If it was me, Mr. President, Id Get a Grammar Lesson.

If it was me, Mr. President, I’d Get a Grammar Lesson. I have been thinking for some time that I would like to write a blog on the subjunctive.   One of my blog followers, an astute man named Gabe, was kind enough to give me fodder for bringing this topic to the top of my list. For the second time in The Essay Expert’s blogging history, I turn to President Obama’s grammar bloopers.   The first was his incorrect use of “tenant” when he meant “tenet” in his speech following the Tucson shootings (The President Makes Grammatical Errors Too!). This week I’m pointing to Obama’s statement about the texting transgressions of Congressman Weiner. Obamas Grammatical Error Said the President, according to many news sources, “If it was me, I’d resign.” I won’t spend a lot of time explaining that a more proper structure of this sentence would have been, “If it were me, I’d resign.”   Put simply, this is a conditional statement, speaking about an event that is not sure to happen and that did not definitively happen.  Any time you see the word “if” in a sentence, watch out for the subjunctive.   The correct verb form is most likely “were.” A good explanation of the subjunctive can be found on EnglishClub.com. I also won’t spend a lot of time harping on the fact that the President used the incorrect form of the pronoun “me.” The truly correct phrasing would have been, “If it were I, I would resign.” Note that “I” is a subject pronoun.   But who really talks like that? Meet The Press:   To Quote or Not to Quote? What interests me most is the way the press handled the situation.   You might remember that when the President said “tenant” instead of “tenet” in his Tucson shooting speech, the transcription of his speech corrected his error.   In the Weiner situation the press went to bat for Obama again but not universally.   Ive created a snapshot of press coverage of the issue below. [Challenge to reader:   How many double entendres can you find in the body of this article? If you find one, report it in the comments!] The New York Times Michael Barbaro of The New York Times covered up (or worked around) the President’s grammatical errors as follows in his article, Obama Suggests Weiner Should Resign: President Obama told NBC News that if he were in Representative Anthony D. Weiner’s position, “I would resign,” according to a senior network executive. Fox In contrast, Fox quoted Obama word for word in their article, Obama Says He Would Resign in Weiners Position: I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign, Obama told Ann Curry in an interview scheduled to air Tuesday on NBCs Today. How many times do you think that one got tweeted? Youtube/Hollyscoop.com Hollyscoop.com, in the midst of making references to porn star names, fixed the subjunctive issue on its youtube video report, but did not touch the improper pronoun: Now the President is saying, “I can tell you that if it were me I’d resign…” Maybe these folks need a grammar lesson too. Pundit Press Pundit Press left the error waving in the wind, both in the title and body of its article: Title: PRESIDENT OBAMA: If it was me, I would resign. Body: Obama did not call for the resignation of Anthony Weiner, but did say,  I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign. CNN Finally, CNN’s article by Ashley Killough maintains picture perfect grammatical integrity in its headline, Obama On Weiner:   ‘I Would Resign’, but exposes Obama’s actual wording in the text: (CNN) President Barack Obama told NBCs Ann Curry in an interview to air on Tuesdays Today, that if he were in Rep. Anthony Weiners shoes, he would leave Congress. I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign, Obama said. Grammatically correct or not, Obama’s opinion surely had an impact.   Weiner has stepped down, probably due to the uncovering of his lies more than anything else. If you were a reporter, how would you have handled Obama’s grammatical error?   And why did Clinton survive his sex scandal, whereas Weiner was trampled?   The Christian Science Monitor has shed some light on this question in its article, Why Democrats turned on Anthony Weiner, but not Bill Clinton. I suppose we can all be comforted that no one (even The Essay Expert) will push for politicians to step down due to grammatical transgressions.

