ENGLISH 110-25 Introduction to Academic Writing

By: Darcy Hilton

The increase of inclusivity within the transgender and non conforming gender community has promoted the use of “they” as a singular pronoun. Such vocabulary has gained popularity by schools and jobs allowing the choice of they/them pronouns as preferences in the workplace and classroom, social medias has allowed choice of they/them pronouns to be displayed on the users bio’s and many introductions currently begin with “Hello my name is” quickly followed by my pronouns, they/them being one of the most common answers. Predictably, this change of vocabulary has received a lot of controversy from many different voices.

However, not everyone is quick to accept this vocabulary. Many find grammatical errors in such usage with the justification that it is a plural pronoun and cannot be used singularly. However it is likely the case that this opposition is not entirely based on the grammatical argument. This argument consists of those who want to “preserve” the English language. Given it is fairly new to the language it is not surprising that some oppose the usage. Kathy Stienmetz of TIME magazine wrote in her article This Is Why Singular ‘They’ Is Such a Controversial Subject, “students are taught that pronouns are the bedrock of language, and it can be discomfiting when the rules about how to use them start to shift” mentioning that it can be difficult for people to accept the change in the english language.

Despite this, many are open to the language change of adopting they as a singular pronoun. However according to The Oxford English Dictionary, they as a singular pronoun has been used for around 600 years. Many of the supporters believe that it is courtesy that should encourage people and organizations to adopt the use of “they”. The use of they as a singular pronoun is some people’s preference and that should be respected regardless if one believes that it is the correct English grammar or not. As the inclusion and learning manager at GLAAD Mackenzie Harte, told yahoo lifestyle ““They/them is a widely accepted pronoun that is used both for singular person and someone who is non-binary, which is supported in respected media style guides, including the AP style guide. Using the pronouns that someone uses to describe themselves is a small step to affirm someone, and makes a big impact in making sure that a person is being respected for who they are.” Regardless of change in grammar this shift in vocabulary will help inclusivity more than it will harm grammar.

Personally I think that because language is so fluid the usage of the word “they” as a singular pronoun can be accepted into our vocabulary just as any other vocabulary has been accepted in the past. If a person feels most comfortable using such pronouns, I think that it is reasonable to expect organizations and peers to respect certain preferences. As voiced by Dennis Baron, a linguist at the University of Illinois “ “If you complain about a particular issue, it’s usually … too late to do anything about it.” referencing the adopted use of the pronoun. Opponents of such language likely already use “they” as a singular pronoun in their everyday vocabulary already. Think about it, if you were to get cut off in traffic one would say “they cut me off”, many other instances would align to using “they” as well.

Cites
Cottier, Cody. “People Have Used They/Them as Singular Pronouns for Hundreds of Years.” Discover Magazine, Discover Magazine, 4 Jan. 2021, www.di
scovermagazine.com/mind/people-have-used-they-them-as-singular-pronouns-for-hundreds-of-years.

Steinmetz, Katy. “Why Singular ‘they’ Is a Controversial Subject.” Time, Time, 13 Dec. 2019, time.com/5748649/word-of-year-they-merriam-webster/#:~:text=This%20usage%20of%20singular%20they,referred%20to%20in%20certain%20ways.

“Sam Smith Prefers Pronouns ‘they’ and ‘Them.’ Here’s What It Means.” Yahoo!, Yahoo!, www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/sam-smith-prefers-pronouns-they-and-them-heres-what-it-means-201410342.html. Accessed 9 Nov. 2023.

by Emily Baker

Everyone is familiar with the concept of pronouns and pronoun usage. But when I say pronouns, you probably subconsciously think of those in more common use (he/him, she/her. they/them). What you might not have known is that there is a much larger list of pronouns than the ones we typically use. Neopronouns are defined by New York Times author Ezra Marcus as “a word created to serve as a pronoun without expressing gender”. These can include but are definitely not limited to, xe/xem, ze/zir, fae/faer, etc. Now I know what you might be thinking, most people’s first reaction to neopronouns is apprehensive, and they have received a lot of negative attention to go along with their increasing popularity. Many people around the world are questioning their legitimacy, as well as rejecting their usage at all. 

Various arguments have been presented as to why neopronouns should not be integrated into what we know as “standard English”. Some common views include neopronouns being “too strange” to integrate into daily language, others simply claim that there are too many for us to weave into our everyday English. I consulted my roommate, who had an argument similar to this one-” There’s just too many, it seems a little excessive.” There is also the perspective that neopronouns can potentially be damaging to the progress that the LGBTQ+ community has made in terms of pronoun usage and overall non-harmful language. Something that might come as a shock to you is that some (not all, but some) of these arguments are FROM members of the LGBTQ+ community. Most neopronoun hate in this regard is not towards the more gender neutral neopronouns, but ones that create human pronouns out of objects and animals. Ezra Marcus mentions an interview in their article in which Asa Pegler, a 17-year-old trans man, contests animal/object neopronouns, saying – “ ‘They dehumanize us as trans people,” […] “We are people! Not objects or animals. 

