English: So many words to keep track of!. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) If ever a writing rule was overstated, it must be this one. Once it becomes evident that there are more exceptions than examples following a rule, the rule becomes seriously unhelpful; redundant at best. We all know about receipt, receive, ceiling, etc. But there are actually more words used in English that have the ‘ei’ construction than those using ‘ie’. Don’t believe me? I offer a mere handful: Heir, weir, Eire, weird, being, d... read more »
Núverandi 2007 Intel iMac. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) 0 0 1 475 2714 Stuart Aken 22 6 3183 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-GB JA X-NONE For years I’ve wanted to use a Mac instead of a PC for my writing. I decided I would treat myself on my retirement from employment and, last Monday, I made the purchase. As is invariably... read more »
I come late to this classic, which I gather is intended as a children’s story. Mind you, I suspect a few of the modern generation might have difficulty with some of the language and sentence structure. Be that as it may, the story is rightly a classic: the language is beautiful, the ideas, which are wide-ranging, are wonderfully expressed with little sign of authorial intrusion. The central theme, of the reversion of the civilised into the primitive, is cleverly illustrated as Buck slowly learns from ... read more »
Beginning in the land of Meluha, on of the oldest civilizations around River Indus (which most of us refer to as the Indus Valley Civilization) this piece of fiction along with references from epics myths, makes it sound like a real history. The Plot: The story begins with introduction of a tribe from Tibet, [...] read more »
Typographic quotation marks (top) versus straight quotation marks, or "dumb quotes" (bottom). (Photo credit: Wikipedia) They’re there, everywhere you look, on blogs, in books, on websites – those unbreakable rules for writers. Some are concerned with language itself; grammar, syntax, spelling. Others are to do with style; repetition, viewpoint, backstory, vocabulary. Then there are the rules surrounding presentation; font, paragraphs, spacing, quotations, dialogue. Of course, the gurus and mentors have ... read more »
Iconic, much adapted for film and TV, these tales have been around a while and many people have taken pleasure from them in this form. But, until now, I’d not read a single one. This collection both introduces and develops the character (I met one of the original actors, Joan Hickson, whilst working on an article with her son, Nick, when she lived in Wivenhoe. Very private and reserved lady.) Joan Hickson (Photo credit: Wikipedia) What I hadn’t appreciated was that the written stories actually dist... read more »
The Last Word, subtitled ‘Tales from the Tip of the Mother Tongue’, is a collection from the writings of Ben MacIntyre, a columnist writing about books for The Times. If you’ve ever pondered the mysteries of military euphemisms, considered the last words of heroes, wondered at the geek-speak of the computer nerd, laughed at inadvertently skewed translations or been curious about almost anything else to do with words, there’s something here for you. The author has collected, listened to, been sent by ... read more »
Greengrocers' apostrophe 2 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Writing, in common with most occupations, has rules. Society has rules. Games have rules. Do we always obey them? And does it matter whether we do or not? Clearly, societal rules, often elevated to laws, are supposedly there to prevent chaos and injustice. The law that prevents the taking of life under most circumstances seems sensible for all concerned. The law that allows a company to take advantage of unsuspecting customers might appear a little ... read more »
The most common justification given for copyright law is that it helps creators make a living. Yet instead of helping indie musician Edwyn Collins, a corporation with absolutely no claim to Edwyns work was able to step in and prevented him from distributing his own work online through the employment of spurious copyright allegations. I [...] read more »
Antes de construir su Author Rank, primero debe reivindicar su autoría y esa es la función de Google Authorship. Qué es y qué ayuda a mejorar el author rank. Función de Google Authorship El trabajo de Google Authorship consiste en Read more read more »