The 100 Most Common Irregular Plural Nouns in English

Most English nouns form their plural by adding either -s (books, bands, bells) or -es (boxes, bunches, batches). These plural forms are said to follow a regular pattern. Irregular Plural Nouns The Penguin Writers Manual There are no easy rules, unfortunately, for irregular plurals in English. They simply have to be learnt and remembered. Not all nouns conform to the standard pattern. In fact, some of the most common English nouns have irregular  plural forms, such as woman/women and child/children. In addition, several nouns have alternative plurals, one regular and the other irregular. In regard to these alternative forms, there are no strict rules to guide our use of them. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language People have to learn which form to use as they meet the words for the first time, and must become aware of variations in usage. When there is a choice, the classical [irregular] plural is usually the more technical, learned, or formal, as in the case of formulas vs. formulae or curriculums vs. curricula. Sometimes, alternative plurals have even developed different senses, as in the cases of (spirit) mediums vs.  (mass) media, or appendixes (in bodies or books) vs. appendices (only in books). As youll see in the list that follows, many words with irregular plurals are loanwords that have kept their foreign plural forms (or at least held on to those forms as alternatives to regular English plurals). 100 Irregular Plural Nouns List In the list below, youll find singular noun forms in the left column and the corresponding plural forms in the right column. When a noun has more than one plural form, the irregular one appears first, though that doesnt necessarily mean that the irregular form is more widely accepted than the regular form. addendum addenda or addendums aircraft aircraft alumna alumnae alumnus alumni analysis analyses antenna antennae or antennas antithesis antitheses apex apices or apexes appendix appendices or appendixes axis axes bacillus bacilli bacterium bacteria basis bases beau beaux or beaus bison bison bureau bureaux or bureaus cactus cacti or cactus or cactuses chteau chteaux or chteaus child children codex codices concerto concerti or concertos corpus corpora crisis crises criterion criteria or criterions curriculum curricula or curriculums datum data deer deer or deers diagnosis diagnoses die dice or dies dwarf dwarves or dwarfs ellipsis ellipses erratum errata faux pas faux pas fez fezzes or fezes fish fish or fishes focus foci or focuses foot feet or foot formula formulae or formulas fungus fungi or funguses genus genera or genuses goose geese graffito graffiti grouse grouse or grouses half halves hoof hooves or hoofs hypothesis hypotheses index indices or indexes larva larvae or larvas libretto libretti or librettos loaf loaves locus loci louse lice man men matrix matrices or matrixes medium media or mediums memorandum memoranda or memorandums minutia minutiae moose moose mouse mice nebula nebulae or nebulas nucleus nuclei or nucleuses oasis oases offspring offspring or offsprings opus opera or opuses ovum ova ox oxen or ox parenthesis parentheses phenomenon phenomena or phenomenons phylum phyla quiz quizzes radius radii or radiuses referendum referenda or referendums salmon salmon or salmons scarf scarves or scarfs self selves series series sheep sheep shrimp shrimp or shrimps species species stimulus stimuli stratum strata swine swine syllabus syllabi or syllabuses symposium symposia or symposiums synopsis synopses tableau tableaux or tableaus thesis theses thief thieves tooth teeth trout trout or trouts tuna tuna or tunas vertebra vertebrae or vertebras vertex vertices or vertexes vita vitae vortex vortices or vortexes wharf wharves or wharfs wife wives wolf wolves woman women Sources Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 3rd Edition, Cambridge University Press, January 24, 2019.Manser, Martin. Penguin Writers Manual. Penguin Reference Books, Stephen Curtis, Paperback, International Edition, UK ed. edition, Penguin UK, August 24, 2004.

So called soft drugs such as cannabis should be legalised. Discuss Free Essay Example, 1000 words

