#adverbs of time and place exercises

[mylanguageclasses]

Adverbs of Time in English Grammar

Introduction Adverbs of time are an essential part of English grammar, as they help describe when an action takes place. They provide clarity to sentences by indicating past, present, or future time and are commonly used in both spoken and written English. Understanding adverbs of time is crucial for effective communication, as they allow speakers and writers to express when an event happens,…

[melodytaylorauthor]

Valancing and specificity

I'm gonna geek out about The Story Grid here again, because I have ADHD and specific and granular instructions make my brain go, and The Story Grid is especially good at that and avoiding all the woo-woo "you just have to feel it" bullshit. Okay? Okay.

All right. The latest Story Grid focus has been on descriptions. The book itself is more about plotting and editing, one of the classes they offer now is focused on scene writing, but lately language and description has been on their radar in their emails and Youtube. I dig.

So thing number one has been what they call "valanced language." This is simple. Squeeze descriptors into your nouns and verbs. If the right verb doesn't exist, use an adverb. Don't be scared, they have their place.

For example: "The woman ran down the hall."

Let's start with the first noun. Who was the woman? A secretary? A superhero? A dog groomer? See how each of those examples fills your brain with a distinct idea about why she might be running down a hall? You just fill in all sort of blanks on your own; how she's dressed, what it sounds like as she runs, what she might have in her hands, her expression.

Nice, how about "ran?" How is this woman running, exactly? Is she in a hurry? Is she worried? Is she angry? Does she scurry, or clatter, or jog, or race? If it's a secretary clattering down the hall, that's quite different from a superhero jogging down a hall, or a dog groomer racing down a hall. There are all sorts of implications that come with each, and your brain just fills them all in when the different words are used.

Okay, last, the hall. What kind of hall is it? Is it in a school, a business, a convent, a government building? A secretary clattering down a high school hall has a very different vibe than a hall of the White House. The same with a superhero, or a dog groomer. (Is it just me, or does "The dog groomer raced down the White House hall" scream rom-com? No?)

None of this is to say you have to say "the superhero" every time you refer to your superhero character; if it's established that she's a superhero, you can call her "the woman" or "Agnes." This exercise is to point out what Mark Twain has said: "The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug." It's so much easier to see it with this concrete example.

Now, number two, besides valanced language, the latest Story Grid emails and Youtube vids have been talking a lot about description. About how too much will kill your story, and not like, "You killed it!" but like, "It's dead." They point out that every time you pause the action to describe something, you take a chance that the reader won't put the book down. Readers read for action. They want to know what happens next, not what that tree looks like.

The solution? A few things. Use valanced language; fold your descriptions into the action, don't pause to describe something, note it while you're having the character doing something; and last and most deliciously, use specificity instead of vagueness.

I say "most deliciously" because to me, it is delicious. I love Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History, it's such a good braingasm. On one episode I listened to last year, he talked about how country music differs from rock in its ability to pull at people's heartstrings. The main point he gave was specificity -- the lyricist uses very particular imagery to put the listener in the shoes of the singer. I remember thinking that was really interesting, even though I don't like country music myself.

Then Tim Grahl brought up specificity in storytelling. He used this example: "I wanted to show an apartment in disarray, so I was picturing dirty dishes piled in the sink. But rather than just say there were dirty dishes piled in the sink, I have my character wanting to make coffee and finding the French press still caked with yesterday's grounds." That's just beautiful to my mind. It calls up everything you need to see about a place that hasn't been tidied in a while, it gets brought up while the character is doing something, and it has a vibe attached to it. Perfect.

So when you are writing a description, dial down into something particular about the thing you're describing. Traffic sounds? What about a car alarm going off that no one's paying attention to? A crowded cat room at a rescue? What about a calico kitten careening off the other cats after a stuffed mouse? Or cats tucking their paws in to avoid the careening kitten with a stuffed mouse? A boring day at work? How about if the co-worker is flicking paper clips into an empty cup at his desk?

I love stealing from my own life for this kind of thing. It lends some authenticity, I feel. Notice things around you in your life, then when you're writing, think of how to invoke the mood by pulling up one small, particular detail. Then weave that into the narrative, don't stop the action to deliver the picture. Keep the character moving and on-screen, have the description baked into the action somehow. And if it just won't bake in, cut it. Trust your reader to see your world through your character moving through it. Always trust your reader! If they're too dense to get it, you probably don't want them reading your book in the first place.

Anyhow, I am re-editing my first novel (because I want to, and I'm indie so I can), as well as editing my latest novel, and I just cut a couple paragraphs of description from each. In both cases, I dug down and got one particular detail about the descriptions, wove them into the action, and cut the rest. I can definitely see that that scenes are stronger for it, and the visualization of the setting is actually better with fewer but more specific words.

I fucking love what I do.

[abidethetempest]

Updated Eliksni Syntax!

I fleshed out my syntax! Yayyyyyy, look at me go. Major props to Artifexian for this video on word order, it helped me out a lot.

Primary order: VSO 

Secondary order: SOV

Prepositions 

Noun-demonstrative

Noun-possessive

Adjective-noun

Noun-genitive

Noun-relative clause

Adverb-adjective

Adverbs are flexible when modifying verbs

Modal + Negation + (affix)Verb(affix)

Adpositional phrases: place manner time

Complimentizer-clause

This all is still pretty rough. I have just begun to get into syntax testing exercises, so it remains to be seen if any of the above will change as I put the conlang into practice!

Date: 7-21-23

[lorcblog]

My amateur-hour lessons learned about writing (as opposed to designing) RPGs

Having now released a whopping two (2) RPGs out into the wild I’ve zero authority to say what’s good practice. But I kept a big list of lessons learned. It’s something I find helpful to refer back to. There’s a few traps I find myself repeatedly falling into and this reminds me of them and how to avoid them.​

I’ll never create anything good if I’m not willing to create something bad first.

Even if nobody else reads or plays this, I’m creating for my own entertainment and self-improvement.

Every idea is perfect in my head. Pin them down in writing to examine them more critically.

Talk about what’s cool about this game, not how it’s unlike other games.

Directly stating what the thing is is clearer and quicker than saying what the thing isn’t. 

Write for the benefit of people who’d enjoy the game, not to persuade those who won’t.

At all times consider what the reader wants to know and what it’s helpful for them to be told. 

Say the thing without preamble. Saying I’m going to say a thing is a waste of space.

That means not beginning a section by restating the header either.

In rules, say clearly what to do before getting hung up listing all the things not to.

Avoid game voice – “and yet-”, “their very-”, “the utter-” etc. Just write normally.

Don’t be allergic to contractions. Sentences get stilted without them.

Make it fun to read – address the reader directly and let a little personality show through. 

Starting a sentence with a conjunction is fine as a little treat.

Mostly. Tend. Usually. Qualifying all my statements is weak writing. Let exceptions prove the rule.

It’s fine to write things not intended to go in the final doc. Sometimes it’s helpful for me to write it, even knowing it’s destined for the cutting room floor.

Writing lists is fun and easy but it’s not real writing. (Oh hey!)

Coming up with the perfect name is a problem for later – placeholder names are fine.

Designer notes are useful but indulgent. Exercise restraint.

If a big designer note is really that important, it should be part of the text. 

