Page 1 of 1 [ 8 posts ] 

zeldapsychology
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,431
Location: Florida

09 Feb 2011, 12:12 pm

I am having grammar issues with my classes. I type something and read it and it's processed by my brain fine I UNDERSTAND IT! but teachers and others on WP (I posted a research paper here) have issues with my grammar. I never grasped English 1, it didn't help she didn't give me much guidance but on top of that every paper was a C so you feel inferior! :-( My English 2 teacher even suggested Dyslexia. I said no and she seemed shocked. I can read fine. None of the letters get jumbled it's just I feel my brain processes my typing differently, and what seems like bad grammar to most is fine to me. What could this issue be? Something serious or is my grammar just s**t?! :-( It's discouraging to get a good mark on passion/great view/opinion etc. and yet how it's written itself is of concern grammatically speaking. :-(



Dantac
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Age: 48
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,672
Location: Florida

09 Feb 2011, 4:37 pm

I don't think its a language issue at all.

Its more of a lack of practice and a lack of being taught how to write a proper essay.

I've mentioned I used to tutor English Comp I and II which are the essay-writing heavy classes in college. Your writing style is identical to a large amount of people who graduated high school without knowing how to write a proper essay... then in college end up with Eng. Comp. I/II teachers who merely toss the students a 'how to write the essay' guide that's 2 pages long and expect students to learn from it.

Get a tutor that will specifically focus on essay writing with you and I can assure than if he/she is good, you'll get the hang of writing proper essays in 3 months or less. :)



GoonSquad
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 May 2007
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,748
Location: International House of Paincakes...

09 Feb 2011, 5:16 pm

I agree with Dantac.

A bad comp teacher will cripple your efforts in school.

You writing isn't bad, it's just untrained.

If your school has a writing center, you can use that to help tweak your papers. My college has free writing tutors (I used to be one) and all sorts of free writing workshops. If you have access to resources like this, take advantage!

I don't know if this will help, but here's a quick and dirty blueprint for academic essays:

Intro with well-formed thesis:

Make your thesis a one sentence outline of the essay. Use this pattern...

Argument A is A because of THIS, THAT, and THE OTHER.

Body of the essay:

Paragraph explaining how THIS supports A.

Paragraph explaining how THAT supports A.

Paragraph explaining how THE OTHER supports A.


Conclusion:

Basically, just reword the intro and give it a nice punchline if you can...

This will leave the reader with a good impression and improve your grade... believe me, I use this gimmick all the time.


I'm not sure if that was understandable/helpful...

Anyway, I read your paper, and believe me I've read much worse...

Sometimes, during peer editing, I just want to take the paper, roll it up, and swat the author!

Your writing isn't bad; you just need to learn structure. :)

PS
One other thing I noted from your paper was fragmented sentences. Those are easy to overlook.

One trick to self editing that might help--find a quite, private space and read the paper out loud. I guarantee, you'll find errors you'd miss otherwise.


_________________
No man is free who is not master of himself.~Epictetus


zeldapsychology
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,431
Location: Florida

09 Feb 2011, 5:38 pm

Thanks. :-) I agree not getting a good English 1 teacher was bad. I am also glad you've read much worse LOL! When I did papers in the past they were gordon rule (3,000 words) (10-20 pages double spaced) so I'd print that and read it line by line and that's how I found errors. Dantac I'll take your paper ideas into consideration perhaps use the "I have Autism" stuff for speech class next semester. :-) Thanks. The English 2 teacher actually sat with me and helped me while English 1 was confusing and wanted you to use the "Scarcrow method" WHATEVER THE HELL THAT IS!! ! An English tutor was confused aswell. She tried helping me by reading it but she got into trouble and it was up to me to read it and fix it myself? WTH! I thought she'd walk me through my mistakes and help me understand where I went wrong etc. NOPE! Also Goonsquad great example I'll use that for a reference bouncing off point for my paper as well. :-)



Dantac
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Age: 48
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,672
Location: Florida

09 Feb 2011, 7:49 pm

Anytime! You now know google docs.. you got an entire forum of over-educated essay-crunching folks here... feel free to abuse us. We'll love you for it. ;)



zeldapsychology
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 May 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,431
Location: Florida

09 Feb 2011, 8:52 pm

Dantac wrote:
Anytime! You now know google docs.. you got an entire forum of over-educated essay-crunching folks here... feel free to abuse us. We'll love you for it. ;)


Again thank you. After reading the teachers reply of grammar issues I was kind of hurt which lead me to believe an disorder outside of just AS but I'm glad that's not the case. As you guys have said my English 1 teacher just sucked. The book she gave was the size of a Bible and had small print like from a phone book. It was hard to read and make since of.



CockneyRebel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Posts: 121,275
Location: In my own little country

09 Feb 2011, 8:59 pm

You can look up "How To Write An Essay For College" on the E-How website.


_________________
The Family Schlager


Wombat
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Oct 2006
Age: 77
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,051

09 Feb 2011, 9:37 pm

I didn't think that they even taught grammar in schools these days.

I walked out of school in year ten. Not because I was a "loser" but because they pissed me off.

An English teacher would "criticize" my writing and judge it.

I thought to myself: "I'll bet my IQ is 30 points higher than yours. Who are YOU to criticize ME?

Am I "educated"? Do I have a "college degree" to prove it? No.

But I have read about 10 books a week since I was six years old. I spend hours a day reading news and following up facts on the Internet.

Perhaps I am not "educated", (whatever that means) but I would bet that in terms of general knowledge I would rank in the top one percent.