/26/15 8:29 AM Comment [6]: In the conclusion, the student restates his/he thesis and concludes the essay with a quotation.

3

Works Cited

Lederer, Richard. "English is a Crazy Language." from Crazy English: The Ultimate

Joy Ride Through Our Language. Atria Books, A Division of Simon and Schuster,

Inc. 1989. Print.

professor� 4/26/15 8:31 AM Comment [7]: Here we have a Works Cited page that includes the text referenced in the essay.