For each section consider whether I’m addressing the player or the GM. Be deliberate and consistent. 

Adjectives, adverbs and repetition are a great way to pad a paragraph out into unreadable fluff. Delete ruthlessly.

No editing partway through a section. I can’t judge information priority and flow until I’ve gotten to the end.

If I’ve finished a bit, move right on to the next bit instead of getting bogged down in re-writes. There’s no prizes for most deleted drafts.

When a section of the draft’s good enough, mark it in a different colour so I can track my progress and know what to leave alone.

Do I really need other people’s feedback? Or am I just avoiding writing by talking about it instead? 

Write what I can, when I can. If I can’t write one part right now, write a different part. If all I can write at the moment is a list of what I want to write, then write that. Try to get some momentum going.

It’s too much to hope that I keep my notes organised, but for all that’s holy keep them in one place.

A proper draft needs at least some sense of how it's going to be laid out or there will be very nasty surprises.

Nevertheless, no draft survives contact with layout.

The best part of the process is when I realise that I've already written all the other bits I need and can just slot them in.​

[schooldekho91]

Master Prepositions: Exercises and Answers for Fluent English Usage

Introduction to Prepositions

In the realm of English grammar, prepositions play a crucial role in connecting words and phrases, thereby indicating relationships such as time, place, direction, and more. Mastering prepositions is not just about memorization but understanding their contextual usage. This comprehensive guide aims to equip learners with practical exercises and answers to enhance their proficiency in using prepositions effectively.

Understanding Prepositions

What Are Prepositions?

Prepositions are words that link nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other words within a sentence. They provide crucial information about the relationship between elements in context.

Types of Prepositions

1. Simple Prepositions

Simple prepositions are single words like in, on, at, to, by, for, with, and about.

2. Compound Prepositions

Compound prepositions consist of two or more words, functioning as a single unit to denote relationships. Examples include because of, in front of, and in spite of.

3. Phrase Prepositions

Phrase prepositions are groups of words that function as single prepositions, such as in addition to, on behalf of, and according to.

4. Participle Prepositions

Participle prepositions end in -ing and often describe how something happens or is done, like during, concerning, and excluding.

Usage of Prepositions

Time

Prepositions such as at, on, in, and during indicate when something happens. For instance, "She arrived at noon."

Place

Prepositions like in, on, at, and under specify where something is located. For example, "The book is on the shelf."

Direction

Prepositions of direction like to, towards, into, and through denote movement towards or away from a place. E.g., "He walked to the park."

Agent/Instrument

Prepositions such as by and with describe how something is done or the means used. For example, "The letter was written by John."

Common Errors with Prepositions

Understanding and avoiding common mistakes is crucial for mastering prepositions:

Misplacement: Incorrect use of prepositions can lead to misunderstandings, such as saying "interested for" instead of "interested in".

Overuse: Using prepositions unnecessarily can clutter sentences and confuse the reader.

Incorrect Choice: Choosing the wrong preposition can alter the meaning of a sentence, e.g., using "on" instead of "at" in time-related contexts.

Preposition Exercises with Answers

Exercise 1: Fill in the Blanks

She is sitting _ the chair.

The cat is hiding _ the bed.

Answers:

on

under

Exercise 2: Multiple Choice Questions

She is going _ the store.

a) to

b) in

c) on

The keys are _ the table.

a) in

b) on

c) at

Answers:

a) to

b) on

Exercise 3: Match the Prepositions

Match the following phrases with suitable prepositions:

_ the morning

_ the car

Answers:

in

in

Advanced Usage and Tips

Idiomatic Expressions

Idiomatic expressions involving prepositions add depth and nuance to language. Examples include at a loss, in the nick of time, and on the verge of.

Phrasal Verbs

Understanding phrasal verbs, which combine verbs with prepositions or adverbs, enhances fluency. Examples include look up to, break down, and run out of.

Tips for Improving Preposition Usage

Read Regularly: Expose yourself to varied texts to observe prepositions in context.

Practice Daily: Incorporate preposition exercises into your daily study routine.

Use Visual Aids: Create flashcards or diagrams to reinforce preposition usage.

Enhance your grammar skills with our Preposition Exercise with Answers for Students. These exercises are designed to help students understand and use prepositions correctly through practical examples and fill-in-the-blank sentences. With included answers, students can easily check their work and focus on areas needing improvement. This resource is perfect for both classroom learning and self-study, making mastering prepositions easy and effective.

Conclusion

Mastering prepositions is pivotal for achieving fluency and accuracy in English. By familiarizing yourself with their types, usages, and common errors, you can navigate language more effectively. Practicing with exercises and understanding nuanced applications will further strengthen your command of prepositions.

Check our other Blogs :-

Master Prepositions: Exercises with Answers for Students

Boost Learning with Engaging GK Questions in Morning Assemblies

Effective Preposition Exercises for Students: Practice with Answers

[cin-cant-donate-blood]

Ok but this is something that's been bothering me for a while, actually. For some reason, a lot of online communities centred on writing prompts just become communities about 💫exciting premises💫 which is not what writing prompts are for! Writing prompts are supposed to be writing exercises, not a summary of the first 5 pages of a thriller novel. If they even are that, I feel like a lot of writing prompts are actually a genre of microfiction where you're supposed to come up with an absurd premise and a twist ending: a majority of them seem like this. They close doors rather than open them. In fact, I feel like a great many writing prompts are clearly not intended to have anything written in response to them at all.

In my opinion, a good writing prompt is not a prompt that decides the twist for you, but rather one that encourages you to write in a way you wouldn't normally. If the prompt is more than one sentence long, you're probably already doing it wrong.

The gold standard for good writing prompts is, in my opinion, the tiny and defunct reddit community r/thedailyprompt, which has 250 writing prompts that are actually for the most part interesting. Notably, only a few of them deal with premises, and graciously none of those premises are the intro to the dumbest YA novel of the decade. Instead, a considerable majority deal with style, character, perspective, and more, and are explicitly intended to force you to approach writing itself in a new way. I'll give you some examples:

Craft a story without utilizing that most common symbol (write a story without the letter E).

Write a story using as many adverbs as possible, and tell, don't show.

Write a story from the perspective of someone who hates the protagonist.

Write a story about a holiday that is only celebrated by the main character.

The key thing that these prompts get right is that a writing prompt is a type of exercise, not a premise for someone without any ideas. The first one is a very fundamental restriction: a kind of "tying one hand behind your back" situation that is purely intended to force you to think very carefully about the words you choose. The second explicitly forces you to abandon two of the most common pieces of writing advice, perhaps as a challenge to make it good anyway, but perhaps also just to more clearly illustrate to you why these rules exist in the first place. The third is interesting in how it forces you to think about what makes a protagonist at all. After all, the protagonist is almost always the perspective character, so this opens up many problems: why will this hater be someone who even knows what the protagonist is doing? And how do we inform the audience that the person being derisively described is actually the main character?

The final example is the only actual premise prompt, but again, it is far broader than the bizarre prompts you usually see, while also being more specific. It lets you answer many fundamental questions: why is only one person celebrating it? Is it a dying tradition? Or just a small ritual this person made up? In either case, why? At the same time, it also suggests a very specific tone. No matter how you interpret it, it sounds like it ought to be a slightly melancholic or bittersweet story, but then again, you don't have to make it that. Notice also that the prompt lets the writer rather than the prompter be the one to shine. Whatever the writer comes up with will very much be a unique idea, and not just them finishing somebody else's story.

