Expanding Vocabulary and Improve Grammar Skills

[Nalani Ashmore]

I'm having trouble with sentence structure, so says the "mighty" 12th grade English teacher, Mrs. Johnson, because frankly it's horrible. I'm a product of a lowered academic school, so my grammar and the way I hook sentences together is sub par to most people. This effect has gone on to my current 12th grade class. A boy beside me doesn't even know how to spell technical. He spelled it with a 'K!' Anyway, my point is that is there any help for me to improve or, like my teacher said, am I doomed to write mediocre stories?

[Siddow]

Grammar:

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

Vocabulary:

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/

and feel free to laugh in the face of any teacher who says you are doomed to write mediocre stories. Grammar and vocabulary are the easist things to fix.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend that you buy a Strunk and White. :D

[Nalani Ashmore]

Thank you. I think my cousin has one of their books. She bought me a vocabulary builder, but I haven't been using like I should be. What do you expect. We don't have any real worthwhile classes taught at CHS. We have the main courses -Math, Science, English, Speech, and Drama(sucks). The other courses that are available are Spanish, French, Choir, Band, Home Ec., Music(they just sit and write about what musical they watched and about various composures) and some other courses that I can remember off the top of my head. That's about it for my school. It's sad really.

[Siddow]

The Strunk and White I'm talking about is The Elements of Style. Great little grammar book.

[Nalani Ashmore]

Okay. Next time I go to a book store I'll look for it. I'm just sad that because of what she said, I'm scrapping my NaNo submission until I get better. I just didn't feel into anymore.

[Siddow]

You'll never get better unless you keep writing. You should write and study in tandem. If you need to, keep your work private for a while. I'd hate to see a potential author get squished by some stoopid teacher. :D

(Oh, and now is a good time to grow a thick skin. If you're in it for the long haul, you're going to come across plenty of people who take pleasure in saying 'you suck'. Where you need to pay attention is when someone is saying, 'this is an issue you have, you can work on that, and when you do, you'll get better.' Big difference between that and 'you suck'.)

[Judg]

Don't scrap NaNo. It's not something you have to submit, it's a personal challenge. Do it, do your best, and when you revise it, give every individual sentence a thorough going-over, making sure you understand how and why it's put together (yes, that means being able to identify the subject and the verb, for starters) and that each word is used correctly.

Quite frankly, the grammar you have used is just fine, better than what I've seen in many other posts around here. Your English teacher may know her English but she doesn't know your future and is, in my offended opinion, a pretty rotten judge of your potential. If you are willing to make the effort, and put in the time it takes to learn, you can do it.

And, unlike many other hobbies, the time and effort you put into learning how to write clear, intelligent English will pay off in almost every area of your life, even if you never become a professional writer.

Dedicate your first novel to Mrs. Johnson. Prove her wrong.

[Nalani Ashmore]

That's the bad part. I've already deleted it. But was was thinking about it anyway even before she said that. The other thing that discourages me is the fact that I don't have anyone here in Arkansas that I can physically go to for help with the type of story I'm writing since I live in part of the "Bible belt." I might look for a mentor here, but I don't know just yet.

Judg - Thank you for your inspirational words. I do need to work I'm my grammatical errors and sentence structure.

[WendyNYC]

I'm having trouble with sentence structure, so says the "mighty" 12th grade English teacher, Mrs. Johnson, because frankly it's horrible. I'm a product of a lowered academic school, so my grammar and the way I hook sentences together is sub par to most people. This effect has gone on to my current 12th grade class. A boy beside me doesn't even know how to spell technical. He spelled it with a 'K!' Anyway, my point is that is there any help for me to improve or, like my teacher said, am I doomed to write mediocre stories?


You are not doomed because you apparently care about improving it. Subscribe to "a word a day" websites. They email you a new word every day. Write. Read. You'll get there, I promise. If your teacher said you are doomed, she's a fool.

[WendyNYC]

Quite frankly, the grammar you have used is just fine, better than what I've seen in many other posts around here. Your English teacher may know her English but she doesn't know your future and is, in my offended opinion, a pretty rotten judge of your potential. If you are willing to make the effort, and put in the time it takes to learn, you can do it.
.


I agree with this. Your grammar and spelling seem fine. You even spell "grammar" with an "a" instead of an "e." MANY people miss that one.

[a_sharp]

Hi, Nalani,

In my 12th grade I was in honors English. Whoopee, that got me a lot of extracurricular writing assignments, including yearbook. So what happened? I didn't do so well on my SAT English exam, and my freshman college put me in a grammar class for my first quarter. I had to work my butt off for a B+. I was p***ed at missing first qtr honors but I have never regretted it. Second quarter college I was accepted into honors English which I aced. No brag, I worked for that one too. Point being, what happens in high school should not color your life's work, whether you go to college or not.

I agree with the others here that your posts are well put and proper. We ALL had to read, read, read and write, write, write to get wherever we are as writers. Some of us get it more quickly than others, but that isn't important. What matters is that you already have a support group right here at AW. I just joined Siddow, Judg and Wendy. Please stick around and ask lots of questions.

[Nalani Ashmore]

Thank you for your insight and kind words. But I do have a comment to this.


I agree with the others here that your posts are well put and proper.
Most African American's that live down here in Crossett, Arkansas think I have an accent because I pronounce my words. It's sad how some children now will grow up not knowing how to spell or talk properly.

[Tsu Dho Nimh]

Anyway, my point is that is there any help for me to improve or, like my teacher said, am I doomed to write mediocre stories?

Read good authors and let it soak into your brain.

[shriek]

I had fairly mediocre English language teaching at school--the courses included lots of creative writing but very little in the way of grammar and sentence structure.
But I read a lot, I paid attention to a few rules that people mentioned in passing, and my grammar got pretty darn good. Now I work as an editor for a respected epublisher, and in my own writing I make very, very few grammar mistakes.
Reading good authors and investing in The Elements of Style or a basic grammar handbook will make up for everything you've missed so far. If there's something you're wondering about and you know the key words (adverb, dangling modifier etc) you can usually google it--I find that the sites that know what they're talking about tend to come up first.

[Nalani Ashmore]

I mostly read books that look interesting to me. Which is why I'm reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. If the cover looks good I pick up the book and read the small summary on the back. If it sounds good I'll read it.