Author: Stephen A. Boak
Date: 19:37:11 09/07/00
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Dear Marc, 1. CAUTION (BE CAREFUL) Do not value yourself the same way other people value you. They are human. They are not perfect. If they do not appreciate your work, that does not mean your work is not valuable to someone else. Your work is valuable to both you and some other people (but not all people). You are valuable to God, who made you. Do not forget this. 2. COMMUNICATION You do not speak English as your primary language. For me, this is not a big problem. I enjoy postings of many people from other countries--even when their English writing skills are not as good as native English speakers. But, your English postings are usually difficult to understand (for me). I believe that if you improve your English writing skills, then the CCC readers will understand you better. If you want to be understood better, you have to try to communicate better (a little better is a good start!). EXAMPLE--I noticed many times (always?) that you do not use punctuation symbols in your English postings on CCC. Punctuation and English writing symbols include symbols like: periods (.), commas (,), question marks (?), exclamation points (!), and paragraphing (see below). The period, the comma, and paragraphing are the MOST COMMON ENGLISH WRITING SYMBOLS. You need to use them properly in your English postings. If you do not use them, your English-readers will not understand your postings. A. The period (.) is the most important punctuation symbol for good English writing. If you learn to use the period (.) better it will make a big difference in your communication ability. A period (.) is used to show the end of one sentence. Do you notice that all my sentences end with a period? (or a question mark (?), or sometimes an exclamation mark (!)) These are English punctuation marks to show the termination of a sentence. A single sentence is used to communicate one idea (normally). If you have several ideas to communicate, write several sentences (each sentence with one idea only). Usually one sentence should be short. <---like this sentence Usually only one idea should be in one sentence. <---like this sentence If you include many ideas in one sentence, or if you write many sentences without separating them by periods (.), then your communication will be difficult for English readers. It is hard to determine where one sentence ends. It is hard to determine when one idea has been completed. You should study a little bit how to use these punctuation symbols in English. You should practice writing short sentences, ending them with the period (.). You should practice writing only one idea in a single sentence, ended with a period (.). Then your postings will be more understandable to the English-reading readers. If you do not do this, many readers will not read your postings carefully--because it is hard to read postings that mix up many ideas in many sentences, without being short and clear in the writing and in using proper punctuation. B. PARAGRAPHS A paragraph consists of several sentences that have related ideas. A paragraph is shown by including a blank line as spacing between different paragraphs. Some paragraphs are shown by indenting the first word on the first line of the paragraph. In this posting I am using spacing (blank lines) to show a break between different paragraphs. Using paragraphs is important to break up the different points developed by several sentences in succession. Otherwise the points you make will be mixed up and confusing to most readers. 3. BOTTOM LINE If your punctuation is not perfect, no problem. We are lucky to have good people posting from many countries with many languages. But, with a little more use of punctuation (periods, paragraphs, commas), your postings will be much more understandable. When people understand your postings better, their comments about your postings will be based on better understanding. Then better communication is possible. This will not guarantee friends, but it will be sure your ideas are better understood. 4. Always remember RULE #1, above! Good luck with your ideas! Do not stop. You have a lot of good ones. --Steve Boak CCC poster and reader
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