{"product_id":"2940012808615","title":"Conventions of Literal Writing","description":"What sets literal writing apart from its literary cousin is an avoidance of literary conventions. A literal writer does not entertain his readers with flights of fancy and rhetorical flourishes.  Instead, he focuses on describing the world as it actually exists. \u003cbr\u003e The best literal writers are effective critical thinkers. They are conversant with the various philosophical points of view from which people approach their lives. They make a clear distinction between the empirical world and Plato’s world of ideas. When a literal writer employs an abstract term, he defines it carefully and backs up his statement with concrete reality-based illustrations. When he talks about groups, he uses generally accepted research procedures to collect information about them, and he compiles that information using generally accepted statistical expressions. He understands inductive and deductive reasoning processes, and he takes steps to control them.\u003cbr\u003e In his excellent textbook “Sound and Sense,” Laurence Perrine speaks of four dimensions of language: intellectual, sensuous, emotional, and imaginative.  He points out quite correctly that a writer of literal material focuses primarily on the intellectual dimension; but one might beg to differ with his assertion that literal writing is single dimensional. We humans are fundamentally subjective creatures; we can never divorce our intellects entirely from our senses and emotions and imaginations.  No matter what we write (or do) these four dimensions of language (of our very being) are brought into play. \u003cbr\u003e Effective literal writers, like their literary counterparts, employ concrete language that evokes images and other sensory responses in their readers’ minds. They may restrain their emotions; but they can never leave them entirely behind. An unfeeling human is unlikely to exercise sound judgment. Imagination is an ever present and powerful tool of our human thought processes.  Scientist and engineers and housewives with rich imaginations are generally the most effective people in their fields.\u003cbr\u003e Since writers are all subjective beings, drawing a sharp line between literary and literal writing is sometimes difficult. Compositions exist on a continuum ranging from literal to literary. No one would categorize the “Iliad” as a literal depiction of the events that happened during the Greek’s siege of Troy. Nor is anyone likely to view a business letter as literary work. In the middle of that continuum, however, black or white choices become difficult to make.\u003cbr\u003e In choosing an image for the cover of this book, I was torn between using a picture of Montaigne, who is said to be the father of the essay, or of Francis Bacon, an English essayist and an important early advocate of the scientific method.  Since Montaigne was older and had a prior claim and since the word essai (to attempt) in French is the source of the English word essay, I settled on his picture. The works of both of these authors, though they deal primarily with real world matters, are considered gems of their respective national literatures.\u003cbr\u003e Francis Bacon’s most famous essay “Of Studies” (http:\/\/grammar.about.com\/od\/60essays\/a\/studiesessay.htm) offers what may be the best advice ever given in the field of education: Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. This proven path to becoming an educated person is the educational theory on which this series of books rests: We nourish our minds by observing and reading and listening, and we process our experiences into our own world view by thinking and talking and writing about our experiences.\u003cbr\u003e The twenty-four writing assignments offered in this textbook range from simple to quite challenging. Selected assignments might be employed in composition classes ranging from junior high school through the university. This series of books might also be viewed as a framework for an English language, critical thinking and composition curriculum","brand":"Patterson Publishing Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069550379248,"sku":"2940012808615","price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012808615_p0.jpg?v=1763572866","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012808615","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}