Tim Milburn, who works in student development, has a new website, College Students Rule!, a fine resource in the making.
When Tim asked if I'd like to contribute a post, I was happy to do so. "Seeing Professors Clearly" ponders five misconceptions that prevent students from doing just that.
Update, August 24, 2010: The site appears to be defunct: this piece has a new home in this post.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Seeing professors clearly
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
comments: 6
It's a good article and one that I am going to share with my friends on the faculty here. Perhaps it can be added in to some of the reading our new students do in our required Freshman "Cornerstone" class.
Thank you for your contribution.
PS - my captcha required to post this comment is "bambdzip"
How I wish I'd had all these resources when I was an undergrad student - my first year was also 1975! But if I had, I probably wouldn't be here now. Not dead - just doing something else.
Speaking of advice, is there a "rule" about why "bored OF" is incorrect? I see it more and more, even in my local newspaper and it grates horribly.
Thanks, Tim and Julia. I could've added several (or a dozen) other examples of my undergraduate cluelessness. Now, I sometimes tell my students "I'm just trying to be a person." (I started in 1974 -- that story was from Spring '75.)
"Bored of": Well, we do say "tired of." The difference, it seems to me, is that "tire" isn't a transitive verb. "Bore" is. So you can be "bored by" something, but not "bored of" it. How's that sound?
Thank you, thank you! A transitive verb - I shall remember that. I either never had grammar instruction or I don't remember it but all my knowledge comes by osmosis, from reading. I know what is incorrect but I just don't know why.
(As an army brat, I went to 9 different schools in 11 years in 3 countries so my curriculum (continuity) was spotty at best.)
My word verification is qgcsyja - looks like my Scrabulous (FaceBook) tiles.
I'm back! Sorry, I know I'm not paying for tuition. I looked up transitive verbs at Wikipedia and they say this verb needs an object as well as a subject. However, they don't say what sort of preposition is required to link the verb and the object. So it looks like it is merely accepted use that allows one to be bored WITH something and not bored OF something, since both are prepositions. It still grates.
With a transitive verb, there's no preposition needed. Active voice: "This movie bores me." "Me" is the direct object. Passive voice: "I'm bored."
I don't know how to account for "of" and "with." "I'm bored with" is pretty common usage, I'd say. Like "fascinated with," even if "fascinated by" makes better sense. (If it fascinates you, you're fascinated "by" it.)
Post a Comment