a day of carrots and grammar

This post is about my editing class. Also, I am eating a carrot and it is making it very hard to type.

Goodness me, I love editing class. I love learning the intricacies of our silly language. Perhaps it is because English can be so ridiculous that I enjoy plumbing its depths? Or maybe it is simply that universal human trait of wanting to understand everything we possibly can? I don't really care, to be honest. It just makes me happy.

Editing 1, as my subject is called, has easily risen above all other subjects this semester. I now eagerly await Wednesday's; looking forward to learning new referencing styles and how to identify different parts of sentences.

I think I just realised one of the reasons I so enjoy this class. I learnt English at school, however I started reading and writing when I was about four years old. Like most native languages, I picked up various ideas and understandings of how the language works before I was formally taught anything. For me, studying grammar is like being taught why things are the way they are. I would say I have a good grasp of our language; I know what grammar rules are and how to apply them. Editing 1 is teaching me the in's and out's of these rules; the delicacies, formalities, and beauty of the English grammatical skeleton.

Yes, as nerdy as it sounds, there is a definite beauty to this whole process. I liken it to what I imagine a scientist feels when dissecting something. Breaking apart the whole in order to understand the pieces; simply for the purpose of better understanding the whole. (Not being a student of science, this is what I understand it to be about. Correct me if I am wrong.)

Grammar has strict rules, yet it has gentle nuances also. It appears to change, due to time and culture, and probably many other circumstances as well. It is somewhere between a science and an artform, and I am immensely enjoying studying it.

Also, my carrot was delicious.

(thanks sydneymorningherald for the cute photo)