BEFORE YOU READ
     When writing the two sentences in different forms, I realized I used different punctuation.  I switched words around to make it all in one sentence.  I used commas to help organize my ideas.  Sentence two seems like it could just be added into sentence one.  When I added them together, it looked like too long of a sentence, but reading it aloud made sense.

     In John Dawkin's article, "Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool," he gives solutions on ways people construct rules through grammar and punctuation.  His audience are teachers and student writers.  Punctuation marks can be used in all different ways.  It helps to learn to connect or separate ideas.  He give sixty-nine examples through his article.  Students should not be worried about making errors, but by creating and personalizing ideas.  Punctuation is rhetorical and can be chosen to use.  Even good writers sometimes ignore punctuation to better their ideas for their readers.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
     I think about punctuation a lot of the time when I write.  I do worry about this, because in earlier years teachers would take off numerous amounts of points if we did not have the correct grammar or punctuation in our papers.  My point of view on punctuation has stayed the same even after his article, but that is probably because we share many similar points in our idea on the subject.

     In Bill Bryson's article, "Good English and Bad," he explains the idea that every word can have so many different meaning.  He talks about ellipsis, and explains it with an example.  My example would be if an individual had just told their friend they went out and bought a new car.  They might answer with the questions, "Why?," "When?," "How?," etc.  With these words they created three different sentences.  Even though the only word spoken was 'why' we know they mean, "Why did you buy a new car?" or "When did you buy your new car?" or "How did you buy your new car?" or "Where did you buy your new car?"  We automatically know that by making the sentences into one word it still has the same meaning.  His audience are basically to everyone, because not just one single person does this, it is the English language as a whole.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
 Prescriptive is forcing rules on correct usage on someone.  Descriptive is to explain or describe something through writing.  I have encountered many different grammar instructions on how to write in the past.  I have been told to use commas, sentences, and explain my readings while restating the question I have been asked.  I have had many teachers show their prescriptive side by telling me how I should write, and what I should write, whether they believed it was right or wrong.  When in the long-run it is my paper in the end, and if I feel like my writing is correct then it should be, because they are my ideas, and should not be changed because someone does not agree with them.

COMPARE
     Dawkins and Bryson's articles are very much the same.  They both have the same idea that teachers or peers are pushing students at times to feel like their writings have to use correct words and phrases and nothing should be shortened.  They both explain that even famous writers have bent the rules to help better their points and ideas to make readings easier.  Sometimes writing the way we speak is better.  It makes the flow or writing AND reading much easier.  Making words capitalized when they don't need to be explains to the reader how serious the matter at hand could be. 


     I found both of these articles very interesting.  I agree with many different points in both.  I really made a connection with Dawkin's article and how he makes a point to explain most students are so worried about making errors that all their ideas do not ever even get to make it to the actual paper itself.  Yes, I think it is important to teach students to use correct grammar and the correct usage of words, but I also do not think they should be penalized for not doing so.  This can be very discouraging and make a student feel like they can not personally express and explain in vivid detail the thoughts and ideas they have in their writings.