Category: Glossary

Drab (Adjective)

1. Dull; boring

In “The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found” by Colson Whitehead, the word drab is used in this sentence: “The city also puts a lot of effort into making your hometown look really drab and tiny..”

Whitehead is saying that with all the tourist attractions and activities New York City has, it makes your hometown look boring.

Synonyms: lackluster, bleak, somber

Sources: Dictionary

Circumscribe (verb)

• to construct or be constructed around (a geometrical figure) so as to touch as many points as possible

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/circumscribe

In the reading, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers” (page 382-83) the author, Nancy Sommers stated: “Since they write their introductions and their thesis statements even before they really discovered what they want to say, their early close attention to the thesis statement, and more generally the linear model, function to restrict the circumscribe not only the development of their ideas but also their ability to change the direction of these ideas”.

In other words, Nancy Sommers’ point is people often expand their writing in their first paragraph without knowing what they would change afterwards. It’s basically like a linear model and a circle since both of them allow us to make changes even if they’re done incorrectly.

This is an interesting word to know because it has a lot of meanings however I think the meaning that best fits circumscribe would be the definition above.

Noun

a ruler with absolute power and authority

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/despots

In the article, “No Place for Self-Pitty, No Room for Fear” the author, Toni Morrison states, “Dictators and tyrants routinely begin their reigns and sustain their power with the deliberate and calculated destruction of art: the censorship and book-burning of unpoliced prose, the harassment and detention of painters, journalists, poets, playwrights, novelists, essayists. This is the first step of a despot whose instinctive acts of malevolence are not simply mindless or evil; they are also perceptive. Such despots know very well that their strategy of repression will allow the real tools of oppressive power to flourish.”

The author Toni Morrison used the word DESPOTS by describing how the dictators and tryants had absolute power over everyone else.

Noun

a device formerly used for publicly punishing offenders consisting of a wooden frame with holes in which the head and hands can be locked

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pilloried

In the article, “No Place for Self-Pitty, No Room for Fear, the author, Toni Morrison states, “I felt foolish the rest of the morning, especially when I recalled the artists who had done their work in gulags, prison cells, hospital beds; who did their work while hounded, exiled, reviled, pilloried. And those who were executed.”

The author, Toni Morrison used the word PILLORIED by describing how brutal the conditions were for the artist. They had to create their work through times of hardship, and she wanted other people to know that.

 

Flux (Noun)

1. A continuous moving on or passing by (as of a stream)

2. A continued flow : FLOOD

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flux

In the article, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers” the author Nancy Sommers said, “This sense, however, is constantly in flux as ideas are developed and modified.”

In this sentence, Nancy Sommers used the word “flux” to say that students are always adding, dropping, substituting and reordering ideas as they come up with new ideas. Their ideas are always flowing, changing as they add on to and edit their work.

Dissonance (Noun)

A. Lack of agreement

B. An instance of such inconsistency or disagreement

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dissonance

 

In the article, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers” the author Nancy Sommers said, “Here we can see the importance of dissonance; at the heart of revision is the process by which writers recognize and resolve the dissonance they sense in their writing.”

In this article, Nancy Sommers meant that students use revision strategies to edit and fix any work that they feel that disagrees with what they’re trying to convey in their writings. 

Rhetoric (noun)

• the art of speaking or writing effectively: such as
       a: the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times
       b: the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetoric

In the reading, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers” the author, Nancy Sommers stated: “First of all, it is based on traditional rhetorical models, models that were created to serve the spoken art of oratory. In whatever ways the parts of classical rhetoric are described, they offer “stages” of composition that are repeated in contemporary models of the writing process”.

In other words, Nancy Sommers’ point is, regarding the principles of composition there is alway arrangements and it’s often repeated several times in the writing process.

This is an interesting word because it can be difficult to understand at first.

rapturous- characterized by, feeling, or expressing great pleasure or enthusiasm.

“For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous”

Subordinate (verb)

1. to make subject or subservient
2. to treat as of less value or importance

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subordinate

In the article, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers” the author Nancy Sommers said, “In general, students will subordinate the demands of the specific problems of their text to the demands of the rules.”

Nancy Sommers meant that students give more importance to finishing their work and getting it done on time instead of revising their writings for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.