Summer 2014!

One more set of sentences before summer 2014 officially begins. Most of these are from final papers and exams. Next week I'll have a final post with comments from this year's End-Of-Year Surveys. I love those. As always, these are from real student work and my comments are in (    ).

- He portrays how he resembles reality by having the knowledge to know that the "beast"... does not exist.
- ... a boy has been accused of killing his father with only circumstantial evidence. (How do you kill a man with circumstantial evidence?)
- Holmes ends up pacing back and forth in an excited manor.
- Dr. Roylott was a very aggressive character with a short, almost nonexistent fuss. (Fuse)
- The point of this essay was not just to summarize "The Red-Headed League." (Maybe, but that is the only thing the essay did.)
- (Love) caused both John (Proctor) and Jay (Gatsby) to end up dead and unhappy. (To end up dead is bad enough, but to be dead and unhappy? That's just rough.)
- ... in the begging of the story...
- In The Great Gatsby by Arthur Miller... (Nope, try again.)
- He gave her an altamatum.
- When Ophelia's ran over daisey Gatsby was worring about what would happen to Ophelia. (Apparently Gatsby was reading Hamlet in the car and got confused?)
- Love is a theme in everyday life. People love people, dogs love dogs, along with everything else in life.
- Gene was very loss and loss a part of him.
- He is a non-alcoholic... (Me too... but not for long.)
- "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles is brimming with themes.
- The death of Finny puts Gene in a depressional type situation. (Is that the same as being depressed?)
- All people die at some point in their lifetime. (Yes, and that point is called the end point.)

See you next week with comments from surveys. They love telling me how bad English was this year and how many movies I should show next year because that would make English class bearable.

J

Know Your Title Punctuation

I remember in high school learning the difference between literary titles that go in "quotation marks," and those that must be underlined or in italics. It wasn't hard. Is it a book or play? Underlined or italics. Is it a poem, short story, or essay? Then it goes in "quotation marks." For the most part, if the teacher assigned you to read the whole thing in one night, put it in quotation marks; if it was long enough that it has chapters or act breaks, underline or italics. Why do so many of my juniors and seniors still not "know this?" Anyway, a short group of sentences for today. I just wanted to post before final exams. As always, all sentences are from student work and my comments are in (    ), but not in italics, quotation marks, or underlined.

- She's an unusual character in the way she acts but really feels. (I... what... uh...)
- ...boys get to adventure the outside world.
- Seeing the first horse killed reflected the little girl into a young lady.
- ...her house stinked.
- Memories are a wonderful thing to remember.
- (He) could have been his friend if they could have meant in another place.
- ...these words allow us to feel an undercut type of violence for the speaker.
- The author of the poem uses personification to personify objects. (From the Department of Redundancy Department.)
- The soldier tells about how he imagined the man's life that he killed.
- This waiter had a deeper meaning of life. (I like to think most waiters do.)
- The poem is an example of Imagism because it focused on what the meaning of it is.

See you in a few weeks, I am sure, with a batch from final papers and exams!

J