Language Use - Discussion

Writing is a rigorous activity. No matter how good and substantial the content of a document is, if it’s not carefully written as to how you,
as the writer, would like to present it to your readers, your purpose will not be served wisely. Hence, you have to bear in mind that aside
from considering the organization of your ideas and the coherence and cohesion of your sentences and paragraphs, you also have to regard
the style, tone and clarity of your writing. On this note, you are responsible to choose the appropriate language to be used and to regard
the objective of the writing, the context in which it was written and the target audience in mind.
There are five major issues with appropriate language that should be avoided in an effective and well-written text, as identified by (Purdue
Online Writing Lab 2020):
First, the formality of the language one uses should depend on how formal the situation is and how the writer and the reader are related
to one another.
Second, jargons or specialized language used by groups of individuals in the same field, should only be used if the target readers belong
to the same group.
Third, slangs and idioms should be avoided. Slangs are words, phrases, or expressions that do not literally mean what they express (like
“frenemy” to describe someone who is both a friend and an enemy) while idioms or expressions whose meaning is different from the
meanings of the individual word it contains (like “to kill two birds at one stone”, which means to get two things done with a single action.
Fourth, euphemisms or words that veil the truth shall also be avoided. Examples of which are “virtually challenged” for someone who
is short; “passed away” instead of died, and other deceitful language.
Fifth, avoid using any biased language including those associated with any racial, ethnic, group, or gender.

Hence, an effective language can be characterized as:

 Concrete and specific, not vague and abstract
 Concise, not verbose
 Precise and clear, not obscure
 Constructive, not destructive
 Appropriately formal, not slang

Mechanics
Activity. Read the letter below. Identify all errors by placing the correct capitalization and punctuations, correcting misspelled words, and
writing the sentences in paragraph form.
Generally, mechanics is essential in all types of writing because it describes the technical aspects of writing. It also serves as a road sign
to guide learners like you on how to use words appropriately in terms of conventions such as spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and
others.

Consider this example:

It is apparent that the above example is quite difficult to read because of the lack of two important conventions: punctuations and
capitalization. In addition, you cannot easily understand the message it sends across its readers. If we put appropriate punctuations, it
could be read in this way:

The second paragraph is easier to read and understand. Through applying proper mechanics in writing, you can facilitate better transfer of
message in your written text. You will never be lost as long as you keep in mind and follow the basic rules of subject-verb agreement,
capitalization, punctuations, paragraphing, and even spelling.