(no subject)

I make a point of starting out my comments on student papers with something positive (I liked how you, a good account of, good attention to, etc.), before I start listing all the things that were done wrong or, at the very least, need work. Sometimes, however, I hit a paper where coming up with that positive thing is a little more, er, difficult than for the other essays.

Would complimenting a student on spelling and a complete lack of semi-colons be too transparent an [insert positive comment here] thing to do?

...

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Bugger.

(no subject)

I hereby declare Since the beginning of time... to have lost its place at the top of my Favourite Unfortunate Essay Beginning list. The new winner?

The farther back in time we travel...

In other news: man, time travel? We didn't get time travel when I took the course!!

*feels gyped*


pea ess: they are killing my soul. send help. or, at least, send smut, because a little porn goes a long way.

(no subject)

Dear well meaning student,

You have implied, a number of times now, that the Normans were worried about their lack of legal claim to the land they took from the Anglo Saxons.

Now.

I'm not sure you understand what happened in 1066. Basically, William the Conqueror came to England and, rather than being bound by pre-existing laws and systems of property, conquered England and took the land away from the Anglo Saxons.

It was kinda his thing. Thus the nickname.

So. Your adorable post-Magna Carta, even-the-king-bound-by-the-rule-of-law mentality aside...you want to take another run at this thing?

Yours,
Yr T.A.