This essay is structured, labored over, revised. This essay has been read and reread, it has been marked, it has been scrutinized. This essay has been edited a million different ways because that is just what you do with essays; you edit them. With speaking the luxury of editing is not an option. The words spoken are out there for the world to hear the second they are said and there is no backspace button to change that. This drawback of speaking is a problem for some and an advantage for others. My discourse competence in speaking is stronger than my discourse competence in writing. When speaking, my thoughts and ideas flow easily. This is unlike my writing because I do not feel hindered by structure, formality, or word choice. …show more content…
When speaking your tone of voice and of the conversation is obvious. This is because you are speaking and when speaking it is easy to pick up on the social cues used in language. This and the ability to ask questions and clarify makes understanding the attitude of the situation much easier. An example of this can be seen when in my dialogue when I repeat, “like that would just suck,” (Danner, What About Pot?) after Andrew says it. By repeating what he had already said I was mocking Andrew and his phrasing of his opinion. Saying that I was mocking him seems rather harsh and like that I do not value his opinion. This is because I am telling this to you through words on a page and not in person. In person it would be easier to understand that I was mocking Andrew in a joking way and that he thought it was funny. The understanding of the tone between speech and paper is large and full of …show more content…
When I am writing my tone automatically becomes very serious and formal. This is mostly likely a direct result of the formal writing I have been taught to do throughout my life. By writing in this way I feel as if my whole personality and all of my views are not being conveyed as well as they could be while speaking. This formality is an unconscious part of all my writing. This includes papers, emails, and even texts to people who are even slightly important. The need to seem smart, well put together, and grammatically correct is enough for me to negate all of my individuality. This is shown when I say, “The decision on sex education in schools should not be taken lightly and needs to be talked out.” (Danner, Sex Education in Schools) This quote added to the paper but did not truly communicate the severity of the issue. When writing it is sometimes hard to put true emotions behind my words because of the need to seem professional. This can invalidate the meaning behind the entire paper because of the need to sound