February 20th

Today was fun and frustrating and filled with "oh wells". Then again what day isn't?

My wardrobe is lacking a certain classy area to it. Basically I have a ton of casual tops (plus some geeky ones) and jeans. First world problems eh? (Oh no the Canadian in me is reappearing! Craving maple syrup and Eastside Mario’s pizza.) Moving on, yes as much as I love my punk "Don't Care" look I felt need for a boost a change. What was my solution? Shopping! At the docks! With Kate!!!

Surprise! The two of us ran into Jaimie on her way out. Oddly enough she was going shopping too, though she had a better reason than spoiled vanity. Jaimie's birthday is next week and her twin sister Sam is travelling to France so that they can celebrate it together. Sam decided ( a little last minute) that the two of them should be formally dressed for the occasion. Thus poor Jaimie was on the hunt for a cute black dress. Spoiler, she bought one.

The three of us decided to tag along together and explore Les Docks array of clothing options. I made out pretty well actually; a black skirt plus two white tops is a decent deal in my book. Kate even bought a few clothes (though she went in with the idea of window shopping) that suited her beautifully. I had fun shopping with both of them and I feel as though they did as well. Then again I'm often in my own head so I have no idea if that's how they felt. Let's just say that they had fun, makes this sweeter.

I did have to ditch out early due to Lexicology being at one o'clock. Darn, and I was just looking forward to sitting down to a decent lunch too. I ate on the go (literally while I walked) to university and tried a new food. There was a pastry called a chocolate croissant at La Petit' Boulangerie and I had never seen it there before. I was intrigued and bought it along with a sandwich. I grabbed a bottle of coke from the supermarket, way cheaper. Anyhow I tried the chocolate croissant and it was alright. Couldn't hold a candle to a pain au chocolat but not a bad

pastry. I probably won't buy another one in the future, just saying.

-If you're in any way from an area of the world known as Britain please do not read past this point. My knowledge is of American English and does not coincide with British grammar. Also I'm stubborn and refuse to edit my rants.-

Lexicology was the frustrating aspect of my day (oh well). See either my professor loathes me, likes me but uses tough love, or is socially awkward towards me because she always seems to be in a bad mood around me. I understand that I'm the only Anglophone in the class which does make it easier for me to understand the concepts but that doesn't give her the right to not like me. It is possible that she believes me to be a smartass (wise judgment) due to my bored natural expression and lack of care. However I do care it's grammar and I freakin' love the stuff. Sure I don't have perfect grammar (never use this blog as an example) but I enjoy learning the rules and concepts. Just another quirk on the list audience.

Today in class she was once again incorrectly using the word "round" as a preposition (oh well). See in spoken English we occasionally say "round" rather than "around" just as we say "sorta" rather than "sort of". Nevertheless written English (except for dialogue and this blog) follows formal grammatical rules meaning slang does not apply. It is "around" lady, please become accustomed to it. She had a statement on the board (we were diagramming sentences) that read, "He came round to see us." We were supposed to identify the parts of speech for the words "come", "round", and "us". The class went through the answers but became stuck on "round" (oh well). Personally had it been "around" I believe the meaning would have been clearer. Nope, this occurred.

            My professor, "Well see it is a preposition but, well "to" is the preposition of the sentence. It is odd that there are two prepositions in the sentence this doesn't often happen in English grammar."

            I shook my head (oh well).

            My professor, "Really? Give us an example."

            Me, "Alright...I'm going up to Canada. There, double preposition." (oh well).

            My professor rolls her eyes.  Her, "I meant using the preposition 'round'."

            I mutter how there is no such thing. She decides to tack on, "What this is here is a participial preposition since 'round' functions as an adjective of 'to'."

            My jaw drops (oh well) and my professor loses all credibility as an English grammar expert (oh well). Wow just wow. (Uh...oh well?)

Really the sentence doesn't need "round" at all, it is simply an extra preposition. The sentence "He came to see us," works just fine and keeps the intended meaning. A participle is an adjective (sometimes an adverb) with an -ing or -er ending (there are exceptions) that is attached to an infinitive verb (my favorite example "boring!"). A participial preposition is when a participle is used as a preposition in a sentence (e.g. considering, provided, given). Just for kicks, what do prepositions do?

A simple definition is that prepositions create/bridge a relationship between two parts of the sentence (nouns, noun phrases, or verbs). Example, I'm going to school. "To" is the preposition linking the transitive verb "going" with the noun "school". Round isn't a participle (do you see er or ing?!) therefore it isn't a participial preposition; the sentence already contains the preposition "to" therefore it isn't needed; "round" isn't actually a preposition thus making it pointless in written grammar. Even if it were "around" it would not be necessary and would function only as an extra piece of flare. Welcome to English 101 professor Smith. Please take a seat at the front in order to better your understanding. (I'm cocky and karma will bite me hard for it).

The rant is over, finally! I apologize for the lesson but I easily become defensive on topics. Kate told me to just breathe and say "oh well" whenever something out of (ha, extra flare that has no purpose because English is corrupt) my control happens to anger me. Breathe in deep and say "oh well." Well I do have something within my control, this here blog. Although that professor may continue to spout off grammar terminology incorrectly that frazzles her students' logic of grammar, I will always make sure to rant about it on my personal area of cyberspace. Thank you for bearing with me through this long post. Adieu audience!