Unykorn wrote...What is the difference between toward and towards? Forward and forwards?
Deb wrote... I wouldn't use towards or forwards, I think that the basic word without the S is right. That doesn't mean that I am right though, its just what I use.
I get confuzzled with Further and Farther????
Zieria wrote... I actually tend to use towards. It seems that they're generally interchangable, although towards is more common here (in Aus!) and in Britain, and toward is more common in America.
Edited because I was wrong about forward/s - see Nef's response below.
Nef wrote... I love the subjunctive, in french it is so lovely - it is so sad that it is dying out in english - long live subjuntive!!
Toward/s - the difference is place - Anerican english prefers the shorter, and british (and australian) the longer.
forward/s - generally go with forward, as forwards is limited in application (only to indicate movement in a specific direction)
Lioness wrote... i think that's bout right, Deb. With Further and Farther, I'm not sure that Farther is actually a grammatically correct word lol and would recommend sticking with Further
Unykorn wrote... Deb: According to Dictionary.com, 'farther is generally preferred over further when the context is distance in space or time; use farther when talking about physical distance and use further when talking about abstract ideas or extent/degree'
I've just remembered my other question:
2. Which is the right phrase: "If I were to sing ..." or "if I was to sing ..."?
I've always thought 'were' sounds more correct, but I can't think of any reason why it would be that. For instance, the phrase 'as per usual' took me a long time to get used to, because I thought that 'as usual' was the proper way of saying it, but it was only because I had got it into my head
Zadia wrote... If I remember correctly, 'I' is used as a plural eg. I love you. Unlike pronouns such as 'She' or 'He', we use verbs in singular contexts, eg. She loves you and so forth. But I could be wrong...
Zieria wrote... "If I were to sing..." is generally the preferred (or at least more formal) way of saying it. It's actually from a grammatical form that has mostly vanished in English (the "subjunctive") which is used when you're referring to a hypothetical or imaginary situation. It's a very common verb form in Italian, which is how I found out about it. From what I understand it's becoming less common in English, and only seems to exist for the verb "to be".
Unykorn wrote... 3. What is the difference between practise and practice?!
On here, 'practise' is underlined with the red squiggly line, but it's in the dictionary, so it must be word! Is it just a regional difference again?
Nef wrote... In english usage, practice is a noun and practise is a verb
eg - i practise law/the tuba
a doctor's practice, a business practice, etc
In american - it is practice for both
Emi wrote... Now I have a question: what is the difference between 'learned' and 'learnt'?
Deb wrote... from dictionary . com
Learned is an adjective; having or showing profound knowledge. acquired by experience, study
Learnt is a verb; A past tense and a past participle of learn
Also just the difference between American and English, English. Americans use learnt, The English use learned. so either would be correct I guess.
Mono wrote... What's a clause? (not a clause in a contract; but grammar wise?)
Avialle wrote... When should you use 'shall' or 'will'? I always get those two confused.~:|
Agyllian wrote...Trying to solve it logically, I came up with my own idea that shall was a precursor to an action you would take on the advice or input of an outside influence (such as a suggestion by another person) whereas will was the precursor to an action solely derived from one's own thought. I'm not sure if that makes much sense any more and it will be interesting to read what the grammar specialists on this board have to say.
Nef wrote...It gets a bit confusing, but Agyllian has it pretty much right - shall relates to statements of fact or command, and will relates to statements of intent
There shall be sparkles at the party
I will go to the party (you can say I shall go to the party also - but more as a statement of fact - I shall go to the party, then I shall go to bed. The emphasis in that sentence is on what I am doing, not my determination to do it, if you understand what I mean).
Laws are phrased 'X shall/shall not do ...' rather than saying 'must' or 'can't'. The phrase simply states how things are to be with an undercurrent of command.
Complication: in British english, you can conjugate the verb 'would' (conditional tense of 'will') as
I should
you would
he would
you don't have to, but you can. I'll look up more on the subject for you
That's not a full rundown, but it's all I'm writing for the moment.
Mono wrote...The exception to the rule is that "I shall ..." is regarded as less of a command; whereas "I will do it." is more of determined, set course of action.
