Active Verbs. Active verbs express meaning more emphatically and vigorously than passive verbs such as the verb form of be (be, am, is, are, was, were, been). As you read, look for examples of active verbs in Ms. Demeanor’s responses.
Tone and Register. Tone is a writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward the subject and audience. Register is a subset of language usage specific to a particular relationship between people. An author chooses a specific register, such as formal, informal, polite, firm, or humorous. Tone is reflected in the author’s word choices and in more subtle ways to create a piece that is friendly, enthusiastic, helpful, remorseful, or that reveals another tone. In deciding on a level of formality, a writer considers both the subject and the audience. For most professional writing, such as a school paper or a letter of application for a job, some degree of formality is appropriate. It would be a mistake to sound too casual and relaxed. But for private letters, articles in popular magazines, or advice columns, casual and informal language can be more appropriate. Slang is informal vocabulary that expresses the solidarity of a group. As you read, point out three examples of slang words or phrases used in Ms. Demeanor’s column. Also point out three examples of formal word choices.
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• Media Literacy Connection. The first recognizable columnist in America was Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). The year was 1722, the place, Boston, Massachusetts. Franklin was 16 years old when he slipped articles under the printing house door of his brother’s newspaper company. Franklin disguised himself under the pen name Silence Dogood, who he described as a young widow. He did this because he felt that his brother, James, wouldn’t publish anything with the name “Benjamin Franklin” on it. The trick succeeded, resulting in 14 Dogood letters published in the New England Courant from April to October 1722. James eventually found out the true authorship of the articles, so he fired Benjamin, who was working as an apprentice at the time. Benjamin left Boston and ended up in Philadelphia, where he became a success writing numerous columns.
• Advice columnists Abigail Van Buren and Ann Landers are household names. In 1918 Abigail Van Buren was born Pauline Esther Friedman and Ann Landers, Esther Pauline Friedman. As twin sisters, they not only resemble each other in looks, but they also resemble each other in their careers and in their commitments to humanity. They both began to write advice columns around the same time in the mid-1950s.
• The word demeanor means “way of behaving toward others” or “manners.” The word etiquette means “social code of correct behavior” or “good manners.” Mary Mitchell, using the name Ms. Demeanor, writes a popular newspaper advice column for kids. Her down-to-earth explanations of basic polite behavior answer young people’s real concerns about social situations in their daily lives.
Do you like to read advice columns in the newspaper or magazines? Why, or why not?
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