For example, here is something I learned in reading an essay by an upper-year student today (not an ESL student, btw):
"Time sure gave way to new traditions and labels as currently we live in a world of politically correct sentences and empirically based findings."
I also learned, from this same enlightening piece of work, that the 20th century was the Victorian era. And that same-sex marriage is legal in over half the states in the U.S.
As well, the writer asserted that, "[people] of the past should be proud that the trails [sic] and tribulations they faces [sic] helped pave the path..." To which I could not help but respond, in the margin, "They can't be proud; they're dead."
*
An upper-year student.
This is why I drink wine, in case you were wondering.
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10 comments:
Ha, ha, ha, ha...(*thud!*)
Oops, fell off my chair, there.
That is totally classic and would be completely funny if it weren't also scarily true!!
((Hilaire))
At least you know it wasn't plagiarized.
That's the best I can do. I'm sorry.
I'm still working on a way to send alcoholic libations through the tubes, but when I find it, oh boy.
Sometimes there's just not enough wine in the world.
MW - That's the thing, it's ridiculously funny and also so depressing...
Neophyte, oh, the very idea of that...makes me gleeful! You could send me cider from over there!
Luckybuzz - exactly, precisely. That's the thing.
Hilaire -- Is it wrong that I love reading the lows other people see in their students' papers, since it makes me feel so much better about the lows I see in my own students' papers? (All of which is to say, in response to your comment on my own blog -- this isn't plagiarism, it's confluence!)
Student essays are so informative that way. I learned from a freshman comp. essay that children of interracial marriages have the added benefit of getting to know two different families...
I chuckled aloud at your response to the "trails and tribulations" essay.
Overeducated: Oh, just charming.
Well, along the lines of the proud dead people: Today I read one that seemed to be asserting that the historian was *changing the past*, through their analysis. (My comment in the margin politely asked the student if the historian were a time-traveler.)
I mean, if the historian "was" a time-traveler. What was I thinking? Good grief - I'm as bad as my students!
Actually, you were correct the first time! When you have an "If" question, then you use "were" instead of "was." It's the subjuctive rule. Why do I know that? I have no idea. I guess some of the high school English must've stuck.
BTW, I've been enjoying the blog. As a social science grad I have to grade some pretty horrific papers myself. For example did you know that Africa is a country where many orphans don't even talk to their own parents?
No. way.!!!! That is hilarious, M.
And, on the grammar - thank you for clarifying that. It was my gut instinct - I have no idea why I rethought it...I couldn't stop thinking about it, second-guessing myself. Even more so after I corrected it. Why in the world do I do that? Anyway, thank you!
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