Unit 12 .

- Final task: revising

Introduction

As it was seen on previous units, the process of writing contains a series of phases. In very
few occasions a perfect text can be written at the first draft. It usually takes a few drafts,
revisions and re-writings to finally achieve a good text. Writers constantly move onwards
and backwards while composing a text. The first phase is the search of information from
different sources in order to organise the ideas. The writer searches for terms, sentences and
forms which are appropriate for the reader and the communicative intention. Once finished
this first phase, the second phase is the writing. The writer composes the text, paying
attention in the punctuation and also in the sense of the text. Finally, the next phase is the
revision. It must be done by an extensive, patient and careful reading. During the revision,
the writer pays more attention in cohesion and coherence. Unit 11 dealt with these two
concepts, the pillars of any process of revision and edition. During this unit, we are going to
study the lexical components in concordance with the other elements of the text.

All the text's dimensions are related and form the textual structure. These dimension can be
orthographic and typographic, grammatical or morphosyntactic, stylistic and lexical. As
follows, these dimensions will be defined, specially the lexical dimension.

The orthographic and typographic dimension centres the revision on the quality of the
composition. It finds and corrects the typographic mistakes and revises the basic
orthography: punctuation and the use of capital letters. The grammatical dimension refers
to the construction of the sentences of a text, the position of the elements, structures, word
morphology, etc. The stylistic dimension of the text deals with the clarity, the precision, the
brevity, the legibility and the adjustments. It also refers to the paragraph constructions and
its extension, passive voice, including the concepts of adequacy and inadequacy. Finally,
the lexical dimension is specifically related with the choice of words. It attaches the
problems that can be avoided if a detailed revision is done. The lexical dimension will be
extensively studied during this unit.

During this unit the following topics will be studied:

 Recognise the different dimensions a text has and their different perspectives of
correction.

 Recognise the most frequent mistakes in the lexical dimension.

 Acquire the skills for a successful revision of any academic text.

12.1. Language in context: digression
and figures of speech

At this point of the course it is interesting to revise the concept digression. It

happens when a text starts to talk about something unrelated to the main topic and
then the text loses coherence. It may caused by the use of several unnecessary
words or information. Apart from the digression, a text can also become
monotonous by using the same terms repeatedly or imprecisely using similar
terms.

Reflection task 12.1.

1. Identify the element of digression in the following paragraph, justify why it is a:

This paper will study Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter in a feminist point of view. The
main character, Hester Prynne, can be read as a feminist character in several
dimensions. Feminist criticism in literature started at the beginning of the 20th
century, with Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own". This essay explores the role
of women in literature, as writers and as characters, as well. The role of Hester
then, will be analysed from this perspective and this paper will try to provide some
answers to this matter.

Read the comments about this task in the virtual campus. The comments are
posted in the section "Evaluation".

Below, some figures of speech that may affect the legibility of the text. Some of
these figures have a negative effect on writing, others have a positive effect. Note
that some might have both effects depending on its use.

12.1.1. Malapropism

It is called malapropism or lexical inappropriateness the bad habit of giving to a

word or a clause a meaning and a function it does not have.
12.1.2. Redundancy or pleonasm

It is the repetition and the excessive use of a word or concept. It usually constructs
sentences by using unnecessary words in order to add more expressivity.

12.1.3. Pet words

Pet words and pet phrases are those words and phrases that are used to support
any utterance, but they do not carry any relevant information. They try to fill some
kind of emptiness.

12.1.4. Circumlocution

It is the use of several words to express something that could be expressed

shortly. It tends to be used when something unpleasant has to be said. However, in
a text, circumlocution can make a text to lose clarity and add pomposity.

12.1.5. Clichés and idioms

They are expressions that have added through time a cultural element in their
meaning. Their use in a text is evidence of a very colloquial language, usually not
accepted in academic contexts.

12.1.6. Learned words

Learned words are those words that have their origin on classic languages or
literary language. They haven't suffered several changes since they were first
introduced. These words belong to very high registers of the language. It is
recommendable to not use these words unless the situation requires it, since they
can be easily misused.

12.1.7. Colloquialism
Colloquialism is a word or expression that is more appropriate for speech than for
writing language. A colloquialism is considered to belong to lower registers and
their use in writing language must be very limited.

12.1.8. Technical terms

They are terms used in scientific and technological language. Most of them have a
particular use depending on the scientific field, such as literature, linguistics,
physics, chemistry, etc.

