Hey guys, it's me, Dr. Boyd. This video discusses how to write sentence definitions and parenthetical definitions. I'm making this video because you have an assignment in Canvas right now that asks you to do exercises related to this topic. And so I wanted to make a video to help you through the process. Um, in in a nutshell, these sentence and parenthetical definitions are two more strategies that you can use to achieve the given new principle. If you don't know what I'm talking about with given new principle, go back to the last video, watch it, and then come here. This is what you'll see on your assignment sheet. Um, for writing sentence definitions, you might be asking yourself, well, why the heck do I have to write sentence definitions to begin with? Well, number one, it goes with the given new principle. The given new principle is about relating new ideas to old ones in your writing. Remember, we talked about activating existing knowledge, helping readers process from the top down rather than the bottom up. So, when you're writing longer documents or reports, it doesn't even matter what it is, you're going to have to start using terminology from your field, and a lot of readers won't know what those terms are. And so, you stop and and define it quickly. So, you can't avoid terminology from your field. You're going to have to put it in there. But, so, and there's patterns for it. So, let's check this out. So, a sentence definition is is exactly what it sounds like. It's one sentence That's it. It's one sentence long and it has a formula. The formula is first you have the word to be defined and then it's placed into a category of similar items and then distinguished from them. So yeah, that might sound like Greek or something to you, but think about the given new. the given new principle. You you um it says readers understand new information best when it's presented in a framework of information they already know or they've previously been been given. So here you have to start out with something they don't know. That's the word to define. But what you're going to do for the given new contract is immediately place it into a category that they already know. So that this is the new information. This is the old This is um wait yes this is the old information something they already know or can easily understand and then you have to say how it's different from other items in that class. So it follows a very strict formula. So let's take a look at one of the examples that says key club. That's the information you don't know. The category is a studentled organization. So you're putting it into a category of information that people could easily understand. And so it says it's a studentled organization. Well, there's all kinds of organizations out there. I mean like a thousand. So how is how is this key club different from other organizations? Well, I'm going to tell you. So you put it into a category and then you distinguish it from other items in that category. So what's unique about it is it gives students the opportunity opportunity to provide service and leader develop leadership. Let's look at the next one. The heart. Okay. Now you if you're defining that word, you have to put it into a category of information that the reader might be more familiar with is an organ. Okay. Well, organ is a very vague term. So that's fine. But how is the heart different from other organs? uh that would be it distinguishing characteristics. So the heart is an organ that pumps blood through the body. Okay, here we have a lathe. A lathe is a machining tool. Well, I imagine there's all kinds of machining tools out there. So, how is a lathe different from other items in its class? Well, let me tell you. It's used primarily for shaping metal or wood. So, the sentence definitions, they're just one sentence long. You're not actually going to have them in a box, but I'm going to have you write some sentence definitions of your own. It has to follow the strict formula. It has to have word category distinguishing characteristic. So, when I grade these things, I see a lot of common errors. These these are errors that I've been seeing for the past 10 years. And so, I wanted to call them out right now to help you maybe avoid it. And so I would say that the biggest mistake people make when writing sentence definitions is here. I'm going to get out my little pen because it's so much fun. Where it is? Okay. They don't have a category. They're not putting the new information into an existing category of information that the readers would already know or easily understand. The categories are wrong. Okay. So these it says look these are bad examples. Let's underline bad twice, three times. Okay. So, let's read this. You're supposed to have the word, the category, the distinguishing characteristic. So, the word is a required course is a course that is required. Well, I'm glad they told me that because I was about to think it was optional. So, what the problem with this sentence is is it's called circular. They're saying the same thing. A required course is a course that is required. There's really no new information in there. So, watch out for here. This watch out for how you do your categories because that seems to be what troubles people. So, maybe you could revise this and say a required course um is a mandatory class that all students have to take for their major. That would have the item category distinguishing characteristic. Okay. So, these next two, we're going to go ahead and just put a big X here just to remind us that that one stinks. Okay, so the next two are about dance and they both have categories that are bad. Okay, so a category is not is when or is typically defined as. You have to put it into a category for your readers to help them understand and process the upcoming information. You need a very specific category. Okay, so let's look. It says dance is typically defined as how a person moves rhythmically to music. Okay, so you have to have a better category. And so I looked it up in Google. It gave me some information. It says dance is the movement of the body. Okay, that's your category. The movement of your body in a rhythmic