Brendan S. Gillon - McGill University, Montreal, QC

Professor: Brendan S. Gillon

Department: Linguistics

College: McGill University, Montreal, QC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

I enjoyed PHIL210 and still hated this class. Lectures are way too fast and grading criteria way too unclear. He seems offended when we ask questions but blames us for not asking enough. He has only 1 hour/week of OH but will only give the answers to activities in his book if we ask him personally. Unexpectedly took out 30 mins for our final exam.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Get ready for set theory, advanced logic & formal semantics. Free book, but full of typos. Not even half of the solutions. Confusing, non-standard notation. Lectures go extremely quickly. No slides posted. Midterm & final insanely hard. Marks down if you don't use his notation. 10 problem sets. Awesome content, extremely bad instructor.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Took LING 360 as a requirement and hated it. Gillon's passionate about the subject but spends too much time on tangents and irrelevancies, making a difficult subject even harder to pick up. I found him self-absorbed and irritating. Talk to him if you're having trouble; he'll slow things down and talk you through them if you go to his office hours.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: LING460
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

A great course if you enjoyed Intro to Semantics (LING 360), and taught in a way that encouraged me to delve further into the formalisms behind semantic theory. In addition, Professor Gillon often made himself free outside of class to discuss any and all questions I had about the course or about semantics generally. Hands-down a great prof.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Hated this course before midterm, with homework average 65ish, and a 60- midterm grade. I found the material after midterm very interesting though, more technical and logical. He decided to give a 100% final option in the last week, and turned out to be an A-, happiest "not A" ever. More for (mathy) science students than for (lingy) arts students.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Exams were a nightmare, but you should be well-prepared if you attend class, do the readings, and DO THE EXERCISES. Gillon is approachable if you're having trouble with the material, but generally refuses to acknowledge his own mistakes (of which there can be many).

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Still not sure what I think of this teacher after a whole semester... He's nice, tries his best to give good lectures and all, but his class is just really boring and the topic is uninteresting. His tests are much much harder than the assignments he gives. I'm just aiming to pass; it's one of those classes.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Not a very engaging speaker. I didn't find the formalisms all that useful or interesting.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

This was one of the most discouraging classes I've taken so far. Prof Gillon has completely unrealistic expectations for the homework and the tests, and your grade will suffer. He is extremely intimidating and asking for help is uncomfortable. I found the subject pretty interesting, but overall I had a bad experience.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: LING560
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Y'all, if you're in cogsci you gotta take Semantics2. Easy A. No tests. Just weekly take home. Gillon. Hard-pressed to find anyone as passionate about science. The Dora the explorer of logic. I felt like he had a vested interest in my understanding the material. Took the class out for beers at benalux. Top prof.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Why does a prof ever wanna give students hard times like this?? The average of his midterm has been 65-ish for years (worths 35% of the total grade), and he never curves. The average grade I receive for my assignments is 70-75 (Highlight: I go to office hours to talk about the homework EVERY TIME before handing it in...) A or A- is just impossible

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

*DO NOT TAKE LING360 WITHOUT PHIL 210*. I took both at the same time, struggled, did as much work as I could, went to his office hours and ended up with a C. His chapters are clear and he explains over and over if you need, but the tests are hard and the assignments can be tricky. He is an amazing lecturer, though. Coolest voice and outfits ever.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Brendan is the cool guy. Not the easiest class, but it's very interesting! You have to keep up with the material and do lots of problems.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Don't expect to learn anything practical, and the application to linguistics in questionable at best. Goes on at a mile a minute and assumes everybody understands his line of reasoning. Teaching undergrads seems like chore for him, but at least there's no text book to buy.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The course goes swimmingly until he slaps you in the face with the final. Pedagogical practice seemingly sound but ultimately unsound. The midterm is largely theory, the assignments are technical, the final is almost 100% technical. His theory about complements is interesting, but the application of the content of the course is difficult.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: LING320
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

One of the most engaging, interesting professors I have ever had. Formalization he teaches seems to catch some students off guard, but is in essence understandable. Wonderful lecturer. 5/5

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's a nice prof and is willing to help, but he gives some of the most confusing lectures I've ever witnessed. I still don't understand what we were doing the whole semester. The material isn't too difficult, but the explanations are so confusing. It might not be as bad if you really love math; he uses a lot of mathematical notation.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: LING360
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very good linguistic teacher, one of the few in the department that demonstrate a profound interest in formalization of linguistic theory. Art-students, beware!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: LING201
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He brings in propositional logic when he explains syntax, semantics and pragmatics, so if you're taking linguistics to avoid mathematical-type reasoning, you will find him a total puzzle. I have a solid math and science background, and I found him crystal clear, and very intelligent. Maybe more of a logician than you'd expect, but overall very good

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: LING201
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Gillon is the god of syntax and semantics.