I had a good deal of difficulty with X's prose, since she is not completely fluent with English syntax and idiomatic expressions. In places, awkward sentences made her meaning difficult to grasp. X became defensive about changing some areas of her prose; after I explained adverb placement to her, she resisted making any changes, insisting that she had been taught to write English in a certain way. She was more willing, however, to work with her use (and omission) of articles. After we briefly discussed this topic, I gave her several pages of ESL exercises dealing with articles and gerunds.