Entering Rainbows, Puppies, and Fuzzy Bunnies into the Conversation
Behind me there's a consultation that's become a heated debate. I'm pretty sure that they're not even having the same conversation. Have you ever . . . had a consultee get defensive? Perhaps he takes offense to the accusation that his sentence is a fragment. But it's not an accusation--it's a fact. However, before you can explain why it's a fact, he/she sits back and his eyes glaze over and he puts his fingers in his ears and begins to sing, "Of course I know how to write a complete sentence, I'm not listening, I can't even hear you, la, la, la." Okay, well, minus the song. So what do you do? -I compare it to a good example in the paper to put the emphasis back on something they are doing "right". -Consult a source (handbook, another consultant, the assignment), in case it has a clearer explanation or just because maybe he/she would rather listen to someone else. -OR I talk to the hard stare until I reach a point where I gloss ove...