I distinctly remember the day in freshman year of high school, walking away from English class where we had received our first papers and several students had gotten marks against them for using personal pronouns, and others including me got marks against them for not providing clear assertions about the work we were reading, just listing facts or writing around the issue.
I was very frustrated. "I can't make an assertion I don't know the factness of. That's just an opinion. But if I write an opinion, how am I supposed to avoid personal pronouns?"
And my friend Casen, without blinking, said, "Just write your opinions as if it were a fact."
And that was another way I learned how the English language can be untrustworthy.
“So much of what happens on the page—the canvas, the stage—is a consequence of what happens away from the work.” Absolutely true. Experiences, time, maturity, books read, films seen…they all inhabit us and emerge in our writing. Another great post, Charles. Thanks.
I distinctly remember the day in freshman year of high school, walking away from English class where we had received our first papers and several students had gotten marks against them for using personal pronouns, and others including me got marks against them for not providing clear assertions about the work we were reading, just listing facts or writing around the issue.
I was very frustrated. "I can't make an assertion I don't know the factness of. That's just an opinion. But if I write an opinion, how am I supposed to avoid personal pronouns?"
And my friend Casen, without blinking, said, "Just write your opinions as if it were a fact."
And that was another way I learned how the English language can be untrustworthy.
“So much of what happens on the page—the canvas, the stage—is a consequence of what happens away from the work.” Absolutely true. Experiences, time, maturity, books read, films seen…they all inhabit us and emerge in our writing. Another great post, Charles. Thanks.