24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
A Sequence of Words
Building great sentences depends on more than just stringing words together. This lecture explores the definition of a sentence and introduces several assumptions on which the course rests, such as that a greater control of syntax is one of the most direct routes to improving writing.
1.
A Sequence of Words
|
13.
The Riddle of Prose Rhythm
Follow along with scholars and critics as they try to study, measure, and explain the mystery of prose rhythm. Learn to better recognize the distinctive rhythms that characterize your sentences by imagining their modifying levels as long or short bits of Morse code.
13.
The Riddle of Prose Rhythm
|
2.
Grammar and Rhetoric
Examine some of the key terminology used throughout the course and focus on learning how sentences work (their rhetoric) instead of merely labeling their constituent parts (their grammar).
2.
Grammar and Rhetoric
|
14.
Cumulative Syntax to Create Suspense
Learn to start thinking about sentences as not just "loose" or "periodic" but as possessing degrees of suspense. Base clauses in a cumulative sentence can be moved about or split to increase or decrease the reader's suspense about how the sentence will end.
14.
Cumulative Syntax to Create Suspense
|
3.
Propositions and Meaning
A sentence may contain more propositions than are visible in the grammar and syntax of its surface language. Discover how the facts, ideas, and feelings in a sentence lie beneath its words and organization.
3.
Propositions and Meaning
|
15.
Degrees of Suspensiveness
In this lecture, you unpack the periodic/suspensive sentence, which suggests a greater degree of control over its material and, when used effectively, can generate interest by combining complex concepts with syntactical suspense.
15.
Degrees of Suspensiveness
|
4.
How Sentences Grow
Adding propositional content to a kernel sentence ("They slept.") moves sentences forward and enriches their meaning. Here are three types of strategies that give sentences more momentum and depth: the connective, the subordinative, and the adjectival.
4.
How Sentences Grow
|
16.
The Mechanics of Delay
Look closely at four broad tactics to delay completing the base clause, two of which involve the manipulation of modifiers and two of which use initial clauses or phrases as either extended subjects or as modifiers. You also consider a possible fifth tactic that involves using a colon or semicolon.
16.
The Mechanics of Delay
|
5.
Adjectival Steps
Professor Landon makes the case for using adjectival strategies to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your sentences. Boiling down subordinate clauses to single modifying words allows you to pack more information into each sentence.
5.
Adjectival Steps
|
17.
Prefab Patterns for Suspense
Another option for adding suspense to sentences is starting them with certain prompts such as "if" or "since." This lecture illustrates the uses of these and other prompts and considers some reasons for making suspense a critical part of your prose style.
17.
Prefab Patterns for Suspense
|
6.
The Rhythm of Cumulative Syntax
Cumulative sentences lend themselves to writing moves that almost guarantee more effective sentences. Learn how these easy-to-write sentences take you through increasingly specific sentence levels and how they clarify and embellish preceding phrases.
6.
The Rhythm of Cumulative Syntax
|
18.
Balanced Sentences and Balanced Forms
Perhaps the most intense form of the periodic/suspensive sentence is the balanced sentence. Professor Landon points out that balanced sentences, in drawing their strength from the tension between variation and repetition, offer an advantage to writers comparing two subjects.
18.
Balanced Sentences and Balanced Forms
|
7.
Direction of Modification
Cumulative sentences also employ modifying words and phrases before, between, or at the end of base clauses. Investigate the benefits and potential risks of each of these placement options on the meaning of your sentences.
7.
Direction of Modification
|
19.
The Rhythm of Twos
Binary oppositions in balanced sentences lend confidence and conclusiveness to writing. With its mirroring effect, the duple (double-beat) rhythm gives balanced sentences the power to stay lodged in your mind.
19.
The Rhythm of Twos
|
8.
Coordinate, Subordinate, and Mixed Patterns
With your newfound understanding of the relationship between base clauses and modifying phrases, you examine the three major patterns of cumulative sentences and their effect on the base clause: coordinate (refining information), subordinate (providing new information), and mixed (combining the previous two patterns).
8.
Coordinate, Subordinate, and Mixed Patterns
|
20.
The Rhythm of Threes
Three-part series bring an extended balance to sentences through the buildup of elements in threes. Delve into the unity, progression, and intensification at the heart of this syntactical form.
20.
The Rhythm of Threes
|
9.
Coordinate Cumulative Sentences
This lecture elaborates on coordinate cumulative patterns, which pile up modifying phrases that point back to the base clause. It also emphasizes the importance of listening to how your sentences read as a means of tightening up their logic.
9.
Coordinate Cumulative Sentences
|
21.
Balanced Series and Serial Balances
Sentence balance is an extension of the organizational constructs of human consciousness. Explore the prevalence of balanced rhythm in our speech and writing and look at numerous examples of sentence balance.