1). Moreover, in 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first U. S. states and political settings across the globe to legalize and regulate the consumption and selling of marijuana (Drug Policy Alliance 2014, p. 1). The legalization of marijuana will ensure that the soft drug remains illegal and the regulation of the consumption with soft penalties and reduced fines. The states and the federal government can legalize marijuana for medical or recreational purposes (Lyman 2014, p. 1). However, in the public debates addressing the legalization of this soft drug, various states like Oregon and Alaska that hold different political opinions seek to engage the media in the dissemination of sound and accurate information about the harms of criminalizing and the benefits of legalizing marijuana (Drug Policy Alliance 2014, p. 1). Subject to the significance of this debate, the federal government does not intend to interfere with the legalization of marijuana in different states despite the drug still being illegal under federal law. This leeway enables the state government to establish laws that will legalize the drug and succeed in keeping it out of the hands of minors (Messerli 2011, p. We will write a custom essay sample on So called soft drugs such as cannabis should be legalised. Discuss or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now 1). Indeed, the U. S. Justice Department asserts that such legalization should not conflict with eight federal enforcement priorities that forbid marijuana to minors and the trafficking of the drug by gangs and drug cartels (Harrah 2014, p. 1). The idea that the legalization of marijuana and other soft drugs will yield huge tax revenues is a dominant campaign message for the proponents of the legalization (Drug Rehab 2014, p. 1). In fact, the Governor of Colorado supported the legalization of marijuana in that state by claiming that he will acquire new sources of tax revenue from regulating marijuana sales (Harrah 2014, p. 1). Indeed, legalizing marijuana will help the state and the federal government to control its consumption thus creating jobs and economic opportunities in the formal economy instead of the illegal market (Drug Policy Alliance 2014, p. 1). The government will use the monies used in fighting illegal trade, punishing the offenders, and convicting offenders for enhancing public security and other basis needs like public healthcare. Furthermore, the legalization of medical marijuana can be beneficial to people suffering from various illnesses (Harrah 2014, p. 1). The illegalization of marijuana harms young people as they buy harmful marijuana from the illicit drug peddlers.

