GRAMMAR AND WRITING STYLE OF THE FAMOUS NOVEL WRITER, JOHN GREEN AND ITS APPEAL TO THE READERS

A Research Paper Presented to Mrs. Ellen P. Noveras Taytay United Methodist Christian School, Inc. High School Department

In Partial Fulfillment of requirements for ENGLISH IV

Espiritu, Marc Denzen L. March 2014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researcher would like to acknowledge his mother in making this research paper for her patience and contribution to the preparation of this study.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.

INTRODUCTION.1 Background of the Study Statement of the Problem Significance of the Study Scope and Limitations Materials and Methods Definition of Terms 1 2 2 3 3 4

II.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

III.

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary Conclusions Recommendations

References

Chapter I Introduction

A. Background of the study There are many kinds of writing styles. The writing style to be used in a work depends on what kind of people the readers are. The researcher wanted to know how an author was able to attract a great number of readers with words that are not so often used nowadays. As all of the people know, words with deep meanings that are hard to understand would make you feel bored. Readers are excited to read novels that describe the complexity of emotions, real-life situations and reactions of the character involved.

John Green is an award-winning novelist whose books are mostly included in the top 10 New York Times bestsellers.

His first novel, Looking for Alaska, won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award presented by the American Library Association. His second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, was a 2007 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His next novel, Paper Towns, is a New York Times bestseller and won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best YA Mystery. In January 2012, his most recent novel, The Fault in Our Stars, was met with wide critical acclaim, unprecedented in Green's career. The praise included rave reviews in Time Magazine and The New York Times, on NPR, and from award-winning author Markus Zusak. The book also topped

the New York Times Children's Paperback Bestseller list for several weeks. Green has also coauthored a book with David Levithan called Will Grayson, Will Grayson, published in 2010. The film rights for all his books, with the exception of Will Grayson Will Grayson, have been optioned to major Hollywood Studios. His book, The Fault in our Stars particularly talks about the ups and downs of cancer patients and how they live their life with life threatening diseases and apparatus hooked up to them everywhere they go (goodreads.com, 2013).

A blend of melancholy, sweet, philosophical, and funny. Green shows us true loveand it is far more romantic than any sunset on the beach (New York Times Book
Review).

Paper Towns is another book made by John Green. It is about the life and struggles of a teenager who feels like she does not belong in the place where she lives. She found happiness in a place nowhere in the map.

A suspenseful mystery, a compelling central metaphor, and one of those road trips that every senior hopes he or she will have round out this exploration of the kind of relationship that cant help but teach us a little bit about ourselves (Bulletin for the Center of
Childrens Books, starred review).

Those two books are open-ended. The readers will have to conclude the story with their own imagination. Some readers are infuriated when books do not end the way they want it to be. Also, every ending does not have to make you happy, because if every story

ends with the line and they lived happily ever after, the world we live in will not be the way it is now. John Greens works are mostly based on facts and real-life situations that he himself experienced. That is why most people find his books interesting because they can relate their life to it and see themselves as one of the characters in the books. It only reminds us that we must accept reality and live our lives the way it is, there is no way we can hide from all our problems, every person must face theirs to be better.

Readers have amazingly good remarks of all his books. They just love it. This book changed my life. Yes, this sounds clich and I am pretty sure you get this all the time. But its so hard not to tell you! ^^So I did. You are one of the most brilliant hum an beings alive, and your view point of the world and the things in it are just so wonderful. My vocabulary is very vague, so excuse me for using adjectives that are much too simple to explain how awesome you are (johngreenbooks.com, 2014). His choice of words and storytelling style captures the hearts of the readers. Here are some examples: Augustus Waters was a self-aggrandizing bastard. But we forgive him. We forgive him not because he had a heart as figuratively good as his literal one sucked, or because he knew more about how to hold a cigarette than any nonsmoker in history, or because he got eighteen years when he should've gotten more.' 'Seventeen,' Gus corrected. 'I'm assuming you've got some time, you interrupting bastard. 'I'm telling you,' Isaac continued, 'Augustus Waters talked so much that he'd interrupt you at his own funeral. And he was pretentious: Sweet Jesus Christ, that kid

never took a piss without pondering the abundant metaphorical resonances of human waste production. And he was vain: I do not believe I have ever met a more physically attractive person who was more acutely aware of his own physical attractiveness. 'But I will say this: When the scientists of the future show up at my house with robot eyes and they tell me to try them on, I will tell the scientists to screw off, because I do not want to see a world without him.' I was kind of crying by then.(John Green, 2014)

Greenhas a writers voice, so self-assured and honest that one is startled to learn that this novel is his first. The anticipated favorable comparisons to Holden Caufield are richly deserved in this highly recommended addition to young adult literature (VOYA, 2014).

B. Statement of the problem This study aims to answer these questions: 1. Why do readers want to read his books? 2. Can his writing style improve ones vocabulary after reading? 3. List some of the significant changes in the readers vocabulary and grammar after reading his works. 4. How can the readers apply what they have learned in real life?

C. Significance of the Study

The researcher and the readers will know how to properly construct sentences. It will also help improve writing skills such as grammar and vocabulary. It will broaden our knowledge of the English literature by knowing a different kind of writing style used by the author. Using the correct words will also greatly improve a persons writing skill.

