Hello fellow '64er! This was a great entry, perfectly written and gets your point across. I thought all of your entries for these five prompts were really well done and you should be proud of this work! I think mid-centurions have enough life lessons under their belts to really hold forth and hold forth well!
Well, speaking as a professional copy editor, I think your use of grammar and syntax is perfect. It's interesting what you wrote about the "experiment". I don't think they had that kind of experiment here but I *do* think they stopped teaching English grammar in public elementary schools around 1964. When I was working at a medical publisher in the 90s I used to screen job applicants with a copy editing test and the only people who could pass it were people my age and older (I was born in 1950) or people who had gone to Catholic schools. I remember once asking my boss why there were so many Catholics working there and he said that it was because only people who went to Catholic (or other private) elementary schools were being taught English grammar. And I certainly don't think writing in the first person is lazy. It's a different kind of writing. I could never write fiction. I wrote two plays, but mostly I like to write essays similar to some of the OpEd pieces I read in the TIMES (I am thinking of writers like Maureen Dowd
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Thank you for your professional comment. I appreciate it.
It is interesting that it's older people and the private/Catholic school pupils who are able to use grammar and syntax correctly these days!
I have always enjoyed story telling and really like to make people laugh. But I've always been aware that I never knew how to translate my oral stories on to paper - and tbh I still haven't dared to try yet!
How can you play dice with the lives of an entire birth year of children? Just to see if most of them wind up in janitorial work or food service, or on the dole?!?
That is infuriating! Honestly what I was thinking!! D:
Thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate them.
How can you play dice with the lives of an entire birth year of children? Just to see if most of them wind up in janitorial work or food service, or on the dole?!?
EXACTLY! It's a terrible thing to do to people isn't it!
And similar to your German class, I also learned a lot more grammar when I studied British Sign Language a few years ago.
They wanted to know what the future would hold, for the children as adults, if they were not taught any English grammar and punctuation at all! This makes me so angry, ugh!!! D:
I'm so glad that you decided to go for it at the writer's group and that you also joined LJI!
after years of being told by teachers that, “Writing ‘I’ in a story, is lazy writing!” To be honest when people refuse to read stories or take them seriously because they're written in first person, I give them a major side-eye. There are so many great stories and books out there that were written in the first person; it's in no way whatsoever lazy or un-creative. It's just a preference, like so many other things, and it annoys me when people try to tear down someone's ability based on their subjective preference. (Sorry about that rant, it's a major peeve. Also your teachers sound as bad as some of mine D:)
They wanted to know what the future would hold, for the children as adults, if they were not taught any English grammar and punctuation at all!
This makes me so angry, ugh!!! D:
It's an awful thing to do to a generation of people isn't it!
after years of being told by teachers that, “Writing ‘I’ in a story, is lazy writing!” To be honest when people refuse to read stories or take them seriously because they're written in first person, I give them a major side-eye. Your comment made me smile because that's just about the same reaction I get from my friends in writing group whenever this topic is mentioned!
Experimenting on children by not teaching grammar? That is beyond appalling. I'm glad you stuck with it, and learned it later. I've never noticed any problems in your writing, which I love to read. This whole business about first person fiction sounds bizarre. You must love writing to educate yourself, participate in your writers' group, and write for Idol.
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It is interesting that it's older people and the private/Catholic school pupils who are able to use grammar and syntax correctly these days!
I have always enjoyed story telling and really like to make people laugh. But I've always been aware that I never knew how to translate my oral stories on to paper - and tbh I still haven't dared to try yet!
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That is infuriating! Honestly what I was thinking!! D:
Reply
Reply
How can you play dice with the lives of an entire birth year of children? Just to see if most of them wind up in janitorial work or food service, or on the dole?!?
EXACTLY! It's a terrible thing to do to people isn't it!
And similar to your German class, I also learned a lot more grammar when I studied British Sign Language a few years ago.
Reply
I'm so glad that you decided to go for it at the writer's group and that you also joined LJI!
after years of being told by teachers that, “Writing ‘I’ in a story, is lazy writing!” To be honest when people refuse to read stories or take them seriously because they're written in first person, I give them a major side-eye. There are so many great stories and books out there that were written in the first person; it's in no way whatsoever lazy or un-creative. It's just a preference, like so many other things, and it annoys me when people try to tear down someone's ability based on their subjective preference. (Sorry about that rant, it's a major peeve. Also your teachers sound as bad as some of mine D:)
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This makes me so angry, ugh!!! D:
It's an awful thing to do to a generation of people isn't it!
after years of being told by teachers that, “Writing ‘I’ in a story, is lazy writing!”
To be honest when people refuse to read stories or take them seriously because they're written in first person, I give them a major side-eye.
Your comment made me smile because that's just about the same reaction I get from my friends in writing group whenever this topic is mentioned!
Reply
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Experimenting on children by not teaching grammar? That is beyond appalling. - I know it's terrible to do that to a generation of people isn't it!
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