Of course, as with every argument, there are many people who are pro-neopronoun usage. Much like the progression of the usage of they/them as a singular pronoun, neopronouns are becoming more commonly used, and are a way of gender (or anti-gender) expression. Some individuals don’t necessarily identify with any gender, and find that an object or word that isn’t typically used as a pronoun is more closely aligned with their identity.  My friend, Kenna, made a point that I agreed with, saying “Who is any one person to tell another person how to express themselves, or what pronouns to use. As long as they aren’t hurting anyone they should be fine”. 

So, should neopronouns be integrated into ‘standard’ English? I personally feel as though an individual should be able to identify how they choose whether or not it is considered to be a part of the normal way we speak. That being said, realistically speaking because there are so many different neopronouns, it would be difficult to fully teach them all as the standard. Then again, various people said that the usage of they/them pronouns as a singular would never catch on-and yet they have become an integral part of most people in this day and age’s vocabulary! I sense that the age of neopronouns might just be on its way. 

Chat GPT is a free online service that is powered by AI. You can ask it mostly anything, it will search the web, and within seconds it will provide an answer. People have been able to write whole essays, and influence the style in which they were written. I decided to try and ask AI about something so niche, most people have not even heard that it even exists. I have decided to ask AI about synchronized figure skating, and what has been recently developing in that community. For context I was a synchronized figure skater for about eight years of my life, and it is when 16 or less people skate on ice together while connected with their arms. 

To begin I just simply asked the AI bot “What is synchronized figure skating?”. In response to this AI was able to give me a pretty comprehensive definition. They were able to give a detailed description of different elements that are judged in each performance, including: formation skating, synchronized movements, musical interpretation, and precision. They also talked about the specific team levels, age groups, and time commitment involved with this sport. I was honestly quite impressed with the answer to this question. Chat GPT even was able to find the nickname most people call the sport, which is just a shortened version of the full name, called “Synchro”. While a basic question, I felt I was really able to pull together a very well written and understandable. 

I decided that I next wanted to ask Chat GPT a much narrower question. Synchronized figure skating is not currently an event at the Olympics. Adding “synchro” to the Olympics is a heavily debated topic, as every other on icesport is an event at the Olympics, and also there are international competitions. So with this I decided to just ask Chat GPT about the current status of synchronized skating on the international level.

To begin this questioning process I just asked simply if synchro was an Olympic sport. Ai was able to provide me with a basic answer, but ended up talking about just the Winter Olympic Games in general, and how the sports are chosen by the “International Olympic Committee”. So my answer was satisfactory, I assumed that Ai was probably running out of information about this specific niche within the skating community. I was completely wrong. I then got a little narrower and asked “What are people doing to change the minds of the International Olympic Committee to have synchronized figure skating included as an Olympic sport?”. The response I received layed out a  seven step plan for potential inclusion of this sport to the olympics. As well as how the International Skating Union, and their control over the sport and its status.

I am not a fan of Ai. I have never felt completely comfortable with the idea, and when I hear about the daily innovations that are being made within this field I choose to ignore and move on. I was expecting to stump Ai, and I honestly really wanted to. While the explanations were not exactly the most descriptive, for the content I chose to ask it about, it was quite impressive.

Lauren DeMarse

Professor Peeples

Intro into Academic Writing

9/19/23

Imagine this, you’re walking home from being on the beach on a hot summer day, you’re sweaty and uncomfortable and you get the idea to treat yourself to an ice cream sundae. How perfect! 

In the summer going into my senior year, I worked at an old, family owned ice cream shop in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware where my job was to make many different types of ice cream treats, including sundaes. There are several ways of making ice cream sundaes, but the traditional way is the way I was taught on my first day on the job. When I asked the AI “how to make a traditional ice cream sundae”, the answer I received included 5 bullet points with the ingredients listed above. A distinction of the answer AI gave me was it seemed like the answer was a basic, specific recipe, with little flexibility or creativity. With just a few takeaways, the ingredients were similar to what I had been taught in my summer job but it lacked specifics or addressed how to change that basic recipe to meet the specific wants of the customer or consumer. 

An article I found about asking AI for food recipes is titled “AI Recipes Are Bad for Everyone” written by Jaya Saxena. The article highlights different trends AI uses when asking for food recipes. For example, the writer of this article “Jaya Saxena” added she had attended a Chili cookoff in which one contestant raved that their “bone marrow chili” they had made with the recipe they received after typing into Chat GBT. When tasting the so-called “best” chili recipe that came from Chat GBT the result was “bland and mealy”. This example shows the unproven methods of AI recipes, and when you have something as personal as a food recipe, providing user feedback, reviews and proven methods is a must.

