Help me please -LC English

Helenm98

Hi,
I'm so depressed cuz I got a D in English today and my teacher gave out to me.
I really suck in English and I'm actually doing Higher level English. It's so hard , Im not capable but i really need to stuck with HL. I know where my weakness are in English and im hoping someone can help me out here a bit please!!

1) i don't get what is analysing a piece of text or a character?? And how to

2) Syntax problem , i have poor syntax , really need to improve it . Websites? Help!

3) clarification of making a point - how to do it good?

Please help me out here guys
Thank you in advance though

Nicole.

Helenm98 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm so depressed cuz I got a D in English today and my teacher gave out to me.
I really suck in English and I'm actually doing Higher level English. It's so hard , Im not capable but i really need to stuck with HL. I know where my weakness are in English and im hoping someone can help me out here a bit please!!

1) i don't get what is analysing a piece of text or a character?? And how to

2) Syntax problem , i have poor syntax , really need to improve it . Websites? Help!

3) clarification of making a point - how to do it good?

Please help me out here guys
Thank you in advance though

Hey, first off, don't worry about it, we all have something that we struggle with, the most important thing is working to fix it

(1) Analysing a text means to look deeper than the surface meaning, it means to think about what it means rather than just telling us what happened. For example, in a lot of texts people have dreams which they don't achieve, what does this tell you about the society which they live? It may tell you that the society which they live is limiting. You give examples, you show exactly where this happens, draw comparisons and show differences. Analysing a character, look at what the character does and figure out why they do this, what is their place in society? Do they try and break out of this place? Is this character successful or do they feel like they have failed in life?

(2) While I'm not sure about websites which would help I would recommend reading short stories or books if you could. You could start reading articles in the paper or online, they could be news stories or lifestyle pieces, anything really. Read about what you're interested in, this will help. Do your best at writing everything, even when posting online try and use correct spelling and grammar, it may help. It's an old trick and sometimes not entirely reliable but I remember a teacher telling me to put a coma when I needed to take a breath when I was writing a sentence. Another tip which will help is to keep your sentences as short as you can while keeping the meaning of sentence in tact. The longer your sentences are, the harder the grammar is to control!

(3) This one in is a little challenging at times, we all struggle to explain what we mean sometimes, but reading over your work will help. Using concrete examples will help if you are talking about a character, you want to say that they are bossy etc, show where they are bossy, and what impact it has. Think about what you are trying to say too and change the wording to make it clearer if you can. Asking someone to read over you work may help too.

Good luck

Helenm98

Nicole. wrote: »

Hey, first off, don't worry about it, we all have something that we struggle with, the most important thing is working to fix it

(1) Analysing a text means to look deeper than the surface meaning, it means to think about what it means rather than just telling us what happened. For example, in a lot of texts people have dreams which they don't achieve, what does this tell you about the society which they live? It may tell you that the society which they live is limiting. You give examples, you show exactly where this happens, draw comparisons and show differences. Analysing a character, look at what the character does and figure out why they do this, what is their place in society? Do they try and break out of this place? Is this character successful or do they feel like they have failed in life?

(2) While I'm not sure about websites which would help I would recommend reading short stories or books if you could. You could start reading articles in the paper or online, they could be news stories or lifestyle pieces, anything really. Read about what you're interested in, this will help. Do your best at writing everything, even when posting online try and use correct spelling and grammar, it may help. It's an old trick and sometimes not entirely reliable but I remember a teacher telling me to put a coma when I needed to take a breath when I was writing a sentence. Another tip which will help is to keep your sentences as short as you can while keeping the meaning of sentence in tact. The longer your sentences are, the harder the grammar is to control!

(3) This one in is a little challenging at times, we all struggle to explain what we mean sometimes, but reading over your work will help. Using concrete examples will help if you are talking about a character, you want to say that they are bossy etc, show where they are bossy, and what impact it has. Think about what you are trying to say too and change the wording to make it clearer if you can. Asking someone to read over you work may help too.