But with other pronouns ie. you, she/he, it, we, you(plural), they -- the rule Nef wrote above applies.
Edit: I think I just reiterated what Nef's note on the complication of the conjugation of the verb 'would'.
Avialle wrote...Also, I always get confused with 'affected' and 'effected'. I think 'effected' is when something is being changed or influenced, and 'affected' is... I'm not sure. Something about a state of mind, maybe? I have no idea
Mono wrote...effected means: brought about, produced, brought into existence
so you can say: Change has been effected
This has more focus on whether a result has occured/taken place.
affected means: influenced
so you can say: Has the global economic crisis affected the unemployment rate?
affected can also refer to the evocation of an emotional response: -
The creepy ghost incident affected me so much that I'm too scared to walk alone in the dark.
Or it can be used in reference to a disease:
The functioning of your heart is affected by the amount of fat lining your arteries.
So yes you're partly correct - 'affected' in one sense refers to the emotions/state of mind. But you're getting confused with 'effected'.
Just remember:
'to effect' means to bring about or execute.
'to affect' usually means to influence.
'to affect' and 'to effect' have no senses in common.
Emi wrote...when is it appropriate to use 'whom' as opposed to 'who'?
EI wrote...You have no idea how helpful this thread is right now For a university assignment we have to do a Personal Language Competency Record and it would help if we knew what these things were lol.
Emi, for your question, I found a really good explanation on Dictionary.com:
Usage note:
The typical usage guide statement about the choice between who and whom says that the choice must be determined by the grammar of the clause within which this pronoun occurs. Who is the appropriate form for the subject of a sentence or clause: Who are you? The voters who elected him have not been disappointed. Whom is the objective form: Whom did you ask? To whom are we obliged for this assistance? This method of selecting the appropriate form is generally characteristic of formal writing and is usually followed in edited prose.
In most speech and writing, however, since who or whom often occurs at the beginning of the sentence or clause, there is a strong tendency to choose who no matter what its function. Even in edited prose, who occurs at least ten times as often as whom, regardless of grammatical function. Only when it directly follows a preposition is whom more likely to occur than who: Mr. Erickson is the man to whom you should address your request.
In natural informal speech, whom is quite rare. Who were you speaking to? is far more likely to occur than the “correct†To whom were you speaking? or Whom were you speaking to? However, the notion that whom is somehow more “correct†or elegant than who leads some speakers to hypercorrect uses of whom: Whom are you? The person whom is in charge has left the office. See also than.
So essentially, who is a pronoun, whose is possessive and whom is objective.
Does anyone know how to use the word thus? One of my tutors said that it is best not to use it because it is always used wrong. But I'm getting sick of using therefore all the time
Also, I can't remember who asked, but I have a definition of a clause in some of my notes from uni. I'll type them up the next time I'm on
EDIT: Here's a list of grammatical terms that might be useful:
Term Explanation Example
Connective A word that indicates a connection between ideas in a text. therefore, firstly
Adverb A word that tells about a verb, adjective or another adverb to indicate such things as manner, place or time. quickly, quietly, very carefully
Conjunction A word that indicates a connection in a sentence or between sentences. when, althought, because
Compound sentence Two or more independent clauses joined by a conjunction. The taxi arrived and we left for the airport.
Verb A word that tells what is happening or what is. danced, shouted, ran, is, are
Modality The selection of words used by a writer or speaker to express different shades of meaning. will, may, possibly, probably, usually
Noun A word used to represent people, places, ideas and things. Sam, crowd, sadness
Adjective A word that describes a noun. my, his, two, big, wooden, green
Clause The complete message or thought expressed in words. The essential component is a verb group. She played in the sandpit. They attended the lecture.
Complex sentence An independent clause and a dependent clause linked by a conjunction. When the pizza arrived, we had dinner.
Elaine wrote... There are three things that I think go far with writing: 1) planning; 2) theme; and 3) mood.
Dinaria wrote...
When writing a novel, or a series, and you get bored of it but you really want to finish it, start on another bit of the novel/series, a bit that's more exciting. If you're typing it, have some hand-written bits on the go too so you don't have your face glued to the computer/laptop screen all day.