The concluding question is “is AI a good tool for recipes?” Unfortunately, because they don’t seem to solve any problems in the kitchen, the answer is no. If the problem is ensuring a recipe is trusted from a reliable source, the information given from AI doesn’t show anything that should be trusted, rather just a fact that observes knowledge. In the ice cream sundae example, AI gives specific, but not flexible instructions. 

AI on Anakin Skywalker’s Descent into Darkness: A Character Analysis

I asked Chat GPT to write about Star Wars: Anakin Skywalker’s descend to the darkside. I am a huge star wars fan, specifically of Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader, and his story.

He is seen as Most Evil because his actions showed no mercy. However, I believe a different story, and wanted to see if AI could capture some of those moments. It is hard to say if the AI is right or wrong for this subject, because it is mainly based on opinion and perspective.

First, I typed “I want to write about Anakin’s turn to the dark side. Any format, in essay style please” and AI produced a thorough essay, including a title, introduction, reasons for a turning point, the turning point, consequences, and a conclusion. I was interested to read what it came up with because this is exactly how I like to explain Anakin’s turning into Darth Vader when I speak to people about it. 

The introduction paragraph introduced Anakin Skywalker. It spoke about his personality, a promising Jedi… transformation into the Sith Lord Darth Vader. It then provides a transition that lets you know what the essay will cover.

“This essay delves into the complex factors that contributed to Anakin’s turn to the dark side, exploring the psychological, emotional, and external forces at play.”

Although it is well worded, this wouldn’t be the way I would conclude my introduction paragraph. To me, it seems very robotic, and doesn’t really connect well with the reader. I feel like a thesis statement would be best used there. 

AI then breaks down the reasons for Anakin’s turnover, or “The Seeds of Darkness.” The three reasons were bulleted, providing good details to the reasons that would help someone understand the storyline better. Same as the introduction, the one thing that makes this short of a good essay is its’ robotic-like tone.

AI concludes the essay with a statement encouraging expanding or modifying the generated essay. I think this goes to show that with the initial question, the chat finds surface level information to provide for your paper, but lacks on the emotional side, unless you choose to ask for modifications and more emotion. If I was writing an essay on Anakin’s turn to the Dark side, I would include names, relationships, details to the situations that caused this transition. The chat struggled to capture that, lacking to even mention the names of Anakin’s loved ones, only that he had some. To someone who isn’t a fan of Star Wars, this information might be insightful enough, but for someone who has seen the sequels, they would know that the emotions are the most essential parts of enjoying the story. 

Henri Matisse was the highlight of my final project in a class my senior year of highschool, thus this required me to spend countless hours researching, analyzing and learning the different eras, and aspects of this renowned author’s life. I couldn’t help but feel a little defeated and jealous when I typed in “The life of Henri Matisse ” into chat GPT to find that the software curated a well written summarization of what seemed to be my research in about five seconds. Although the post does not contain as much detail as one would need to create a research paper of Matisse, Chat GPT highlights the importance of Matisse’s work on modern art by giving a brief description of his some of his work notably “The Snail” (1953) is one of his famous cut-out pieces. Influences and Inspirations: Matisse drew inspiration from a wide range of sources, including African and Islamic art.” and depicts elements of Matisse’s personal life such as “He initially studied law but began to pursue art seriously after an illness in 1890”. I think that the response clearly resembles the impact in which Henri Matisse’s life had on art by naming and describing his important contributions of style to the art world. However, after I asked the software about his life, I was surprised that the majority of the information was solely about his art and only bits about his personal life, which in my opinion is what I classify as someone’s rather than just their work.

I think that the importance of the question I asked is that if I were to in fact ask Chat GBT, “tell me about Henri Matisse’s painting The Green Stripe” or “Did Henri Matisse’s family impact his work”, I may have received a very different, many more detailed answer.

After using the source, I began to ponder on how the tool would be used in different settings and which of those settings would be appropriate for chat GBT to be used along with which setting would be beneficial for the user. I think that in a classroom setting, hypothetically where students would be learning about the life of Herny Matisse, I do not think that the software would be beneficial given the students would miss information about his life given the source mostly provided information about his art, and they would most likely be copying the information for an assignment and not actually learning. However, I thought about this source in a professional setting where a person who is already informed about Henri Matisse would need to insert information about him in their work. This tool might be helpful given it would likely speed up a process. I think Sharon Aschaiek illustrated this thought well “Chat GPT can automate some aspects of your work- among them research you conduct to shape your strategy and content (although its important to know it has limited knowledge of the world after 2021)” in her essay Promises and Pitfalls of Chat GPT.

Ultimately, I think that the chat GPT can be used as a beneficial tool for those who are already informed on a topic, thus making the tool strictly a writing tool, and not one that can be used to plagiarize work and claim it as one’s own.

Works cited

Aschaiek, Sharon. “Promises and Pitfalls of ChatGPT.” Insider Higher Ed, 31 Jan. 2023, app.perusall.com/courses/2023-fall-introduction-to-academic-writing-engl-110-25/promises-and-pitfalls-of-chatgpt.