Montessori VS Gibson Education and Perception Free Essays

Maria Montessori and Eleanor Gibson are two of the primary education theorists in the last 100 years.   Both are female, which was rare in their fields at the time, and both contributed to education and learning theories in ways that are still widely used today.   However, each has a different perspective on education, and a different and unique contribution to the field of educational research. We will write a custom essay sample on Montessori VS Gibson: Education and Perception or any similar topic only for you Order Now    Overall, there are many significant similarities and differences in the educational theories created and implemented by Montessori and Gibson. Montessori was born in Italy in 1870.   She attended medical school there despite protests about her gender, and was the first woman to ever become a doctor in Italy.   After medical school, Montessori went on to work with poor children.   She noticed that many of these children could not necessarily benefit from medical care, but could benefit from educational opportunities that they did not have.   After noticing this, Montessori went on to teach children and develop a system of education that is used throughout the world today. Her early success in teaching was met with surprise, as even she had been skeptical that her methods would work.   The progress that these economically poor children showed was amazing to her, and to others who came to see what they could do.   In fact, efforts were so successful that Montessori went on to open up other ‘poor houses’ around Italy, and later, in other countries.   Towards the end of her life, she traveled around, teaching the ‘Montessori method’ to other teachers in countries throughout the world (Cossentino). Gibson was born in America in 1910.   As a child, she was discouraged from attending school because of her gender, but persevered and attended anyway.   After secondary school, she attended Yale and eventually earned a Ph.D. in developmental psychology.   Gibson then began to work with children and animals, doing experiments to see what babies knew from birth and what was learned. Her most famous experiment is the â€Å"visual cliff,† where a drop-off is set up and covered by glass.   Babies aged 6 to 14 months are placed at the edge and encouraged to crawl onto the clear glass.   However, all babies refused, suggesting that they could perceive depth from birth.   Gibson used the information she gathered from these experiments to investigate the way people learn and perceive their environment.   Gibson’s experiments are still being carried out by her students today (Gibson). Maria Montessori created a method for teaching children that today is used to educate children from birth through age 18, although it is mostly commonly used for ages three to six.   The general principle is to allow a child his freedom to work at his own pace, on the activities he chooses.   Several age-appropriate activities are possible, and the child chooses what he is interested in and investigates it thoroughly.   Children at work are never interrupted, and individual work takes precedence over group work.   Additionally, all groups are multi-age, with three ages in one group.   The most common age group is the three to six year old ages.   These groupings exist so the older children will teach the younger children, advancing both of their learning (www.montessori.edu). Gibson’s approach to education is different.   Her studies focused on perceptual development and innate knowledge in babies rather than education later in life, although her theories had implications for education later in life.   Gibson is known for starting the field of perceptual development in psychology, as little was known about it at the time.   Most doctors and psychologists assumed that to babies, the world was nothing more than a confusing buzz of sounds and sights, and that they could not make any sense of it or perceive it at all in the way of adults. These doctors assumed that babies learned to perceive as they aged and were taught about the world around them.   Gibson performed many experiments throughout her years as a researcher that disproved this view and brought about a brand-new view of perceptual development.   She wrote two books, one in 1967 on her research thus far, and one in 1991 that summed up what she had done in her lifetime (Gibson). The major difference between Montessori and Gibson is that Montessori was a doctor who specialized in teaching children based on their individual needs throughout their lives, while Gibson primarily focused on what children already knew when they were born and was not overly concerned with later life, as older children had already been studied more.   Gibson does, however, focus some on the processes of education throughout life, although primarily in what children know at birth and how this affects the way they learn later in life. They were similar, though, in their belief that children were different than others thought.   Children were not stupid, were not blank slates, and did not need help in learning everything.   Children were born with innate abilities to learn and to perceive.   Gibson and Montessori both furthered this idea through their work.   Both women also helped to show that children could work seriously, even from a young age; that their attention spans are long enough and their perceptions are good enough to learn on their own. Gibson did further experiments, mostly with infants, and often with animals, as certain types of experiments are not ethical in humans.   One significant finding was in how human children learned to read and recognize letters.   Gibson theorized that children would learn by seeking out the features that are different about the letters, or â€Å"contrastive features.†Ã‚   She came upon this theory based on experiments with animals that showed this was how they learned to recognize colors, patterns, and other objects.   It turned out that this was, indeed, how children learned, by recognizing different features in the letters to distinguish one from another (Spelke). Also, Gibson was trying to focus on the ‘mechanisms which operate in all learning (Gibson).’   Her goal was to discover, through her research on perception, how exactly humans learned, and how figuring this out could benefit them in some way.   This research was crucial later to show how much people really knew and were capable of learning at all ages. Montessori did not focus nearly as much on how children perceived, but on how they learned (which is, in general, what Montessori and Gibson have most in common).   