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Recently, I've been despairing of James's writing. His creative writing is wonderful -- he has an amazingly wide-ranging imagination, and an ear for poetry. His more formal writing, however, is a problem. (It doesn't help that for some reason the school starts out with literature first semester freshman year, NOT composition.) He has wonderful ideas, but his organization and grammar are often jumbled at best, incoherent at worst.
One problem is that through middle school people told him how brilliant he was -- which, by the standards of what was required for middle school, he was -- that he gets defensive and restless when faced with criticism. And he has accused me of being a "grammar nerd," a title I claim with pride, although I recognize that my qualifications are not as impressive as most grammar nerds I know.
So it was with a great deal of pleasure that I got into a discussion with him today -- which he initiated -- about how absolutely infuriating it is when people misuse apostrophes.
One problem is that through middle school people told him how brilliant he was -- which, by the standards of what was required for middle school, he was -- that he gets defensive and restless when faced with criticism. And he has accused me of being a "grammar nerd," a title I claim with pride, although I recognize that my qualifications are not as impressive as most grammar nerds I know.
So it was with a great deal of pleasure that I got into a discussion with him today -- which he initiated -- about how absolutely infuriating it is when people misuse apostrophes.