Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with writing and english

Difficulty of writing and speaking English?

ragtimepiano — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:25:53 -0800

Is English much more difficult than most languages to speak and to write? I have a good friend who is a high school English teacher. He is frustrated by the many errors in the papers he grades. Some common errors: "Your" for "You are"; misuse of the apostrophe, such as "apple's for sale"; improper grammar such as "Me and him went to the game".
We are wondering if students in other countries speak and write incorrectly as much as American students do? I speak a little Spanish, and I realize Spanish is an elegant, easily pronounced and spelled language, with a grammatical structure that maybe makes more sense than that of English. But French? And how about the convoluted syntax of German?
Multi-linguists of the hive mind, what do you think?

Tell me about this sentence construction

peep — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:23:06 -0800

Tell me everything you know about this sentence construction: "Are you finished your lunch?" In the past few months, I've heard the following three sentences while watching cartoons with my son.

1. "Are you finished your lunch?"
2. "I'm all finished my book."
3. "I'm finished the decorations."

At first I thought the sentence must have been misdubbed or something - like it was written "Have you finished . . ." and there was an error in recording the voice and they just left it. But three times (and on different shows)?

I'm in the US. Is this a regional thing, or common in English speaking countries other than the US? I'm 33, and I had never before heard this construction, nor seen it in print or noticed it in anything I've read on the web.

Have you heard this? Do you use it? Where are you from and what languages do you speak? Any details appreciated.

Some say I have a way with words.

the NATURAL — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:16:31 -0800

You are a paid writer/screenwriter/columnist/blogger. What can you tell me about how to best break into this profession? Now, obviously, talent matters, and whether or not I have any of that good stuff remains to be seen. But are there tips/secrets that you could offer to an aspiring writer as they look to break in to this realm?

For what it's worth, I'm 9 months removed from my B.A., and looking at going back next fall for my M.A. (probably in English, either Lit or Creative Writing) and looking to start freelancing for a local lifestyle magazine. I keep a blog, mostly for my own amusement (clipping entertaining passages from my reading).

Want to write a biography

frosty_hut — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:41:50 -0800

I've fallen in love with a certain older British character actor and want to write his biography...where do I begin? The thing is, I'm not a published author. I'm finishing a novel, but don't have a deal or an agent or ANYTHING lined up yet.

I think the field is pretty wide open for me. I've scoured the Internets and haven't found any evidence that this guy has either written an autobiography himself, or had anything written about his life so far. I don't know if he's a nice guy and approachable, or impossible to get in touch with. I haven't tried. I'm terrified.

My question: How do I approach him? Should I wait until I've published my own book, so I don't look like a complete crackpot and phony and have some minimal publishing credentials (although in another category)?

This is a minor actor, a name most people wouldn't recognize -- but fans of certain of his movies and television dramas might know him. He's more familiar to English audiences. If it makes any difference, I'm American.

Any thoughts appreciated, especially from any writers/biographers out there.

it depends on how you use matters and depends.

Doctor Suarez — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:37:14 -0800

Help explain why my writing partner constantly uses a word in a way I find weird and incorrect. A question that anyone can answer. Okay, I want to start this question off without biasing anything. So, take a look at the following sentences:

"Are you going to stop deleting my MetaFilter posts?" "That _______: Are you going to stop asking questions about cat declawing?"

Okay, what word did you place into the blank? I would put the word "depends" there. My writing partner uses "matters". Is it just me, or is that utterly, totally bizarre? Bizarre to the point where I want him to stop doing it because people reading our scripts might find it bizarre, and I don't want to do anything to take them out of what we're writing. If the reader is anything like me, it looks as weird as if he used the word watermelon.

So, all I can tell you about the guy that is relevant is that we both went to the same college, but I grew up in LA raised by a New Yorker and a San Franciscan, and he was raised in Sarasota FL by a New Jerseyite and a South African. He's a very literate, educated guy. Could it be some weird regional thing?

How can I become a better writer in English?

papalotl — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:19:27 -0800

Help me be a better writer in English (as a second language) I'm a native Spanish speaker. In Spanish, writing is my life. I've been writing short stories, poems and essays since I was a kid. I keep a literary blog and I believe my writing is quite good. I graduated as a journalist and a multimedia producer, I worked as an editor and for a long time I worked creating digital storytelling techniques. Writing and storytelling is what I enjoy doing.

I now live in the US. I've been working in bilingual settings for 10 years and I can translate quite well. My English is fine for everyday communications, email and technical documents. My conversation is OK, I make mistakes and I have an accent, of course. I read voraciously in English, mostly contemporary literature, non-fiction, everything I can get my eyes on. I scored 117 out of 120 on the TOEFL and in general, I have no problem writing short, boring, mediocre copy. It also takes forever: these 4 paragraphs have taken me 40 minutes.

