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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Dec 29, 2011 14:56:15 GMT -5
No one is a perfect English major -- we all have our weaknesses within the subject, be it writing, grammar, reading, or literary analysis.
So this is a place to confess our armadillo sins (or whatever you'd like to call them) and be absolved (or forgiven, or accepted, or agreed with, or again, whatever you'd like to call it). No judgment, no flogging, no hail Marys.
So, to get the ball rolling:
I got through most of college without doing 75% of the homework. Reading, responses, essays -- you name it, I probably didn't do it. It's easy to blame it on the ADD, but the main point is that, when asked to do something, I suddenly don't want to do it. So, when asked to read a piece of literature that I've been wanting to read, I suddenly... don't want to read it. So I didn't. So there are huge gaps in my literary library which I am now (without the aid of a classroom or professor) trying to fill.
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Post by Marina on Dec 29, 2011 16:54:57 GMT -5
I barely know the rules of grammar. I'd like to use the excuse that English is my second language. Also, the fact that grammar isn't really taught in the American schools, at least not after fifth grade (when I came to America). Everything I've picked up about grammar rules has been either self-taught or my brain learning sentence structure from reading and practice. So, can anyone recommend a good grammar book?
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Post by andreaisabbbw on Dec 30, 2011 5:50:00 GMT -5
I only passed one out of my four English classes this semester. *sobs in a corner in shame*
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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Dec 31, 2011 2:30:49 GMT -5
I only passed one out of my four English classes this semester. *sobs in a corner in shame* *hugs* |
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jan 4, 2012 18:26:03 GMT -5
I never read for class. Well, that's a lie. I will skim and browse a bit, but rarely actually read the full book for class. I've gotten through five years of college, four years of high school, and three years of middle school, been required to study over one hundred books, and I think I can count the number of books I've actually read on both hands using only fingers.
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Post by mykelblank on Jan 6, 2012 1:28:45 GMT -5
I am really bad with punctuation. For a long time I had no idea how to use a semi-colon, and I was the coma queen. I could would write a paragraph length piece of text that only had two periods because I used comas everywhere.
I've gotten better recently using online aids like Purdue Owl, and paying real close attention to what my English professors mark off.
I also use to start Every Single Word With A Cap just because I thought it looked nice. It took a while to stop doing that, but I'm better now.
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Kori
Young Armadillo
Posts: 51
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Post by Kori on Jan 6, 2012 3:31:56 GMT -5
I have so many sins, especially before I got to college. I have issues with grammar, which I am lead to believe is not entirely my fault because of a faulty primary school education, but I seriously didn't know how to use a semi-colon or even what an Oxford comma is before I was told. Usually after doing something wrong. I didn't even know that dialogue should have a comma instead of a period before a speech tag!
And literary analysis. Oh my god, I never knew how bad I was at critical thinking before asked to analyze something. I've gotten better through practice and a lot of reading other's essays, but I am convinced I am still lacking something fundamental.
I also have great gaps in my literary knowledge. I just never had to read most of what is considered "literature," in high school, or was too busy reading something fun, so when I got to my literature classes in college, I had no idea what was going on when everyone busted out their English Major cred. I've been trying to force myself into reading more of them; I've finally read The Great Gatsby and most of Jane Austin's novels, but I still feel so behind...
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Post by andreaisabbbw on Jan 6, 2012 17:04:04 GMT -5
I still make a ton (and cringe-worthy) mistakes in my grammar. But the great thing about being an English major is that you're always learning!
I must also confess that I hate assigned reading (which is horrible because that is what being an English major is about). If I have it in my brain that I have to read it, I won't read it, or very reluctantly do so.
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jan 6, 2012 18:54:05 GMT -5
I'm too lazy to go up and quote everything I wanna respond to. REGARDLESS:
RE: Literary analysis - I was horrible at it, too. Then I took ENGL 331 at my school, which is American Literature: 1830-1860. Something just clicked in that class and I managed to start finding more connections to other literature. I think part of it was because, at that point, I had a better literary foundation than I had had in previous years. Once you get a basic foundation, you can start being all "OMG I REMEMBER THAT FROM THIS NOVEL" or "This reminds me of "The Yellow Wallpaper" because X-Y-and-Zed." It's weird, but it'll happen. And I felt so pleased with myself when it did. It gets easier, though; no worries.
RE: Finally reading The Great Gatsby - THIS BOOK BORED ME HALFWAY THROUGH. I started reading it last summer for the very first time. I even took a pen to it, as if to make up for the fact that I hadn't read it before then. Even so, it was great at the beginning, then dwindled off. I can't even remember what it's about. I went into it knowing nothing about it, aside from the fact that there was a guy named Gatsby and he had a car, a woman he loved named Daisy(?), and...that was it. Oh, and Gatsby threw parties. That's literally everything I knew going into the book. And right now, that's pretty much all I can still tell you. Bleh.
