This is a guest post by Pratiti Diddi. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. Learning a new language is never easy. Below you will find ten common mistakes among students of English as a second language. Even if you are a native English speaker I guess you could … Read more
. . . as you move forward in this new world of social networking remember that each network has a specific purpose as Reid has eluded to in the video. This comment on a business blog refers to a conversation between Charlie Rose and Reid Hoffman, founder of the business networking site Linkedin. There are two … Read more
Quintessence is the most important part of anything. It can also mean the pure essence of a substance. The word comes from quinta essentia, which means fifth essence. The Greeks had four basic elements: water, air, earth and fire. Pythagoreans then added a fifth element to that, called nether. After that people started considering the … Read more
Most writers know the difference between active and passive voice. In active voice, there’s a clearly identified agent performing an action: Tiger Woods made a hole in one. The subject of this sentence, Tiger Woods, is the agent who is performing the action: making a hole in one. In passive voice, the subject isn’t performing … Read more
I’ve discovered a new word for “interactive fiction” and a contest to go with it: mifiction. By definition, mifiction is interactive fiction written for the youth market, mainly young people aged 14-24 years. My children read something like this in the Eighties, little stories written in second person and printed on cheap paper: You are … Read more
Jettison is a verb that means to throw goods overboard to make a vessel in danger of wreck lighter or more stable. People often use it in a figurative sense, though, where it means to discard something. Near-bankruptcy is causing Cuba to jettison the Utopian paternalism of Che and Fidel. (The Economist) And so the … Read more
Chris Mentzer asks: What is the difference between enemy and nemesis? Â What is the purpose of using the word ‘Arch’ before each? Nemesis is a stronger word than enemy. Enemy is an unfriendly or hostile person. Nemesis is an avenging force. In classical mythology Nemesis was the goddess of retribution. She punished both hubris (false … Read more