English is an unbelievably hard and frustrating language. This week taught me so much more about sentences, verbs and tenses than I ever could have imagined. As I grew up to understand it, sentences that were more than maybe 50 words or so were considered too lengthy and on the verge of being a run-on. However, while reading in When Words Collide, that notion that I had was quickly shut down. I mean, a 4,391-word sentence written by James Joyce in Ulyssses. What? How is that even possible? How does a sentence go from something as simple as Go. to a 4,391-word mouthful. Not only that, but we have the concepts of fragments and run-ons to deal with. How is a 4,391-word sentence not considered a run-on? English now makes zero sense to me. Maybe I'll buy Rosetta Stone and pick up a new language.
Moving on from sentences, I do have one positive and helpful takeaway from this weeks reading. I have never really understood the whole active and passive voice thing when looking at sentences. However, on page 42 of When Words Collide, there are two sentences that became very helpful to me. They state, "Active voice emphasizes the doer. Passive voice emphasizes the recipient." These sentences laid everything out so simply and helped me understand this concept far better than I have in recent time.
What a class, what a week and what journey this is turning out to be. The motto of my time spent in this class at the end of this semester will be summed up by the following quote; "I came, I tried my best and I now hate the English language."
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone in feeling overwhelmed by our native tongue. I have always felt that I understood the language more than many of my friends, but this course and this week especially has taught me that I am far from knowing all there is to know! Hang in there; we will make it through.
I understand where you are coming from. After I did our 75 question assignment last week I thought about dropping this class because I feel like there is no way I can pass it. I am so far from understanding grammar and sentence structure I feel like I need to do some elementary school homework to try and catch up. I do like how you commented on the passive and active voice. That was the aspect of this week that stood out to me the most.
ReplyDeleteI also know the feeling of being overwhelmed, and Justin, almost wondered about dropping the class. But then I took a step back and tried to give myself a pep talk. I have realized that this is exactly what I need and because of this class, I know I will sound more intellectual and my work will read more intellectually by having this class. I wish that they could be more diligent at teaching high school kids, or even start a lot younger, these rules and be serious and tough about it. I had a great 7th grade teacher that taught me so many great rules that I remember, but after that, I don't think I had very strong English teachers. As hard as it is, I think this class will be well worth our time.
ReplyDeleteThis class makes me feel the same way. Every week I am humbled by how much I do not know that I thought I already knew. There is more to the English language than I ever thought possible. It is like reading "Moby Dick". I now know much more about whales and boats than I ever thought existed, whether I want to or not.
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