RE: Jane Austen - Never read any of her books. I studied Emma (I think that's by her?) but never read them. I actually want to read some of her stuff, though, so I'll get around to it. ...Eventually. How did you like them?
RE: "But the great thing about being an English major is that you're always learning!" - Quoted for truthiness.
RE: Assigned reading - Most awful part about being an English major. I think that if professors gave us a list of books to choose from for our classes, or asked us which off the list we wanted to study and which we already HAVE studied, our lives would be much more awesome. There are plenty of books out there that I would rather be studying over Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations for the sixth time.
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Post by sammybluejay on Jan 6, 2012 21:22:49 GMT -5
THE YELLOW WALLPAPER IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SHORT STORIES OMG okay now that I've gotten THAT out of my system...
My analyzing (almost wrote "analyzation" then realized that's probably not a word) has gotten SO much better over the last few years. I look at the analyzing I did for assignments in first year and, like, cringe. I can't believe I did as well on some of those assignments as I did. But really, practice is perfect for that kind of thing, and if you're in school for English you may be lucky enough to get a prof who really helps you out - I certainly had that. Something about my Victorian Lit prof and the way he lectured and created his assignments helped me out HUGELY and it's definitely thanks to him that I've improved as much as I have. There are still times where I really struggle though.
If you haven't read any Jane Austen before I would definitely recommend starting with Northanger Abbey! It's definitely one of her lighter books, since the entire thing is a satire of gothic horrors. You really get a good sense of her wit and her humour in that one, and it's fairly short as well. The first novel I read by her was Sense & Sensibility, and it was OKAY, and then I read Northanger Abbey and went back to S&S and I actually enjoyed it a LOT more.
That being said, I don't know about you guys, but it seems to me like every English major I know in real life LOVES anything that has come from the Romantic Period. I absolutely do not agree. I always find that I really struggle through any novel written in that era - the poetry is a little better, I can enjoy the poetry, but I can't do the novels. I mistakenly took a course on it in second year and I hated my life the entire time. The only novel I even slightly enjoyed was Zofloya by Charlotte Dacre, and part of that was because it was kind of ridiculous and over the top.
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Post by andreaisabbbw on Jan 7, 2012 1:15:18 GMT -5
RE: Assigned reading - Most awful part about being an English major. I think that if professors gave us a list of books to choose from for our classes, or asked us which off the list we wanted to study and which we already HAVE studied, our lives would be much more awesome. There are plenty of books out there that I would rather be studying over Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations for the sixth time. UGH SO MUCH YES. Unless you're taking a course with specific material to be studied (like Marriage and the Home in Victorian Lit or Metaphysics in Post-Modern Poetry), most English professors just recycle the same novels. Yes, we all know that the classics are classics for a reason, but some variety would be nice. I'd be more interested in reading The House of the Seven Gables rather than the standard of reading The Scarlet Letter for Hawthorne. And I agree, it'd be so much better if our reading lists were based on books we've already read. SO. MUCH. BETTER. |
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Tanith
Armadillo Pup
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Post by Tanith on Jan 7, 2012 11:59:56 GMT -5
More than one of my assignments this semester were written with some serious help from vodka.
Also, the first time I read The Sun Also Rises for class, I totally missed that Jake was impotent. I don't know where my brain went, but I finished the entire novel without ever realizing he was impotent. Essentially, I missed the whole point of the novel. That awkward moment when your professor says in class, "You all got that Jake's castrated, right?"...
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Kori
Young Armadillo
Posts: 51
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Post by Kori on Jan 10, 2012 1:46:02 GMT -5
RE: Jane Austen - Never read any of her books. I studied Emma (I think that's by her?) but never read them. I actually want to read some of her stuff, though, so I'll get around to it. ...Eventually. How did you like them? I have to say, I'm realizing why everyone else loves her so much. I finished Emma not too long ago myself, and once I got over our title character being a meddling idiot, I couldn't put the book down. |
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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Jan 10, 2012 2:07:02 GMT -5
RE: Jane Austen - Never read any of her books. I studied Emma (I think that's by her?) but never read them. I actually want to read some of her stuff, though, so I'll get around to it. ...Eventually. How did you like them? I have to say, I'm realizing why everyone else loves her so much. I finished Emma not too long ago myself, and once I got over our title character being a meddling idiot, I couldn't put the book down. is my FAVORITE. Also fun: Watching Clueless and comparing them scene-for-scene. |
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jan 10, 2012 14:02:25 GMT -5
For some reason, I am completely unsurprised. |
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