When the world has come to a Holt it all began when the news came to us the people in a Faraway land had the virus everyone felt sorry for them and when the news came out we also looked for them and that it won’t affect us at the time I had a student who left a China to celebrate the Chinese New year we thought that he was going to get stuck there we’re going to be all right for him we thought it wasn’t going to impact us then we had more news it was imminent we heard about Italy Iran and the rest of the world but we still thought that it won’t impact our lives in any way perhaps we told the invincible and the virus won’t spread that far it won’t touch our lives then we hear more news of more cases of people dying of people losing their jobs what business is shutting down at the start no one cares no one takes it seriously we all going to be okay it’s not going to affect our lives we continue living our lives becoming more oblivious of course we hear more news that the virus is getting closer is travelling fall it made it around the earth or around the entire universe in record time the world health organization who made the announcement that it is a pandemic then they told him the news about how to put money into people’s pockets what has happened what has happened to our world one day we wake up to one of these announce announcements asking us to go home and stay home and to be safe what does all this mean I run to the store to grab a few items and all I could see is big lineups outside of the stores when I get in I see empty messy shelves we’re out of this we’re out of that at the store there’s panic shoppers they went on a toilet paper buying frenzy which made record sales what a nightmare first world problems not to mention that any type of crisis will always bring the west or the best in people on the positive side there was so much community support some people stepped up and went out of their way to help others food banks is an example have been receiving more donations yet they continue to need more as unemployment search on the other hand I’ve never come across so much garbage in the parking lot when I nervously decided to venture out of my house again for my my next dropping adventure there were reusable gloves and use mask don’t all over the place stores and businesses were starting to shut down their doors to people you are asked to practice social physical distancing the terms the terminology changes but we are social creatures by nature how do we unload our old habits being on lockdown make me become more excited about small things like my supermarket visits we hear news about nurses doctors in heroes who are sacrificing their lives for us on one of my shopping trips I found it really humorous and I became more conscious of being around people I kept watching people in the store we’re walking aimlessly just like the back like back in the olden days it was entertaining to see people ignore the errors that have been put on the floor to help people maintain the physical distancing I guess I was more determined on getting out of the store as quickly as possible and for me these arrows actually were we’re hardly sometimes noticeable ironically everyone turn to zoom and other online platforms family is actually seem to have more time for each other there was a big dramatic change in our lives in a very short. Of time it’s been almost two and a half months now and since all this has happened and despite no ostensible and insight I’m just trying to stay afloat although there will be days when I’ll be discombobulated.
- How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?
I am so unfamiliar with using voice-to-text apps. I prefer to type or write, but after finishing my recording on Evernote I realized that there is no punctuation in my entire text. The text is not broken into paragraphs. Any expressive language is being missed from this text. The title of the story “ When the World has come to a Halt ” blends in with the rest of the narrative. There are lots of grammatical, spellings & punctuation errors. I was conscious of my timer while doing the recording.
- What is “wrong” in the text? What is “right”?
You can get the gist of the story, but it might be a bit unclear and confusing to the reader. An example “We thought that we are invincible” is written as “we told the invincible” I was quite impressed that words like ostensible and discombobulated were spelt correctly.
- What are the most common “mistakes” in the text and why do you consider them “mistakes”?
The text at some points does not make sense. It actually loses its meaning and it becomes misconstrued, which can lead to confusion and misunderstanding. Written texts need to have clarity, otherwise they can end up being mis informative.
- What if you had “scripted” the story? What difference might that have made?
If it was scripted there might have been fewer errors. I think there will still be some inaccuracies in the sentence structure, the vocabulary and the punctuation. There are certainly some clear deviation from conventional writing. All this can lead to a breakdown in the communication process.
- In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling?
Storytelling does not require the narrator and the listener to be literate. Story telling goes back to old times. In writing we can use a lot of elaboration, however story telling requires a more concise text. In story telling we rely more on body language, facial expressions, intonation and tone of voice.
Hi Rania, I enjoyed reading you story “When the world has come to a Holt.” I used the voice to text app ‘speechnotes’ and I had very similar errors and issues with my text; no punctuation, text was not broken into sentences and paragraphs, and of course the grammatical errors. I also made the same connection that the read could get the gist of the story but much of the meaning due to these errors. I also agree that the text would have been much smoother, with less errors and inaccuracies if the story was scripted. An interesting comment that you made about how elaborate written stories can be compared to storytelling that is more concise. I feel that storytelling can be just as elaborate because of the factors that you mentioned, namely body language, facial expression, tone and intonation. I would feel that hearing this story from you, face to face, can actually be a more elaborate experience than reading it. Thanks, Shawn
Rania, you caught something I didn’t notice, which is how the title blended in with the text. I also found from my experience using text to speech that it was difficult to read what I was talking about when it was void of punctuation. I think of the books I read and I think one of the most difficult parts would be not knowing which parts are in parenthesis or quotations as that provides a lot of context for the reader. I agree that story telling requires more concise text and more thought needs to be put towards the words being used to help the reader understand the context. This is why I have so much admiration for writers as they are able to take their readers to new worlds, and from what I have heard the editing process is quite rigorous to ensure the writing creates a story the reader can understand.