#Grammar Structures

[theenglishnook]

Tongue Ties: English, Spanish, and the Lingua Franca Connection

English and Spanish stand as two pillars of global communication, each with distinct characteristics but also surprising similarities. Their differences and similarities offer a fascinating lens through which to explore the evolution of languages and their paths to becoming lingua franca. Differences: Phonetics and Pronunciation: One of the most apparent differences lies in phonetics and…

[just-some-user-hunny]

Nikto who keens at being referred to as your husband, even when it's not official and your finger lacks a ring.

You're shopping and he's carrying all the baskets and bags whilst you browse? A kind old lady smiling and comments how good of a husband you have. Keep him, he's a good 'un. Nikto stands taller the whole time, ruffled like a proud bird, his eyes not leaving you one second.

You're leaving work immediately after your shift ends? tugging your hands eagerly into the sleeves of your coat whilst on speaker with nikto who's just breathing raspily down the line because he wants to know what you'd like for dinner, and a coworker comments "is hubby hounding you back home?". He hears it, and his breathing grows heavier. Liking the thought. You have to turn off the speaker after that, he sounds like Michael Myers.

He doesn't say anything- he seldom does. However, his gaze lingers. His hand tightens at your hip. His eyes glazed over softly at commercials or movies on the TV where someone is adorning a wedding gown or suit. Deep in thought, closed and unreachable in his head.

Little do you know of the engagement ring he's got hidden in his sock drawer, kept like a secret. Someday.

[secretmellowblog]

Les Mis Hidden Name Meanings: "Fantine"

Every character's  name in Les Mis is either an elaborate pun or has some deeper symbolic thematic meaning — usually both at once. 

One example of this is “Fantine.” There’s a wealth of hidden meaning packed into to her name, and some of those meanings are explicitly discussed in the original novel. 

The name “Fantine” comes from the french word “enfantine,” meaning  “childike, infant-like.” Her name basically means “Baby.” And obviously this speaks to her innocence and naivety. But also “baby”  is kind of,.,, well, it sounds more like an informal term of endearment than an actual legal name?  

And that’s because– Plot twist– Fantine isn’t her legal name!

 What is her legal name? She doesn’t have one. 

And the reason she doesn’t have one is directly tied to political turmoil of the era she was born into. 

Fantine grew up an orphan living on the streets, without a family without parents. Hugo tells us the origin of her name: 

“She bore on her brow the sign of the anonymous and the unknown. (...)She was called Fantine. Why Fantine? She had never borne any other name. At the epoch of her birth the Directory still existed. She had no family name; she had no family; no baptismal name; the Church no longer existed. She bore the name which pleased the first random passer-by, who had encountered her, when a very small child, running bare-legged in the street. She received the name as she received the water from the clouds upon her brow when it rained. “

This moment is adapted beautifully in the Manga adaptation by Takahiro Arai: 

But now let’s talk about the Directory. 

To wildly oversimplifly a lot of complex history: Before the French Revolution, the Catholic Church’s records of baptismal ceremonies were often used as a  registry of people’s legal names. During the French Revolution, the Revolutionary government– including the Directory– put in place a series of policies we now call “dechristianization,” where they attempted to dismantle the power of the Catholic church. 

Fantine was born during the age of these dechristianization policies. So she was likely never baptised, her baptismal name was never recorded, and so she has no documented legal or family name. She’s slipped through the cracks of the legal system, and ended up completely anonymous.

This sets Fantine up as this anonymous child of the Revolution– a stand-in for everyone who was left behind when the Revolution was left behind, and kings were restored to the throne. 

Fantine’s namelessness is meant to show her isolation. She has NO support system. She has nothing to connect her to other people, nothing to connect her to a support system. 

Finally, the way Fantine tends to “slip through the cracks” is something that follows her throughout her life.  When she’s fired from her job at a factory, Mayor Madeleine never learns  of it– Fantine has this tendency to be overlooked and forgotten in official records.  At the end of the story, she is buried in an unmarked grave, with not even the name “Fantine” on her headstone. She is born anonymous and she dies anonymous.

It ties into the novel’s questions about  which people we consider worth remembering, whose lives are worth being recorded. 