And remember, there's nothing wrong with abandoning an idea, or with going back to it a few months/years later.
Elaine wrote...Great suggestion. Personally, I like to go through each key event in the story/novel before I actually start writing a real draft. (It doesn't have to be some long outline, just a few main points you have to reflect on before you begin.)
Elspeth 495 wrote... Ok when writing, another important thing is to know what you're writig about, or are passionate about. Do research. Also, words are important- if you pick up an interesting word, you should rcord it with it's meaning. Reading a lot will extend your vocabulary. Also, in planning, be careful to outline it properly. If there is something that really needs to be said about something, write that on your plan. Planning carefully is a very important step.
Shadowchild wrote... Sometimes just going with the flow works. if you get stuck on something just keep writting. You can go back to it and change it.
Don't perfect every sentence, because if you do you will never finish
Basicneeds wrote... I think thats where i struggle, trying to make it good first time round
A good writing exercise is go through the dictionary and pick a word and then write a short story around that word.
I did that when i first learnt the word languid and ended up getting it published
Evernight wrote... When writing something, stop and think the theme you are writing about then re-read what you have written to see if you have not deviated and if you are content with it. Perhaps taking sometime off you won't become bored/tired with it helps too.
Kella wrote... I agree with shadowchild, going with the flow usually works. You have to already have an idea of what you want to write about, and then you just let it come. If it won't, then leave it for a bit and come back to it with a fresh mind later. Read over it a few times and get yourself immersed in whatever it is you are writing about, then see if you can keep going.
Shadowchild wrote... have a day where you just sit down and type. You'll be surprised how much you'll do.
Have some backround music, it creats a bit off atmostphere and creates a distraction if you get bored. take breaks where you do something ellses such as watch a little bit of tv
Kendra wrote...i agree with shadowchild too. id like too add three things to that
1. dont read. its really hard not to, i know but its easier to become emerged in the world ur making up than to have to deal with two.
2. an author whose sort of connected to my family (distantly, he's my mums cousin) once told me u should never edit before ur finished. only read back through the last paragraph or so before you continue writing and try to finish it, then read back through and edit. it means u can get rid of all confusions at once. otherwise it can get over edited and sometimes even more confusing. (mind you, i often forget to do this)
3. try to stimulate ur imagination with movies and music and television. books might interfere with ur writing, but movies for some reason, tend to just make me write more. i dont know why, thats just how it is for me, but everyones different, so whatever gets u in the mood to write!!
Shadowchild wrote... try to write out a plot.
it works for me. make the plot completecated so that it fills out the whole book. try to keep to the plot idea but chage it when you need to.
sometimes the time of day changes the mood. i perfer night time, it calms me...yes i know that sounds weird. you might find that writing at night is easier, maybe not.
Nef wrote... This year I aim to follow advice I read somewhere on the Web. I have trouble finishing things I start, so I don't start anything (this has changed .. I may even become brave enough to post some stuff on here soon ...)
Write a story of a significant length - doesn't matter what it is about, doesn't matter what happens in it, but just write it. This is not a story for publication, so you can do anything in it to keep the plot moving - have aliens invade, then beaten off by zombies, one of whom falls in love with a leprachaun. The aim is to write something and FINISH it. Then put it away for 6 months and get back to some real writing.
The point of this is two-fold. Firstly, if you finish something, it might help you when you are writing your real work - you can say 'I finished that, so I can finish this'. Secondly, after 6 months, you can pick up the story again and read it critically, as well as give it to friends to read. You can look at the strengths and weaknesses of your writing - dialogue, characters, prose, without getting too upset if stuff gets shot down (you've written the story to be bad, so it won't matter if someone tells you that it's bad). It also means that if there are any particularly good parts, you can rip them out of the story without worrying
The 6 months is imortant to allow you to forget about the story and get some perspective. Reviewing immediately is impossible - you're too familiar with the plot and parts of the story that you wrote. If you wait, you can read back objectively ...
That's the advice I'm following this year. Let's see how long my determination lasts ...
