Is a pathetic fallacy really all that pathetic? Although some literary critics condemn the technique, the person who coined the phrase was attacking not its use but its overuse. Pathetic fallacy is the association of feelings, sensations, or thoughts to inanimate objects, such as when a writer describes a cruel sea or a brooding cliff … Read more
Ghost conjures an image of a visual but incorporeal representation of a person, but not all ghosts are alike, and like ghost, most of its synonyms also have connotations that apply to the everyday, substantial world. Here are twenty of those terms, with references to their natural connotations as well as supernatural ones: 1. apparition: … Read more
An analytical or persuasive essay is a capsule thesis, and, like its more substantial analogue, it requires a thesis statement. Here are some notes about how to develop that statement. A thesis statement is a sentence (or two) that encapsulates and introduces an analysis or argument. An essay benefits from a thesis statement by concisely … Read more
Questions about hyphens come up often in correspondence from Daily Writing Tips readers. I’ve answered a few of the queries here. 1. Should “higher cost” and “higher earning” be hyphenated in “replace higher cost funding and “repurpose collateral into higher earning assets”? Yes, to clarify that you’re referring to funding that is higher cost, not … Read more