Montessori emphasized that all children learned differently and needed an environment which nurtured this.   Children who are put in an environment and allowed to learn what they chose tended to choose to learn as much as possible.   Montessori also emphasizes creativity through learning to do a number of different things, and to learn them correctly.   For example, music lessons can be a part of Montessori if a child chooses; but the teachers encourage the students to learn to play an instrument correctly, not to use it for an unorthodox purposes, like using a violin as a hammer (www.montessori.edu). Additionally, Montessori focuses on work, rather than play in her education model.   Most preschools believe that children learn through random play, while Montessori emphasizes purposeful work even from the young ages in order to investigate and learn about the world (Cossentino 63). Both methods are based on the premise that children know more than they are given credit for.   Gibson was sure that children could understand and perceive far more than psychologists thought they could, and her experiments showed that this was true.   In fact, Gibson did experiments on animals that proved even further what the experiments with babies began to show.   Gibson took newborn kids (baby goats) and placed them on the visual cliff, and even at birth they would not go over it. She also placed kittens on the cliff once they were old enough to move and see, and they would not go over it.   Gibson reared some animals in complete darkness for awhile, and some would still not go over the cliff when they entered the light.   Kittens were an exception to this.   For a few days, they crawled across the whole surface and did not notice the cliff; after that, they, too, stopped going over the edge.   Gibson tried to place them on the cliff right away, so they would learn that crawling onto the glass was safe, but once kittens could see better, even though they knew the glass was safe from previous experience, they still would not go across it once they could see the cliff, suggesting that the perception of this drop is innate and not learned (Spelke). Innate ability is the key to Gibson and Montessori.   Both believed that children had innate ability to learn, to recognize, and to know.   Montessori built her schools on this premise.   In fact, many schools have children who are discovering and understanding subjects that adults think are far beyond their capabilities at a young age.   Elementary age students may teach themselves advanced mathematics or science concepts, ideas that are usually taught in high school.   The Montessori method encourages children to use their innate curiosity and ability to investigate to find out about their world and learn as much as they can about it (www.montessori.edu). Children are unusually intelligent and have strong capabilities.   They are not born with no knowledge, no skills, and no ability to learn.   Both Gibson and Montessori’s research showed that this is true.   Children are born knowing things, and born with a thirst to know more things.   Children learn by perceiving the world around them and continuing to try things out until they figure out how it works, and why. Montessori had an early idea about how children learned, and created a system to teach them in that natural way.   Today’s Montessori schools are all across the world, at every age group, public and private.   Montessori still means that children learn individually, even when they are in high school.   Students who study by the Montessori method tend to score above average on standardized tests (despite a complete lack of teaching to the test) and tend to get into good colleges and succeed well in life. This is because students are given the opportunity to work individually from a young age, which leads to self-motivation.   Self-motivation is the most crucial part of the theory; children will learn far more if they are doing it on their own, based on intrinsic motivation, rather than extrinsic motivation.   The Montessori method promotes this intrinsic motivation from the beginning (www.montessori.edu). Gibson’s work, which came later, explained in psychological detail what Montessori seemed to ‘innately know,’ just as her students innately knew about the world around them.   Gibson’s experiments shed light on the way children perceived their world and how much they actually knew and understood before anyone taught them. Today, many people are still a bit skeptical about the ideas put forth by these two women.   However, many of the major educational and psychological movements are based on the work that both women did in their individual fields.   Gibson’s experiments have given way to a plethora of research in cognitive and perceptual psychology, specifically aimed at trying to figure out how infants and animals really think and understand. The result of all of these years of experiments and programs it that children are better prepared to learn about their world in a way that makes sense to them.   Children are better focused, better behaved, and learn more, better, and more quickly when their natural abilities are recognized and respected.  Ã‚   Children in Montessori classrooms or those with teachers who believe in their ability to think, learn, and perceive without explicit teaching thrive better than those who have teachers who think they are merely blank slates, empty vessels waiting to be taught to look, listen, think, and perceive. The educational world has both Gibson and Montessori to thank for their new insights into teaching young children.   Both women made significant contributions to the field at a time when women were not welcomed into medical fields.   Both women had to fight for their right to an education, and both women were intelligent enough and savvy enough to get their degrees and conduct their programs despite opposition.   Without them, education would not be what it is today. Bibliography Cossentino, Jacqueline M. (2006).   â€Å"Big Work: Goodness, Vocation, and Engagement in the Montessori Method.†Ã‚   Curriculum Inquiry.   36, 1, 63 – 92. Gibson, Eleanor J. (1940). â€Å"A Systematic Application of the Concepts of Generalization and Differentiation to Verbal Learning.† Psychological Review.   47, 196 – 229. Gibson, Eleanor J. (1934). â€Å"Retention and the Interpolated Task.† American Journal of Psychology.   46, 603 – 610. â€Å"The International Montessori Index (2006).†Ã‚   Accessed December 18, 2006.   Website: www.montessori.edu.   Spelke, Elizabeth (2003).   â€Å"Gibson’s Work: An Extended Reply to Helmholtz.†Ã‚   Association for Psychological Science, 16, 4. How to cite Montessori VS Gibson: Education and Perception, Essay examples

