Sunday, December 10, 2006

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.
A few of the papers were just plain unreadable. Joe is taking much glee from giggling at the vein over my left eye that has started popping.

Grrr.

3 Comments:

At 1:02 AM, Blogger TeacherRefPoet held forth...
I feel your pain, and I'm working damn hard. 
At 7:55 AM, Blogger tommyspoon held forth...
I blame reality television. 
At 6:14 PM, Blogger Mick held forth...
I blame spell check and the internet, OMG,LMAO!

WTF! 

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