Teaching, correcting, and showing off
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
The next seminar included a deliberately didactic exercise designed to teach the difference between a claim and its supporting evidence. One participant became pedantic, interrupting the discussion to insist on a minor formatting rule that did not affect the argument. Another began to pontificate about what all serious writers should believe, though nobody had asked for a speech on the proper purpose of literature.
Dana found the didactic exercise useful because its teaching goal was clear and the examples matched it. She asked the pedantic participant to save the formatting detail for the editing session. When invited to comment herself, she resisted the temptation to pontificate. She described one problem in the sample argument and offered a revision that the group could evaluate on its merits.
Before you move on
Look away from the passage. Can you explain each focus word in your own words?
Original fictional passages for vocabulary practice.