The English Composition Class, Essay Example

When I reflect on my experience in the English Composition class, I am both encouraged and a little intimidated.  The work and the study led me to develop skills I require, but I am also aware in the process of how much more work needs to be done.  For example, I believe the most important point I learned was the emphasis on clarity in writing.  In each assignment, it was necessary to work on expressing my thoughts in a clear and understandable way.  This was not easy for me, and I believe it will be a challenge for some time to come.  More exactly, I tend to “get lost” in my own thoughts and lose sight of the fact that the reader does not share my thinking at the time of the writing. The process is a real responsibility, and even knowing this does not make it any easier. At the same time, accepting the responsibility to write in a clear and orderly way is a discipline I require. This understanding alone has helped me to organize my thoughts before I begin writing, and I believe my work has been better for it.  If this is a lesson I must keep learning, it is one I very much need.

If organization and clarity go to my biggest weaknesses in writing, I would say as well that I have a certain strength: honesty of expression.  It is almost impossible for me to write in a way that does not reflect what I truly think about the subject, whenever the writing requires my own thinking.  I very much welcome this kind of writing.  However, this also can create confusion for me.  As I try to express my real feelings and thoughts, I often set aside the need to arrange these things correctly.  I will admit that correct structure and punctuation are sometimes problems for me.  I have in fact become very familiar with rewriting, but I actually enjoy this process.  It allows me to take my weaknesses and turn them into strengths.  It lets me place my thoughts in better order, and then better express the truth of what I am trying to say.  It is my hope that further work will lessen the need to rewrite as often as I do now.  In my eyes, in fact, there is no good in my expressing myself honestly if the meaning does not come through, so the obligation is very strong.  This may be the most important lesson of the course that I take with me.

Although I am aware of how I need to improve, there are other things I would enjoy learning about in another Composition class.  For example, I would like to learn more about how language is used by writers in ways not in keeping with standard use.  I know many great writers have “broken the rules” and actually changed the ways we write.  They create words and move away from proper grammar, and sometimes these changes become accepted parts of the language.  I would be very interested in understanding more about how this happens.  More exactly, I want to know why some writers change the rules.  This process makes language alive in my eyes and I think this is extremely important.  I do not claim that I myself have the right to do this.  It seems to me that a person needs to know all the rules before they break any.  At the same time, I am curious as to how anyone may actually have this kind of effect, and contribute to written language as a living expression.