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Ahhh... You have no idea how awesome it feels to hear it's helpful. Only some teenagers are ready to hear it.
Clear, precise written communication helps everyone, and I love that I get to spend my time helping the next generation share their ideas in effective ways.
I had an English teacher who made us write a 500 word essay every single day for the entire semester. My wrist still crackles when I rotate it, because of how bad the writer’s cramp was.
That was one of the best things any teacher ever did for me. I wish more people had pushed me that hard when I was young.
I love these stories so much! I had an English teacher who would take 10 points off for every "to be" verb you used in any assignment. Most people thought it was ridiculous, but I saw it as a challenge. I learned so much that year, I still refer to her as my Yoda. She actually convinced me to get back into the teaching game after a terrible first job that made me slip into the legal field for awhile.
Is that why you don’t use the concept of “to be” in your writing?
Oh, I use "is," "was," and other "to be" verbs often in speech and even in writing, though I do try to find ways around it simply because I prefer to use more precise language. A "to be" verb is basically an equals sign, i.e. "The job is terrible" could be roughly expressed as "The job = terrible." While that construction is fine and tells the reader something, it would be better to be more specific because what is usually meant is something more nuanced: "The job has me walking around too much, which hurts my legs."