Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Toscano, Aaron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Conference Presentations
    • SEACS 2021 Presentation
  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • April 14th: Cohesive Rhythm
    • April 21st: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
    • April 7th: Rhetorical Effects of Punctuation
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • February 17th: Verb is the Word!
    • February 24th: Coordination and Subordination
      • A Practical Editing Situation
    • February 3rd: I’m in Love with the Shape of You(r Sentences)
    • Finding Dominant Rhetorical Appeals
    • January 20th: Introduction to the Course
    • January 27th: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Spring 2021)
      • Rhetoric of Fear
    • March 10th: Midterm Exam
    • March 17th: Choosing Adjectivals
    • March 24th: Choosing Nominals
    • March 31st: Stylistic Variations
    • March 3rd: Form and Function
  • ENGL 4275: Rhetoric of Technology
    • April 13th: Authorities in Science and Technology
    • April 15th: Articles on Violence in Video Games
    • April 20th: Presentations
    • April 6th: Technology in the home
    • April 8th: Writing Discussion
    • Assignments for ENGL 4275
    • February 10th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 12th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 17th: Technology and Gender
    • February 19th: Technology and Expediency
    • February 24th: Semester Review
    • February 3rd: Religion of Technology Part 1 of 3
    • February 5th: Religion of Technology Part 2 of 3
    • January 13th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 15th: Technology and Democracy
    • January 22nd: The Politics of Technology
    • January 27th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • January 29th: Technology and Postmodernism
    • January 8th: Introduction to the Course
    • March 11th: Writing and Other Fun
    • March 16th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 2
    • March 18th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 2
    • March 23rd: Inception (2010)
    • March 25th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • March 30th & April 1st: Count Zero
    • March 9th: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)
  • ENGL 4750-090 & ENGL 5050-092 Video Games & Culture
    • Assignments for Video Games & Culture
    • August 25th: Introduction to the Course
    • November 10th: Aggression & Addiction
    • November 3rd: Moral Panics and Health Risks
    • October 13th: Narrative, ludology, f(r)iction
    • October 20th: Serious Games
    • October 27: Risky Business?
    • October 6th: Hyperreality
    • September 1st: History of Video Games
    • September 22nd: Video Game Aesthetics
    • September 29th: (sub)Cultures and Video Games
    • September 8th: Defining Video Games and Critical Theory Introduction
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 13th: Umberto Eco & Jean Baudrillard
    • April 20th: Moving Forward on Theory
    • April 27th: Last Day of Class
    • April 6th: Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition
      • What is Postmodernism?
    • February 10th: St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
      • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • February 17th: Knoblauch on Magical and Ontological Rhetoric
    • February 24th: Rene Descartes’ Discourse on Method
    • February 3rd: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 and 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • January 13th: Introduction to Class
    • January 27th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Book 1
    • March 16th: Friedrich Nietzsche
    • March 23rd: Mythologies and Meaning of Meaning (part 2)
    • March 30th: Derrida’s (refusal to have) Positions
    • March 9th: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127
    • August 21st: Introduction to Class
    • August 23rd: Humanistic Approach to Science Fiction
    • August 26th: Robots and Zombies
    • August 28th: Futurism, an Introduction
    • August 30th: R. A. Lafferty “Slow Tuesday Night” (1965)
    • December 2nd: Technological Augmentation
    • December 4th: Posthumanism
    • November 11th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2)
    • November 13th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2 con’t)
    • November 18th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 1)
      • More Questions than Answers
    • November 1st: Games Reality Plays (part II)
    • November 20th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 2)
    • November 6th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 1)
