We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.
Eleanor Roosevelt
(via help-n-quotes)
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OVERUSING ADVERBS: A RANT.
School is hard. Iâve been editing a lot lately. I have developed a case of OPINIONS.Â
LOOK, when adverbs are used well, theyâre great. They convey emotion and they help place us in the physical moment. In fact, in the hands of a good (or even reasonably good) author, theyâre half of the show. A lot of people advocate chopping out adverbs as much as possible, but Iâm not sure that I agree. (I also skipped my universityâs class on this topic because I had AP credits, so maybe you all have already gone over this and Iâm the one struggling at the back of the pack here?) In any case, Iâm not trying to claim that I have any kind of authority over what good writing looks like. Nevertheless, the way adverbs are used in a novel are a major make or break factor for me when it comes to deciding whether or not I care for a book. Theyâre also one of the first things that drive me nuts when Iâm reading unpublished works.Â
As far as Iâm concerned, there are two major problems in play: one involving repetition and the other redundancy.Â
Repetition:
Most adverbs end in âlyâ, right? So having several of them clustered together can create a rhymey and hypnotic effect. EXAMPLE: âShe leaned against the wall beseechingly. âWhy?â she asked curiously, secretly afraid that her question would prompt him to yell angrily again.â
Itâs almost impossible to lose yourself when youâre hung up on the nursery song sentence that is supposed to be taking you there. Itâs distracting. Â
Redundancy:Â
EXAMPLE: âShe leaned against the wall beseechingly. âWhy?â she asked curiously, secretly afraid that her question would prompt him to yell angrily again.â
Like, Iâm not trying to be a pedant here, but if youâre asking a question, the implication of curiosity is already implied. No âcuriouslyâ neededâwe know sheâs curious, thatâs why sheâs asking the question. Also, a yelling person is typically an angry person. If the context of aggression is already present, thereâs no need for that âangrilyâ either.Â
If you eliminate those two words, the piece of writing looks like this:
âShe leaned against the wall beseechingly. âWhy?â she asked, secretly afraid that her question would prompt him to yell again.â
There are still adverbs. The writing still conveys the same idea and tone. But it is also easier to read, isnât it? Am I nuts? Do I need to get my nose out of my computer and go take a walk or something? Iâve been focusing for so long that I feel like Iâm losing my grip a little. Any opinions? I know this is mostly a moodboard blog, so if discussions about grammar arenât something you find fun, feel free to keep scrolling!Â
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The Signs As Dates
Aries: Stargazing at a hilltop, surprising each other with kisses and falling asleep peacefully â waking up in each otherâs arms.
Taurus: A road trip, which includes singing along to the radio all the way there and taking countless amounts of pictures once they get there: wanting to cherish every memory of the place.
Gemini: Going to a market and buying as much food as you can: feeding each other and sharing each otherâs food. Maybe even taking a cooking class together, just to spend quality time together.
Cancer: Doing YouTube challenges: Try Not To Laugh, Never Have I Ever, Most Likely To, etc. Having playful arguments during the game of Never Have I Ever because they disagree with their s/o, but finally making it up to them with a nice, peaceful Netflix session.
Leo: A nice restaurant or just a romantic place, where they talk with their s/o about each other and having a laugh â probably leaving the place with food stains all over their fancy clothes.
Virgo: Arcade date, blowing as much money as you want to just on games. Not minding anyone who passes by, because theyâre both having the time of their lives competing against each other.
Libra: Going to an escape room together and working together to get out of the room, celebrating their escape (or maybe even their failure) with kisses from their s/o and a meal.
Scorpio: Spending a day at an amusement park, going on as many rides as possible. The last ride being a ferris wheel and kissing their s/o at the very top.
Sagittarius: Having a regular day together, nothing special about it. Taking ugly selfies with their s/o and making memes out of them, just to make each other laugh.
Capricorn: At the beach, swimming in the sea jumping over waves, their s/o falling into a big wave and then picking them up, laughing and kissing them.
Aquarius: Any random trip to Ikea where they both make puns, buy the most unnecessary things and finish of the day buying countless things at the Café.
Pisces: Going to the beach or a field and talking, playing music, joking about until they watch the sun rise together.
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âShe wanted even more: to be reborn always, to sever everything that she had learned, that she had seen, and inaugurate herself in a new terrain where every tiny act had a meaning, where the air was breathed as if for the first time. She had the feeling that life ran thick and slow inside her, bubbling like a hot sheet of lava. Maybe she loved herselfâŠâ
â Clarice Lispector, from Near to the Wild Heart
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Love to read? Get the FREE Kindle Reading App
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Love to read? Get the FREE Kindle Reading App
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A thought is a hard thing to control.
Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted
(via the-book-diaries)
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Ghost Words Haunting The Dictionary
Join us as we walk through these linguistic anomalies
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I think I fall in love a little bit with anyone who shows me their soul. This world is so guarded and fearful. I appreciate rawness so much.
Emery Allen (via love-diaries)
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i feel weird
an emotion inside
like i will neverÂ
be good enough
i will never findÂ
happinessÂ
like an endlessÂ
loneliness
never loving myself
t.m. (via tmpoem)
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Square
A person who was decidedly not far out or groovy was square. In the jazz parlance of the 1940s, the word transformed to mean someone uptight and traditional, and not âwith it.â The beatniks of the â50s and the hippies of the â60s embraced the word with gusto, and it lived on into the counterculture of the early â70s. "Be there or be square" is now most likely something you only hear your grandparents say.
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Fopdoodle
A fopdoodle is someone of little significance. So, if you're letting someone get on your nerves who really shouldn't have the power, remember that they're just a fopdoodle. Then, carry on.
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Zooterkins
The website Matador Network says this is "a 17th-century variant of zounds,which was an expression of surprise or indignation." It's less of an insult and more of something to yell after someone has insulted you. And, of course, to really pour salt on the wound, you can follow up with some other great words from this list.
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Mumbo jumbo
When somebody isnât making a lot of sense, we lightheartedly say theyâre talking mumbo jumbo. But it doesnât mean âa whole lot of mumbling.â Mumbo jumbo probably comes from the name of a West African god, Maamajomboo. Apparently, the Maamajomboo god was used by men of the tribe to âfrighten women into obedience.â Yikes.
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Hysterical
Weâre starting off with a word originally used against one of the most-disparaged groups in history: women.
For thousands of years, the concept of hysteria was used to shame and subordinate women. In the 1800s a French doctor used his âresearchâ on hysteria as a way to bring audiences to his lab to watch scantily clad women writhe and moan in orgasmic fits.
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