Alyssanyna wrote...It doesn't matter who you know, or how many 'connections' you might happen to have, the way to get your work published is to persevere and polish. Write one thousand and one drafts if you have to; and when you're happy to let the people close to you read your work; you're ready to give your story to the world. But if you are not happy to share it with the people who know you the best; then what is the point of sharing with someone who you have never even heard of?
Shadowchild wrote... another idea is to continue with something you started in a english class. like say you wrote the start of a story for some english project go backa nd look at it and maybe even continue on with it.
i know i've done it. one of my storys is a prequel to something i started in my yr 8 english class. (i haven't got any of it up on my threadX=P) and i really didn't like that teacher. (she told me never to write newspaper reports because i suck at it. HA i got top marks for one in S+E)
Bunne
Welcome back, good MysteriKat! 'Tis good to have thee back. And this is fantastic news about your writing. Are you able to share your plot with us, or are you at the stage where it's sounds OK to you, but you feel a bit funny about sharing it with others? I'll probably be interested in reading it at some stage, so I shall certainly email you about it. :)
As for writing websites, FictionPress is probably the easiest place to put it up. It's free and reasonably simple and it allows people to write "reviews" of your story. Sometimes the reviews are useful, other times, they read like this: "GOod story!!!!!! Plz r&r my story. Thnx." I forgive them slightly, though. Reviews of your own story are addictive. :)
Hope you can find some time to relax once Christmas has been and gone. :)
Kayt
Have you seen Your Life or Your Freedom, Shadz?
Have a look at it. Not exactly what you want but a stack of fun, I can tell you!!!
L'link
Or try the LJ Community:
Link Deux
It's smashing fun!!! (Kneecap-smashing, when Ymene gets on the scene...)
Non-LorFers: Eeew!!!
LorFers: We hates that Ymene, HATES HIM!!!
Have a squizzle anyhoo!!!
KSL
Flitness
And then you start to become obessive about words, you start by liking certain words, and then fall into pure hatred for some(like dilapidated and ironical, i hate those words). And then people will start finding you strange as you listen to people talk, hear a line that's amazing and have to physically stop, grab a notebook and jot it down.
Oh, and the notebooks. You'll never leave home without one again. You will judge bags (even evening ones) by whether they can hold a notepad and pen.
It will take over your life. When you are on a roll, you will become impossible to talk to, impossible to think about anything else. And when you stop, you will be increadibly frustrated.
And then you have to try an explain it to people. "Oh, so what do you want to do with your life?"
"I want to be a writer."
"Oh yes, dear, but what else?"
as if writing wasn't enough. Or suffer comments like "writing your bestseller, heh, heh," oh yes, i'm laughing.
And then people don't understand. They can't understand that you might get the most pleasure out of a simple pen and paper. They call you a 'hermit' a 'recluse' and tell people you're strange.
But you know what? I think it's the best calling of a life. I look at people who make comments like that an wonder at them how they could not write. How they do not have the benefit of never being alone. I have met the most amazing people being a writer, i have hundreds of stories that i wish to tell the world. And i am never bored on a bus because i have my mind, my characters, my stories to entertain me. I pity those who cannot do the same.
And in the end, i think they're jealous.
Yes, it's lovely being a writer.
And i welcome you to it Gothicgal! Bunly has offered the best advice there is. Just keep writing. No one ever has to see your beginning stuff. Heavens, i read over all my early stuff and have a really good laugh it's so shocking. best writers don't spring up over night. the first time they are published doesn't mark the first time they put pen to paper. they were awkward terrible writers once too. the only way they became better was the constant urge to write. and the willingness to learn from their mistakes.
So Write!
and welcome again! if you're still reading. :P
Arctic Firefox
Hi catwhisperer, welcome to the site! :)
About publishing ... someone who knows the sector quite well told me that the best thing to do when you're sending off work to publishers is to be prepared for rejection. This may sound pessimistic, but the reality is that very few writers get picked up by the first publisher they send to. For example, all the major publishers rejected the manuscript of JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and look at her now! John Marsden's So Much to Tell You was rejected by something like ten publishers! So if you receive letters of rejection, don't be disheartened - the publishers will often encourage you to keep on writing, and so you should! Remember that you're writing for yourself above all else! :)