I am a fortunate one to have the opportunity to help people with
their compositions. This is probably because they are very open to
suggestions and feel free to reveal themselves. Though we've seen
compositions coming "aboard" from time to time, not all of them
have received much attention and so ended up as nobody's business.
Such ignorance may be somewhat a reflection on the shyness or
modesty characteristic of most Chinese learners. However, a little
tongue-holding -- or, in our case, finger-holding -- is OK, but the
point is: more should offer their kindly help. It is like the "two
heads are better than one" thing.
While racking up my own brains and laboring over the requests from
people who might really appreciate it, I figure out how hard it can
be to give a perfect revision for a composition and how awkward that
revision may turn out. Typing on this BBS interface is like picking
out eyes. (As you know, for the tiny intervals between lines, lack
of a spell checker, and the frustrating process of composing -- it
all comes down to a stiff neck and strained shoulders.) In the long
run, what I might receive is a letter of appreciation, which is so
much welcomed as a reward of a supposedly unrewarded job.
Okay. Now back to the subject: Composition. First, there are some
facts we need to know. Your teachers are all responsible for helping
you find and solve any problems you will encounter in learning English.
They do not have the right to turn down any requests from students;
they shouldn't play hard to get and boldly run away with their fake
business. You know what, the best way to break them is writing as
awfully as you can and tossing in as many pieces of composition as
possible onto their faces. Once you get to be such a monster, you
turn the tables! For those who may think "I'm not that crazy," I got
this idea for you: you can be your own teacher. Just like what I'm
doing, prepare yourself a book of English usage, a dictionary of
common errors, and most importantly an English-English dictionary with
tons of examples.
If you ask me, big names like Longman, Oxford, Collins, and American
Heritage are all excellent. Any one of them is definitely a must-
have for students of the Department of the English Language. But it
is equally worthwhile having one good dictionary for those who are
not English majors or not into the profession of the language. A
good dictionary can last you for years and provide to-the-point
consultation, which is rarely appreciated under the dominance of
the know-it-all Google. (Google is powerful; it gives a lot of
information in a click. But, on the other hand, don't you think
Google also limits our creativity? We may be having second thoughts
about using a phrase which comes in poor quantity on a go of search,
while not aware of how lively the language speaks!)
In addition to dictionaries, a book of English usage goes a long way.
I used to have Collins English Usage, the best I've ever seen, but
it is not widely available in Taiwan and it's expensive, so I would
like to recommend The American Heritage(http://www.bartleby.com/64/).
The difference between grammar and usage is that grammar is more of
the structure of a language while usage covers detailed points -- you
can regard it as an extension on grammar. And what I've learned from
revising a number of compositions is that most of the compositions
are free of grammar error, but there are too many misused expressions
in them that all boil down to a broken piece of writing, far from the
real English that goes around in the English world. One of the
solutions to such problem is writing in plain English, a style of
writing featuring simplicity and directness. (For more information:
http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/index.html)
Finally, The Dictionray of Common Errors can be loosely defined as a
collection of mistakes. I know Longman has published one of this kind,
which I have and usually keep at hand. The book is very helpful. Here
is one of the entries in it -- I'll just let it speak for itself:
X He is a man of strong personality who will fight for
what is right.
O He is a man of strong character who will fight for
what is right.
When talking about a person's moral quality, use character
(not personality). Compare: "For a career in sales, you
need a forceful personality." "People of character and
integrity never turn their backs on the truth."
I don't know if this article could help. After all I do give some
irrelevant information, such as my aching neck and the Google thing.
Well, but the three reference books I've mentioned are the essence.
p.s. I've shaved some lines and removed the last paragraph in view of
its being too personal. And again inevitably I've made some mistakes
in this article. (Boy, like there's no way I could ever get out of it!)
Last but not least, thanks to sovereignty.
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