Friday Ill Be Over U by Allison Iraheta free essay sample

If you watched American Idol Season 8 religously like me and several other did, then you have to remember 17 year old power house vocalist Allison Iraheta. As many of her fans know, Allison was signed only a few days after the finale of American Idol to Records 19. And just a few weeks ago her first single, Friday Ill Be Over U, was released for digital distribution. First of all, for all of her hard rock fans, you will probably be a little dissapointed at first hearing of this single. This is nothing like her rock filled Michael Jackson rendition of Give Into Me. No, her first single is more like her performance of Dont Speak, except add a little bit more pop to the mix. In my opinion, I personally like her more rock oriented songs, such as when she rearranged Donna Summers Hot Stuff into such a vocally mature song that fit her voice, but not her age so perfectly. We will write a custom essay sample on Friday Ill Be Over U by Allison Iraheta or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But it is also nice to see her finally acting like a real teenager and singing a real teen type of song. So with the combination some guitar riffs with a little bit of synthesizer, its has resulted in a very addictive new track. This may be the new Kelly Clarkson that American Idol producers have been hoping for. I personally am very satisfied with her new single, and am eagerly awaiting for her debut album. I think that with the style of music she is now pursuing in, she will lose a small portion of her old audience, but gain a much larger new one. Also on a side note, Allisons cd tracks are open to 30 second listening clips on iTunes now. And her song, Scars, shows a much more moody side to her album,lyrics, and overall image.

Research Paper of Gender and Identification free essay sample

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals receive unequal treatment from families and their peers. Many actions must be implemented in schools creating safer lifestyles for the minority youth and their mental health. This article covers the gender socialization of children and prospective adults, analyses adolescent sexuality amp; mental heath and looks at measures of increasing the socio-acceptance of LGBT individuals. The focus of this paper is to define how gender socialization shapes both gender and sexual identities; the consequences LGBT adolescents face in school and how we can mitigate these problems. Harold Garfinkle (1917-2011) coined the theoretical perspective of ethnomethodology based on three core assumptions. First, all people are epistemologists, people create knowledge and meaning in their everyday lives, and therefore we find subjectively in human affairs. This basically means that knowledge and meaning is derived and intuitively understood through socially constructed lessons. Second, language provides meaning to objects and social conditions; therefore discriminatory language against people is socially constructed symbols that have meaning only to the defendant. We will write a custom essay sample on Research Paper of Gender and Identification or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Lastly, objects have an indeterminate quality, because we get to determine what they’re used for. Furthermore, objects have many purposes, an individual should use that object in the means he feels most comfortable such as your mind and body. Ethnomethodology is based on the belief that you can discover the normal social order of a society by disrupting it(Garfinkel, 1967) Fixed Roles and Situated Actions by Murray Webster Jr. and Lisa Rashotte explain how two visions have shaped research and theory on gender socialization. The first vision is considered the older of the two theories describing how the family bases gender with the roles of functionality with the father being an instrumental leader(Webster, 2009). Instrumental activity entails giving orders, evaluating performance and exerting influence(Webster, 2009). On the contrary, the mother focuses on social-emotional activity; expressing feelings, nurturing, helping others manage feelings and keeping up with family traditions(Webster, 2009). Each role either instrumental or expressive roles are equally valuable and rewarded, both involving their own capabilities within the family(Webster, 2009). When socializing a child within the nuclear family using the functional role system, the offspring must learn either the instrumental or expressive role(Webster, 2009). Parents and relatives are responsible for identifying a child using gender appropriate belongings and reinforcing behaviors that conform to society’s norms(Webster, 2009). Since socialization has been practiced repetitively, roles have managed to become over-learned and individuals struggle to display the opposite of their own role(Webster, 2009). Hence, the reason for unharmonious communication styles due to the narrow scoped minds of opposite genders(Webster, 2009). If society were to change gender-role norms regarding male instrumental leading and female expressiveness, it would require the change immediately from birth and would need to involve all children to change society(Webster, 2009).