12.1.9. Neologisms

Neologisms are new words that usually are the result of the evolution of a
language or the scientific advances. While writing, it must be kept in mind that
before using a word from another language, we must check that it has been
translated. It would improve the legibility of a text.

12.1.10. Archaisms

Archaisms are words and expressions not used in present day language. Their use
is problematic because they can obscure the meaning of a text.

12.1.11. False friends

False friends are words confused by another word of another language with
different meaning because the two words are similarly written or pronounced.

Reflection task 12.2.

1. Identify the lexical phenomena in each sentence. If it is needed, write the

sentences in an academic register or correct them.

a) My six year old sister started college.

b) Allegory constrains the variety of readings in a literary work.

c) Five assembly members shall constitute a quorum for an assembly meeting.

d) -I was watching the TV, you know? And then I saw this guy, you know? That
strange politician.

e) Many researchers reckon that the results are inconclusive.

f) This assignment is gonna be hard to complete.

g) She is a single unmarried woman.

h) He wrote the autobiography of his life.

i) -So, I was there and... I figured it out, so I told it to the teachers.

j) The fact of getting something that is not yours, sometimes, might be caused by a
pathology by which you cannot control this impulse.

k) However the results are impressive, we must keep the feet on the ground and
intensify the work in this field.

l) Although being an incredible piece of art, this play reinforces the status quo.

m) The texts wanna show the differences between classes.

n) In order to make a search in Internet, we do not need to write down the search
engine address anymore, we just need to introduce the text in the toolbar.

o) Social networks are full of strange selfies.

p) Today me, tomorrow thee.

q) "The old man raised the axe and split the head of John Joel Glanton to the
thrapple" (Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, 1985).

r) Actual events have changed the perspective of his politics.

s) Dogberry: "Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons"
(Act 3, Scene V, Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare).

t) Census says that rich has most of the money.

u) "...the ratio of the number of years that the typical worker will spend in retirement
to the number of years he or she works will rise in the long term." (Dan Ackman,
"The Passion Of The Fed Chairman." Forbes, Feb. 26, 2004).
v) "Friends of the chancellor revealed that he had described Labour MPs as
disappointing 'numpties'..." (Neil Rafferty, "Queen Opens a Pricey Piece of Scots
History" The Sunday Times, Oct. 10, 2004).

w) If you missed your favourite radio programme, now you can download the
podcast, and listen to it.

x) Unfortunately, my affluence over my niece is very small.

y) He wept tears of joy.

z) This paper will deal with one of the investigations that is in the spotlight of
science.

Read the comments about this task in the virtual campus. The comments are
posted in the section "Evaluation".

12.2. Review

This section summarises the knowledge acquired during this unit:

- At the Introduction we remembered the different dimensions or perspective we

can approach in order to do a revision of a text. We also paid more attention into
the Lexical dimension, which is the dimension treated this unit.

- In the different sections of Language in context: Digression and figures of

speech, we learnt how to identify digression and also some figures of speech
that may affect our writing.

- We must remember that the use of some of the figures of speech presented
above may have both positive and negative effects on our writing. This is why it is
important to identify them and judge if it is necessary.

12.3. Check your knowledge

Enter the virtual campus and access the Reflection exercises section. There you
will find the tasks you have seen during this unit. You have to complete all of them
and, when you finish them, the system will provide you the feedback. If you need
more information, consult the files "Assessment", right under the section
Assessment of the unit.
Remember that, apart from reading the contents and completing the Reflection
exercises, you have to complete the activities and the exam or the final task. The
teacher had provided the information about them in the Group forum.

Bibliography

[1] Agencia EFE. (2001). Manual del español urgente, Madrid, Cátedra.

[2] Cassany, D. (1995). La cocina de la escritura, Barcelona, Anagrama.

[3] FUNDÉU. www.fundeu.es [Checked on the 25th November, 2013].

[4] García Negroni, M. y otros. (2001). El arte de escribir bien en español, Buenos
Aires, Edicial.

[5] Gómez Torrego, L. (2007). Hablar y escribir correctamente (II), Madrid,

Arco/Libros.

[6] RAE. (2001). Diccionario de la lengua española, 22.º edición, Madrid, Espasa
Calpe.

[7] Seco, Manuel. (1998). Gramática esencial de la lengua española, Madrid,

Espasa Calpe.

[8] Serrano Redonnet, M.L. y Zorrilla De Rodríguez, A. M. (1997). Diccionario de

los usos correctos del español, Brasil, Estrada.

[9] Zorrilla, A. (2007). Sobre las palabras y los números, Buenos Aires, Litterae.