[Thank you for reading! This essay was originally posted as a video here. For more Les Mis talk, you should subscribe to the 2025 @lesmisletters readalong on Substack here, and join the BrickClub Discord server here!]

[livwritesstuff]

Middle-aged Steve, Eddie, Robin, and Nancy definitely have a group chat once Apple introduces it. They actually love it because it makes it way easier to stay in touch while Robin and Nancy travel.

Steve and Eddie's three daughters are usually the main topic of conversation.

As is the case one morning in October 2013:

Steve: Which one of you got my children to call froot loops gay cheerios

His text is accompanied by a video taken in their kitchen that starts with Steve, behind the camera, asking, “Wait - what did you guys want for breakfast?”. Robbie and Hazel giggle from their seats at the counter as they respond, “Gay cheerios, please,“ and “yeah, gay cheerios.”

Steve's long sigh is cut off when the video ends.

Nancy: Not me.

Steve: I know

Eddie: definitely not me

Eddie: Apple Jacks are way gayer than froot loops

Robin: ???

Robin: in what world are Apple Jacks gayer than Froot Loops?

Steve: Okay so it was Robin

Steve: Great work team

[an-ruraiocht]

honestly a solid like. 70% of my complaints about books are that people don't care enough about sentences and details these days. not least all the writing advice that tells people they don't need to understand how grammar works because someone will fix it for them later which is entirely missing how copyediting has been devalued and farmed out to overworked underpaid freelancers who don't have time to fix your goddamn comma splices so they simply won't get fixed

so many books simply do not have good sentences. and they could. and they would be better books if they did. but publishing doesn't seem to prioritise that. line edits are cursory and editors often don't even really know how to make a good sentence themselves. copyedits get a quarter of the time they need to be thorough. everything is rushed and simple things are easier to fix so everything gets simpler and more generic

[bondsmagii]

I have got. editing work. to do. and boy. when I say that I do not want to do it.

[homunculovers]

Sometimes I get this idea of Dean actually marrying Sirena as he got her pregnant. A disaster for Dean’s budding sexuality, his relationship with Hank, Sirena’s independence, and the Ventures' relationship with the Ongs. And yet...

I picture a scenario where nobody’s happy with the situation but they make it work, not necessarily out of love. Sirena would return to her studies shortly after giving birth, trying to be a good mom as best as she can. Dean would be the one to shine as the stay at home dad; he had always wanted to be a husband. This would create initial friction between him and Rust, as he’s effectively throwing his plans of super science out of the window.

Hank would reveal himself to be the dark horse, being a good leader for VenTech even if not necessarily a scientifically inclined person. He would consolidate his bond with Brock by getting his advice on how to establish good enough relations with both the OSI and the GCI, incarnating the “men of hope” heritage of the Venture family. Eventually the truth of their birth would be revealed to Dean, as Rust shows him how to care for a baby. They could then finally bond over something true: the need for a warm, normal life.

Sirena, feeling supported, would go on to become a scientist out of personal passion, and she would pass it to her little girl. The pressure of the Venture legacy shaken off his shoulders, Dean would return to science as a hobby, speculating on climate change and actually coming up with some solid solutions. Hank would implement them, as it would give him the status of big tech’s Robin Hood, hindered by his peers but loved by the common person. Brock, and by extension the OSI, would have a field day protecting him from the government; but they’d do it happily, as Hank has a better standing than his father’s in Hunter’s book.

Rust would slowly but surely be pushed on the side. He’d protest, but gradually accept it, possibly with gratitude. The pressure of his suffocating role finally taken from him, he’d relax, have fun screwing around with science with his best friends, possibly accept therapy— under the guise of having someone to record his memoir. I like to think he’d be a good grampa, finally able to be curious about a child, to engage in play. He’d discover his artistic side by sitting down with her to draw with crayons. He’d get his sketchbook back. He’d draw in parks, metro stations, coffee shops. He’d rediscover the passion for adventure, the curiosity for people; what was there so long ago, constantly beaten out of him. Being more open, he’d be able to connect meaningfully. His final years might have him know love.

