You spent hours on your essay. You look lovingly at it. You are extremely satisfied with the last edit. Such creation deserves to be posted and be corrected as you know that as a non native speaker, surely there must be tons of mistakes in there. With great hope you posted it.
You check on your essay now and then to see if there is any correction made. No correction at all. Still waiting... The day passes and none to be seen. Well, you say to yourself, it must be a great piece of writing. So perfect that no one made any correction. Days passed and the result remained the same as before. You asked yourself, "Did I really do such a great job?" Of course I did. With great confidence, you write more but still no correction. Soon you have nagging doubts... "What if no one cared what I wrote?"
Maybe you began to write an essay filled with errors as a test. Again no correction! This is not right at all. How come nobody corrects my essay? Is it because they don't like me? How can that be? I am always a nice and warm person! My profile picture must be at fault!
Well then, if all these sound familiar to you, then you are not alone. Why some essays remain uncorrected? Here are some reasons.
1. It's simply too long! No one is paid to correct your essays here. The
length of the essay will turn off most people especially when it is dry and dull.
2. It's simply too dry and boring. Many entries are written daily here.
No one is going to spend their time correcting dull, long winded and pedantic
essays. This perception is different for different people. Each of us has our
own interests. For example, I do not like to correct essays on economic GDP
of some country or analysis in a company report unless they are requests
from friends. Some people will not correct poetry but I will. For a example, see
this entry from Anatasia.
http://www.italki.com/notebook/entry/147288.htm#ST
3. It's simply nonsense. Some people think that they are clever and witty
by writing a repeated simple phrase all the time. For example, "I love
English, I love English... I will not take a second look. You are doing a
disservice to yourself; makes you look like an idiot; someone who is not keen
and serious in learning that language. No one will help you.
4. It's simply not kosher. Do not write controversial topics such as your
personal negative aspects on religion or politics; sex or race etc. These
are sensitive and inappropriate for public consumption. Send as private
messages to your friends instead.
5. It's simply too short. At a first glance, this seems to contradict #1 but
this is not so. It could be in that short sentence there is no error. If you are
afraid of people correcting your errors, simply don't write and post it on ITALKI.
One must be thick skinned in order to learn and improve.
6. It's simply inappropriate. Similar to #4 but is written in a style that sounds
more like a personal ad looking for some hook up. This is not a solicitation site.
For example, "I am a nice girl from China". Why the hell would you want to write
this if you have a picture of you indicating your sex clearly? Of course you are
nice. This is redundant. Sometimes it is understandable if your native language
allows such salutation. However in English, this is not the case. You should not
include your age and other personal information as your introductory essay. In
English, this construes as a solicitation unless you are a child which most of us
here on ITALKI are not.
7. It's simply a piece of homework or an assignment. We can tell straight
away if this is so. First of all, your teacher is not stupid. He or she knows the
level of your command of the language. If you really want it corrected, at least
give a disclaimer in the beginning. People are more than willing to help. Just
be up front and your sincerity and honesty will be felt by others regardless of the
reason. No one likes to be duped. This is simply manners.
8. It's simply not courteous of you. Whenever someone spends their time in
correcting your essay, it would be well mannered of you to say at least a thank
you. After awhile, your impoliteness will turn off most people. It would also
because without any feedback, it is safely to assume that you don't agree with
their correction. No need to beat a dead horse anymore. Remember we are
not paid for this kind of work. It is our perogative if we want to correct. Having
feeback is extremely important for everyone. It would be better if you reply in
the comment box than writing a personal thank you note because then
everything is in one place. Other readers cannot see that private message.
They may think otherwise of you and would not want to spend their precious time
on you.
9. It's simply laziness. You refuse to pay attention in capitalizing proper nouns
and your 'I's; disregarding the proper punctuation spacing rules, nitpickers like me
will not correct your entry unless its contents are so interesting that I cannot resist.
The mechanics of a language is extremely important and they are the visual facade
to your expressions. If you do not follow the conventional rules, it would be like a
beautiful girl with bad breath. No one likes to near a foul smelling person!
