EG1471 has been, overall, an enjoyable module. Lessons were undertaken in a relaxing manner, which I greatly appreciate. The occasional language games held further fostered cooperation among fellow classmates and enhanced the learning environment. However, there were still a few hurdles that I encountered over the past 4 months whilst reading this module.

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E-portfolios

Personally, I have no problem with using blogs as a yardstick of progress in this module. However, I believe that there is room for improvement in how assignments can be better drafted in order to meet the objective(s) of introducing the E-portfolios in the first place. The purpose of keeping an e-portfolio was said to facilitate the process of understanding and using academic English. Currently, assignments are mainly focused in presenting summaries of information gained elsewhere such as talks and suggested readings. The topics that were presented in the aforementioned sources did not vary much from each other, with global warming being the hot topic (no pun intended). In fact, I have written nothing but global warming in this module. I personally find this is extremely restrictive and repulsive. With those feelings, I tend to avoid my e-portfolio assignments as much as possible. I understand that our works can be evaluated easily if such conditions were imposed. Also, it may be a perfect simulation of what is to be expected in the near future when we are to partake actively in academic and professional community. However, as mentioned previously, this is very repulsive indeed and definitely not the best way to initiate our motivation in academic writing. Furthermore, I had great difficulty in commenting my fellow classmates' works constructively with the exception of offering compliments. As their works were centred around the very few topics that were provided in the first place, my comments for one piece of work would generally apply to other pieces with the same topic unless there were exceptional points highlighted. Again, the repulsiveness towards essays on the same topics applies here too.

I personally would have preferred a more engaging and less restrictive e-portfolios networks where blog entries are based on user preferences. Why limit them to global warming when the whole web is practically swarming with global warming articles?

Deadlines

Admittedly, this is a hurdle that I brought upon to myself. I included it here so as to serve as a reminder to myself that I have serious issues with deadlines. Thankfully, EG1471 tutors are a forgiving lot and I managed to meet stipulated deadlines for all the assignments. There is really no other solution to this than making sure that I work on assignments promptly.

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With these lessons learnt, hopefully EG1413 would be a more enjoyable module.

The following are my 3 glaring and common grammar mistakes. The list is not exhaustive, of course.

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1^st type: Article

Article is one of the most simple grammar structures to be comprehended and used. However, I often commit mistakes related to this grammar structure, the reason being that I often overlook them when I write.

A simple example would be: "Otherwise, fuel economy of HEVs and ICVs are mainly determined by various factors and comparable to each other." (Extracted from my writing assignment 2).

In this excerpt, the article "the" must be present in front of "fuel economy", so as to show that "fuel economy" refers to that of HEVs and ICVs.

Therefore, the corrected version should be: "Otherwise, the fuel economy of HEVs and ICVs are mainly determined by various factors and comparable to each other."

I could not think of a better solution other than proof reading and edit my essays properly.

2^nd type: Prepositions

Although this type of mistake rarely turns up in my final works, there were still occasional slips related to prepositions every now and then, resulting in awkward sentence structures. I often have trouble choosing which prepositions to use because of their overlapping definition.

For instance, "Therefore, it can be concluded that the limited benefits of HEVs which can only be obtained under specific environments may render the switch to HEVs overall pointless." (Extracted from my writing assignment 2 again.)

There are more than 1 mistake in this excerpt, but I shall correct the part related to preposition now and leave the other mistake for later because it is another one of my common mistake. In this excerpt, the preposition "under" should have been "in" instead, as "specific driving environments" can be visualized as a 3-dimensional noun, "in" which HEVs operate and not "under" which HEVs operate.

Hence, the corrected version should be: "Therefore, it can be concluded that the limited benefits of HEVs which can only be obtained in specific environments may render the switch to HEVs overall pointless."

The solutions that I adopt were to review the use of prepositions so that I am sure I have clear understanding of how to use prepositions, and of course, careful proof reading too.

3^rd type: Punctuation

Punctuation is yet another grammar structure that is easy to understand and used properly. However, the careless me have always managed to either punctuated wrongly or forgot to punctuate my sentences. I have no problem whatsoever with the use of full-stops, as there must be a full stop at the end of every sentence. Its counterpart, the comma, however, is somewhat trickier for me to handle. I could not decide whether the commas that I intend to use in my sentences are there for cosmetic purposes, such as to improve readability and show coherence, or they should be there as dictated by grammar. Mistaking the former for the latter often led me to drop the commas and consequently, my sentences ended up grammatically incorrect.

Using the same example as above: "Therefore, it can be concluded that the limited benefits of HEVs which can only be obtained in specific environments may render the switch to HEVs overall pointless."

There is a hint of digression in the sentence above owing to the presence of the adjective clause "which can only be obtained in specific environments". As this argument was already explained explicitly in earlier in my essay, this clause only serves as an emphasis on the limitations that HEVs face. The sentence would still convey the core message, with or without this clause. Therefore, the must be commas sandwiching the clause.

The final version of the sentence should be: "Therefore, it can be concluded that the limited benefits of HEVs, which can only be obtained in specific environments, may render the switch to HEVs overall pointless."

One solution that I thought off is to adopt the same train of thought as displayed above whenever I am deciding whether to drop the punctuations.

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As mentioned before, the list is non exhaustive. The three listed grammar mistakes are my most common mistakes. I personally believe that these errors are elementary mistakes that should be avoided at all cost.