    • October 14th: More Autonomous Fun
    • October 16th: Autonomous Conclusion
    • October 21st: Sci Fi in the Domestic Sphere
    • October 23rd: Social Aphasia
    • October 25th: Dust in the Wind
    • October 28th: Gender Liminality and Roles
    • October 2nd: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • October 30th: Games Reality Plays (part I)
    • October 9th: Approaching Autonomous
      • Analyzing Prose in Autonomous
    • September 11th: The Time Machine
    • September 16th: The Alien Other
    • September 18th: Post-apocalyptic Worlds
    • September 20th: Dystopian Visions
    • September 23rd: World’s Beyond
    • September 25th: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • September 30th: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • September 4th: Science Fiction and Social Breakdown
      • More on Ellison
      • More on Forster
    • September 9th: The Time Machine
  • LBST 2213/HTAS 2100: Science, Technology, and Society
    • December 10th: Violence in Video Games
    • December 15th: Video Games and Violence, a more nuanced view
    • December 1st: COVID-19 facial covering rhetoric
    • December 3rd: COVID-19 Transmission and Pandemics
    • December 8th: 500-word Essay
    • November 10th: Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end
    • November 12th: Frankenstein (1818) Preface-Ch. 8
    • November 17th: Frankenstein (1818) Ch. 9-Ch. 16
    • November 19th: Frankenstein (1818) Ch. 17-Ch. 24
    • November 3rd: Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 1-17
    • November 5th: Planet of the Apes (1964) Ch. 18-26
    • October 13th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 5 and 6
    • October 15th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • October 1st: The Golem at Large Introduction & Ch. 1
    • October 22nd: The Time Machine
    • October 29th: H.G. Wells and Adaptations
    • October 6th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology) Ch. 2
    • October 8th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 3 & 4
    • September 10th: Science and Technology, a Humanistic Approach
    • September 15th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 2
    • September 17th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 3 and 4
    • September 22nd: Collins & Pinch Ch. 5 & 6
    • September 24th: Collins & Pinch Ch. 7 & Conclusion
    • September 29th: Test 1
    • September 8th: Introduction to Class
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2021)
    • April 13th: Virtually ‘Real’ Environments
    • April 20th: Rhetoric/Composition Defines New Media
    • April 6th: Capitalist Realism
    • February 16: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 23rd: Our Public Sphere and the Media
    • February 2nd: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • January 26th: Introduction to New Media
    • Major Assignments for New Media (Spring 2021)
    • March 16th: Identity Politics
    • March 23rd: Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality
    • March 2nd: Foundational Thinkers in Cultural Studies
    • March 30th: Hyperreality
    • March 9th: Globalization & Postmodernism
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2020)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 11th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 15th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 16th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 17th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 18th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 1st: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 2nd: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 3rd: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 4th: “Burning Chrome”
    • June 8th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 9th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • May 18th: Introduction to Class
    • May 19th: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 20th: The Matrix
    • May 21st: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 25th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 26th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 27th: Hackers and Slackers
    • May 30th: Inception
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Fordism/Taylorism
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • Marxist Theory (cultural analysis)
    • Oral Presentations
    • Our Public Sphere
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • Punctuation Refresher
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 280F
Phone: 704.687.0613
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies » March 3rd: Form and Function