Good luck

Thankx

Helenm98

Hi
What is meant by Psychic landscape ?
I'm study Sylvia Plath

Frigating

Helenm98 wrote: »

Hi
What is meant by Psychic landscape ?
I'm study Sylvia Plath

Basically, it's where she uses something from nature to show how she's feeling and what's on her mind. For example, in Black Rook In Rainy Weather, she's feeling uninspired, and everything for her is dull. She uses the dull, grey scene of a rainy autumn day to show this.

Helenm98

Frigating wrote: »

Basically, it's where she uses something from nature to show how she's feeling and what's on her mind. For example, in Black Rook In Rainy Weather, she's feeling uninspired, and everything for her is dull. She uses the dull, grey scene of a rainy autumn day to show this.

so psychic landscape is like pathetic fallacy right?

Frigating

Pretty much, but don't mention that in your essay as PF is a drama technique only. Psychic landscape can also apply to anything from nature, not just the weather, like in The Bee Box.

Oregano_State

My advice on getting better at English is twofold:

1) Read novels. It doesn't matter what they're about but try a range of authors so you get experience with different styles of writing. Try reading for 30mins every night before you go to bed, increase to an hour after you get used to it.

2) When writing anything, always use proper spelling and grammar. From now on, every text message, email, twitter update and facebook message should be written in full, proper English. This will take a while to get used to but believe me it's worth it.

I guarantee you will dramatically improve at English writing and comprehension if you do these things.

Helenm98

Frigating wrote: »

Pretty much, but don't mention that in your essay as PF is a drama technique only. Psychic landscape can also apply to anything from nature, not just the weather, like in The Bee Box.

Thank you

Helenm98

Oregano_State wrote: »

My advice on getting better at English is twofold:

1) Read novels. It doesn't matter what they're about but try a range of authors so you get experience with different styles of writing. Try reading for 30mins every night before you go to bed, increase to an hour after you get used to it.

2) When writing anything, always use proper spelling and grammar. From now on, every text message, email, twitter update and facebook message should be written in full, proper English. This will take a while to get used to but believe me it's worth it.

I guarantee you will dramatically improve at English writing and comprehension if you do these things.

thank you

spurious

I agree with Oregano_State.

Read, read and then read again.

Read authors of all styles - Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Roddy Doyle, Cecilia Ahern.

If you see what you think is incorrect spelling, grammar or syntax in what you are reading, double check your understanding of it. Perhaps what you think is correct, isn't.

See if you can get your hands on parts 1 and 2 of the 'Exploring English' set of books by Augustine Martin (from ye olde days when I was at school). They are a great collection of all sorts of writing styles - particularly the Prose book.
Part 1 - Short Stories or here
Part 2 - Prose
Part 3 - Poetry

Midkemia

The key to paper 2 is critical analysis, just give your opinion and back it up and you will roll in the marks because what you write will differ to everyone else and make you stand out.

trixychic

Hi guys i don't know if i can help at all but i just want to say i don't think anyone gets every single bit of English. My biggest problem used to be the essays. God i could write a fabulous fiction story. But it was the only one i knew how to do. As much as i tried on the others it just Didnt seem to click in my head. Its no big deal. I made up for it in other wways.

Try not to worry too much bout it all. Easier said than done.

Another thing that i can offer is exam advice. I was Crap at sitting the actual exams.

So i found the best thing for me was the moment you go in to any exam don't even open your paper or look at it. Take some paper and write down everything you can think of. Then go through the paper and write down everything else that comes to mind. Now you have notes at your side that you can resort to when needed.

spurious

trixychic wrote: »

So i found the best thing for me was the moment you go in to any exam don't even open your paper or look at it. Take some paper and write down everything you can think of. Then go through the paper and write down everything else that comes to mind. Now you have notes at your side that you can resort to when needed.

If you do the above, make sure the paper is stamped by the Superintendent and hand it up with the exam paper. You don't want to be accused of bringing in notes. Best idea would be to do it in the front of your answerbook and write 'rough work' at the top of the page, so there can be no doubt.

trixychic

spurious wrote: »

If you do the above, make sure the paper is stamped by the Superintendent and hand it up with the exam paper. You don't want to be accused of bringing in notes. Best idea would be to do it in the front of your answerbook and write 'rough work' at the top of the page, so there can be no doubt.

God yea thanks. I forgot about that. Shows how outta whack i am. Ha