Let Dr. Mike Zizzi teach you to uplift your world via truly *authentic* writing (and speaking! and listening!) We need more of YOUR voice (not AI's).
We have learned, in Stage 1, that – in English grammar – every complete sentence must include, as its essential component, a main clause (MC), which combines a subject (S) – what we are talking about – and its predicate (P) – what the subject is 1) being, 2) having, or 3) doing. This pair–that-makes–one,…
Read More “Stage 2-a: From “Simple” to “Surprise Me” – Introduction” »
By now, you know all about main clauses (MCs) — also commonly known as independent clauses — and you understand them not just as grammatical factoids, but as a team that, together, constitutes the sentence’s very essense. Something (that you named) either does, has, or is something (according to you). It’s that simple, ha ha….
Read More “Stage 2-b: Across the muck . . . we need *stepping stones*!” »
As you know by now, I cherish authenticity — such that things you say could have been said by you, only. For example, just to show my own authenticity, including my poetic leanings, I might re-arrange those opening eight words like this: “As you, by now, know, I cherish authenticity . . .” (hear the…
Welcome back. In the prior post, labeled Stage 2-c, we explored – and, in some ways, exploded – the idea of any universally proper sentence length. I hope that essay helped you to take an interesting and useful step along our Stage 2 pathway. We now move to the next lesson, Stage 2-d, where we…
If you’ve finished reading and considering the lesson in Stage 2-d, “Run-on or Compound,” you now understand that “not all long(ish) sentences are created equal.” (And, no, it’s not “equal-ly” there. See “adverbs” essay, under “Big-picture Concepts” / “Foundational Issues.”) The first and, to me, foremost division of “longish sentences” simply classifies them as either…
Read More “Stage 2-e: Correct “compounds” – via the semicolon” »
Now we’ve turned a bright light on the first “purposeful” technique for correctly joining MCs in a compound sentence – the semicolon. For many reasons related to how people actually learn all this – as mountains of experience have taught me – I’ve labeled the semicolon “technique #1.” Well, compared to the old TV commercials…
Read More “Stage 2-f: Correct “compounds,” (w/ comma rules & accidentals)” »
Here I am, at the 1988 annual convention of the International Listening Association, standing with my “pen-pal finally met in the flesh,” Ralph G. Nichols, aka “The Father of Listening.” (Click post title to see pic)
As for my interest in driving (aka motorists in traffic), I did focus on this topic for the first three semesters of my doctoral study of communication at the University of Colorado. I took some heat from my faculty for this choice (it’s not what they studied, and, yes, that matters) and was “encouraged” (more…
Read More “Why study driving as “rhetoric” (like a speech)?” »
“Words Matter,” so get them right! I’ve dedicated my academic and professional life, along with much of my personal life, to studying, teaching, theorizing, and writing about the endless meanings, implications, and applications of the brief, common, and commonly mis-used expression, “words matter.” How? Why? To what effect? Making what possible? Causing what limitations? Overcoming…
Again and again on the Up-Wordz.com website/blog, you’ll find me urging you to “say it with authenticity.” We often take that word for granted, not even stopping to wonder or even ask, “What do you mean by authenticity“? Good question! Do you have authenticity in you? The founding principle of this whole site centers on…