Comments on: Confessions of an English Tutor: The Two Writing Errors EVERYBODY Makes

By: Ronald Gary

Ronald Gary — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 07:21:00 +0000

Student should learn good thing from the tutor, grammatical errors may occurs in English.Pureassignments.com for the writing purpose of high education system schools, collages.

By: Basic Good writing | JumpStart Writing Institute

Basic Good writing | JumpStart Writing Institute — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 20:17:58 +0000

[…] Confessions of an English Tutor: […]

By: Nick Thacker

Nick Thacker — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:42:00 +0000

I never hated writing for the fear of making errors — it was because I never enjoyed the topic. I can’t remember ever having a “free writing” assignment… it was always a persuasive essay on such-and-such that I didn’t care about.

By: Nick Thacker

Nick Thacker — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:42:00 +0000

Love this!

Thanks, Ronald!

By: Nick Thacker

Nick Thacker — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:41:00 +0000

Thanks Liz — it’s always hard to catch everything, you know? Thanks for dropping by!

By: Nick Thacker

Nick Thacker — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:40:00 +0000

Thanks for the awesome post, Jessica! It’s been pretty well-received!

By: Jessica Ruane

Jessica Ruane — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 02:39:00 +0000

I completely agree Ronald. But I would argue that you must understand the rules before you can manipulate them. Intentional fragments (like the beautiful example you gave) are very effective but only when the writer has complete and utter contol over their prose.

Gotta learn the rules, and then you can break them!

By: Ronald Fischman

Ronald Fischman — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 22:30:00 +0000

Alas! Writing for the typical community college audience distorts the imagination; Steinbeck would have been SO busted in this classroom! Any discussion of run-ons and fragments should include counter-examples; i.e., And the water pooled on the cracked earth. Here is an example from The Grapes of Wrath that combines with a series of improper sentences to create a sense of dread and even panic that can't be treated in an essay on basic grammar!

By: Jessica Ruane

Jessica Ruane — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:30:00 +0000

Thanks for the correction, Liz! It has been duly noted. 🙂

By: Liz Carmichael

Liz Carmichael — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 01:11:00 +0000

I should add that everything else makes total sense, and how to fix these grammatical errors is made clear.

By: Liz Carmichael

Liz Carmichael — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 01:08:00 +0000

Um… It’s – without further “ado” not “adieu”. But you’re not writing about spelling 😉

By: Jessica Ruane

Jessica Ruane — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 01:02:00 +0000

Hi Daphne, thank you for leaving such a thoughtful comment. I couldn’t agree with you more on the importance of encouraging students to write freely, and without regard to mistakes. At writing center I worked in, we constantly stressed to our students that writing is a process, and that they should strive for progress not perfection in their writing.
Unfortunately, many students have a lot of fear and insecurity when it comes to their writing. The “teaching error” you mentioned is an all too frequent occurence which leaves students feeling ashamed of their skills, and disconnected in the classroom. I think it is incredibly important that teachers strive to create a safe space within the classroom where students feel supported and comfortable.
Writing teachers should always reinforce higher order concerns and focus on the ideas being expressed before honing in on grammar and spelling. I have worked with so many students who were victims of a professor’s overzealous use of the red pen and seen how damaging criticism can be to a student’s motivation and progress.
Thank you for adding to the conversation!-Jessica-

By: Jessica Ruane

Jessica Ruane — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 01:00:00 +0000

Unfortunately, many students have a lot of fear and insecurity when it comes to their writing. The “teaching error” you mentioned is an all too frequent occurence which leaves students feeling ashamed of their skills, and disconnected in the classroom. I think it is incredibly important that teachers strive to create a safe space within the classroom where students feel supported and comfortable.

Writing teachers should always reinforce higher order concerns and focus on the ideas being expressed before honing in on grammar and spelling. I have worked with so many students who were victims of a professor’s overzealous use of the red pen and seen how damaging criticism can be to a student’s motivation and progress.

Thank you for adding to the conversation!
-Jessica-

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 14:44:00 +0000

This is an excellent explanation of two common errors in English. (Jessica, I agree – I see these mistakes all the time.) But if your students HATE writing, don’t you think it might be because they are scared of making mistakes? This is the type of teaching error that I see all the time!

I think it’s far more important to encourage students to speak and to write and not to worry about mistakes until they get to the editing stage of their writing. The FEAR of making mistakes is a huge barrier to most writers. It’s important to keep reminding writers that (a) editing is an essential stage of writing, and (b) they should NEVER edit WHILE they write.

By: Friday Features #24 - Yesenia Vargas

Friday Features #24 - Yesenia Vargas — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 21:48:55 +0000

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