Nurtured by a family that truly believes in both personal ambition and human relationships, the kid would pick up a passion for space travel later on. She would work at it all her life, up to the point of organizing a mission to explore Jupiter’s orbit, to test how far humanity could go— and she would succeed.

A very, very old Rust would see her departure. He would hang on, waiting to receive her first communication after the long, long space radio silence. As soon as she confirmed they made it he would go, a glowing satisfaction on his last smile.

[neoymm]

taken inspiration from Rozen Maiden (THE PEAKEST ANIME EVER)

and also i have no clue why this post is this long, im just rambling and yapping out of my head.

okay, so dolls.

billy and mary are the twin pair of dolls among the dolls siblings

they have exist for a while, like, in the 1800s perhaps, or earlier than 1500s because we got no clue when the dolls is actually made in the rozen maiden series 😔

they only given the name of William, later nicknamed to billy, and Mary stays as Mary, their father, the creator of the dolls, will be the wizard cuz he fits in that roll.

the other dolls is given the name of Frederick (later shorten to freddy), Darla, Pedro and Eugene.

they are dolls, but they are alive, because of one thing: father (/wizard). wanting to be the chosen one — a human; aka alice in rozen maiden; aka i have no idea the substitute name in this post.

CC and Marilyn are a couple, in 1940s, who happens to be archaeologists, found two strange letter in their two cases. and out of curiosity, they accepted the letter despite it being strange.

the letter stated: wind up or dont wind up

the couple thought it was weird and circled wind up.

immediately two wooden boxes appeared, they are big, like suitcases. so curious again, they opened it.

in the boxes, they found small humanoid things, dolls, and they look like twins pair of dolls. so Marilyn holds Mary, found the doll’s skin is very human-like. while CC found this wind up doll key and understood somewhat, that these dolls is a moveable dolls.

so he set the key, twirls it on billy and mary, the couple waited and slowly, the dolls move. but the movement is strange, it’s like a child learning how to walk but was more ‘dolly’ and ‘robotic’.

then the dolls opened their eyes on their own, getting use to the movement, becoming more ‘alive’. (WHICH THEY ARE, BECAUSE OF ROSA MYSTICA IN CANON ROZEN MAIDEN BEING THEIR SOUL)

the couple of course, shocked, wondering how the dolls works. and decided just to take the dolls as their ‘children’, aka take care of them. faking the dolls as their children because it’s insane to be seen with ‘alive dolls’. and the dolls passed as a literal 5 (or younger) years old.

the dolls introduced themselves as Billy and Mary, with the last name ‘Batson’. they are the third and fourth doll.

later, CC and Marilyn finds it strange that the dolls will disappear to somewhere in a while, like middle of the night-ish. so all on that adventurous spirit, they followed the dolls and found out there’s a mirror connecting to the other dolls’ worlds.

and they found mary and billy fighting another doll, Darla. In their powered up form that CC and Marilyn never know before, until this night of course.

Darla is definitely young, youngest of all when CC and Marilyn found out, she was made as the last doll, the ‘sixth’ doll. but they are not so much different because of the base build for dolls. but actions speaks louder amirite? Darla lost, expected to be killed by her rosa mystica taken away by either billy or mary.

billy and mary didnt want to, since living for 1 week (i guess?) with CC and Marilyn has made them somewhat better than they were before. less spoiled and less arrogant of a doll. but also how they missed the other siblings, they don’t want to lose the siblings because of these death battle and only one can remain. so they spared Darla, taken her in with CC’s and Marilyn’s permission.

sooner joined by Freddy, who has this talent for music typa doll, he is very weird though, but he is in fact the oldest one, aka the first finished doll to be made. then later on joined by pedro, who is probably the strongest of the dolls, the fifth doll, he suddenly appeared by flying with his case. crashed in, did a small fight and gone. but he do visit frequently with peace.

