Dear RatDog ,
This is a review of "Jury Duty: A Life or Death Situation" .
Title/Description
The title and description of this piece are what drew me in, and they did so immediately. They caught my attention amidst a sea of other generic items, which is exactly what they were supposed to do, so good choice!
Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling, etc. (i.e., the Technical Stuff)
I was talking to my boss, Gene, at work today about the case I just served on.
This is your opening sentence, which is going to give an impression of your overall work, and it's just a wee bit awkward. That definitely isn't an impression you want to give!
You might consider reading sentences such as this one aloud and seeing where you stumble or pause. I went over it a few times, and I think it might maintain its content but be better written if it was just rearranged a teensy bit, such as:
Today at work, I was talking to my boss, Gene, about the case on which I just served.
This way, we don't think your boss is at work, but not you (which is the impression I got from the original sentence). Also, rewording helps keep from ending the sentence in a preposition (which, as all those Harvard types will tell you, is a big no-no).
Content
This is an interesting and thought-provoking essay. I have a very difficult time dealing with issues such as these, which made it that much more challenging for me to read this piece objectively, but you handled it in a caring, thoughtful way. I was curious to know if this was meant to be part of a journal or personal collection, though, because you mention "Viv" but we never hear her name or who she is anywhere else.
Overall
I'm going to give you a 4.0 because of the wee issues I've mentioned here, but also because I think your writing in general is above average. Good job, and keep up the hard work!
Yours,
Wee
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