Your name: Madhavi Seth
Your home town: Noida, India
Your major(s): Political Science/Journalism
Are you fluent in any language(s) other than English? French and Hindi (somewhat)
What are your career plans? I haven’t completely decided yet, but I’m hoping to either become a journalist or go into government service.
What is your favorite book or author and why? Too many to count! But I definitely love everything by Dan Brown because of the suspense and the anticipation for what happens next. My most recent favorite, however, is Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift because it has a unique writing style and wonderful images. I also love the contrasts between the worlds that Gulliver sees during his voyages.
What is your most frequent grammatical error? Run-on sentences.
What is your biggest grammatical pet peeve? The passive voice. Wrong it is.
What is your favorite word? Onomatopoeia (it’s so much fun to say!)
What is your favorite procrastination method when you have a paper to write? Either cleaning my room, watching TV or cleaning while watching TV.
Describe (in a short paragraph) a significant breakthrough in your development as a writer: High school, Senior year. IB English. I was discussing my World Literature Paper on Camus’ “The Stranger” with Mr. Mabie. Since his only response had been a curt “BLAH”, I asked him what the problem was. He said that my thesis wasn’t ‘speaking’ to him and that it was too attached to the text. “Why should I bother reading this?”, he asked “Why should I care? How can I, a relatively normal person, relate to the text? Your thesis should do that- connect me to the text” This struck me as a writer and changed my perspective on what a good thesis should do. It also helped me form a personal connection with the text and gave me a new appreciation for literature.
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