This week we started talking about how a sentence is framed. In class we went over the sentence “Seth uses.” This would normally be viewed as an incomplete sentence to most. But thanks to our generation of slang, it can be viewed as a real sentence to mean something like Seth uses drugs of some sort. This last sentence I used also shows another thing that we went over this week in class. The starting of sentences with words such as “butt, and, because” is usually viewed as doing the wrong thing. But as we learned, it is perfectly fine to use.
My question is, if I am teaching a high school English class, how can I convince students that it is perfectly fine to start sentences using those words, even though they have been taught all their lives that it is incorrect?
Erik,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am not certain of the specific pedagogy in regard to teaching High School students that its OK to start sentences with conjunctions,I think a good activity to do so could be to gather quotes from famous authors/writers/columnists which begin in conjunctions. By analyzing and reading excerpts from confident writers starting sentences with conjunctions, the students would be able to grow into the same.
I was actually wondering the same thing when Barbara was telling us that it's okay to start sentences with conjunctions. It also depends a lot on what the other teachers are telling them in their other classes. You wouldn't want a student trying to start their sentences with conjunctions and be penalized for it in one of their other classes. I'm not sure if there's an easy way of convincing them but it would be very helpful if you had the support of the other teachers in the school.
ReplyDeletegood points, Seth and Kasia. Myself, I'd go for it, though, pointing out how professional writers do it all the time, and to great effect. Op-Ed columnists are prime examples.
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