Dialogue Definition, Examples and Observations

Dialogue Definition, Examples and Observations (1) Dialogue is a verbal exchange between two or more people. (Compare with monologue.) Also spelled dialog. (2) Dialogue also refers to a  conversation reported in a drama or narrative. Adjective: dialogic. When quoting dialogue, put the words of each speaker inside quotation marks, and (as a general rule) indicate changes in speaker by starting a new paragraph. EtymologyFrom the Greek, conversation Examples and Observations Annina: Monsieur Rick, what kind of a man is Captain Renault?Rick: Oh, hes just like any other man, only more so.(Joy Page and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, 1942)How are you? I said.As you see, old Hernandez said, and he pushed his cap back on his forehead and smiled, alive.(Martha Gellhorn, The Third Winter, 1938) Eudora Welty on the Multiple Functions of Dialogue In its beginning, dialogues the easiest thing in the world to write when you have a good ear, which I think I have. But as it goes on, its the most difficult, because it has so many ways to function. Sometimes I needed a speech do three or four or five things at once- reveal what the character said but also what he thought he said, what he hid, what others were going to think he meant, and what they misunderstood, and so forth- all in his single speech. (Eudora Welty, interviewed by Linda Kuehl. The Paris Review, Fall 1972) Dialogue vs. Talk [T]he dialogue is selectivefinely polished, and arranged to convey the greatest possible amount of meaning with the least use of words. . . . [Dialogue] is not a phonographic reproduction of the way people actually talk. It’s the way they would talk if they had time to get down to it and refine what they wanted to say. (Robertson Davies, The Art of Fiction No. 107. The Paris Review, Spring 1989)Talk is repetitive, full of rambling, incomplete, or run-on sentences, and usually contains a lot of unnecessary words. Most answers contain echoes of the question. Our speech is full of such echoes. Dialogue, contrary to popular view, is not a recording of actual speech; it is a semblance of speech, an invented language of exchanges that build in tempo or content toward climaxes. Some people mistakenly believe that all a writer has to do is turn on a tape recorder to capture dialogue. What hed be capturing is the same boring speech patterns the poor court reporter has to record verbati m. Learning the new language of dialogue is as complex as learning any new language. (Sol Stein, Stein on Writing. St. Martins Griffin, 1995) Once captured, words have to be dealt with. You have to trim and straighten them to make them transliterate from the fuzziness of speech to the clarity of print. Speech and print are not the same, and a slavish presentation of recorded speech may not be as representative of a speaker as dialogue that has been trimmed and straightened. Please understand: you trim and straighten but you do not make it up. (John McPhee, Elicitation. The New Yorker, April 7, 2014) Harold Pinter on Writing Out Loud Mel Gussow: Do you read or talk your dialogue out loud when youre writing it? Harold Pinter: I never stop. If you were in my room, you would find me chattering away. . . . I always test it, yes, not necessarily at the very moment of writing but just a couple of minutes later. MG: And you laugh if its funny? HP: I laugh like hell.(Mel Gussows interview with playwright Harold Pinter, October 1989. Conversations With Pinter, by Mel Gussow. Nick Hern Books, 1994) Advice on Writing Dialogue There are a number of things that help when you sit down to write dialogue. First of all, sound your wordsread them out loud. . . . This is something you have to practice, doing it over and over and over. Then when youre out in the worldthat is, not at your deskand you hear people talking, youll find yourself editing their dialogue, playing with it, seeing in your minds eye what it would look like on the page. You listen to how people really talk, and then learn little by little to take someones five-minute speech and make it one sentence, without losing anything. (Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Random House, 1994)[A]lways get to the dialogue as soon as possible. I always feel the thing to go for is speed. Nothing puts the reader off more than a big slab of prose at the start. (P.G. Wodehouse, Paris Review Interview, 1975)Just as in fiction, in nonfiction dialogue- voices talking out loud on the page- accomplishes several important dramatic effects: It reveals personality, provides tension, moves the story along from one point to another, and breaks the monotony of the narrators voice by interjecting other voices that speak in contrasting tones, using different vocabularies and cadences. Good dialogue lends texture to a story, the sense that it is not all one slick surface. This is especially important in a blatantly first-person narrative, since it offers the reader relief from a single, narrow viewpoint. The voices in dialogue can enhance or contradict the narrators voice and contribute irony, often through humor. (Philip Gerard, Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life. Story Press, 1996) Pronunciation: DI-e-log Also Known As: dialogism, sermocinatio