“The interesting part of this passage is that…”

No, this sentence is not a continuation of the one that managed to use the word “interesting” three times. This one is by another interested student.

She’s impressed because the author succeeds in doing what authors do:

“The interesting part of this passage is that it conveys feelings and beliefs that the author is trying to show.”

It’s wonderful when an author has an idea, or a feeling, or a belief, and he decides to try to write about it, and he DOES write about it! And by writing about it, he conveys it to the reader! My student is appropriately impressed: she has found a passage that is interesting for the fact that it conveys something the author is trying to convey.

Well, now that I think a bit about this blog, I guess many of the quotations I present are passages that do not convey feelings and beliefs that their authors are trying to show.

Is that the difference between a great writer and a not-so-great student? —the great writer conveys something, whereas the student merely hopes that the reader will know what he meant…!