21.
Balanced Series and Serial Balances
|
10.
Subordinate and Mixed Cumulatives
Continuing the discussion of various cumulative sentence patterns, Professor Landon zeroes in on subordinate and mixed patterns, which offer more variety to sentences by adding specificity or tapping into the strengths of both coordinate and subordinate patterns.
10.
Subordinate and Mixed Cumulatives
|
22.
Master Sentences
The opposite of the minimal base clause is the master sentence: a very long sentence that can function in remarkably original and controlled ways. While no formula can anticipate the context and purpose of master sentences, you can construct effective ones by combining a number of the strategies from earlier lectures.
22.
Master Sentences
|
11.
Prompts of Comparison
Prompts like "as if," "as though," and "like" can prompt writers to look for metaphors, similes, or speculative phrases that add information, clarification, and imaginative appeal to sentences. Learn how writers forge emotional links with their readers by incorporating figurative language into their writing.
11.
Prompts of Comparison
|
23.
Sentences in Sequence
Move beyond the sentence and on to the impact of several sentences in sequence and see new possibilities of resonance and relationship among their rhythms and structures.
23.
Sentences in Sequence
|
12.
Prompts of Explanation
Prompts can also speculate about the unknown. Examine three major prompts—"because," "perhaps," and "possibly"—to use in your sentences, so you can reveal more of your thinking and strengthen the connection between you and your readers.
12.
Prompts of Explanation
|
24.
Sentences and Prose Style
How do our sentences fit into prose style? In exploring critical approaches to this issue, Professor Landon emphasizes that prose style can be seen as both a problem and a gift passed on from writer to writer.
24.
Sentences and Prose Style
|
24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
How to Write about Anything
What makes a particular piece of writing "good"? As you explore Professor Armstrong's roadmap for the course, examine how a range of writing samples—including an essay by Virginia Woolf, poetry by Homer, and even a short note from a teenage girl to her mother—demonstrate essential aspects of effective writing.
1.
How to Write about Anything
|
13.
What You Can Learn from Autobiography
Analyze excerpts from Benjamin Franklin's autobiography for strategies to use when you are called to write about yourself. These include confining personal information to the areas of your interests, abilities, and achievements; striking a balance between self-promotion and association with others; and presenting your failures as a part of your personal development.
13.
What You Can Learn from Autobiography
|
2.
How to Be an Effective Reader
Active, insightful reading skills are essential to any writer's success. View the craft of writing from the reader's perspective and train yourself to recognize nuanced moments and ideas in literary texts, including Moby-Dick and Le Morte Darthur, as well as the subtleties hidden within a practical set of driving directions.
2.
How to Be an Effective Reader
|
14.
Writing and Leadership
Autobiographies are rich sources of knowledge for understanding how leadership styles and skills are developed and honed. Explore the crucial link between autobiographical writing and leadership with the aid of both Franklin and Frederick Douglass. Also, look closely at the potential benefits of using selective emotional expression in your autobiographical writing.
14.
Writing and Leadership
|
3.
How Literature Can Help
Investigate the dominant characteristics and conventions of five major genres of literature: prose, poetry, drama, essay, and autobiography. Then discover how, when used properly and with restraint, the distinct approaches of these genres can offer you a strong foundation and helpful inspiration for all sorts of writing projects.
3.
How Literature Can Help
|
15.
The Rules of Rhetoric
In the first of three lectures on using classical rhetoric to fashion your identity as a writer, investigate four widely used rhetorical concepts. These include commonplaces (pieces of truth wrapped in easily recognizable language), stasis (the general agreement between opposing parties about the terms of the argument), and deductive reasoning.
15.
The Rules of Rhetoric
|
4.
Shaping Your Voice
Focus now on prose—the most common form of writing people engage with. Why is a writer's voice such an important part of his or her work? How can you create a distinctive voice? What can authors like Hemingway, James, and Salinger teach you about the varieties of narrative styles?
4.
Shaping Your Voice
|
16.
Invention and Arrangement
Turn to two broader areas of classical rhetoric: invention and arrangement. Invention refers to the process by which you generate your arguments. Arrangement refers to the way your argument is organized. Both, as you'll learn, center on seizing opportunities to write the right thing, in the right way, at the right time.
16.
Invention and Arrangement
|
5.
Knowing Your Reader
A common danger for a writer is not respecting your audience. Learn how to avoid this pitfall by deducing the intended audience for Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," and by closely reading student essays that miss, misjudge, or offend their intended readers.
5.
Knowing Your Reader
|
17.
