PART ONE; Here is the link for reading the “Being Specific” https://mrtrainer.weebly.com/uploads/4/7/2/8/47286… Please do the following after reading “Being Specific.”

ASSIGNMENT ONE: After doing the previous assignment on “Being Specific,” please write a paragraph about one of the following….

1. A memorable day-positive or negative.

2. A pet you have or have had.

3. An embarrassing moment.

4. How you think the pandemic has changed people.

For this, have a specific audience in mind (classmates, or, if you want, you could imagine another audience) and a specific purpose (to amuse, to comfort, to make a point, to convey a human experience, to make people think, etc.)

ASSIGNMENT TWO: Will also ask you to do the assignment below.

Read the story, and then answer the questions after it.

This is a story on the Italian side of my family. The Italians in my family lived in The Bronx, Queens, New Jersey and Staten Island, in the greater NYC area. This story is about a great-great uncle and aunt. It took place way before cell phones, way before email, and probably even before television and colored film. My uncle was a stout man who loved to laugh. His chest and belly would heave and bulge with laughter beneath his slightly faded and worn blazer. He and my aunt were striding along through the Bronx, past the fish markets, and the tenements where clothes hung. She wore a black pillbox hat cocked on one side the black, papery veil hanging over her serious features. They were going to a wake, the public viewing of the body after someone has passed. They didn’t speak much English, but the people holding the wake spoke Italian, so, there would not have been a language issue with finding out the details of the wake. I don’t know what happened, but we can imagine. They either didn’t understand the address, didn’t get the address right, didn’t get the time right, misunderstood the time, or the people telling them didn’t get one of these right. In any case, there was a lack of specificity about place/time. They arrived at the wake, walked up to the casket, the place where the body is laid out. Before even looking down, they burst into tears. This was their dear friend, close friend of many years. My uncle clutched my aunt, and she clutched him. They looked down through their tears, then rubbed their eyes dry. Were they seeing right? There was a pause. Then, they quietly walked out of the place. When they got outside, they let loose the laughter they’d been holding in. It was the wrong wake!

So, as you can see, this is a story about specificity, and why it is important. It is also a story that is told with specificity. I am specific about certain points, elements of the story. In some places, I may be too specific-not necessarily, but maybe. In other places, I may need to be more specific. So, please answer the following-Where does the specificity work? Where could I more specific? Where could I be less specific? Where could I be specific in a different way? No need to be lengthy here, just a couple of sentences for each question is fine.