I've tried grammar books, style books, writing technique books... they all seem designed for people who are native English writers. All ESL courses I've found are designed to take people to a functional level.

I feel like I've lost my only superpower. How can I become a good writer in English? Should I take English composition college courses? Any other ideas?

Can you recommend articles on work or the workplace?

alspeigh — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:12:39 -0800

I am a community college English instructor, and I am working on structuring my Comp I class around the theme of work. Can anyone recommend some thoughtful articles, websites, books (easily excerpted), etc. about work or the workplace? Most of my students have limited reading comprehension skills, so I can’t use anything that is too specialized or advanced. I’m looking for articles on the level of Time or Newsweek. Thanks!

Insert a witty title of your choosing.

santojulieta — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:36:05 -0800

What does a copywriter do, and would I like doing it? So, a friend told me she'd recently scored a job as a copywriter with a small travel company, and it got me thinking... What exactly does a copywriter do?

It also got me thinking about the job I have now that I desperately hate and want to quit.

Here's a little about me. I've a degree in psychology and certification and a second major (50ish credits) of English and education. I'm into grammar and writing as well as creative writing. I didn't take any communication or journalism courses in college, but would've if I'd had any extra time.

So, peoplewhodon'tknowmepersonally-fites, would I like being a copywriter? I'm not trying to be romantic about it, and I know I'll likely start out proofreading (which is fine by me.) Where should I look for entry level positions (other than Craigslist?) What about a portfolio?

Kate Chopin's "The Awakening"

madmamasmith — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:43:24 -0800

I am trying to get a better understanding of Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" **Spoiler Alert** I see it as a woman's discovery of her freedom and independence. The main character forsakes her role as wife and mother in late 19th century society and pursues her own happiness. I don’t really understand the juxtaposition of the men in the story. Her husband ,who she escapes, is not violent or demanding and reacts to her leaving rather well by my standards; showing there was little emotional investment in their relationship. Women cant initiate divorce yet I suppose, but Edna does the next best thing by moving out. The object of her affection, Robert, refuses to be with her even though she has left her husband (because he "loves" her).But Alcee Arobin has no problem being private or public with Edna. So what do all these different male characters represent? Please let me know your ideas, Thanks!!

Where Can I Find Self-Reflective Profiles?

themadjuggler — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:27:42 -0800

Where can I find examples of profile-writing that say as much about the profiler as the profilee? This year I will be leading a publication project with my ninth-grade English language arts classes in which they profile members of their community (local artists, musicians, shopkeepers, civil workers, etc.). Hopefully, my students will be able to look at these people's accomplishments/struggles and think about who they want to be in the future and how they will contribute to the community themselves. I want them to strike a balance between writing about their interviewees and writing about themselves, but I can't think of any good works of this genre to use as model texts.

My students have a wide range of academic abilities including some with special needs. There is a significant proportion of English language learners, as the school is in a largely Hispanic neighborhood of Brooklyn. At the very least, we will look at Sandra Cisneros's vignettes in The House on Mango Street, and perhaps Ernesto Quiñonez's Bodega Dreams.

What are your best suggestions for this group of young writers?

How to write movie descriptions?

Foci for Analysis — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:32:45 -0800

How do I write short (ca. 150 words) and engaging descriptions of movies in English without sounding too subjective (I don't want to use the first person POV)? The people reading will be average movie goers. Any tips, examples or links that you can recommend? Many thanks!

The subject verbs the object

sarahkeebs — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 06:46:51 -0800

Explain tenses to me? Past/present/future, continuous/simple/perfect, and so on, in English. I can use them with fluency, but I need to be able to explain them (when each is used, how to form them). I've tried Fowler's, Chicago Manual of Style, and a number of other resources, but they seem to subtly contradict one another. Is there a simple, go-to reference for this?

Suggest some similar similes!

perissodactyl — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 11:19:05 -0800

Help me come up with an evocative simile that conveys a profound but unemotional appreciation of a thing. My existing, imperfect prose is inside for your delectation. The below is not right at all, because a viewer's interaction with a good work of art -- even non-representational modern art -- is fundamentally emotional:

"I admired [thing] as one might admire a painting by Jackson Pollock: I reveled in its complexity and elegance, but abstractly, without emotional investment. "

Any suggestions? Feel free to toy with sentence structure if you wish; nothing is set in stone!

826Indonesia?

mdonley — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:34:25 -0800

What activities can I suggest during a workshop on designing awesome creative writing assignments for overworked ESL teachers to use in class? (In Indonesia?) (With learners across many levels?) (For little/no money?) (Without Powerpoint?) Backstory: we work with a pretty prescriptive, grammar-focused, exam-based curriculum. "Writing" is worth just 10% of a student's mark, and I'd like to make that 10% something they look forward to doing well, not something they have to somehow scramble to achieve. Creative writing - really, anything fictional at all - is currently not on the agenda; the Powers That Be have decided that it's more important for students to write about the, um, more boring aspects of reality. We all want to change this.

