Tag: books

Pre – Positional Is Where a Preposition Lives

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[found on grammar.about.com]

“Like adjectives and adverbs, prepositional phrases add meaning to the nouns and verbs in our sentences. There are two prepositional phrases in the following sentence:

The steamy air in the kitchen reeked of stale food.

The first prepositional phrase–in the kitchen–modifies the noun air; the second–of stale food–modifies the verb reeked. The two phrases provide information that helps us understand the sentence.

The Two Parts of a Prepositional Phrase
A prepositional phrase has two basic parts: a prepositionplus a noun or a pronoun that serves as the object of the preposition. A preposition is a word that shows howa noun or a pronoun is related to another word in a sentence. The common prepositions are listed in the table at the bottom of this page.

Building Sentences with Prepositional Phrases
Prepositional phrases often do more than just add minor details to a sentence: they may be needed for a sentence to make sense. Consider the vagueness of this sentence without prepositional phrases:

The workers gather a rich variety and distribute it.

Now see how the sentence comes into focus when we add prepositional phrases:

From many sources, the workers at the Community Food Bank gather a rich variety of surplus and unsalable food and distribute it to soup kitchens, day-care centers, and homes for the elderly.

Notice how these added prepositional phrases give us more information about certain nouns and verbs in the sentence:

      • Which workers?
      • The workers at the Community Food Bank.
      • What did they gather?
      • A rich variety of surplus and unsalable food.
      • Where did they gather the food?
      • From many sources.
      • Who did they distribute it to?
      • To soup kitchens, day-care centers, and homes for the elderly.

Like the other simple modifiers, prepositional phrases are not merely ornaments; they add details that can help us understand a sentence.

PRACTICE: Building with Simple Modifiers
Use adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases to expand the sentence below. Add details that answer the questions in parentheses and make the sentence more interesting and informative.

Jenny stood, raised her shotgun, aimed, and fired.
(Where did Jenny stand? How did she aim? What did she fire at?)

There are, of course, no single correct answers to the questions in parentheses. Sentence-expanding exercises such as this one encourage you to use your imagination to build original sentences.”

Common Prepositions

Screen Shot 2013-06-16 at 6.58.48 PM

[found on: http://grammar.about.com/od/basicsentencegrammar/a/prepphrases.htm]

Pronouns — Good Rules & Evil Tips

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[found on grammarbook.com]

“A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. Pronouns can be in one of three cases: Subject, Object, or Possessive.

Rule 1

Subject pronouns are used when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence. You can remember subject pronouns easily by filling in the blank subject space for a simple sentence.

Example:
______ did the job.
I, you, he, she, it, we, and they all fit into the blank and are, therefore, subject pronouns.

Rule 2

Subject pronouns are also used if they rename the subject. They follow to be verbs such as is,are, was, were, am, and will be.

Examples:
It is he.
This is she speaking.
It is we who are responsible for the decision to downsize.

NOTE: In spoken English, most people tend to follow to be verbs with object pronouns. Many English teachers support (or at least have given in to) this distinction between written and spoken English.

Example:
It could have been them.

Better:
It could have been they.

Example:
It is just me at the door.

Better:
It is just I at the door.

Rule 3

Object pronouns are used everywhere else (direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition). Object pronouns are me, you, him, her, it, us, and them.

Examples:
Jean talked to him.
Are you talking to me?

To be able to choose pronouns correctly, you must learn to identify clauses. A clause is a group of words containing a verb and subject.

Rule 4a

A strong clause can stand on its own.

Examples:
She is hungry.
I am feeling well today.

Rule 4b

A weak clause begins with words such as although, since, if, when, and because. Weak clauses cannot stand on their own.

Examples:
Although she is hungry…
If she is hungry…
Since I am feeling well…

Rule 4c

If a sentence contains more than one clause, isolate the clauses so that you can decide which pronoun is correct.

Examples:

Weak

Strong

[Although she is hungry,]

[she will give him some of her food.]

[Although this gift is for him,]

[I would like you to have it too.]

Rule 5

To decide whether to use the subject or object pronoun after the words than or as, mentally complete the sentence.

Examples:
Tranh is as smart as she/her.
If we mentally complete the sentence, we would say, “Tranh is as smart as she is.” Therefore,she is the correct answer.

Zoe is taller than I/me.
Mentally completing the sentence, we have, “Zoe is taller than I am.”

Daniel would rather talk to her than I/me.
We can mentally complete this sentence in two ways: “Daniel would rather talk to her than to me.” OR “Daniel would rather talk to her than I would.” As you can see, the meaning will change depending on the pronoun you choose.

