| Home
Course Description
Academic Requirements
Textbooks
Curriculum Standards
First Semester
Second Semester
Online Testing
About the Instructor
Related Links
FAQ
Feedback
Log-In
Log-Off
Web Mail
BLVS Secure Site
BLVS Public Site
BLVS Support Staff
USD 458 Calendar
USD 458 Home
|
|
|
|
Mature Writing Activity
Understanding Mature Writing
Please use a writing sample of at least ten sentences to assess the maturity of a selected text.
1 . WPS (Words Per Sentence): The average number of words per sentence is a good indicator of maturity in writing. Please note that the words per sentence will vary with the purpose of writing. To calculate the WPS, count the number of words in the text and divide by the total number of sentences in the same body of text.
2 - 10 Elementary level writing
10 - 12 Middle School level writing
13 - 25 High School level writing
25 + College level writing
2. Frequency of Complex Sentences: Complex sentences contain an independent and dependent clause. Remember, an independent clause can stand alone as a sentence while a dependent clause cannot. Complex sentences offer more information to the reader in fewer or better words. The sentence “we went to the store. we purchased soda.” is not as informative as “we went to the store and purchased soda”.
0 - 25% - complex sentences are a rare treat for your reader.
25 - 50% - complex sentences help improve your reader’s understanding
50 - 75% - complex sentences make the reading a little more difficult for the reader
75 - 100% - complex sentences may hamper your reader’s understanding.
3 . Verb Density: Verbs are important because they drive the sentence forward with movement and action. Mature writing employs numerous verbs to assist the reader with the text. Creating longer, complex sentences affords opportunities for verb deployment. Determine the total number of verbs per sentence (vps).
1 vps - text sounds more basic, perhaps childish or metered.
2 vps - text is advanced
3 vps - text is complex, using multiple phrases and clauses
4 vps - text is highly detailed and complex, verbs used extensively
4 . Active sentences: Verbs are divided into active and passive verbs. Active verbs imply movement and action (stole, employed, living) while passive verbs imply a state of being (has, is, am). Count the ratio of active verbs to passive verbs.
1 : 2+ - sentences sound flat and stationary
1 : 1 - sentences become more active
2+ : 1 - sentences jump out at the reader
from The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,
(start selection) When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. (end selection)
Average words per sentence: 41
Frequency of complex sentences: 100%
Verb density: 5
Active verb ratio: 4.71 : 1
This writing is mature because . . . _________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________, and because ___________________________________________________________________.
Comments
|