Anyway that's what I think of writing prompts.

why are all prompts from those shitty writing prompt blogs always the same. its always some shit like “every person is born with the taco bell logo tattooed on their forehead. the logo changes colors like the tumblr logo during pride month when the person who is going to t-bone you in a 4 way intersection is nearby. one day your taco bell logo starts flipping its shit when you wake up next to the love of your life. you feel betrayed.”

[literaturereviewhelp]

This study compares two small corpora, each comprising 300 words, taken from a linguistic journal and a transcribed interview. The texts are therefore diverse in terms of content, style, register and their proposed audience, and are compared and contrasted in terms of the linguistic properties pertaining to the number of sentences, the number and type of dependent clauses, and the use of contractions. The purpose of ascertaining the number of sentences within each corpus will provide insight as to the length of the sentences, as the higher the number of sentences found within a 300 word corpus, then the shorter the sentences would have to be. The fewer the number of sentences then, would realize longer, compound and complex sentences and thus would render more dependent clauses. 1.2 Dependent clauses A dependent clause does not convey a complete idea and therefore is unable to stand by itself; in other words a dependent clause relies on an independent clause for meaning. Tallerman (1998) refers to dependent clauses as subordinate clauses and the independent clause, which must contain a finite verb, as the matrix clause. She also tells us that subordinate clauses are often considered as embedded clauses because they are embedded within another clause and are “syntactically dependent on the matrix clause” (p.77). A dependent clause, or subordinate clause, is introduced with a subordinator (Oshima & Hogue, 1999) which can take the function of an adverb, adjective or noun; Tallerman (1998) refers to these words as ‘complementizers’ (p.81). If introduced with an adverbial subordinator, such as because, so, if, when and while, the dependent clause is called an adverbial clause because it works like an adverb and modifies the verb in the independent clause (Oshima & Hogue, 1999); for example, (1) I workout regularly at the gym so that I can be fit and healthy. In example (1) the dependent adverbial clause ‘so that I can be fit and healthy’ modifies the verb ‘workout’ in the independent clause, which in this case provides the reason why I workout. Adverbial clauses may provide reference to place, time, frequency, distance, reason, result, contrast, concession (results that are not expected), purpose and manner (Oshima & Hogue, 1999), as illustrated below: (2) Everywhere I go, I bump into somebody I know. (place) (3) After I read the instructions, I understood how to use the machine correctly. (time) (4) I go to the gym as often as I can. (frequency) (5) I like to run the treadmill as far as I can. (distance) (6) Since my friend does not go to the gym, he is not as fit as me. (reason) (7) Sometimes the gym is so busy that I have to wait a long time for each apparatus. (result) (8) My mother prefers aerobics, whereas I prefer working with exercise machines. (contrast) (9) Although she works out twice a week Read the full article

[english-cafe]

The Ultimate English Grammar Course for Beginners

Mastering English grammar is a key stepping stone for anyone looking to communicate effectively in English. Whether you’re a student, professional, or just curious about language, an English Grammar Course provides the foundation needed for confidence and clarity in speaking and writing. This article explores what makes the ultimate English Language Course Online, covering key elements like core grammar topics, practice methods, and helpful tips to enhance your learning experience.

Why an English Grammar Course Matters

Grammar is the backbone of any language. Without a clear understanding of grammar, it’s challenging to form sentences, convey messages accurately, or understand the nuances of English. An English grammar course helps learners navigate rules, exceptions, and structures that make English unique. A structured course provides a step-by-step guide to the basics, building a solid foundation for language mastery. Beginners, especially, benefit from organized lessons that explain grammar concepts in clear, manageable chunks.

What to Expect from a Beginner Grammar Course

A beginner’s Learn English Online typically focuses on essential building blocks. This includes parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation, and basic verb tenses. These elements are covered in simple, easy-to-understand language with plenty of examples. The course should ideally offer a combination of theory and practical exercises, allowing students to learn a concept and then immediately practice it.

Let’s explore the core elements commonly covered in an English grammar course for beginners:

1. Understanding Parts of Speech

The first step in any grammar course is understanding parts of speech. These are the categories into which words are divided based on their functions in a sentence. The main parts of speech include:

Nouns (e.g., cat, book, happiness) – words representing people, places, things, or ideas

Pronouns (e.g., he, they, it) – words that replace nouns

Verbs (e.g., run, is, become) – words that show action or a state of being

Adjectives (e.g., big, beautiful, quick) – words that describe nouns

Adverbs (e.g., quickly, very, well) – words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs

Prepositions (e.g., on, in, at) – words that show relationships between nouns and other words

Conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or) – words that join words or groups of words

Interjections (e.g., wow!, ouch!) – words that express emotion

Understanding these basic categories helps learners identify different words in a sentence and their roles, making sentence formation easier.

2. Sentence Structure Basics

The structure of sentences is crucial for clear communication. A beginner English grammar course introduces the concept of sentence components: subjects, predicates, objects, and complements. Lessons on sentence structure explain how to build simple sentences, such as subject-verb-object constructions (e.g., “She reads books.”) and gradually introduce more complex forms.

Courses often cover:

Simple Sentences: Contain one independent clause (e.g., "He runs.")

Compound Sentences: Contain two independent clauses joined by a conjunction (e.g., "She sings, and he dances.")

Complex Sentences: Contain an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses (e.g., "Although she was tired, she continued working.")

3. Verb Tenses and Their Use

Verb tenses express time in English. The ultimate English grammar course will introduce the three primary tenses – present, past, and future – and their variations (simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous). For beginners, it’s essential to focus on the most commonly used tenses, such as:

Present Simple: Used for habitual actions or facts (e.g., "I eat breakfast daily.")

Past Simple: Used for completed actions in the past (e.g., "She watched a movie.")

Future Simple: Used to describe actions that will happen (e.g., "They will arrive tomorrow.")

Once comfortable, students can explore more advanced tenses like present perfect and past perfect.

4. Mastering Punctuation

Punctuation helps clarify meaning in writing. In English, punctuation marks like periods, commas, question marks, and exclamation points signal pauses, end sentences, or show emphasis. A good beginner course will teach the purpose and correct usage of punctuation to enhance writing clarity and prevent misunderstandings.

For instance:

Commas are used to separate items in a list or clauses within a sentence.

Periods end declarative sentences.

Question Marks turn a sentence into a question.

Exclamation Points convey strong emotion or surprise.

Practical Exercises for Grammar Practice

Learning grammar isn’t just about memorizing rules; practice is essential. A quality grammar course will offer numerous exercises and quizzes to reinforce each concept. Here are some practical exercise types that enhance learning:

Fill-in-the-Blank Exercises: Help students practice using specific words and tenses.

Sentence Correction: Develops attention to detail by finding and correcting grammar mistakes.

Rewriting Sentences: Teaches sentence structure by rephrasing sentences using new grammar structures.

Translation Exercises: For non-native speakers, translating sentences into English can boost confidence.

Tips for Learning Grammar Effectively

Take It Slow: Grammar can be complex, so pace yourself. Try to master one concept before moving to the next.

