Let me step up on my old soap box for just a second. On their Self-Reflection papers, written at the end of the semester, many of my College English students wrote something like, "This class taught me that I am not as good a writer as I thought I was." Mr. Chaffee says, good! That is the point! It's "College" English, after all, not "High-Level-High-School" English. However, some also griped about their grades. Mr. Chaffee says, that is why we should get rid of grades! The goal of education should be learning, not scoring and ranking. I shall now step off the soap box (thud) and return to your regularly scheduled student sentences. As always, these are from student work and my comments are in ( ).
- They forget to realize the meaning of life. (I hate when I forget that.)
- One reason of his unhappy bits...
- Although the title, "Great," is given to Gatsby by gossip and rumors, although there is.
- Tom and Daisy... show their true colors on how corrupt and carless they are. (No, no, I think they had a car.)
- The sister is at fear with her life.
- Sherlock is brought a case from a woman whose sister had pasted two years before.
- Father Brown is quite a blended man.
- Myrtle lives in a world full of allusions.
- Scott F. Fitzgerald (Syntax you here error have.)
- Daisy knows about the affair that Tom is doing. (Does she know about the Myrtle that Tom is having?)
- The filthy rich use cars as... a symbol of their garnish success.
- ... his wealth came from a long line of pharmaceuticals. (He must have worked for Big Pharma.)
- Ultimately in the end... (You know that's redundant, right?)
- Wilson shot Gatsby before going suicide. (Word. He went all suicide and what not.)
- Slavery was huge in this time period. (As opposed to that time period when it was wee?)
- One example is the position paper and the persuasive paper. (So, two examples?)
- Coarse Reflection Paper (I kept waiting for a dirty joke or ribald story, but no, she just reflected on the course.)
- Selfish is the opposite meaning of selfish. (And dark is the opposite of dark, up is the opposite of up, and true is the opposite of true. Mind blown?)
Here's to the start of a new semester. Until next time...
J