Sometimes, it is not your fault. Either you do not know the rules or it is the fault of
your teacher in not transmitting this knowledge to you. I cannot believe that you
have this sort of irresponsible instructor! Anyway you have no excuse now. Here
are some links for you to peruse.
http://www.italki.com/knowledge/page/Mechanics%20Of%20The%20English%20Language.htm
http://www.italki.com/knowledge/page/On%20Capitalization.htm
http://www.italki.com/knowledge/page/Common%20English%20Errors.htm
10. It's simply too negative. Once in a while, writing a negative essay is fine but
if you continually to complain all the time, people will tend to shy away from you.
11. It's simply recalcitrancy on your part. When someone corrects your mistake,
for goodness sake, remember it and not commit again in your subsequent essays.
If you do not, it only shows that you are not serious in your learning. You are simply
using us a tool for polishing your work. No one likes this. Of course, we can tell if
an honest mistake is made and if you are listening to our counsel. Whether you
agree with our assessment or not, it does not matter, we have the perogative in
not in not correcting your essay. Yes. it is this simple.
12. It's simply too slangy. Treat your note entry as a formal essay. This not
your private message or a place to show off your command of slang. Again
you are doing a disservice to yourself. Many of us will ignore such kinds of
writing. It only shows your callousness and is not serious in your learning
for the language. Your entry will just be scanned and ignored. Not everyone is
lucky or rich enough to move to acountry to learn the language. Learning from
corrections in an essay is the cheapest and most convenient way for both
sides to learn and teach. This is place is for those who want to learn the
proper language of the "elite". So don't fritter your time in such triviality.
13. It's simply proselytizing your religious and politcal views. You should
refrain from doing so. Many people perceive that you are trying to change
their personal views. Do not say, how good a Christian/Muslim/Buddhist etc
you are and how God saves everyone. Keep such personal stuff to yourself.
Now here are some of the "do's" to help your essay corrected more often.
1. Write something personal that everyone can relate to, in other words,
common experience. For example write about how great your
grandmother is. Almost everyone has one to relate to. Humans by nature
is gossipy and curious. They want to know something in general of your
personal life. Here is an example of what I mean. This is an entry written
by Wa.I, about his favourite toy.
http://www.italki.com/notebook/entry/138233.htm#ST
2. Write something that is unusual or something of interest. This can
mean many things. Perhaps unusal food, recipies, something unique about
your hometown. How about some interesting facts or observation. I
remembered someone wrote on St. Petersburg's bridges. I did not know
that they are all movable. When night falls, people wishing to get out of the
city are stranded. This because all bridges are raised, a tradition started in
days of yore to prevent the city from being invaded in the night!
3. Write something of delight. Everyone wants to be happy and cheerful.
This includes stories, jokes, an experience that will lift the spirits of others. We all
worked hard and most of us hate our bosses. So something to lit up our
faces are always welcomed. Everyone loves to hear a good story.
4. Write something creative. Creative writing is one of the most read
ones. Many has different levels in the command of the language that they are
learning. Some are more advanced than others. They would like advice from
native speakers so that they can learn and improve. I will always assume that
this is the case and no one are not here to show off their literary talents.
5. Always write something you know. If you don't know what it is, your
can never express well in your writing. I learnt this from the classic movie,
"I Remember Mama", about a young girl wishing to become a writer.
6. Write something that is unique and stands out from others. After
thousands upon thousands of self introductions - I am so and so, coming
from XXX, aged ???, it becomes very stale to correctors and will be
skipped. Try a different angle of introducing yourself. Try a different angle.
Make your first statement a bold and controverisal one. This catches the
eye of readers.
7. Make your title interesting. Take a trick from advertisment! Your
essay is nothing more than a product in this environment where you want
to catch the attention of correctors and readers alike. You need to seduce
them into clicking into your blurb and see what you write.
Here are just some of the do's and don'ts I can think of right now. I will be adding more in the future. Of course I will be glad that others add their opinions. I have intended this to be an open collaboration.
For learning
English | Category
Tips | Level
A1: Beginner |
Second language
English | Created
Nov 17, 2011 13:55 | Views
387 |
| |