Practice Daily: Dedicate a few minutes every day to practice grammar rules and exercises.

Use Examples: When learning new grammar points, look at several examples to understand context and application.

Ask Questions: If you’re taking a course with a tutor or group, ask questions whenever you’re unclear on a topic.

Reinforce Learning with Reading and Writing: Read simple English books or articles and practice writing sentences using newly learned grammar.

The Importance of Consistency

Consistency is key in mastering grammar. Revisit old topics regularly, as repetition reinforces learning. A good grammar course will encourage revisiting previous lessons to solidify your knowledge. This is especially important with verb tenses and sentence structure, which can be confusing initially.

Final Thoughts

For anyone new to the English language, an English grammar course is the ultimate tool for building a foundation in the language. Covering basic grammar topics, sentence structure, verb tenses, and punctuation, the course empowers beginners to communicate more effectively and confidently. Remember to practice consistently, take each lesson step-by-step, and seek out exercises to reinforce your knowledge. With dedication, you’ll soon see remarkable progress in your understanding and use of English grammar.

[draculasstrawhat]

None of this is wrong, but as someone who has been hawking my writing for over two decades now, and works in submissions editing, I’ve got some addendums about *why* this advice is so often given, and why it can make decent editing advice (so long as you stay sensible about it.)

For a lot of people, editing while you write isn’t helpful, it’s better to get the words down without fretting about that sort of stuff. Editing happens later, when you’re trying to make your writing look more like you *want* it to look.

1. The passive voice is a tool. Is it the tool you want?

One of the things it can do is remove agency from your writing, and create a slower, more detached pace. If that’s what you want, EXCELLENT. If not, it’s the wrong tool for the job.

2. Adverbs are a question of fashion.

Currently the fashion in publishing/among readers is for shorter sentences and faster-paced prose. The argument against them is that there is often a verb that already includes the modifier, not “she ran quickly” but “she sprinted.” However, there are plenty of adverbs to which this doesn’t apply (and that people will use without thinking about it, while claiming they deplore adverbs…)

Me, I love an adverb usefully deployed. They can help create tone (archaic, colloquial, humorous), but too many will switch off readers and submissions editors.

3. Filler, yep, absolutely agree, in terms of plot but.

A lot of modern writers imagine their work as though they’re watching a film or TV show, which means they include a lot of… unnecessary stage direction. Prose is a different format - we don’t need to know every hair twirl and half step and blink and double take. It’s not actually serving anything, and it’s distracting your reader from the stuff you want them to see. You can choose to do that as a stylistic thing, but it’s not a great default.

There’s also the great drafting tool known as “writing yourself in” to a story/character/scene. This is really valuable work, but your reader very rarely needs to see it. It’s the writing equivalent of a warm up exercise. Important at the draft stage, lose it in the edit.

4. ORTHOGRAPHY IS WHAT YOU PAY YOUR EDITORS FOR.

It’s worth learning not to to do anything too egregious (lavender paper, writing in fonts like Papyrus) because terrible orthography will piss off the people who read your subs. But anyone who is throwing out your MS over the wrong kind of dash, or speech marks, is a wanker you don’t want to be working with anyway. ESPECIALLY as the rules around it vary from place to place.

Everywhere you sub to will have a house style for this, and it is the editors job to make your work fit it. If you’re self publishing, this is why paying an editor (or learning to do it yourself) matters. It’s why editors are so damned expensive. They fix that stuff for you.

If you’re doing it yourself, it doesn’t matter until the final edit in any case (although having it fixed from the start will save you time).

So, yeah, read the submission guidelines to anywhere you’re submitting to about how they like stuff formatted and follow them - but ime most of them aren’t that strict because they know they’re getting subs from around the world, and will need to standardise everything anyway. Everything is digital now anyway, so it’s not actually that big a ballache to fix them,

If you’re DIYing, it’s worth looking up the conventions of what you’re trying to do. (Full disclosure, I’m low-cost self-pubbing something right now, and the orthography stuff is driving me round the bend.)

5. Boobs. No notes.

actual writing advice

1. Use the passive voice.

What? What are you talking about, “don’t use the passive voice”? Are you feeling okay? Who told you that? Come on, let’s you and me go to their house and beat them with golf clubs. It’s just grammar. English is full of grammar: you should go ahead and use all of it whenever you want, on account of English is the language you’re writing in.

2. Use adverbs.

Now hang on. What are you even saying to me? Don’t use adverbs? My guy, that is an entire part of speech. That’s, like—that’s gotta be at least 20% of the dictionary. I don’t know who told you not to use adverbs, but you should definitely throw them into the Columbia river.

3. There’s no such thing as “filler”.

Buddy, “filler” is what we called the episodes of Dragon Ball Z where Goku wasn’t blasting Frieza because the anime was in production before Akira Toriyama had written the part where Goku blasts Frieza. Outside of this extremely specific context, “filler” does not exist. Just because a scene wouldn’t make it into the Wikipedia synopsis of your story’s plot doesn’t mean it isn’t important to your story. This is why “plot” and “story” are different words!

4. okay, now that I’ve snared you in my trap—and I know you don’t want to hear this—but orthography actually does kind of matter

First of all, a lot of what you think of as “grammar” is actually orthography. Should I put a comma here? How do I spell this word in this context? These are questions of orthography (which is a fancy Greek word meaning “correct-writing”). In fact, most of the “grammar questions” you’ll see posted online pertain to orthography; this number probably doubles in spaces for writers specifically.

If you’re a native speaker of English, your grammar is probably flawless and unremarkable for the purposes of writing prose. Instead, orthography refers to the set rules governing spelling, punctuation, and whitespace. There are a few things you should know about orthography:

English has no single orthography. You already know spelling and punctuation differ from country to country, but did you know it can even differ from publisher to publisher? Some newspapers will set parenthetical statements apart with em dashes—like this, with no spaces—while others will use a slightly shorter dashes – like this, with spaces – to name just one example.

Orthography is boring, and nobody cares about it or knows what it is. For most readers, orthography is “invisible”. Readers pay attention to the words on a page, not the paper itself; in much the same way, readers pay attention to the meaning of a text and not the orthography, which exists only to convey that meaning.

That doesn’t mean it’s not important. Actually, that means it’s of the utmost importance. Because orthography can only be invisible if it meets the reader’s expectations.

You need to learn how to format dialogue into paragraphs. You need to learn when to end a quote with a comma versus a period. You need to learn how to use apostrophes, colons and semicolons. You need to learn these things not so you can win meaningless brownie points from your English teacher for having “Good Grammar”, but so that your prose looks like other prose the reader has consumed.

If you printed a novel on purple paper, you’d have the reader wondering: why purple? Then they’d be focusing on the paper and not the words on it. And you probably don’t want that! So it goes with orthography: whenever you deviate from standard practices, you force the reader to work out in their head whether that deviation was intentional or a mistake. Too much of that can destroy the flow of reading and prevent the reader from getting immersed.

You may chafe at this idea. You may think these “rules” are confusing and arbitrary. You’re correct to think that. They’re made the fuck up! What matters is that they were made the fuck up collaboratively, by thousands of writers over hundreds of years. Whether you like it or not, you are part of that collaboration: you’re not the first person to write prose, and you can’t expect yours to be the first prose your readers have ever read.

