Comments written in the margins of a student's paper on The Waste Land (apocryphal):

TS Eliot—one "l," one "t." It's on the cover of the book.

Subject/verb disagreement

Huh?

Subject/vb disagreement

????

No, Thomas Middleton did not write a play called A Game of Chess—he wrote a play called A Game at Chess; not your fault—the editor made a boo-boo in the footnotes

Eliot—one "l," one "t"

sub/vb disagr.

E-L-I-O-T (why do I feel like I'm in a 4th grade spelling bee??)

HUH????

S/V D.

No, I'm afraid the German pop band Trio was not an influence on "What the Thunder Said," since their song "Da Da Da" WAS NOT A HIT UNTIL 1982, BY WHICH TIME TSE HAD BEEN DEAD A WHILE LONGER THAN YOU'VE BEEN ALIVE—

THE ----- WASTE ----- LAND: 3 words, NOT 2—what'd I say the first day of class?

F