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Purdue OWL News for June 15, 2004
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The Purdue OWL Staff
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Jun 15, 2004 13:17 PDT
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The Purdue OWL News
June 15, 2004
Welcome to the Purdue OWL News!
The Purdue OWL News is an online newsletter about happenings in the
Purdue University Writing Lab and the Purdue University Online Writing
Lab (OWL). You can visit our website at
<http://owl.english.purdue.edu>. To subscribe to the newsletter, visit
<http://www.topica.com/lists/purdueowlnews/subscribe/>. To unsubscribe
from the newsletter, click on the link at the bottom of this email.
**During the Summer Session at Purdue (through August), we'll be sending
out the OWL News every two weeks.
Writing Question of the Week
When is it appropriate to use contractions ? Is it correct to use
contractions in cover letters or business correspondance ?
Answer
As with so many issues in English punctuation, there is no set standard
for the use of contractions. Traditionally, contractions were barred
from formal writing on the grounds that contractions indicated a lack of
formality. While in certain cases this might still be true, particuarly
in business writing (e.g., "Here's my application for the position
in..." is a little too casual for many tastes), the use of contractions
is sometimes dictated by what would otherwise appear as stilted language
and over-formality. For example, "Wouldn't we be better off pursuing a
different course of action" exhibits none of the more stilted "Would we
not be better off...". Bottom line: use contractions judiciously, at
moments when they serve to keep your thoughts moving ahead yet don't
call attention to themselves the way "here's" does.--KS
The OWL Help Nest
Each week we'll publish a request for advice or information. If you wish
to contribute a response to the topic, please write to us at
owln-@owl.english.purdue.edu. Please let us know if you want us to
include your name and/or your email address when we publish your
response. The following week, we'll publish the best information and
advice that we receive in the newsletter. If you have a question for our
readers, please send it to us at owln-@owl.english.purdue.edu.
Last Week's Question
What is the difference between "any" and "some"? I need to teach E S L
and my students want to know.
Answer:
Generally speaking, "some" is used in affirmative statements and polite
offers or requests when "yes"is expected as an answer, for example:
There is still some work to be done.
Some time ago I met an old friend of mine.
Would you like some more tea?
Could I have some more sugar?
"Any," on the other hand, is used in questions and negations, for
example:
Are there any further questions?
There isn’t any bread left.
Furthermore, "any" is used in conditional clauses (if-sentences) and
positive statements implying "whatever"/"whoever", for example:
If you need any help, tell me.
Which bus shall I take to the center?
Take any bus, they all go to the center.
Any witness to the accident is requested to contact the police.
--Angelika Weichhart
Next Week's Questions
What is the rule for using a dash or to hyphenate words, as in
"sixth-sense"? How do you know when this is proper?
I keep hearing that it is no longer necessary to have two spaces after a
sentence-ending period. I was repeatedly taught in elementary school
that two spaces are required, so single spaces look incorrect to me. Of
course, when people put one space after one sentence and two spaces
after the next, that's clearly wrong; beyond simple misuse, though, is
there truly a stylistic preference? Two spaces just look better to me:
they more clearly define the structure of a paragraph, and often
eliminate confusion when a sentence ends with something like "etc.".
What's Happening on OWL
OWL Eye on...What Are Your OWL Dreams?
This summer marks the beginning of work to transform Purdue's OWL from a
massive collection of HTML pages into a streamlined database that will
deliver content dynamically to the Web. As we make plans for this
transition, we'd like to hear from you as to what you'd like to see on
Purdue OWL in the future. Please email Karl Stolley, OWL
Coordinator/soon-to-be OWL Webmaster at ka-@owl.english.purdue.edu with
your wildest dreams and suggestions.
What's Happening in the Writing Lab
OWL Eye on...Summer Schedule
The Writing Lab will continue to offer services for students and
teachers in Summer Session courses. One-on-one tutorials, in-lab and
in-class workshops, lab tours, conversation groups, and Writing Lab
resources will all be available every weekday from June 14 through
August 6, except for July 5.
Summer Session 2004 Writing Lab Hours:
Tutoring Hours: M-Th 9-4; F 9-1
ESL Conversation Groups: M & Tu 3-4; W & Th 11-12.
OWL Eye on....Summer Session In-Lab Workshops
Tues. June 15: The Writing Process
Tues. June 22: Resumes & Cover Letters
Tues. June 29: MLA
Tues. July 6: APA
Tues. July 13: PowerPoint
Tues. July 20: Writing for an American Academic Audience
Tues. July 27: Sentence Clarity & Combining
Tues. August 3: MLA
Final Thoughts
Thanks for reading our newsletter. You can email us at any time at
owln-@owl.english.purdue.edu. You can also email the OWL coordinator,
Karl Stolley, at coordi-@owl.english.purdue.edu and the webmaster,
Erin Karper, at webma-@owl.english.purdue.edu. (Erin and Karl take
turns writing the newsletter.)
If you received this newsletter as a forward and would like to get your
own subscription, visit
http://www.topica.com/lists/purdueowlnews/subscribe/ to subscribe.
This newsletter is copyright (C) 2004 the Purdue University Writing Lab
and Purdue University. Purdue's OWL is located at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu.
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