That doesn’t mean “never break the rules”, mind you. Once you’ve gotten comfortable with English orthography, then you are free to break it as you please. Knowing what’s expected gives you the power to do unexpected things on purpose. And that’s the really cool shit.

5. You’re allowed to say the boobs were big if the story is about how big the boobs were

Nobody is saying this. Only I am brave enough to say it.

Well, bye!

[elafree]

Adverbs’ Positions - 6th Grade Grammar

Are you looking for a fun and easy way to teach your 6th graders about adverbs and their positions in sentences? Check out this awesome blog post by ELA Free Resources that explains the rules and provides some exercises for practice. You’ll learn how to use adverbs of manner, place, time, frequency, degree, and focus correctly and effectively. Don’t miss this opportunity to improve your grammar skills and impress your teachers and friends! #adverbs #grammar #6thgrade #ELA #education #learning

[mylanguageclasses]

Adverbs of Place in English Grammar

Introduction Adverbs of Place are essential components of English grammar. They describe where an action happens and provide more clarity in sentences. Understanding these adverbs can significantly improve communication skills. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore their definition, rules, usage, examples, and important considerations. Common Expressions Using Adverbs of Place Here are…

[pooma-english]

Here are 101 things (in no particular order) you can do to improve your English

▪️Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your mistakes when they hear you make them.

▪️Surround yourself in English. Put yourself in an all English speaking environment where you can learn passively. The best way to learn is through speaking.

▪️Practise every day. Make yourself a study plan. Decide how much time a week you are going to spend studying and stick to it. ▪️Establish a routine.

▪️Tell your family and friends about your study plan. Get them to push you to study and also don’t let them interrupt you.

▪️Practise the 4 core skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. They all need to be worked on for you to improve.

▪️Keep a notebook of new words you learn. ▪️Use them in sentences and try to say them at least 3 times when you speak.

▪️Visit EC’s free learn English website at least once a day and complete a lesson.

▪️Memorisation of lists is one of the most common ways of learning vocabulary for a test. ▪️It's only a good exercise for short term studying because you often do not retain the information that you have learned for a test.

▪️Use your body clock. If you’re not a morning person, study in the afternoon.

▪️You will find words easier to remember if you try to remember an example sentence using that word rather the word on its own.

▪️Plan to take a test. You’ll find that you work harder when you need to study for something.

▪️Saying that, it’s better not to study just to take a test. Think of the bigger picture. What can you do when you have a good command of English? How will the quality of your life improve?

▪️Give yourself a long term goal. Focus on working towards it.

▪️Give yourself short term goals too and reward yourself when you achieve each one.

▪️Create an atmosphere in which you want to learn, not because you have to. You’ll learn more when you’re learning because you want to.

▪️Know what works best for you. Think about what methods have been successful for you in the past and stick with them.

▪️Figure out how you learn. It can be by memorising, reading, speaking, summarising or other methods. Find out how you study best. It can be in a quiet place by yourself or with a group.

▪️Get help! If you don’t understand something you’ve got to ask someone. Ask your teacher, classmates or friends for help.

▪️Review! Review! Review! Make sure that you take the time to review things you have studied in the past.

▪️It’s not a good idea to study on your own for more than 30 minutes at a time. Take regular breaks, get some fresh air and stretch your legs.

▪️Don’t be in such a hurry to move up a level. ▪️Concentrate on the level you are at now.

▪️Watch DVDs rather than TV. It’s better to use something that you can watch over again to catch information you might have missed the first time.

▪️Watching TV only gives you the chance to hear something correctly first time. This is better for high level students. It can be great practice for speaking to native English speakers so you don’t have to ask them to repeat themselves!

▪️Read graded readers. These books are especially written for your level. Read a whole novel. You can do it! You’ll feel great afterwards.

▪️Children’s books have easier words and are a good alternative to graded readers.

▪️Newspapers are a good place to find passive constructs. Read through an article and see if you can find the passive sentences.

▪️Read for the general meaning first. Don’t worry about understanding every word, then go back and look up new words.

▪️For a word you don’t understand in a sentence, look at the other words around it. They will give you a hint. Try to guess the meaning from the context.

▪️Learn root words. They’ll help you guess the meaning of words. For example: scrib = write, min = small

▪️When you learn a new word, think of all its other forms: Beautiful (adjective), beauty (noun), beautifully (adverb).

▪️Learn prefixes (dis-, un-, re-) and suffixes (-ly, -ment, -ful), these will help you to figure out the meaning of words and build your vocabulary.

▪️English, unlike Japanese or French, uses word stress. For new words, count the syllables and find where the stress is. Only one stress per word and always on a vowel. Two syllable verbs have a stress on the second syllable (beGIN). 2 syllable nouns (TEAcher) and adjectives (HAPpy) stress the first.

▪️Use English whenever you can. It’s as simple as that!

▪️Don’t translate into English from your own language. Think in English to improve your fluency. Talk to yourself…but not on the bus otherwise people will think you have gone crazy!

▪️You can’t learn English from a book. Like driving a car, you can only learn through doing it.

▪️The most natural way to learn grammar is through talking.

▪️Keep an English diary or journal. Start by writing a few sentences a day and then get into the habit of writing more.

▪️Why not start an online blog and share your writings with the world?

▪️To become a better writer brainstorm as many ideas and thoughts onto paper without worrying about grammar or spelling. Then think about the structure. After that, write your piece using good grammar and spelling. Finally, read it through or give it to someone else to check for mistakes.

▪️Keep an eye on your punctuation as it can totally change what you’re trying to say. Check out the difference in meaning between these two sentences: “A woman without her man is nothing” and “A woman: without her, man is nothing”.

▪️Sing your heart out! Show the world your beautiful voice! Learn English songs and sing along with them to improve fluency and intonation… anyone for Karaoke?

▪️Get a penfriend or use chat-rooms, forums and community sites. If you can’t speak to someone in English, this is the next best thing.

▪️Shadow English CDs. Listen to a few sentences then repeat what you heard. Focus on the rhythm and intonation.

▪️Have English radio on in your house. Even if you are not actively listening to it, you will still be training your ears.

▪️Mirror CDs. Read out loud along with a CD. Again, this is great for intonation, pronunciation and rhythm.

▪️Dictation. Listen to a CD or friend and write down what you hear.

▪️Nobody likes to hear their own voice, but be brave and try it! Record your voice and listen to your pronunciation and intonation. It will help you to identify your problem areas.

▪️Ask your helpful teacher if you can record his lesson. This is a great way to review. You can also listen to your teachers speaking speed and intonation.

▪️Use an English/English dictionary as it will help you to keep thinking in English and not translating.

▪️If an English/English dictionary seems scary, there are learner’s dictionaries for English students of your level.

▪️Don’t become too reliant on your dictionary. ▪️Your dictionary should be an aid, not your main teacher. Try to guess the meaning of words rather than going straight for your dictionary.

▪️Don’t give up! Stay positive! Sometimes you will feel that you aren’t learning quickly enough. ▪️Everyone feels like this, don’t worry about it. You’ll get there in the end.

▪️Enjoy it! We learn more when we are having fun!

▪️If you get nervous when speaking, take two deep breaths before you say something. You’ll speak better when you feel relaxed.