Ethos and Pathos
Finish building your rhetorical tool kit by looking at ethos (the perception readers have of your reliability) and pathos (the feelings of emotion you inspire in your readers). Using literary and everyday examples, Professor Armstrong demonstrates how the best persuasive writing—whether it's a speech or a job application—strikes a balance between the two.
17.
Ethos and Pathos
|
6.
The Art of the Essay—How to Start
Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" are two of the most famous argumentative essays in the Western literary tradition. Using their opening passages, examine why it's so important that your opening argument be specific, be substantive, and pass what Professor Armstrong calls the "What?/So What?" test.
6.
The Art of the Essay—How to Start
|
18.
Finding What You Need
One practical concern of writing is research. Where do you begin? How do you build an effective research schedule? What are some clues that online sources are reliable? And at what point should you stop researching and start writing? Learn the answers to these and other questions in this lecture.
18.
Finding What You Need
|
7.
How to Organize an Argument
Continue unpacking "A Modest Proposal" and "Civil Disobedience" (along with Paine's "Common Sense")—this time to learn how to write an organized and effective argument. Once you've mastered this skill, you'll be able to more effectively guide your readers, as well as avoid structural flaws that may distort your goals.
7.
How to Organize an Argument
|
19.
Using What You Find
Now that you've learned how to find information, figure out the best ways to use it. Some of the tips and techniques you explore here include how to take effective notes, how to build your research on the work of others, and even what to do when you uncover scholarship that counters your argument.
19.
Using What You Find
|
8.
Supporting Your Argument
To write persuasively, you have to effectively explain your supporting evidence. Three skills you focus on in this lecture: explaining how a piece of evidence works in your favor; providing a direct connection between your evidence and your conclusion; and acknowledging the arguments of others to strengthen your own.
8.
Supporting Your Argument
|
20.
Getting Started—Writing First Drafts
You've got your topic. You've done the research. Now it's time for your first draft. Do you write for a time limit? Do you just throw out all your ideas onto the page and return later? Do you get a writing partner? Find out which of these and other methods work for you.
20.
Getting Started—Writing First Drafts
|
9.
Finishing Strong
Enhance the way you finish essays with three key strategies. A "negative consequences" conclusion underscores the negative things that can happen if readers fail to support your argument. A "no viable alternatives" strategy suggests that alternatives to your proposal aren't likely to work. And the "positive consequences" strategy emphasizes new possibilities.
9.
Finishing Strong
|
21.
Editing—Finding What's Wrong
Editing what you've written is just as important, if not more so, than actually writing it. In fact, this stage of the writing process can make the difference between a piece of writing that's just okay and one that's great. Here, consider two major approaches to editing: the line-by-line approach and the holistic approach.
21.
Editing—Finding What's Wrong
|
10.
The Uses of Poetry
How can poetry help you write better, even when you're not writing poems? Here, Professor Armstrong uses poems to show that how you arrange your words can have as much of an impact as what they say. Also, delve deeper into the importance of tone and poetic devices like metaphors and similes.
10.
The Uses of Poetry
|
22.
Rewriting—Fixing What's Wrong
Learn how rewriting can dramatically reshape and strengthen your work as Professor Armstrong takes you on a paragraph-by-paragraph revision of a short essay. Then, finish the lecture with vital tips to keep in mind when rewriting your work, such as clearly stating your thesis and always spelling out points.
22.
Rewriting—Fixing What's Wrong
|
11.
Poetic Diction and Syntax
Continue your exploration of poetry and the ways it can enliven and strengthen writing. With the aid of poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins, Lewis Carroll, and e. e. cummings, grasp how specific words (with their literal and associated meanings) can make your writing more engaging—especially when they are used in an unconventional order.
11.
Poetic Diction and Syntax
|
23.
Avoiding Common Errors in Grammar and Usage
Subject-pronoun disagreement. Misused apostrophes and commas. Dangling modifiers. Commonly misspelled words. Finally learn how to avoid these and other frequently made errors in grammar and usage. Any successful writing should be attentive to these errors—no matter what you're writing or whom you're writing to.
23.
Avoiding Common Errors in Grammar and Usage
|
12.
Drama—Writing Out Loud
With Shakespeare's help, discover how to tap into drama's potential to transform you into a stronger, more confident "out loud" writer. Approaching your writing as something to be read out loud can, unlike other literary genres, clue you in to awkward turns of phrase, extremely long sentences, and other potential writing pitfalls.
12.
Drama—Writing Out Loud
|
24.
The Power of Words
In this inspirational final lecture, sample three particularly fine and engaging examples of writing—Thoreau's Walden, Shakespeare's sonnet number 130, and an obituary in The Economist—that bring home some of the many invaluable lessons, strategies, ideas, and advice you've learned and which ones you can use any time you write.
24.
The Power of Words
|