March 3rd: Form and Function

  • Midterm Next Week–on Canvas
  • Homework #3 due tonight at 11:00 pm–via Canvas

Plan for the Day

  • Nominalizations
  • Ch. 5: Choosing Adverbials
  • Review #1 Comments on Canvas
  • Homework #2 Review on Canvas–bottom of main page
    • Remember to follow the directions for your homework assignments
    • Exercises #11 and #12 asked you to explain the effect of your revision
    • Yes, the exercise had examples on how to describe the revision effects
  • Midterm Grades: Those of you with grades below 70% will get a Midterm grade. The grade is based on the assignments up to this point (I hope that includes Homework #3, but I have until Friday, 3/5, at Noon).

Nominalizations

Something I noticed in your reviews was the heavy use of nominalizations. That’s a fancy way of saying you’re trapping useful verbs in noun forms. We’ll discuss this at greater length later in the semester, but it will be part of your Midterm Exam next week (3/09), so I want to introduce it here. What do the following words have in common?

  • Determination
  • Confirmation
  • Speculation
  • Compliance

You’ll notice the first three word end in -tion, and you might recall (make a recollection) past professors asking you to limit shun words. Your goal is to free the trapped verbs in these nominalizations. You can revise the above nouns to be the following active verbs:

  • Determination → determine
  • Confirmation → confirm
  • Speculation → speculate
  • Compliance → comply

Often, these nominalizations come in passive voice constructions, so you have a couple strategies to employ to make your prose sing. Consider the following sentence and its revision:

  • Original: In this case a determination of your negligence has been made by us.
  • Revision: We’ve determined your negligence in this case.
  • Even better: You’re negligent.

While I have your ear, make sure you pay close attention to dangling modifiers (pp. 87-88). Although they can be punctuated correctly, they can also sound illogical. For instance, the following sentence is a contemporary example:

  • While streaming Netflix, my cat hopped into my lap.

It may be possible for your cat to stream Netflix; after all, what creature “chills” more than a cat. You’ll want to revise to have you as the subject of the adverbial clause (or the person actually streaming Netflix):

  • While I was streaming Netflix, my cat hopped into my lap.

Notice that in the above revision ‘I’ is the subject of the adverbial clause and NOT the sentence. “Cat” is the subject of the sentence. If this is confusing, you need to re-read Ch. 2 before next week’s Midterm Exam.

Independent Clauses

In Ch. 4, p. 56, Kolln & Gray defined independent clauses. Independent clauses may be stand-alone sentences with the following:

  • Subject
  • Verb
  • Complete thought

On the next page, Kolln & Gray state, “Use a comma before the coordinating conjunction joining the two independent clauses of a compound sentence.” (p. 57). You don’t use commas before the FANBOYS (for, or, nor, but, or, yet, so) unless they’re joining independent clauses. Make sure you understand why the following sentences are punctuated correctly:

  • The kids played outdoors all morning but stayed inside all afternoon.
  • The kids played outdoors all morning, but they stayed inside all afternoon.

In the second sentence, “they” is the subject of the second independent clause, so it needs a comma before “but.” If it helps, separate the subjects of the independent clauses in your head. Below “kids” and “they” are the subjects:

  • The kids played outdoors all morning, but they stayed inside all afternoon.

Commas with coordinating conjunctions will be important for the rest of the semester. Yes, this will be on both the Midterm the Final Exams.

Ch. 5: Choosing Adverbials

Adverbs modify verbs, and adverbials modify the functions of adverbs and other words. They often answer when, where, how (frequency and manner), and why. As with adverbs, adverbials are the most movable words, phrases, and clauses in sentences. While it’s important to know how to properly punctuate these clauses, it’s more important to understand how placement creates a rhetorical effect.

Time to re-read Ch. 5 in Kolln & Gray. Don’t worry; I’ll wait.

Adverb Phrases (AdvP)

Don’t be fooled by the word “phrases” when talking about parts of speech or parts of sentences; a single word can be a “phrase.” Using the following adjectives, create logical adverbs for the following sentences:

Adjectives: serious, skillful, slow, lucky, drastic

  • The Italian quiz caused me pain.
    • The Italian quiz seriously caused me pain.
  • My trip to Las Vegas was a winner!
    • Luckily, my trip to Las Vegas was a winner!
    • Full disclosure: My last trip to Vegas was NOT a lucky trip.
  • My boss is making changes.
    • My boss is drastically making changes.
  • My cat navigates my counters, dressers, and dining room table.
    • My cat skillfully navigates my counters, dressers, and tables.
  • People from South Carolina drive.
    • People from South Carolina drive slowly.

Prepositional Phrases

I’m confident that you can easily identify prepositional phrases, but, after reading your Reviews, I’m not sure I’m confident that you wisely place prepositional phrases. On p. 79, Kolln & Gray mention they may be used to show possession (which is the way other languages—French, Italian, and Spanish—show possession). Read the following and explain why one is preferred over the other or whether it matters.

