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<p>At the risk of revealing just how ancient I am, I confess that my interest in writing was accelerated on the Monday after the weekend on which Prince Charles, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth, was born. I spent the weekend writing a story about what life was likely to hold for Prince Charles when he grew up to be king.</p> <p>In hindsight, things just didn't work out for the poor lad. Prince Charles is still waiting for Mommy to abdicate.</p> <p>On that marvellous Monday morning, our teacher read my submission to the class and told us that I had the makings of a writer. It was heady stuff when one is in grade five. It is still is.</p> <p>I tutor students at the High School and University level who show excellence in their academic studies but who need help in English and Literature material. I have one stipulation. I accept a modicum of students lest my tutoring unduly cut into my writing time. However, I do devote myself entirely to those student that I do accept.</p> <p>The need to restrict the number of students that I accept was brought home to me awhile back when I ended up tutoring 51 hours one week and had neither the time nor the energy to write a single word. I soon rectified the situation. I get really grumpy when I don't allow myself time to write.</p> <p>That being said, I have an excellent knowledge of the syntax of many languages including Chinese,Korean and Polish and to a lesser extent of Japanese and Farsi.</p> <p>I look forward to editing graduate school essays from anyone who is a speaker of one of the above languages. In linguistic terms, I am an expert in the analysis of systematic errors, which are caused by interference from one's first language.</p> <p>An example of a systematic error between Cantonese and Mandarin is caused by the fact that one in Mandarin is two in Cantonese. When speaking Mandarin, Cantonese first language speakers can very easily end up saying two when they mean one. When speaking Cantonese, Mandarin speakers, on the other hand, can inadvertently say one when they meant two.</p>