Writing and Speech

Writing is the expression of ideas through words on the page. In my experience, many beginning writers often feel that writing is simply the transition of speech onto the page, that the laws of writing are the same as that of speech. But experienced writers understand that this is not true. What sounds intelligent and intelligible in conversation often sounds the opposite when written down. For example, “this is interesting because…” is often a devise used in speech to express, in earnest, why something is intriguing and worth pursuit. However, when a statement such as this is written down, experienced writers understand that such a statement could be construed as being intellectually lazy.

As teachers of writing, I believe that perhaps our goal is to teach the rules of writing, and how they are different from that of speech. When reading our students’ papers, we have to pick out and let them know that while a certain sentence or paragraph might work in some other context (such as in conversation or when giving an oral speech), the same does not translate to writing. These rules are what we need to teach beginning students of writing.