  • Shakespeare’s plays garnered the crowd’s laughter opening night.
  • On opening night, the plays of Shakespeare garnered laughter from the crowd.

Don’t try to eliminate ALL preposition phrases (as the first example does), but use them strategically. For instance, notice where the stress is on certain words when you consider end focus (p. 80).

Verb Phrases*

Verb or verbal phrases are quite common when giving advice, explaining habitually actions, and providing context for why something was done. (this isn’t in Kolln & Gray’s book, but I think it helps understand why we often use them). For instance,

  • Jack got up early that morning to work on his project.
    {Jack did something to do something.}
  • Jack gets up early in the morning to work out.
    {Jack routinely does this particular activity.}
  • To train for a marathon, Jacks needs a morning workout ritual/program.
    {Jack’s advice to himself.}

Notice where to place commas in these infinitive phrases (p. 81).

  • to work
  • to work out*
  • to train

*Notice I selected to work out. In this instance, “work out” is the entire verb, and “out” is actually a verb particle–not a preposition. Technically, “to” is also a verb particle because it’s the infinitive particle and not a preposition. Remember, a word can be a variety of parts of speech. Use context clues to determine what’s what.

Dependent Clauses

Dependent clauses cannot stand alone as complete sentences. Often, writers punctuate dependent clauses with periods (.) because they see a subject and verb, but they forget a sentence needs a complete thought. When I see this in your work, I will often write “not a sentence.” I like that Kolln & Gray dispel the myth that you can’t start a sentence with “because,” and they even point out teachers took the easy way out by just banning its use as an opener instead of explaining it further (p. 86). Remember, coordinating conjunctions combine independent clauses, creating compound sentences. Subordinating clauses add more information to independent clauses, creating complex sentences. This often helps vary your prose, moving from choppy, short sentences to rhythmic, longer sentences.

Of course, intentional fragments can be effective. Sparingly.

Ch. 5 Exercises

Homework #3 is to do the exercises (#17, #18, and #19) from Ch. 5 in Kolln & Gray. These exercises reinforce what you’re reading. Below I have an example related to Exercise #17 (pp. 83-84):

  • When a party ends, what do you do?
    {go home, go to another’s home, find an after hours place, go to jail, etc.}
  • Revision: After the party ended at midnight, we went to Waffle House.

Preview Midterm

You need to make sure you can identify the following in a sentence: Nouns, Verbs, Determiners, Adjectives, Adverbs, Subjects, Agents, Direct Objects, and Indirect Objects. You will also need to know how to punctuate compound and complex sentences with subordinating clauses. Also, you’ll still need to independent clauses using a conjunctive adverbs (p. 58):

  • The union and management could not come to an agreement before the deadline. They will meet again in the morning.
  • Revision: The union and management could not come to an agreement before the deadline; however, they will meet again in the morning.

You don’t have to identify sentence patterns on the Midterm Exam, but p. 24 helps reinforce your understanding of Direct and Indirect Objects.

Finally, make sure you know how to revise sentences for concision, including in the following ways:

  • revise passive to active voice
  • make series parallel
  • limit to be verbs
  • free verbs trapped in nominalizations
  • get to the point.

Return Review #1

I finished commenting on all of your Review #1 assignments. It has no grade because it is a an assignment you’ll revise for your final portfolio. Everyone has revision to do, so don’t let the amount of commenting scare you (too much). Re-read the assignment guidelines. Also, and this is VERY important, please notice that I offer summative comments AND comments in annotations. In order to read all my comments, you might have to scroll right on your Canvas submission. If you don’t see my overall comments AND the annotations, you’re missing my entire feedback.

Please follow my suggests closely. Although you don’t have to incorporate everything, you’ll need to explain why you made the choices you did in your Final Portfolio’s reflective letter.

Next Class

Midterm Exam next week! Everything is fair game. If you email me and ask “what to study,” I’ll assume you haven’t been reading these weekly activity pages.

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