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10 Ways to Spot an English Major

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Louisiana Tech chapter.

English majors–the poetic writers and book lovers of college. The ones who know famous authors and quotes by heart. They’re the grammar police of your friend group, and possibly the most chaotic of the bunch. Not sure how to pick one out of a crowd yet? We tell you how to spot an English major.

The Book Nerd

The classic trope of this major is the “book nerd”. I mean, their entire major depends on books, so it makes sense that they would love them! Your friend might be an English major if they’d rather stay in with a good book than go out on the weekends!

The Bullet Journal Fiend

There are two types of English majors: the planner and the winger. You can spot “the planner” pretty easily. Do you have a friend who’s always carrying around their bullet journal? Do they have different colored pens for different subjects? Have they spent an ungodly amount of money on highlighters? They definitely might be an English major.

The Grammar Police

Nicknamed, “grammar police”, English majors have the habit of editing in their brains 24/7. Even if they try to not correct someone’s grammar, it happens regardless.

The Shakespeare Afficionado

The foundation of your high school playwright knowledge! There might be a chance to escape him and his works only for a second, but he always returns. An English major probably knows his works backward and forwards by now, but most likely isn’t a huge fan.

The Book vs. Movie Debater

When books get turned into movies, the debate between which is better can be catastrophic. Your English major friend will never rest until they prove that the book is infinitely better than the movie adaptation.

The Wordsmith

Among reading and writing, there are words that English majors learn that might sound like gibberish to a non-linguist. If you’ve ever heard someone say a word that you didn’t even know existed, they might be an English major.

The Big Dreamers

The English major probably has no clue what they’re doing after college, but they’ll always have enough pride to come up with something on the spot. You’re probably dealing with an English major if their plans consist of going to law school, teaching English as a foreign language, and writing a few books until they get tenure at Harvard. 

The Worn Out

Essays, journals, and research papers are constantly reoccurring for English majors. Sometimes, English majors have to juggle more than one paper at a time, causing major stress and lack of sleep. You could probably pick out an English major by the sheer amount of loose papers they have in their backpack, or the look of pure exhaustion on their face.

Gwendolyn is a Louisiana Tech University graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She worked as a contributing writer under the La Tech HC Chapter. In her free time, she loves to read, write, edit, listen to music, watch movies, and explore new places and things. She plans to find work in book publishing for children's books.