Then eugene, the smart one, the second doll, who didn’t really care much, currently just roaming around and sometimes do a small stay with CC and Marilyn with other dolls.

but, where’s the fun when Black Adam didn’t appeared? So black adam, the secret, imposter, seventh, but also is the ‘zero-th’ doll, appeared to claims all of the dolls rosa mystica to be the chosen one. be human.

he was the first doll to be made, but never finished, until someone else other than father (wizard) finished him and gave him the chance to be human. filled with rage, he took that chance and made a rampage, but he has to manipulate the situation first, using his powers to made it hard for the other dolls.

this is where the other villains from captain marvel appeared, sivana, mr mind, sabbac, ibac, etc etc. and it has going on for decades now, there has been multiple times where the dolls has to go back to their hibernation (box).

in which meanings, CC and Marilyn has died, either due to black adam, or just natural causes.

the time is now twenty-something (20??) the billy box is suddenly opened, no mary in sight, billy is confused. shazamed (using his doll power) and find mary. but in the way he helped a weird ass costumed team (soz), the Justice League.

JL was thankful for this strange man who appeared out of nowhere and helped them fought the enemy. asked him to join the team, billy was hesitant at first, because of his doll sister. but of course is a little afraid of black adam finding him and get him before he can even find mary.

but he accepted. and shenanigans issues.

also sivana and mortal enemy of captain marvel will appeared during this time rather than before JL thingy

mow, im done for today, thanks for reading, signing off

[bonefall]

Are there any cats with smoke/shaded fur (that is, fur thats only pigmented at the top and not the base) in bb? I always thought it was an interesting look and dont really see it used as often in designs

If I can draw it LMAO, it's surprisingly difficult to capture in a design when you're like, not a super fantastic coloring god like what others in the fandom can cook up. I'm better with blocky, almost toylike designs rather than cool shading tricks.

I will be making an effort when Echomist is relevant though, she's a character who canonically has whispy shaded fur. I think about her a lot more than such a small character really warrants, but that's the power of a cool design for you. She's a late Crusade/early-to-mid Campaign Era warrior, the mate of Hailstar.

EchoMIst (Emi) is a huge sweetie, I imagine she's considered absolutely gorgeous because of how striking her fur is. Her mateship with Hailstar is as strong and as unbreakable as the thick ice of deepest winter.

I imagine he goes to her a lot for advice, she's calm and merciful in a way that he is absolutely not. Maybe I'll give her a better role in Stormpaw's Demon-- maybe have her be the reason why Hailstar finally does something about Rainflower, who is his deputy in BB.

Also just a recap because it's been a while since I talked about this; Shellheart's not the biodad of Oakpaw and Stormpaw in this AU. He's their adopted dad. I'm going to be doing some stuff VERY differently from canon between Crookedstar's Promise and its BB equivalent, Stormpaw's Demon.

(I just had a thought to actually make her name in Clanmew especially interesting; instead of Echo as in "the echo of a cave," her name is echo as in "the echo of cracking ice." Cats have a much better sense of hearing, so they can hear those strange, otherworldly noises that thick ice makes when it cracks easier than humans can.

Living next to the water and having the river be such a big part of their lives, it would be SUPER fun if they had a dedicated onomatopoeia for it. Maybe even a few for some fun river words. Hmm... I'll put that in the notebook for the next Clanmew Day.)

[fricc-darn]

Can I get a kiss, B.E.N.?

"Erm aktually it's, may I 🤓☝️" headass 😭

Let's shove BEN down the stairs!

[not-poignant]

2, 4 and 5 for Corbyn from UtB universe please!

How would/does your character feel about being picked up?

I'm going to assume this means being literally picked up (because autism) and not like, being flirted with? Because the terminology is too vague for me to think it's the latter.

And as for the former, I would say complete, and unbridled rage, actually!

Describe your character's favorite cup/glass/mug. If they don't have a specific one, make one up.

Corbyn travels too much to have things like this. And I honestly feel like he's the kind of person to, once he has a favourite, deliberately re-gift it to someone else or give it away, to remind himself that clinging to favourites is a form of sentiment he doesn't want in his daily life. As soon as he fondly thinks 'oh, this is the one,' it won't be with him the next day.

For that reason, I also think he's highly variable. Sometimes they've been plain, sometimes they've been expensive and fancy, they're often elegant - but not always. He has a habit of abandoning his most loved objects.

Your character has had a supremely lousy day. What do they do to cope?

I don't know yet! I'm still getting to know him. I suspect he mostly just stares at nature about it.