way. So that's what you're going to write for both of these. It's it's the movement of the body. So you never say is when. Never ever under any circumstances on the planet do you ever say is when. That brings us to the second topic. We're going to talk about parenthetical definitions. Parenthetical definitions are very quick. It says they're quick clarifications. And what you do is you place it within the sentence itself. So it's a synonymous word or phrase for the word being defined. So you can't get away from using the terminology and jargon from your field. But what you do do is you stop and give a very quick uh definition of it, a clarification for your reader to help them understand. So that goes with old, new, given, new. So the the new information is the word they don't know. And then the the definition itself is going to link to something that they already know or could easily understand. Okay, so let's check it out. Let's see what this thing's all about. So, it says it's a synonymous word or phrase for the word being defined. Um, and so it usually occur it occurs right before this. You know, this says drop. That's the word that's going to be defined. It says, "Reluctantly, he decided to drop or withdraw from the physics course." So, this is assuming that people don't know what the word drop means. And so you're telling them in a very quick clarification here uh what that word means. Okay, this one says the department is using shareware. Shareware, can't say that. Which is free trial software in its drafting course. So do you see what I mean? Like they're very quick. They're supposed to be unobtrusive, very brief. If you have one that's long, you might as well turn it into a sentence definition like from the previous slide. So, this is actually where it starts getting more complicated. If you look down at the bottom of my slide, I have a note. My note says parenthetical definitions should be brief and they should grammatically replace the word being defined. And so, what that means is I should be able to cover up the word that's being defined. Okay, let me just do it. is he decided to drop like I should be able to oops to mark this word out. It no longer exists and so it has to grammatically grammatically replace the word being defined. So now I'll read it again. Reluctantly he decided to withdraw from the physics course. Perfect. It passes the grammar test. The department is using shareware. Okay. So this is the the word being defined. Technically we should be able to mark that out. it no longer exists and then see if the parenthetical definition itself grammatically pla replaces the word it defines. So the department is using free trial software in its drafting course. Perfect. It passes the grammar test. It also passes the test that it's brief. So like with sentence definitions, I also see common problems with parenthetical definitions. And so I have those listed here. Um, okay. So let's look at these. The mountain. Okay. So they're going to define mountain because they assume that we don't know what a mountain is, right? Okay. So the mountain, a large natural elevation. I can't do this with a straight face. A large natural elevation of the earth's surface rising abruptly from the surrounding level is a large steep hill. Okay. This has problems on very many levels. Number one, the definition is more complicated than the word being mountain sounds uncomplicated. All this crap here very complicated. So you don't want your explanation, your definition to be harder than the word itself. You you have to this is your chance to tell your reader how to interpret the information. You need some general more general information so that they can understand it. You know, you're you're placing it into a category of information that they already know or can easily understand. So, you don't want it to be difficult. Also, remember down here, my note says parenthetical definition should be brief. Okay, let's see. Does it pass the test for being brief? Well, it's like two lines long, so we're going to mark it out. We're going to go. It does not pass the brief test. If you have something that long, that's fine. Turn it into a sentence definition. Parentheses, they're for like quick definitions, not really long ones. Okay, so this one makes me laugh. Number two makes me laugh. I I usually can't say it without laughing. I'm going to try though. Okay. My ambidextrous, able to use both hands brother is very coordinated and athletically inclined. Okay. Okay. Whatever. So, I'm going to look here at my notes to see if it passes some tests. Is it brief? Yes, it passes the test. But it has to also grammatically replace the word being defined. So, remember that you're supposed to be able to mark out this word. It's gone. It no longer exists. and be able to read the sentence and it flow. So now it says my able to use both hands brother is very coordinated and athletically inclined. Okay, it's a problem because it does not grammatically replace the word being defined and we're and it just sounds stupid. So then we're going to like go uh it's wrong. Number three, I bought ice cream last night and it was really good. Okay. So, it's supposed to be a definition. This is not a definition. The reason people do that is when they see something in parentheses, they think, "Oh, it's a parenthetical definition." Well, that's not defining anything. Technically, it should follow the word being defined last night. Well, this does not define last night. It's making a comment on the ice cream. So just because you throw something in parentheses does not make it a parenthetical. Okay. So number four, this is a true story. This is my son. The boy told his mom he cleaned his room. He did not. He did not clean his room and went outside. So we're going to, you know, it's not a definition. It's going to fail. Oh, I forgot to mark this one out. This one is going to fail because it's not even a definition. You guys, this is my last slide. I'm out of here. You have an assignment sheets where you're going to write these sentence and parenthetical definitions. And there's more information and guidance um on your assignment sheets. Okay. Thanks. Bye.