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Complete PICLE corpus of essays by Polish advanced EFL students (330,000)

/^t/It is a sad truth that adult life breeds adult problems. And this determines the different direction in which the development of our mental powers goes. We are now grown-up and sensible individuals and our worries are of adequately paramount significance. We will go to any lengths to be pardoned for our sloth and continue to be considered full-fledged adults. Thus, we no longer say: "I have not done my homework because my dog chewed it up" but we are more likely to come up with something like this: "My child is in the hospital and I cannot come to work" or "My wife has just run away with my best friend so it was impossible for me to meet the deadline". And it really does not matter that the person involved is a childless bachelor - the boss is so struck by the employee's tragedy that s/he does even notice this blatant inconsistency. It has to be remembered, however, the samples mentioned above are just the most basic and worn-out excuses that would never be used by a truly creative individual.