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Contemporary English? Isn't Elly supposed to be taking creative writing?

Barbara R, LA, USA

Wait, Elly's enrolled in contemporary English now? Did the prof's statement that some people write for pleasure freak her out so badly that she dropped creative writing and switched courses?

Chris P, Boston, MA, USA

If Elly's taking a creative writing class with the goal of having others read her works, chances are the books on her book list would be "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage", a dictionary, a thesaurus, and maybe the current edition of "Writers of the Future".

One can't build a decent house without the right tools, and very few are going to want to read or be able to understand the final copy of something that is composed of grammar, punctuation and/or spelling errors, or reeks of pedantry. (However, there are those who will find the dictionary smutty.)

If she is taking a Contemporary English class, then that would have a different set of books.

Perhaps John needs to rethink what smutty is, or maybe Elly is hiding those particular books under innocuous dust jackets.

Barb B, OR, USA