▪️Keep yourself motivated by looking back at the textbooks and CDs you used in the past. You’ll be surprised at how easy they seem to you now! Congratulations, your level is improving!

▪️You are never too young or too old to start learning English. Don’t make excuses not to learn. What are you waiting for?

▪️Procrastination can stop you from being successful. To stop procrastinating, it's important you understand if your procrastinating is to avoid studying, or if it is your bad habit.

▪️If you haven’t gotten the results you wanted yet, it’s not because you’re bad at languages, it’s because you haven’t found your own special way of learning yet.

▪️Use resources which match your level. Don’t use texts/listening exercises which are too difficult or too easy. Use materials which challenge you but don’t frustrate you.

▪️Don’t worry about making your accent perfect. It’s an important part of your cultural identity to keep your accent. Native English speakers enjoy hearing English spoken with an accent.

▪️There are many types of English: British, American, South African and so on. None of these are wrong or not as important. English is English.

▪️Instead, be aware of the differences in American and British English and use your words accordingly. For example: Elevator (US) / Lift (British).

▪️Carry cue cards with you. These are small cards which you can write new words on. You can pull them out and look at them whenever you a free minute.

▪️Use post-it notes and stick them around your home. You can use them to label things. Stick one on your pet dog!

▪️You can’t ignore phrasal verbs (two words verbs), there are hundreds of them in English and they’re widely used. The more you focus on their meaning, the more you’ll be able to guess the meaning of new ones. You’ll start to recognise their patterns.

▪️Use your intuition. Go with your gut feeling, you’ll be surprised how often your first guess is the right guess. Like we said before, be confident.

▪️Gather your thoughts. Take a second to think about what you’re going to say. You know the grammar, but maybe you don’t use it correctly when you speak.

▪️Meet new people. Make the effort to mix with ▪️English speakers in your town. You could join a club or go to bars where foreigners hang out. ▪️Buy one a drink, they love that!

▪️Be the person to start conversations in English.

▪️Try to keep the conversations moving and use listening words (‘really?’ / ‘go on…’/ ‘what happened then?’) Don’t wait for others to speak to you. Get in there!

▪️Debate. Discuss topics in a group. Each person should choose a viewpoint (even if you don’t agree with it) and debate it within the group.

▪️Make sure you get your point across. Learn to listen actively. Active listening will help in the classroom and it will help you get more out of, and contribute more to, group study sess

[casa-anachar]

I grew up with a certain brand of calculator that my parents loved (and still do - hp's to be exact) where instead of typing the equation "1 + (7 ÷ 2) =" straight from the paper into the calculator, you have to give the calculator the numbers first before telling it the operation. (I promise this is going somewhere, please bear with me.) For the same math problem above, we would type "1 (enter) 7 (enter) 2 (enter)" to have all the numbers on the stack {1 ; 7 ; 2}, then "÷" to operate on 7 & 2 making the stack {1 ; 3.5}, and finally "+" to add 1 & 3.5 into {4.5}.

Japanese has part-of-speech markers that tag each word/concept group going into the sentence, so far the ones I can confidently remember are

"wa" for the subject

"no" for a possessive marker,

"[w]o" for a direct object,

"i" for adjectives? maybe?

"ni" for time (and maybe place) markers, adverb-like

"to" (and)

"mo" (also)

I'm sure there are others, too. Parsing Japanese, for me, has been an exercise in using each of these tags, like its own little enter key on my childhood calculator, to sort the sentence content coming in until the verb operates on everything at the end (-masu) ... Or doesn't (-masen).

Kanji, yeah, I'm also at a loss, or rather, i don't have a deep enough vocabulary bank to understand it, and would also love some pointers (i'm out in the Tumblweeds without a large number of followers but anyone who wants to chime in please do.) Hiragana vs Katakana, i'm processing the same way that some latin characters look different when they're Italicized To Indicate Loanwords (though unfortunately the scripts have precious little overlap, at least katakana is consistently less curly.)

The nametag here says "Miguel // the carpenter", and I'm married to @leyezahmae "// the traveler" who tends to otherwise keep quiet on this platform.

こんばんは！ 日本語 の べんきょう は どう ですか

(my wife sent me your post about the upcoming move and poked me about reaching out, though I'm only a section and a half deep in Duolingo and coming up on two decades removed from one semester's formal instruction.)

Hajimemashite! (I only have the Japanese keyboard on my phone XD)

Studying sucks so far. I still haven't hit that sweet spot where things click into place and I can suddenly understand how to make my own sentences. I can memorize words and phrases, but I still don't really understand enough to be confident making my own sentences. I think this is mainly down to the fact that reading Japanese is so painfully difficult. (WHY ARE THERE THREE WRITING SYSTEMS! WHO CAME UP WITH THIS IDEA? WHY IS IT A THINGGGGGGG?) At this point I'm really not sure what else to do but keep grinding away at it until either I've memorized every single useful phrase in the language or God preforms a miracle and I can suddenly figure out kanji. I'm told there is a Method (tm) to understanding kanji, but what that method is still remains a complete mystery to me at this point.

Who is your wife, btw? I have a terrible history of getting tumblr couples mixed up.

[mirai-studies-languages]

How to self study a language without a textbook or course

Hi! I have a very short attention span, and I rarely find it in me to enjoy using only one resource to learn a language, so I often rely on immersion and actively using the language right from the beginning to learn languages. I’ve done this with pretty much all my languages, and it has worked out pretty well for me so far, especially with French! This is heavily inspired by this article on the medium, which changed my whole outlook on languages. I hope I can offer some helpful advice!

Starting off (A0 --> A2)

First of all, you’re going to have to set your goals in the language. What do you want to do in your target language? Do you want to be conversational or fully fluent? Do you want to focus on all the skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking), or only a couple? Which accent/dialect do you want to choose? Set your goals, and give yourself some habits to start sticking to.

In most cases, I would advice learning the alphabet and the pronunciation at first. For the alphabet, find a guide online and learn the stroke order. Keep on writing it over and over again. For languages like Mandarin Chinese or Japanese, where you have to memorise characters, try and memorise the most common characters. Also, find a pronunciation guide on YouTube or somewhere online, and immediately start working on it. Once you have a general idea of what the sounds are, start speaking and try to shadow natives (i.e. repeat what they say after them with the same intonation - you can do this with YouTube videos, or beginners exercises online).  To practice both of these at the same time, you can try reading out loud, and maybe try dictating what you hear sometimes.

Start listening to the language a lot. Try and listen to YouTube videos and podcasts, and get used to the sound of the language. You might even want to watch a TV show or anime in your target language with English subtitles. I’d also recommend reading and listening at the same time, so if you have subtitles in your target language, then that could be great too. The more exposed you are to the natural use of your target language, the less unintelligible they will seem. 

Memorise some basic vocabulary and phrases. There are loads of articles online that have basic vocabulary lists and phrases in different languages (there are even some on this website). Try memorising a few of them. In terms of what exactly you should learn vocab for, I would recommend learning vocab lists for these: numbers, subject pronouns, common greetings, the most common verbs (the first 100 should do) and their most common conjugations, days of the week, months, seasons, years, how to tell the time, how to talk about the weather, family, colours, house vocab, food, money and shopping phrases, common adjectives, common places,  adverbs, parts of the body and medical vocabulary (I got all of this from this post). It’s a lot, but it will give you a strong foundation. You can then start learning vocabulary for your interests specifically. You can do this using multiple methods. First, you could use flashcards, like anki, memrise and Quizlet. You could also play around with apps like Duolingo or Lingodeer. Also, you could write them down, and keep testing yourself on them until you have them memorised (both target language to english, and english to target language). Make sure that you have audio, and that you know how the word/phrase sounds, and the pronunciation.