Rule 6

Possessive pronouns show ownership and never need apostrophes.
Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs

NOTE: The only time it’s has an apostrophe is when it is a contraction for it is or it has.

Examples:
It’s a cold morning.
The thermometer reached its highest reading.

Rule 7

Reflexive pronouns – myself, himself, herself, itself, themselves, ourselves, yourself, yourselves– should be used only when they refer back to another word in the sentence.

Correct:
I worked myself to the bone.

Incorrect:
My brother and myself did it.
The word myself does not refer back to another word.

Correct:
My brother and I did it.

Incorrect:
Please give it to John or myself.

Correct:
Please give it to John or me.”

[found on http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/pronoun.asp]

A dash of Em— A dash of En–

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[found on makeuseof.com]
“Stop avoiding dashes in your writing just because you don’t know how to type them outside of word processors. Learn the proper keyboard shortcuts and you can type these essential parts of the English language in basic text editors, browsers and anywhere else you may need them.
 
The en dash (–) is my favorite piece of punctuation–it’s perfect for inserting points, like this one–but I’ve been neglecting it in my writing for a couple of years, for a really dumb reason. What’s my dumb reason? I’ve stopped using Word and Open/Libre Office. I know their shortcut for an em dash–type two dashes between two words and they will transform once you type a space after the second word.
 
I stopped using word processors when I started writing for the Internet, however, because they add a bunch of nonsense code to my writing. But outside programs with their own shortcut, I never got around to learning how to write em or en dashes. This means the text editors and browsers I now do my writing in are dashless wastelands. There are online tools for creating em dashes, and I’ve resorted to Googling “en dash” and copying the resulting punctuation, though
Not anymore. I’m going to stop restructuring sentences out of laziness, and I’m going to help you do so as well. Here’s how to make your favorite punctuation on your favorite operating system. Keep reading!

Create Em and En Dashes On A Mac!

First up: the easy one. Apple’s operating system OS X comes with a couple of keyboard shortcuts that make typing em and en dash a snap.
    • For an en dash (–), use “Option” and “-”.
    • For an em dash (—), use “Option”, “Shift” and “-”.

Create Em and En Dashes on Windows!

Windows users can easily make an em dash if they’re using Word: just type two dashes between two words, as I explained above. Outside of Word, however, the story is different: you need to use four digit alt codes. You’re going to need a keyboard with a number pad for this–the block of numbers to the right of the arrow keys:

Laptops without physical number pads can occasionally use the “Fn” key and some letter keys instead of a number keypad–search your keyboard for blue numbers. Lacking that, you may be out of luck.

    • To create you dash, first put your cursor where you’d like it and hold down the “Alt” button. Now you need to type a four digit code:
      • 0150 for the en dash (–)
      • 0151 for the em dash (—).”
[found on http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/type-em-en-dashes-word-processor]

George Orwell Asks Before Writing…Do You?

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[found on writingclasses.com]

 “A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:

    1. What am I trying to say?
    2. What words will express it?
    3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
    4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

And he will probably ask himself two more:

    1. Could I put it more shortly?
    2. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases:

    1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
    2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
    3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
    4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
    5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
    6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.”   

[found on http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/300]**

Show Not Tell

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“If you take a course on writing or attend a writer’s conference, you’ll likely hear the phrase, “Show, don’t tell.” In other words, “show” your readers what is happening, don’t just tell them.

Don’t tell readers what you did; describe doing it.  One of the reasons we tend to tell rather than show is that it’s easier and faster. Showing how to do something requires time and effort. In teaching, it’s easier to tell students what’s wrong with what they did than to show them how to do it right. The latter, however, is more effective.”

-found on Our Daily Bread [www.odb.org]

Enquire or not to Inquire

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[found on dailywritingtips.com]

“These are two spellings of the same word, which means to seek information about something or to conduct a formal investigation (usually when followed by “into”). The corresponding noun is enquiry or inquiry.

Either spelling can be used, but many people prefer enquire and enquiry for the general sense of “ask”, and inquire and inquiry for a formal investigation:

  • I enquired his name
  • The first enquiry in my inbox today was about lost property.
  • We are going to inquire into the incident.
  • The lawyers asked when the inquiry will be completed.”
[found on http://www.dailywritingtips.com/inquire-vs-enquire]

How to Write Fiction: Ernest Hemingway

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[found on openculture.com]

Ernest Hemingway’s tip on How to Write Fiction (from openculture.com)

 “To get started, write one true sentence. Hemingway had a simple trick for overcoming writer’s block. In a memorable passage in A Moveable Feast, he writes:

“Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written.” “

[found on http://www.openculture.com/2013/02/seven_tips_from_ernest_hemingway_on_how_to_write_fiction.html]


					

	





			
				



	
	

		
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