The goal of this workshop, then, is to help teachers widen students' literary experience into the realms of what they actually enjoy reading about in the comic books or watching on the soap operas so popular here - drama, romance, fantasy, science fiction: writing from the point of view of a shark, or a sandwich, or a jealous lover, or an alien queen.

Our students range from absolute beginners to "upper-intermediate"/"advanced" levels, but few of our students are older than, say, 25, and many are also enrolled full-time in universities and high schools, and many are enrolled by their parents because their English scores at school aren't so great, so we don't have the most enthusiastic groups of students sometimes, especially among teens.

We don't have internet access for students in any meaningful way at school, but nearly all of our students have access to the internet at home or in internet cafes.

The workshop will last about an hour, so we won't have much time.

Any ideas about making this workshop effective? I'm looking for both effective workshop strategies, and ideas relevant to the topic: creative writing in an ESL context.

Thanks!

Why are people using ellipses instead of a period?

The Bishop of Turkey — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:32:54 -0800

What has happened to people being able to properly use a single period to end a sentence? More and more I'm seeing this thing in email and friends' blog entries where the writer ends a sentence with three to four periods instead of the proper period and a space (or two). These are not sentences that should or would be normally ended with an ellipsis. Now that I am reading the Mark Foley email post on the Blue I am seeing that it is not limited to just a few people.

I'll pull an example out of the Foley email: "I just emailed _....hes such a nice guy...acts much older than his age...and hes in really great shape...I am" and so forth.

Is there something that started this or a reason for it that I am not aware of? This doesn't seem like it is a lazy online writing thing since we're talking 3-4 keystrokes as compared to 2 or 3.

Hand writing and note-taking

Knigel — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 21:36:09 -0800

I am an ESL teacher, and I have several types of classes; however, I have one problem, my handwriting looks as if I were a five year old scribbling with a crayon. So I am curious if anyone might have any suggestions on getting better at handwriting and printing for someone who doesn't have time to go to a course. Also, a second related question, are there any ideas for making conversation corrections? When my students are speaking, I write down various things that they are saying, and make various corrections, or simply offer alternatives, or local dialect. What are some of the most effective and useful ways to do this? If there are any people who have spent any time learning other languages, what ahs helped you most? Thank you all in advance.

What essays for freshman composition?

wheat — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 12:37:04 -0800

Pimp my freshman composition class: what essays would you put on the syllabus? The fall semester is rolling around again. Our college uses one of those custom published text books, for our first-semester freshman composition class. I've never been very happy with the selections (and the lack of support material). There are a few favorites which will surely make the list, but I'm interested in your opinions about other essays, classic and contemporary. The emphasis of the class is essay writing and using secondary sources. The reading focus is non-fiction. These are junior college kids, if that matters to you.

Here are some things I've used in the past and will probably use again: MLK, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant," Lars Eighner's "On Dumpster Diving," Joan Didion's "On Morality," and Olaudah Equiano's "Interesting Narrative."

Pieces dealing with political/ethical quandaries are okay, but I don't want to turn it into a political science class. I also would like to convey that political/ethical opinions come in lots of flavors--not just the polarized versions presented on the cable new shows.

Kiss my 'S-es'.

fucker — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 18:51:11 -0800

What's the deal with expressing ownership on names that end in 's'? If I had a buddy named 'Loveless' and wanted to talk about his pet dog, I would write "Loveless' pet dog". But I would clearly pronounce the exact same sentence like "Lovelesses pet dog". Doesn't that suck?

Good dictionary for a writer?

hootch — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 10:33:55 -0800

Which dictionaries would you recommend as a gift for a writer friend? A writer friend of mine recently mentioned that she needed to get a new dictionary. I thought I'd get her a nice one as a gift since her birthday is coming up. Are there any particular editions that you would recommend? We'll pretend for now that price is no object.

Italics etiquette for CD inserts?

plexiwatt — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 10:57:02 -0800

PunctuationFilter: I'm writing the copy for a CD insert booklet in which the title of a book is mentioned. Typically, I'd italicize it, but the entire piece is already in italics. What's the standard here?

"Normative"

grumblebee — Fri, 21 May 2004 09:53:18 -0800

What does "normative" mean? Is it a useful word? I only ever see it used in obscure, academic writing, which makes me suspect it's worthless. How is it different from "normal"? My dictionary says it means, "Of, relating to, or prescribing a norm or standard: normative grammar." That sounds like "normal" to me, so why not just say "normal"? Can someone give me some clear sentences that use the word -- sentences that are not written in post-modern, complit speak? Can one use "normative" meaningfully in a sentence about real-world things, like butter, eggs or bricks?