Showing posts with label English Language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label English Language. Show all posts

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Writing Sample

As part of an application to an MFA program I must submit a writing sample. This writing sample, as you might guess, is the most important piece of the application. It needs to be 25-30 pages long. And it needs to be my best writing.

I have folder upon folder of writing on my hard drive, but nothing I would feel comfortable submitting as my writing sample. It is necessary that I start from scratch. So, on Friday, I started in earnest. That was a big step for me. I had procrastinated long enough.

Please tell me to stop if I start blogging a lot this summer. It will take me all summer to do this and although I wish I could use my blog as my writing sample, I don’t think that would help my chances of being accepted into a program. After all, I’ve been first-drafting everything on this website since I started blogging in 2005. Any successful writer will tell you that first drafts are shit. I don’t plan on submitting shit. 

Thursday, May 07, 2009

The GRE

I took the GRE. I didn't get a perfect score. I wasn't expecting a perfect score. I wanted a score that would leave me happy. I wanted a score that would leave me feeling like it wasn't necessary to take the GRE again. I wanted to be over and done with the GRE last Thursday. 

That's exactly what happened. 

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Random Sentences with GRE Vocab

The professor intended to abase me with her criticisms of my short story.

The pain abates as I swim more regularly.

At the last possible second, Cheney abdicated his position and the Veep’s residence became visible on Google Earth once again.

(The following sentence was the example given on the vocabulary card for aberrant.) Since he had been a steady, cheerful worker for many years, his fellow postal workers did not expect his aberrant burst of rage.

USA Swimming is holding Michael Phelps in abeyance for taking a hit off of that bong.

People thought he had abjured his Christian faith when they found out he voted for a Democrat.

He absconded from the sanctuary because the sermon was awful.

His appetite for cheese was abstemious to begin with, but he abstained from eating it throughout lent.

That man’s belly button is an abyss. I am sure his love for donuts resulted in an accretion of that gaping hole.

It was supposed to be the acme of cheese, but its acidulous finish made Bryce puke.

He adulterated everything he touched.

I had a smug look on my face as I advocated the vegetarian diet.

Aerie is a word that is commonly used as an answer in crossword puzzles.

After seeing his artwork, I was convinced he couldn’t have been a part of the aesthetic movement.

How could Bill’s love for Hillary not be affected?

Some are worried that Obama is seeking to aggrandize government.

His alacrity aided him in his Jeopardy victory.

My noise cancelling headphones helped to alleviate the incessant noise from your mouth.

He amalgamated the ingredients for his favorite cookies.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Math and a Donnybrook

I took the GRE diagnostic quiz. My performance in said quiz was of the caliber of my performance on tests in Java class in college. That is to say, I didn’t do so well, but I find myself enjoying the studying. It has been years since I have done basic algebra. Doing a little math everyday has been enjoyable. The thing about math that I always enjoyed is that there is no gray area. An answer is right or wrong. Yeah, my answers are often wrong, but I feel so great when I get the right answer because there was no room for mistakes and I made none. There aren’t too many things you can do in life that are free of mistakes, even when you are doing the right thing.

My performance in the verbal section is better than the quantitative. However, words like donnybrook and sapience threw me for a loop in the diagnostic quiz. I’ll leave sapience for you to look up or maybe you know it. Maybe you know both. Congratulations.

Here is:

donnybrook

noun

a scene of uproar and disorder; a heated argument : raucous ideological donnybrooks.

ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from the name of a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, formerly famous for its raucous annual fair.

Monday, April 14, 2008

This Unbelievable

From last week's NY Times Book Review of Michael Kinsley's new book Please Don't Remain Calm: Provocations and Commentaries:


Kinsley deserves special credit for exposing the curious syntactical tic that has made television news abolish all forms of the verb "to be," including "'is,' 'are,' 'am,' even 'were' and 'was.'" He quotes Lou Dobbs on CNN: " 'Top government officials today adding their voices to the call for Americans to remain vigilant.' (I not kidding: These his opening words on that evening's program.)"