Over Thanksgiving break, I really didn't do much. I ate. I slept. I read non-class related material.
I read mostly popular fiction, mass-marketed paperbacks and other fun, brainless stuff. And I found lots of mistakes. While I read, my brain went on autopilot and started honing in on things like subject-verb agreement, dangling modifiers, case and misused words. Surprisingly, there were a lot of those mistakes. When I read a sentence, I felt like my brain was picking it apart simultaneously, looking for the noun and verb.
But the effects of this class really didn't sink in until last night, when I decided to read for my history and Asian American studies class. I went a little crazy when I saw the word "however" used four times in a page from my journalism history text. And to further feed the flames of my ire, "however" appeared in two sentences in a row. I drowned in readings saturated with sentences in passive voice that could have easily been rewritten. My only relief was an essay written by Helen Zia, a journalist. Surprise, surprise!
Am I crazy? Was the lack of heat in my apartment addling my brain? I hope not. I kind of liked having this hypersensitivity and hope to put it to good use in the future.
6 comments:
So funny you've mentioned this because I noticed all the "howevers" when I was reading our Journalism History book over break, too!
This class has definitely made me more aware of editing mistakes, and has made me more irritated with the rest of the world than ever before! Still, I must admit that while I notice when something is wrong more frequently than I used to, I still can't pinpoint why it is wrong. I basically have a hard time remembering terms like "dangling modifier" and "gerund." Yet, I know this class has helped me become a better editor, even if I don't know how to describe terms from it.
Some of my favorite books have major spelling and grammar mistakes. What bothers me most is when a word is just missing a letter. How could someone not catch that?
I usually find, when I am looking over other people's assignments, that most people use however as their go-to word. I am not sure if they think it sounds intelligent or "paperly", but usually they use it incorrectly and much too often. We are not old British professors! Stop using however so often!
I have such a huuuuuge problem with "however." I'm constantly looking for different ways to say the same thing, because "however" is always the first word that comes out of my head/mouth/fingers.
I remember reading the book for I think J405 and for one sentence it was literally not a complete sentence. I was astounded that an educational book had an error that bad.
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