Hi everyone! Another welcome to... Wednesday. Today's post will be about my issues with Grammar.
Welcome to (Grad Writing Program with no prior Grammar Lessons) Wednesday.
So I have learned in my short time in Graduate School so far that I was not taught grammar properly at all in middle school, high school, or undergraduate. I still make the simple mistakes that undergrads do and it's really embarrassing as an English Grad Student. I should not be making these mistakes but I was never taught the correct way to do them before. What I did get (even in high school) was teachers and professors marking my incorrect grammar on my essays and papers, but never explaining to me why it was incorrect and how to do it correctly. Like commas for instance. No matter what I do -whether I use them sparingly or a lot - I always get marked wrong for incorrect comma usage. So now I'm in grad school - in the creative writing program - where my grammar is expected to be nearly perfect, as it should being a grad student in a writing program - but it's not even close to that. Which is a huge problem, obviously. And it makes me feel lesser quality than other students and inadequate as a writer - which I feel is correct in feeling. Since I was never told the "rules" to grammar, my grammar mistakes aren't even consistent. While there are grammar mistakes in just about every paper I write, there are less in some and more in others. And my problems aren't even isolated just to punctuation. They are widespread from punctuation to citations to word choice and spelling. It's quite embarrassing and frustrating because you can't begin to discuss the ideas in the papers and essays until you've gotten past the glaring, grammar issues.
Luckily, I found a professor who will actually sit down with me (like I'm an Undergrad) and go through my essay and all the grammar mistakes I've made. While it may not be ideal, it is what I need right now. So that way I can (hopefully) correct my mistakes before I go further in my degree and begin writing my thesis (or get kicked out). I am so thankful that Ron is willing to do this. I want to approach him about joining my thesis committee because I know I will need someone like him with my writing. Plus I love the guy - he's hilarious and we seem to get along so well, I've found few professors so far that I feel this comfortable with.
Anyways, That's it for Welcome to ... Wednesday. Come back tomorrow for Throwback Thursday!
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