Grammar and Spell Check: Find the 15 Errors in the Following Paragraph
Wanping and Ganchin, too of my favorite characters from “A Good Fall” short story collection our both being pimped by the Man. Wanping labors in the garment industry buy day and plays the role of neutered lackey for a brothel at night, similary, Ganchin is exploited by his salacious“pimp”; Master Zong, charlatan kung fu extraordinaire. Although, we feel sympathy for both characters; we are annoyed buy they’re passivity in the face of hostile forces. Including the Chinese mafia and Master Zong’s willingness two deny Ganchin payment for his services at the temple. It is not until Ganchin expels a customer from the prostitute’s brothel that we see some notable courage, likewise; it is not until Ganchin has a “good fall” and sues Master Zong that his life moves in a more desirable coarse.
Example of a Successful "Learned Helplessness Introduction" That Gets Your Attention and Transitions to Your Thesis
Have you ever been to a couple’s house with your wife, got an upset stomach from nerves or the gnawing sense that the meat they served you was undercooked or contaminated or both, had to suffer the great shame and anxiety of rushing to their bathroom several times, and then depleted their entire stock of Costco toilet paper? Worse than that, you later learned you clogged their toilet, found out they had to call a plumber at some late-night hour on a Sunday and that this plumber charged them triple the normal cost for snaking their pipes and they could barely pay the plumber. Their financial burden was so bad they ended up being two months late on their car and mortgage payments so that their credit rating plummeted.
What is really sad about all this is that they were just about to buy a second car, and guess what? Their late car and mortgage payments disqualified them for a low interest rate so they couldn't afford to buy that second car after all.
If you don't think this story is sufficiently pathetic already, then listen to this: This couple—who used to be good friends with my wife and me—blamed me for all their financial troubles and they no longer want to be my friend.
Things like this happen to me all the time. My friends list is dwindling. At this rate, losing about a friend a month, next October I’ll be completely friendless.
On a related note, Facebook has already deleted my account because the amount of people who unfriended me was far greater than the amount who had accepted me on their Facebook friends list. To make a long story short, I've been permanently banned from Facebook and no one at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto will talk to me. Believe me, I've called and emailed repeatedly.
If this condition of losing friends goes on much longer, say three years, I'll be in big trouble. My guess is that learned helplessness will sink in at which point I will become “unfriendable,” for now and all eternity.
Desperate to get my friends back, I recently called the couple whose plumbing I had single-handedly ruined and begged for their forgiveness, even offering to co-sign on their car loan (I have an excellent FICO score) so they could get a cheaper rate, but they didn't return my calls. After my initial offer with no response, I then sent them $100 gift cards for Target, iTunes, Amazon, Olive Garden, and Home Depot, but even after all that they still haven’t called me.
Unfriendable. I had better get used to the sound of it.
The above account is obviously of a man who's reached the end of his rope. He has descended to a point of learned helplessness, a condition in which he believes, contrary to reality, that he is helpless to improve his situation. We see a similar tale of woe in Ha Jin's short story collection A Good Fall in which free will is threatened by learned helplessness in many ways, not the least of which is ______________, __________________, ______________, and _________________.
Class Activity:
Write two paragraphs about you or someone you know who descended into the hellhole of learned helplessness (a situation where your repeated attempts at fixing a problem were either ineffective or actually made the problem worse until you resigned yourself to failure, learned helplessness, and self-pity).
Comments