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gleefully diagramed sentences and watched my classmates drop like flies, only to try again and again. When I worked as a technical writer, I frequently thanked Dr. Campbell silently for the training he gave me. For ten years now, written language has slanted toward, "How much can you comfortably fit into an e-mail?" To make it even shorter, there was the introduction of instant messaging. We chopped off any extraneous words in order to get our message across quickly, aware that someone on the other side was at his/her computer waiting for our message with bated breath.

In some fields, like poetry, the less extemporaneous language, the better the poem. The ancient Haiku poets understood this; they described natural beauty with a handful of words we still find fascinating to read to this day.

In the end, written language is changing, as it has changed for centuries, but we are gaining more than losing. There is even a wonderful trend toward writing letters again, the kind that require paper and a stamp. Written language has changed like the ocean between our countries has changed, an ebb and flow. Perhaps it takes a special skill to write text messages I'm sure it does, although I've never tried. I know the diversity of languages has given me an ever-growing base of words from which to choose and still be understood. We are not losing our written language skills, but our choices of style are expanding as is the face of the world around us.

Learn more about this author, Tara Allan Stewart.
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