(no subject)

I have been in a really bad mood recently, which has not been made better by the stress of work. Nevertheless, I am trying to think how someone like Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius would deal with this stress. I am trying to avoid allowing students' starting sentences with "because" or putting plural verbs after singular subjects disturb my soul. Not easy.

Probably if Aurelius had been an English teacher instead of an emperor, he would have written something like:

"If you are angry at a student's error, consider this: there has always been subject-verb disagreement in the world, and there always will be. Rather, correct errors in tranquillity, and you will be the equal of the gods."