He's had different ways of coping with difficulty at different points in his life. These days he picks the one that requires the least action, so just like, sitting somewhere and being calm, mostly, while his mind is anything but.

~

From the OC Asks meme!

[sparenickel-blog]

Words/Phrases I struggle with using too much when writing and a few alternatives I've been sneaking in to keep my sanity

At least -To some extent -For Starters -On the bright side -Such as it is

Just (like "just barely" or "just wanted") -Only -Merely -Simply -Precisely

Somehow -For some reason -In some way (shape or form) -By some means

At this/some point -By now - At present -At this stage - At any given time

If only -It's too bad -Were it so -Should it have been

Rather -Instead -Preferably -Somewhat -On the contrary

A bit -(Ever so) Slightly -A smidge -A tad -Marginally

Instead (of) -Rather than -In place of -Alternatively

So (as in therefore) -Thus -As a result -Consequently

All of these have the potential to change the way a sentence 'feels' so take them with a grain of salt depending on how you want your words to flow, emphasize, or sound as the entire structure could change as well. I'm just keeping this here to remind myself that I have options.

"Sort of" and "Kind of" fit into a few of these but I didn't want to spam, so I'll just leave them here.

[carmen-berzattos]

nothing is as infuriating as microsoft word smugly underlining something as grammatically problematic when it is blatantly, and undeniably, wrong

[baconcolacan]

Hi Neil!! I love your work so much! I'm a beginner writer (just started getting into the hobby a few weeks ago) and I'm hoping you could give any tips or words of advice on writing fanfiction? You're actually the main reason why I got into Eddsworld and fanfiction in the first place, so I look up to you a lot and wish to reach your level of skill one day! Hope you have a wonderful day/noon/night!

Oh sure! I’ve given writing advice before, the gist of it is that you start with a skeleton plot; chapters with specific themes and sub scenarios that happen in them.

e.g. for chapter 1 of Regimen, my skeleton plot looked like this:

REGIMEN CH1: Escape

>What has Tom been up to (get to know the squad)

>News segment reveal with Tord

>Escape from Norway and its consequences

Pretty barebones and it looks short, BUT if you’ve read my fic, you know how long just one chapter with these points is.

Another thing to keep in mind is your writing style. I’m an introspective writer, so a majority of my writings have a lot of personal thoughts from my MC, even if they’re not in first person.

e.g. Regimen again with Tom (Chapter 1)

‘None of the paths were to be used more than three times by anyone so that there wouldn’t be any traces of footprints. Tom had, like everyone else, been forced to memorize all of the General’s paths, it gave him a splitting headache on most days but fortunately he had used the path he was currently on only once, this allowed him a second tread back as long as he kept his steps light.’

You notice that while I’m world building, Tom interjects with his own experiences and thoughts about the world, you’ll find better examples in the fic but I often dont world build without a comment from my MC.

There are also paragraphs where it’s Tom just thinking about things, because again, I like introspection. Some writers are purely hands off characters and more world-buildy, some writers are omniscient and would tell you everything about what every character is feeling. In my case, I like focusing on one character’s thoughts and feelings at a time.

This is entirely up to you, but it would be best if you chose a solid writing style to follow through with.

And one important thing I like to repeat: EXPERIENCE things. The arts are all about US, human life and emotions, and writing hopes to put all those complexities to words.

Life experience is important, it’s how we connect. I’m not saying you should SUFFER for your art per say, experience can be something as easy as media consumption, see what works for other stories and artforms, you might be able to implement it into your own writing.

Be sure to BRANCH OUT as much as you can, many genres and artforms are great sources of creativity you can slowly learn to translate for your own purposes.

And one last specifically fanfiction related advice:

When writing a particular character, I always try my best to “hear” their voice for specific dialogues, we always joke about things like ‘He would NOT fucking say that’, but it’s steeped in truth, if you really can’t hear their voice saying certain lines, it would be best to revise them.

[aropride]

(to myself in the mirror) my peers are lucky to have me as a reviewer. my peers are lucky to have me as a reviewer

[echotunes]

solved the problem of almost being at the end of SDOL by simply not watching SDOL. i have been translating the ordem rulebook for three and a half hours. i'm on page 15. having a BLAST