Williams looks at writing errors as “social constructs” because as proven in the essay people don’t look for them unless if they are told to do so. At the end of the essay Williams reveals that there are nearly 100 errors throughout the passage but I for one didn’t recognize them, rather I was engrossed in the essay and focused on the content given. Everybody has writing errors, they are always going to be present, and for the most part when reading any passage the reader is engaged in the content of the article not its grammatical accuracy. After saying that though there are some people out there that will look deeply into a writing and pick it apart. This is what creates a gray area. Some people overlook the errors and pass them by; others become enraged by these errors. So, who is correct? What is defined as correct and what is defined as an error? Errors seem to generate different reactions by different people in different situations. This ties in perfectly with the Wikipedia argument of its credibility. Some people look smugly down on Wikipedia while others praise it. Wikipedia has errors but according to “Reliability of Wikipedia” it has no more serious errors than that of Encyclopedia Britannica. The reason it is looked down on is because of its social construct, it isn’t suppose to be flawless but rather raw data which can be openly edited. While Encyclopedia Britannica is suppose to have a fine tuned construct therefore its credibility increases with its reputation.
It is an interesting argument. If casual readers are wrong, than we should always focus on the errors. If that's the case, then content doesn't matter in the slightest. However, if those correcting grammar are wrong, the grammar still matters. In this article, for instance, the use of errors is central to the work. If there weren't so many errors in it, it wouldn't be as effective in my mind. In other works of writing, errors could be intentional, and sometimes are. That's just part of some writing style.
ReplyDeleteI agree Tyler. Williams makes the point crystal clear that the biggest driving factor in spotting errors is writer credibility. If the article I'm reading was written by a PhD in English I doubt I would pay attention to errors. I would more likely stay engrossed in the idea of the writing.
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