process writing 2

might rebel against such high-handed and unreasonableprocedures.But even when they do not rebel,we shall have lost them so far as effective teaching is concerned,if indeedwe have not stifled onceandforall theirpropensityforeffec- tive communicationin writing. We have all had the experience of being introduced to people as English teachers,and we know the inevitablere- sponse:"Oh-oh,now I'll have to watch my language."It seemsto be comparable to the feeling that even the most law- abidingcitizenshavewhensuddenlycon- frontedwith a policeman. In matters of grammar,spelling,and punctuation usage,which we may call "mechanics,"the police-forceconceptof usage still prevailsin the minds of most laymen,if not in ourown.Yet nothingis moreblightingto naturaland functional writtencommunicationthananexcessive zeal for purity of usage in mechanics. Here especially the overriding impor- tance of purposeand the concept of ap- propriatenessare easily forgotten.Noth- ing is more stultifying than the endless debatesabout"correct"usage,unless it be an authoritarianrefusaleven to argue the point.And nothing is less likely to enlist student interest and motivate ef- fective writingthan unduestress on me- chanicswithout regardto the communi- cationprocessas a whole.Whenthe con- cept of appropriatenessis used,questions of usage in grammar,punctuation,and even spelling are likely to seem more meaningful and less arbitrary,though perhapsthey can never be anythingbut difficultand confusingto manystudents. Showingthat usage matters are sub- servient to purpose can help to remove oneapparentinconsistency-the discour- aging in the classroomof certain usages which can be found abundantlyin pub- lished writing,particularly modern fic-


tion.Any sharp-eyedstudent is likely to observe that professionalwriters do not followthe"rules."It is easy to showhim that in modernfiction,especiallyin dia- logue and stream-of-consciousneswsrit- ing,the use of colloquialismsandvulgar- isms may be completely appropriateto certainpurposes-the realisticreporting of speechpatterns,the revelationof men- tal or emotionalstress by the use of el- liptical construction,the representation of levels of cultureby levels of usage,etc. It is alsoeasy to showthat suchpractices are not appropriateto the purposesin- volved in a report,a businessletter,oran informalessay.This makessenseto most students,whereasan appealto the whims of the handbook-makersdoesnot.Much knowledgeof currentusage is necessary forwise use of this technique,but the re- wards in improvedmotivation and mo- rale are well worth the addeddifficulties involved in cutting loose from the rule book and the easy formulas. I have left until last the question of "subjects"for student writing,in order to stress the point that even this solid- seemingfactoris subservientto purpose. To graspthis fact is the beginningof wis- dom in thinking about the communica- tionprocess.Andthe failureto graspthis fact is at the heart of most of the in- effectiveteachingof writing. When we stop to think about it,we shall see that the subject of a communi- cation is often secondaryto its purpose. The familiarquestion,"Howdoyou do?" and its answer,"Fine"or"Okay,"illus- trate this readily.The purpose-to greet someoneorto respondto that greeting- is the importantthing;what is said,the subjectorcontentof the communication, is not.The questiondoes not really seek information;the answerdoes not really supply it;and nobody in his right mind expectsthem to.Orimaginethat you are  .
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in the waiting-roomof the dentist's office and you wish to strikeup a conversation with a fellow-sufferer.The weather or baseballor the latest headlinesserve as good conversation-starters,though nei- ther of you may be particularly inter- ested in the subjectsthemselves.In con- versations at a cocktail party or dinner or amongfriendsin the evening,it is not the subjectsthat are important-no one knows in advance what they will be or remembers long afterward what they were.The purpose-friendship,a chance for everyone to show off conversation- ally,relaxation-these are all important. The other day I was asked to give a talk for a woman's club.Since I was asked six months ahead,I could hardly plead a pressing engagement,but I did ask what they wantedme to talk about. The woman who had called me said, "Oh,they don't care much about that, but they do like to be entertained."For whateverreasons,lecturesand talks are alwaysbeinggiven,and oftenthe subject is relatively inconsequential.And is this not often true also of novels,plays,po- ems,and even autobiographies? I would not push this too far.Often the subject is all-important,and some- timesit is"given,"as when a teacheras- signs the subjectfor a theme or the boss asks for a reporton a given operationor an experton Sumerianculturepublishes a book on Sumerianculture.Yet even here the question of purpose is not evaded.Given a particular subject,or having chosen it,what controllingpur- pose will governthe treatmentof it?We have only to think of the differentways of treating any subject exemplifiedby a dictionary,an encyclopedia,a traveling lecturer,a poet,orHollywoodto see how greatly the finalproductsare affectedby differentpurposes.It is not too much to say that a subject without a purpose is