C O N T E X T

Context: what is it? Context is what makes understanding possible. In speech, we establish context by everything that we and the person or persons we are speaking with bring to the conversation. We are talking in a particular place at a particular time. We have a shared understanding of the subject we are speaking about. We can see each other's reactions when any of us speak. All of this, and more, establish the context that makes it possible for us to understand each other. But writing is different.

With writing, we have no (or very little) context. The is no present audience for what we write. We write in a particular place and time but what we write does not exist only in that place and time but in theoretically any place at any future time. We cannot assume a shared understanding of the subject we are writing about. We cannot see the reaction of the audience of our writing. And all of this means that we must establish the context that makes understanding possible on the page on which we write (or on the screen on which we write).

Establishing the context that makes understanding possible is what makes writing difficult!

Here are some examples of writing that attempts to increase the context established on the page by decreasing the need for context that is usual in conversation.

English 102: Context examples.

This is going to be hard.

This course is going to be challenging.

This English class is going to be challenging for some students.

This English 102 class is going to be challenging for those students who have not been well prepared in English 101.

This English 102 class is going to be challenging for those students who have not been well prepared in dealing with quoted examples in English 101.

This English 102 class is going to be challenging for those students who have not been well prepared in dealing with quoted examples (writing about writing) in English 101.

This English 102 class is going to be challenging for those students who have not been well prepared in dealing with quoted examples (writing about writing) in English 101 because almost all of the writing in English 102 is based on responses to other writing.

This English 102 class is going to be challenging for those students who have not been well prepared in dealing with quoted examples (writing about writing) in English 101 because almost all of the writing in English 102 is based on responses to other writing, writing such as novels, reviews, newspapers, magazines, non-fiction, etc.

This English 102 class is going to be challenging for those students who have not been well prepared in dealing with quoted examples (writing about writing) in English 101 because almost all of the writing in English 102 is based on responses that a student must make to other writing, writing such as novels, reviews, newspapers, magazines, non-fiction, etc.

This English 102 class is going to be challenging for those students who have not been well prepared in dealing with quoted examples (writing about writing) in English 101 because almost all of the writing in English 102 is based on critical responses that a student must make to other writing, writing such as novels, reviews, newspapers, magazines, non-fiction, etc.

This English 102 class is going to be challenging for those students who have not been well prepared in dealing with quoted examples (writing about writing) in English 101 because almost all of the writing in English 102 is based on critical responses that a student must make to other writing, writing such as novels, reviews, newspapers, magazines, non-fiction, etc. Such responses involve taking quote from these other writings and incorporating these quoted examples into the student’s own writing.

This English 102 class is going to be challenging for those students who have not been well prepared in dealing with quoted examples (writing about writing) in English 101 because almost all of the writing in English 102 is based on critical responses that a student must make to other writing, writing such as novels, reviews, newspapers, magazines, non-fiction, etc. Such responses involve taking quote from these other writings and incorporating these quoted examples into the student’s own writing in prescribed ways.

Notice that to try to make yourself understood, you have to use much more language than  you would in speech. This need means that writing is always more verbose than speech. And writing is always more formal than speech. Writing is NOT speech transferred to the page. It is writing.

When you write, you usually have to write much more than you think necessary. You already understand what you are writing. But you are not writing for yourself; you are writing for an audience, to be  understood. And this need to be understood means that you must write more than you think is necessary.

Return to Write or Wrong