Start speaking with someone online. I recommend apps like Tandem and HiNative. Start trying to have conversations of basic topics straight away, and make sure you get corrections. Look up the words as you go.

Memorise a few basic grammar structures. This is especially important for languages like Korean or Japanese, which have extremely different grammar structures to English. Learn basic present, past and future tenses, along with basic articles and determiners, agreement, reflexive verbs, basic particles, negation and gender.

Immerse. I would recommend starting off with posts and videos that offer advice about things, since the language used in these tend to be simplistic, but topic specific. You can also use apps like LingQ. When practicing listening and reading, you can use the advice in these two posts (listening, reading). Don’t memorise every word you come across, and slowly try to ease yourself in.

Making the leap to the intermediate stage (A2 --> B1)

Vocabulary: I’ve already talked about methods of memorising vocabulary earlier, so I won’t talk about it again. As for what you should be memorising, I would suggest basing it on your interests and topical issues. When you immerse, and come across certain interesting words, then memorise them. You can also explore the tag for your target language on tumblr, and try and memorise some of the in depth vocabulary lists on here.

Grammar: I would suggest finding a specification, or list of grammar structures for the intermediate level, and learn all of them using articles and youtube videos. Then, try and use the rules regularly in your speaking and writing and receive corrections. Also, do practice questions. 

Listening: I have gone in depth on how to practice listening in the post I mentioned earlier, so I won’t elaborate too much. Overall, I’d say that it is better to make sure that you are listening to the language a lot, and that what you are listening to is comprehensible input. 

Reading: Find some learners exercises online, and keep doing them. You can also just generally try to read more, based on your interests. I would also suggest to apply the methods from the post I mentioned earlier.

Writing: Try and write a few sentences every now and then, and use your new grammar structures and vocabulary as much as possible. Make sure that you receive corrections. I have gone in depth on this subject in this post.

Speaking: Find a speaking buddy online, and try and organise meetings, where you just try and practice speaking. Look up words you don’t know, and be brave: most people are kind, and won’t mind if you make mistakes, so keep trying to move forward.

Going from intermediate to conversational (B1 --> B2)

Vocabulary: Focus on your interests, and areas that will be useful to you. Make sure that you actually use the words that you are memorising while writing and speaking. 

Grammar: I think the same advice as the beginner to intermediate stage is applicable here.

Listening: Listen to both intermediate podcasts and YouTube videos in the target language (innovative languages, iyagi, dreaming spanish, a piece of french, InnerFrench etc.), and also to native material (youtube videos, films, TV shows, vines, tiktoks etc.) that you find interesting. Use transcripts or subtitles (in the target language) to memorise new vocabulary, and then keep repeating the audio until you understand everything. 

Reading: Read whatever you can get your hands on, as long as it is reasonably simple enough. I would recommend kids books, and also translations of books that you have already read in your target language.

Writing: Try starting a journal in your target language, and also try writing letters/e-mails to people, and maybe write some essays on topical issues. Once again, make sure that you get corrections. 

Speaking: Continue having conversations with people in your target language. Let yourself make mistakes and be corrected, because that is the only way to improve. For your accent and pronunciation, shadow native material (I use Easy Languages for this). 

This is as far as I have gotten in terms of my self-study journey, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to offer much more advice. When I eventually reach an advanced C1 level in a language, then I’ll definitely make a post about that. Thank you for reading this post! I hope it was useful to you!

[johnmanciniwrites]

Sound, Rhythm & Word Order

Understanding Sentence Patterns and Variety

__

All English sentences are built on five basic patterns. The differences among the patterns lie in the predicate, the verb and what follows it.

#1.       subject + verb

           The snow fell.

           The powdery snow fell silently to the ground.

In a sentence using pattern 1 the verb is intransitive; its meaning does not need to be completed by an object or a complement. The addition of adjectives and adverbs doesn’t change the pattern.

#2.       subject + verb + subject complement

           Einstein was a genius.

           Barbed wire seems menacing.

This pattern occurs with intransitive verbs often called “linking” verbs. Linking verbs connect the subject with a noun that renames the subject or an adjective that describes the subject. Here the verb acts as an equal sign between the subject and complement. A = B.

#3.       subject + transitive verb + direct object

           Dogs eat bones.

           The carpenter will repair the roof.

A transitive verb transfers its action to a direct object. The direct object is always a noun, a pronoun, a noun phrase, or a noun clause.

#4.       subject + verb + direct object + object complement

           The press calls him a star.

           We are making the clerk angry.

An object complement is a noun or an adjective that renames or describes the direct object. Only a few verbs (appoint, believe, call, consider, elect, find, judge, make, etc.) allow this pattern.

#5.       subject + verb + indirect object + direct object

           My friend lent me her car.

           Gandhi brought India independence.

An indirect object tells to whom or for whom the action of the verb is intended. My friend lent her car to whom? Me.

The above lesson was borrowed from Edward Perlman, who has taught a course on advanced grammar at Johns Hopkins University for many years. I never enjoyed diagramming a sentence before I took Ed’s course. His message is insightful--think about it. Everything written in the English language is based on five basic sentence patterns?! There are, of course, limitless combinations of these patterns.

“Revision is three-fourths of the process,” said novelist Thomas McGuane. The above lesson provides a foundation for creative style editing. Once you can locate the subject and the verb, etc., you can use the other “stuff” as window dressing. As Ed said, “everything else is embroidery.” In other words, decoration. You can move information around to modify your sentence however you like. Prepositional phrases, for instance, can often slide from one end of the sentence to the other.

          I found the place in the dark.

          In the dark, I found the place.

Or you might rewrite that sentence completely, choosing a different pattern, hearing a different rhythm or emphasis. By the time I found the place it was dark. Now I’m emphasizing when I found the place. 

The writer has to listen to the sound of the sentences and decide. Short sentences have a different effect on the reader than long sentences. Short sentences may stress urgency, as do fragments. Too much repetitive structure might put the reader to sleep. Readers crave variety, and that’s usually what to go for. Look at the following paragraph, in which every sentence is a different length and pattern.

I found the place in the dark. Moonlight glimmered on the pearly shells of fossil oysters. There were some ducks swimming on the lake, black forms on silver ripples. I followed a thread of golden light into a clump of poplars. A dog barked. The door opened and the dog slunk past with a lump of red meat in its mouth. The woman pointed to a cabin in some willows. 

From In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin

If we break down Chatwin’s paragraph into grammatical units (subject, verb, etc.) we can potentially rewrite the entire paragraph with different words, a super fun and slightly insane exercise I like to call...

SYNTACTICAL MAD LIBS

__

Remember playing Mad Libs in grade school? Well, here is an advanced version you can play to teach yourself something about sentence structure. First choose a sentence that you admire, something you think is well-written. Then break down that well-written sentence into its essential parts. Now insert your own words, creating a new sentence that borrows the syntax of the original. 

