just my luck.

assalamualaikum wbt.

functional linguistics. second week. guess? i'm the only malay in the class. the only. last week there was another malay girl. this week she dropped the class. they said she got scared. don't blame her though. it was scary last week. so i thought this week would be better. just my luck.

if you wonder what functional linguistics is, let me tell you. besides comparing text, this is what we do; we analyze clauses. a bit like learning structure of english or syntax. except harder because now the units become much smaller, we have to analyze them to the tiniest teeniest unit. just my luck.

like before you have:

i | went | to | the | market.

i is subject. went is verb. to is preposition, the is article. market is noun. i would be noun phrase. went would be verb phrase. to the market would be prepositional phrase. yes easy.

but now we have conjuctions. we have adjuncts. we have finite. we have non-finite. we have predicators. we have modal adjucts, circumstancial adjuncts, conjuctive adjuncts. comment adjuncts, mood block, residue, complement intensive, complement direct object, complement indirect object, ...

now i know. syntax during degree is a light touch. like a tap on the shoulder. functional in master is someone hitting your shoulder with a baseball bat. or a hockey stick. or a put. just my luck.

oh by the way i have an article to be analyzed. an article of about 50 sentences. means i have to analyze 50 sentences. means i would have to come up with 50 diagrams. 50 diagrams? who would want to draw 50 diagrams? just my luck.

don't get me wrong. i love this course, only because it doesn't require me to memorize. so i guess drawing 50 diagrams is better than memorizing 50 theories. a senior told me yesterday;

"you'll get used to it."

just my luck. let's bring it on.

"come on effa, let's hit it right. if she can't do it, no one can. go...effa!"

*imaginary cheerleaders* \o/\o/\o/