Grammar is an aspect of language about which learners have different opinions. Some learners are very interested in finding out or learning grammar rules and doing lots of grammar exercises. Others hate grammar and think it is the most boring part of learning a new language. Whatever opinion they have, however, they cannot escape from grammar; it is in every sentence you read or write, speak or hear. Grammar is simply the word for the rules that people follow when they use a language. We need those rules in the same way as we need the rules in a game. If there are no rules, or if everybody follows their own rules, the game would soon break down. It's the same with language; without rules we would not be able to communicate with other people (esl.fis.edu).

Some people do not realize the importance of grammar to our everyday living and socializing with other people. It will help us land good jobs if we are to use it properly.

Being good with grammar helps build confidence which makes us a better person; we will also earn respect if we have good grammar, diction, and vocabulary. People associate grammar with errors and correctness. But knowing about grammar also helps us

understand what makes sentences and paragraphs clear and interesting and precise. Grammar can be part of literature discussions, when we and our students closely read the sentences in poetry and stories. And knowing about grammar means finding out that all languages and all dialects follow grammatical patterns (grammar.about.com, 2014)

It will also provide future researchers who would also like to study his writing style with references and a short background of the author and the books written by him.

Finally, young readers would be able to improve their communication skills through reading good novels. Most of young individuals nowadays are more into internet sources than reading books. Reading books is still the best source of information and learning vessel for improving communications skills. A person should never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them. (Lemony Snicket, Horseradish, goodreads.com/quotes, 2014).

Since time immemorial, books have been the source of learning. This new breed of narrative tended to recreate the worlds and everyday lives of ordinary people. Thus we have the strict definition of a modern novel: a lengthy fictional narrative, written in prose, presenting a realistic picture of believable characters and events

(http:www2.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/markport/lit/amnovel/fall2002/01intro.html).

D. Scope and Limitations

This study is limited only to studying grammar and what is the writing style of the famous novel writer, John Green and its effect to the readers after reading his works.

E. Materials and Methods

Internet Sources The researcher mainly used the internet for finding about what the readers think of the books written by John Green. Analyzing the data gathered, the readers gave positive feedbacks to all the works done by him.

F. Definition of Terms

Vocabulary - a list of difficult or unfamiliar words with an explanation of their meanings, accompanying a piece of specialist or foreign-language text.

Grammar - the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics.

Diction - the accent, inflection, intonation, and speech-sound quality manifested by an individual speaker, usually judged in terms of prevailing standards of acceptability; enunciation.

Literature - writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays.

Genre a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like

Novelist - a person who writes novels

Open-ended - not having fixed limits; unrestricted; broad

Apparatus - a group or combination of instruments, machinery, tools, materials, etc., having a particular function or intended for a specific use

Language - a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition.

New York Times - The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18, 1851.

Paradox - a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory

Contemporary - belonging to or occurring in the present.

VOYA Voice of Youth Advocates

Chapter 2 Results and Discussion

That

book changed my life I recommended it to all of my friends, and three of them

have read it. I didnt see things that way anymore, and that love story makes me dream, but those dreams are so paradox I dont know what I think about them(Emma de Banville, 2014). This just proves that John Greens writing skill has the ability to change lives as much as ch ange the perspective of a person about how life works. His writings can make other people crying and smiling at the same time. The researcher found out that John Greens writing style captured the readers hearts as his contemporary novels made its way to young hearts with its twisting and heartbreaking ending in the novel The Fault in Our Stars. Also, not only has John Green

opened up so many points of debate to mull over, but his writing style has influenced mine as well. Life as we know it can never be the same again.

Chapter 3 Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations

Summary Knowing what kind of writing style an author uses makes the reader understand more of what the author really wants to explain in his works or writings. Different styles of writing can also significantly improve a persons writing skill, sentence construction, vocabulary and grammar. John Greens writing style catches young readers of different backgrounds in life, teenagers and young professionals, boys and girls alike, the heartbroken and happy, the emotional and sensitive. His genre which is literary and fictional is appreciated much by the young generation due to its heartwarming and situations based on real life that the readers can relate to.

Conclusion

The researcher finds it fit to conclude that writing, when based on a true essence of life and when characters are inspired by real-life personalities and their effect to the readers' life, love, inspiration, humor and knowledge is most likely to succeed in the hearts of the readers. Novels are literary pieces that can change ones perspective in life, either good or bad. The ending is left for the reader to imagine. Novels appeal to the imagination. The readers need to visualize what they read. Although some endings are tragic, it doesnt mean that the readers

reaction will be affected. In an open-ended novel, it is up to the reader to think of a better way to end the story. Here, the reader has an option to make the story end well.

In this study, the researcher have studied the grammar and writing style of the famous novel writer, John Green and its appeal to the readers.

Recommendation After the conclusion, the researcher recommends the following to novel readers, especially young readers: 1. Choose books recommended for their age. Some books can really change your perspective in life and it may or may not affect your real life.

2. Choose books or novels that are heartwarming and inspiring.

References: A. Book Plata, S., Montenegro, M.C., Madrunio, M., Valdez, P.N., Gabriel, C., et al. (2006) Research Process and Product Workbook, 157 Pedro Escueta St., San Antonio, Binan, Laguna: Trailblazer Publications

B. Electronic Media johngreenbooks.com/looking-for-alaska johngreenbooks.com/abundance-of-katherines johngreenbooks.com/paper-towns johngreenbooks.com/the-fault-in-our-stars google.com goodreads.com