Editorial Inspirations

As an undergraduate in college, I worked in retail. Many of my coworkers were my age so we all hung out. A few times, one of the guys would ask me to hang out alone. We would go on a single outing, and I would get to know them better, which always concluded with liking them as friends but them not being my type for anything more.

By the time Ben asked me to hang out alone, I had concluded that none of the guys was my type for anything more. When Ben asked me to hang out, I naively thought it was purely friendship since he had a girlfriend. He and his girlfriend were having trouble, and I even tried helping each of them with their relationship.

As Ben and I continued to hang out, we discussed many things, such as what we wanted in life and in our future. To my surprise, we had a lot in common, but I continued to think of him as only a friend.

Later that month, Ben broke up with his girlfriend. He asked me if I had ever thought of him as more than a friend. No, I replied, but that question did make me begin thinking about it. We hung out more frequently. He helped me study. He visited me when I was sick, and he snuck flowers in my car before my surgery.

While watching basketball at his apartment, he asked me one night how much I liked him. Too embarrassed to tell him, I fingered a number on his chest. Pretending he did not understand the number, he lessened my shyness. That night he officially asked me out.

I am thankful for his bravely asking “So, have you ever thought of me as more than a friend?” Though he was immediately rejected, if he had not, I might never have met my true love, my husband.

As seen in the debacles of people like Stephen Glass and James Frey, plagiarism is not seen as a big deal among many writers. In the same way, students are violating ethics via plagiarism. Though it is unknown whether plagiarism is now more prevalent than before or whether more of the students are now being caught, the fact that plagiarism is occurring so often should be alarming to everyone’s parents, as well as writers, publishers, and readers.

In 2006, Ohio University officials discovered that plagiarism had been occurring in the mechanical engineering department for more than 20 years. The investigating committee notified 37 engineering graduates that they must either give up their master’s degrees, rewrite their theses, or challenge the accusations in hearings. Apparently, this was a widespread problem, as it led to the department chair’s resignation.

What has led so many people to believe that plagiarism is okay and that ethics don’t matter?

Sentences are made up of a subject and a predicate. Both can be either simple or complete. The simple subject is the noun, and the complete subject is the noun, as well as all of the words associated with it. The simple predicate is the verb, and the complete predicate includes all of the words associated with it.

Predicate – a grammatical division of a sentence; it is the part of the sentence comprising what is said about the subject.

Subject – a grammatical division of a sentence; it is a noun or pronoun about which the predicate is about.

Try It!

What are the simple and complete subjects and predicates in each of these sentences?

1. The word-processing software has arrived safely.
2. The attendant cheerfully washed my windshield.
3. These forms should have been ordered in January.
4. The tomato is a fruit.
5. Garlic-flavored croutons taste good in salads.