Reading Response: Article Four "Dave Barry on College"

I was very relieved to see the subjects that Dave Barry encouraged his readers not to major in were not subjects I was interested in anyway. I plan to study psychology. His view on the major of psychology was very funny, but seemed true. Psychologist always want to use a rat to compare to human abilities. Every time the rat wins. Put any animal against a human and I bet the rat will win.

I am not going to lie: people who take like a philosophist do seem to be on drugs and on a whole other planet. I tend to pretend to understand and walk away. There is no need to always quote someone and not break it down to those who do not understand a word you are saying. Why try to educate someone if you are not willing to elaborate what it is they are supposed to understand?

I am going to college next year, but like Dave Barry said, all but very few of my hours spent in class will be usless and forgotten. I guess I will take as many psychology classes as the school offers just to learn new things that technically cannot be proven. Psychology interest me and I should be very facinated by what my classmates will try to prove.



Reading Response: Article Three " 7 Bogus Grammar 'Errors' You Don't Need to Worry About"

I find it funny how Ben Yagoda writes that it is okay to start a sentence with a conjunction. Sometimes some sentences do sound better if they begin with a conjunction, but many teachers will make you go back and find another way to start your sentence. I have a problem with ending my sentences with a proposition and not wording things correctly. It is like I know what I am trying to say, but when it is written down in what is supposed to be proper English, it does not look right. See! I did it. The sentence before would sound better if I wrote "It is like I know what I am trying to say, but it does not look right written down in what is supposed to be proper English."

I usually write an English paper in my head before I write it down. The problem with that is I always use a passive voice and assume people know what and who I am talking about. This never fails. A teacher always questions who or what did such and such in the sentence. The passive voice always leads to my wordiness and inability to word sentences in the correct order. It was a relief to know that someone else thinks the passive voice in writings is a grammar error that people do not need to worry about.



I will no longer allow the fixations of bogus grammar errors make me seem like a bad, wordy writer.



Reading Response: Article Two " 7 Grammar Rules You Really Should Pay Attention To"

I must admit that I am guilty of almost all of the grammar rules Ben Yagoda feels are imporant to remember. To be honest, I will never master the rules of verbs like lie verses lay or be able to use the semicolon the correct way. I have a huge issue with making a lot of run on sentenes and placing commas in the wrong place. I became obsessed with the usage of commas when a lot of teachers began to re-teach their students how to use them. All of the rules he brought up are really common mistakes. Sometimes it is easier to write a paper in the form of the way we talk than to have to make sure we use the correct grammar.

The books I have been reading lately probably do not follow the grammar rules. I like to read books that have their own style to them. If the author does no have their own way of talking to their readers, then I do not feel that they should be an author. Each author's voice is different and brings a unique purpose to their books.

An interesting rule Ben Yagoda presented was the subjunctive rule. It makes a lot of sense and was sort of fun. If you are making a fiction statement, say were instead of was. If it is non-fiction statement, say was instead of were. He used the examples of popular commercial songs are important figures in our society. It was a neat rule and I was surprised it was even mentioned in grammar. It seems like there is always a rule for everything that we do, but we do not realize it until we get older.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people use the wrong homophone in their sentence. It happens a lot on Facebook. I feel bad that my biggest pet peeve is a grammar error. I just that homophones are not hard to understand, especially if you are in high school. My cousin purposely uses them wrong just so he can get a reaction. I probably should find a way to get over my homophone pet peeve.