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MatthewElgin JohnKubler English114A 18September2013 WhoSaysWhat? ThebookTheySayISaywithReadingsgivesthereaderasenseonhowtoapproachan argumentinwhichyouaredebatingtwodifferentopinionstogetbothsidesonthetopic.Inthe introduction,theauthorwantsthereadertogetajistofwhatoneselfcansaywhentheyaregoingto showtwodifferentsidesofaspecificargumentoneismakingandhowtospecifywhattheauthors personalopinionandtonetothesubjectis. Readersandwritersbothneedsomethingtohelpthemstartanargumentthatcanbeopposed bybothsides.Writersespeciallyshouldfollowthesinglemostimportanttemplateisthetheysay __Isay__formula(Graff,pg.3).Writersshouldfollowthatformula,becausenotonlyisthatthe titleofthebook,hencewhyitstitledTheySayISay,buttogetasmoothtransitiononwhatyouand othersaretryingtosay.Withthatbeingsaid,writersshouldalsofocusonthatformulabecauseitgives thewriterorreaderachancetoeitheragreetoanopinionortodisagree.Agreeinganddisagreeing allowsyoutoavoidasimpleyesornoresponseandpresentamorecomplicatedargument(Graff, pg.9).Havingagoodargumentwithnumerousagreesanddisagreesiswhatmakesagooddiscussion becausetheycanhelpusseebeyondourownpetbeliefs,whichmaynotbesharedbyeveryone. (Graff,pg.14).Hearingotherpeoplesviewpointsoncertaintopicsespeciallyinargumentswherethere areopposingsides,canactuallymakeyoulearnwhatotherpeoplesviewpointsatthesituation,andcan possiblyrelatetowhatyousaidinadifferentcontext.

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Inchapter12,theauthorteachesustoimplywhattheauthorspersonalstand/argumentistoa certaintext.Onpage147,Graffstates,trickinreadingistofigureoutwhatviewstheauthoris respondingtoandwhattheauthorsownargumentis(Graff,pg147).Determiningwhattheauthoris respondingtomaybeverycomplextounderstand,butitseasiertotakeafewstepstotryandfigureit out.Youshouldfirstdeterminethetheysayandthenyoushouldfindhowtheauthorrespondsto it(Graff,pg147).Therearesomecasesinwhichtheauthordoesntexplicitlytellyouwhattheir argumentisandthatwillbedifficulttodo.However,ifyouareinthissituation,you,thereaderneedto reconstructtheunstatedtheysay...throughaprocessofinference(Graff,pg.149).Peopledont understandwhattheauthoristryingtosayfully,andthatiswhentheyneedtostartinferringwhatthe textmaymean.Inferringatextmayoftenmeanthattherecanbemanywaystoshowwhatitmeans, basedoneithercontextorevenbackgroundknowledge.