Why, oh why...
...am I encountering so many students who can neither spell nor construct a simple declarative sentence? On several of these papers, I cannot even comment on the content of the argument because I'm forced to clear up the following mysteries of writing:
- The word 'their' is the possessive of 'they,' while the word 'there' is generally either a noun or an adverb and is not the possessive form of anything. The band did not under any circumstances "get there big break in Boston."
- Traditionally in the English language, capital letters are used at the start of sentences, and not for emphasis within a sentence (Aerosmith may have been great, but they were not Great).
- Complete sentences are required in research papers. "As well as using different instruments." is not a complete sentence.
- The clause "a part of" indicates that the item before the clause was contained in the item after the clause. The phrase "apart of" means (if anything) the opposite.
- If you are writing about a band, and feel compelled misspell the names of the band members, please do so consistently throughout your paper.
Grrr.
posted by Alison @ 8:05 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
-
At 1:02 AM,
TeacherRefPoet held forth...
- I feel your pain, and I'm working damn hard.
-
At 7:55 AM,
tommyspoon held forth...
- I blame reality television.
-
At 6:14 PM,
Mick held forth...
- I blame spell check and the internet, OMG,LMAO!
WTF!