The Art of Connection: the Social Life of Sentences by Dr Ian McCormick

Dr Ian McCormick’s latest book, The Art of Connection: the Social Life of Sentences is, as the subtitle suggests, a new guide to the art of transition in the English language which offers advice on how to deploy a wide range of connective words in order to improve the flow of ideas.

This book will assist anyone wishing to communicate more effectively in writing. Whether for the reader at school, at university or at work, The Art of Connection is an indispensable source book of essential words, phrases and ideas.

The Art of Connection begins by exploring the social life of sentences. It outlines the ways that connection and disconnection create thought-pathways in the process of composition. The educational psychology behind connection is also outlined. The Art of Connection then examines the relationship between natural flow and communicative improvisation. This dimension is contrasted with the conventions of rhetoric often used effectively in the past by great writers and speechmakers.

Different styles of writing and target audience or reader are also discussed. The Art of Connection also explores links between connection, logic and philosophy. Moving beyond traditional approaches to connection and transition, postmodern and feminist approaches to the question of communication, technique and style are also analysed.

Each chapter deals with the Nine Arts of Connection: Location, Timing, Comparison, Contrast and Difference, the Supplement, Disputation, Sequence, Example and Illustration, and the Summary. Hundreds of practical examples of usage, drawn from the humanities and the sciences, from religion and the social sciences, from law, business and medicine are used illustrate each of the key topics. This book will be essential reading for students of EFL/ESOL/IELTS, for school or university students, and for creative or non-fiction writers working with the English language.

The Art of Connection: the Social Life of Sentences is an invaluable guide to more effective communication in written or spoken English.

 

Contents

1.0 Introduction

1.1 The Social Sentence

1.2 The Use of Connection

1.3 Understanding the Psychology of Transition

1.4 Style, Oratory, Elegance

1.5 The Flow of Spontaneity and Passion

1.6 Power, Rhetoric and Repetition

1.7 The Philosophy of Association

1.8 Beyond the Logic of Connection

1.9 Écriture féminine

1.10 Openings: the Genesis of this Book

2. The Art of Location

3. The Art of Timing

4. The Art of Comparison

5. The Art of Contrast and Difference

6. The Art of the Supplement

7. The Art of Disputation

8. The Art of the Sequence

9. The Art of Example and Illustration

10. The Art of the Summary
 

Format: Paperback and e-book

File Size: 1039 KB

Print Length: 178 pages

Publisher: Quibble Academic (19 Nov 2013)

Language: English

ASIN: B00GS5TYQ2

About the author: 

Dr Ian McCormick served as a Professor at the University of Northampton until 2009. He holds degrees in English Language and Literature (University of St Andrews (M.A.) and a doctorate awarded by the University of Leeds (PhD). His PhD was in the field of English literature and cultural history in the eighteenth century.

Dr McCormick’s work has been featured on the BBC (Radio and TV); in the Times Literary Supplement, The Observer, The Guardian, TimeOut (London), and academic journals.

Dr McCormick has also published and edited books on Gothic literature and Romanticism; modern and contemporary literature; teaching and learning strategies; drama education; and literary, critical and cultural theory; John Dryden and T.S. Eliot; sexuality and gender studies; modern literature; the contemporary Scottish novel; literary/critical/cultural theory. He is currently working on a book about Shakespearean tragedy.

Dr Ian McCormick’s books on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ian-McCormick/e/B00DI7GNI0/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1427936101&sr=1-2-ent

The Art of Connection: the Social Life of Sentences

by Dr Ian McCormick