Here’s an example 

An original sentence by Bruce Chatwin:

          "Moonlight glimmered on the pearly shells of fossil oysters."

What happens here? Light from the moon shows us something. The sentence is composed of a subject (moonlight) followed by the verb (glimmered). What follows that are two prepositional phrases beginning with on and of—both of which describe a relationship (where something happens or how it happens, because that’s what prepositional phrases do). Basically, this is how the sentence looks to me:

Generic version:

          “Subject + verb + prepositional phrase 1, prepositional phrase 2.″

My version:

          "Waves crashed on an empty beach in late January."

It's that simple. By borrowing the syntax of well-written work, we can write “cover versions” with our own lyrics. The syntax is like the music of the sentence. It’s the soundtrack in the background that moves us along. The words are just decoration. If you’re feeling ambitious you could try to write an entire book this way, say a syntactically identical version of Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Any takers? You could call it A Goodbye to Legs, only instead of a love story set against WWI it could be a mystery about some appendages that go missing. The challenge is in writing coherent sentences that conform to the structure of the original (and then new paragraphs that conform, new chapters, etc.). So have fun with that. Nerd out. Embrace the surreal.

[starlessea]

Ultimate Guide To Writing Second Person POV

Y/N, You, and Everything in Between

Hey everyone, here’s another post for my writing tips series - this time focusing on how to write in second person.

As a lot of fanfics are written in this POV, you’re probably already familiar with seeing ‘You’ or ‘Y/N’ to describe the reader. But, I wanted to give a few tips on how to construct this type of character - keeping it accessible, whilst not making it too vague/general either.

1) The Reader Insert

One of the most common tropes in fanfiction is to use ‘Y/N’ in place of a character name. It is literally an abbreviation for ‘your name,’ and therefore allows the reader to insert themselves into the fic.

There’s a lot of debate surrounding the use of ‘Y/N.’ Personally, I think it’s fine, and I find it quite unfair when a lot of people show undeserved bias towards it. There is, by no means, any correlation between the standard of writing and whether or not an author uses ‘Y/N.’ It is just personal preference!

However, you must ensure the following things if you are going to use it:

Be consistent in capitalisation - it’s a pet peeve to see it rendered as ‘Y/n,’ ‘Y/N,’ and ‘y/n’ all in a single fic. Pick one and stick to it.

Don’t overuse it - something about the dash really sticks out like a sore thumb. I try to use it for emphasis mainly, like if someone is talking to the character in an emotional moment. But don’t forget that you can use VARIATION, too. Such as:

He called your name.

“Did you hear me?” She asked, and repeated your name.

“I’ve called your name three times now.”

“Y/N!” He yelled, over the sound of the engine.

If you’re writing a multi-chapter fic, keep in mind that although ‘Y/N’ is meant to refer to a general name, it shouldn’t always refer to a general character! What I mean by this is, nobody wants to read a long fanfiction where the main character lacks any distinguishable features, personality traits, or development.

Just because your pronouns and naming system is vague doesn’t mean your character should be! You need to give them distinguishable characteristics - even if it’s as simple as them liking music, having a specific family background, having certain speech patterns.

As much as we might be tempted to write as inclusively as we can, it is unrealistic to have a ‘one-size-fits-all character in EVERY scenario.’ One of the main points of criticism against ‘Y/N’ is that they lack DEPTH.

Another thing to note is that there are chrome extensions like InteracticeFics - where you can enter your name at the start of a fanfic and it’ll automatically replace ‘Y/N’ with it. You may have seen those little boxes on certain Tumblr posts that allow you to do this!

2) The Impersonal ‘You’

This is just a phrase I’ve coined to describe fics that replace ‘Y/N’ exclusively with ‘you.’ I almost visualise it as a sort of hierarchy of depth, or a sliding scale that goes from Y/N > Impersonal You > Personal You > OC.

What I mean by this is, if we think of an OC, they are often a fully fleshed out character. They’ll have a full name, age, appearance, background, likes/dislikes etc. Whereas, with Y/N and the Impersonal You, we can often get away with glossing over these things - or generalising them (but not TOO much, remember).

The Impersonal You is for those who don’t like the visual look of ‘Y/N.’ It is more traditional, and I find that it takes away from the reading experience less. However, there are still pitfalls with this form:

There is a lack of variation - unlike the previous example, here you can’t switch between ‘Y/N’ and ‘you.’ Often, you’ll find that your fics become completely littered with the word, since it describes both the PERSON (the pronoun, replacing he/she/they) and the NAME. So you may find yourself left with something like this:

You finished tying your shoes and look up at the man, already looking at you. “Are you done?” He asked. “I’ve been calling you for the last ten minutes.” You nodded, as he repeated your name to get your attention.

In that passage alone there was 8 instances of ‘you/your.’ In terms of correctness, there is nothing wrong with it. However, it leaves much to be desired stylistically.

You need to be aware of this if you’re writing in this form, and maybe carry out this visual exercise of ‘you’ spotting and counting to check. Instead, try to experiment with adverbs and playing around with syntax order. We could write something like this:

Tying your shoelaces, you looked up at the man to see that he was already looking at you. “Ya done yet?” He asked. “I’ve been callin’ for the last ten minutes.” You nodded, as he repeated himself to get your attention.

3) The Personal ‘You’

This form is the bridge between the Impersonal You and an OC. It is used to describe someone who is almost an original character, whilst still keeping them relatable. I like this example especially, since it allows for a lot of variation and style.

One of the fics I’m writing, for instance, is about a teacher. Therefore, although I use ‘you’ the majority of the time, I’m also granted the extra variety of ‘Teach.’ A lot of my other characters use that nickname to refer to her. So it’s a good idea to have some distinguishable features that can be used as identifiers - like a certain profession for example.

I’ve also read another fic about a doctor, where everyone calls her ‘Doc,’ and another one where the character is identified by the name of the gang she belongs to. So, it doesn’t always have to be a job - it can be hobbies, interests, an embarrassing secret, a pet name etc.

Here are a few examples:

“Hey, Sunshine.” He greeted, giving you a kiss on the cheek.

“Get over here, Teach!” She called, and you quickly ran over to hear people muttering your name.

“Well if it isn’t that biker chick I’ve heard so much about.”

“I want to get to know you better, Doc.” He said, and you started by telling him your name. “That’s pretty” He replied, trying it out for himself as he struggled to pronounce it.

4) General Points

Nicknames

As we’ve just gone through, nicknames, pet names, or little identifiers can be a great way to gain some variation - and give an insight into your character’s background. Even if you’re writing in the ‘Y/N’ form, you can use general ones like ‘sweetheart’ etc. to show the relationships between your characters.

Abbreviated Names

With these nicknames, or professions, try out the long forms but also abbreviate them for variation:

Doctor > Doc

Teacher > Teach

And have different characters say them in different ways, or use different ones to address your main character. For example, you might want to emphasise different accents.

Darling > Darlin’

A Nameless Character

It might even be fun to take a meta approach, where your character is consciously aware that they don’t have a name. I read an interesting fic where the reader ironically belonged to a group called ‘nameless’ - and that’s what people called her by.

Or, you could have a character with amnesia - and watch as other people give them an array of nicknames throughout your story.

That’s it for now! I hope you found this part helpful. Send me a message if there’s any other topics you want covered.