Week 6

Welcome back to class.  Hope you had a good weekend.    If I were given the chance to rewrite some chapter in my life, or to relive some moment now  resigned to the past, what revisions would I make, or what insight would I bring to the moment now?   What lessons are there in wondering, what if . . . ?   Essay 5:  In 350-500 words you are to explore a hypothetical scenario, that is, one that  never actually existed, in terms of its effects on the past, present, and/or future.  This essay assignment provides good practice with verbs, using comparison and contrast mode, and in thinking about the possibilities life presents, and withholds.   You will  likely use the subjunctive mood and conditional (modal) tense forms as well as simple and perfect tenses.  Imagine that you had been born under or into circumstances other than those you were born into; for example, a different place and/or historical era, a different family, a different body (or species),  and so on.  Describe what your childhood was actually like, and what it might have been like (under  the changed circumstances); what your present life might be like (as opposed to what is actually  happening);  imagine your future, actually or hypothetically.  Or look at  any important decision you made or did not make and trace the consequences of having taken an opposite track. Checklist: *Title the essay.   *Proofread to make sure you have a clear central idea and adequate support.  *Remember your audience and write on a matter of intrinsic or practical importance. *Edit your sentences for clarity of expression and grammatical correctness. *The use of narration and description, with scene setting, vivid detail and action, will make readers see and feel the particular experience(s) and ideas you have in mind.  Comparison/contrast mode will show the actual versus the imaginary, and make it clear that your focus is hypothetical.  If we had the chance to do things differently, if we had superpowers, the omniscience of a goddess–of course we don't, and there's the rub.  Often we get only one shot.      You might start in this way:  Had I been born an only child, instead of being born the fifth child  of six, I might have got more attention than I did.  I might have been spoiled!  My parents, particularly my mother, had little time and attention to spare, afterall . . .  Or:  If I were sixty-five (you can fill in any future age) and to look back upon my life, what would I want to see . . . what might   my life look like (whatever you have done or however far you have come ). Or:  If I could do one thing differently, rewrite the past, I would go back to the moment when . . . Or:  If we were to walk, fly, or swim the proverbial mile in the life of (fill in whatever human, animal or insect subject interests you)  we would discover . . . .