Every work of literature, and much nonfiction narrative, is based on at least one of the following conflicts. When you write a story or a biography, or relate a true event or series of events, you need not focus on such themes, and there’s no reason to state them explicitly (except in passing, perhaps, to … Read more
After several years of intending to read through Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series of seafaring novels, I’ve finally embarked on that voyage, and I’m delighted to note that O’Brian proves that writers can draw lessons in technique from fiction that doesn’t necessarily make it onto too many Great Literature reading lists. O’Brian wrote twenty novels featuring … Read more
A variety of terms distinguish the kinds of languages and vocabularies that exist outside the mainstream of standard, formal language. Here are twelve words and phrases that denote specific ideas of language usage. 1. Argot An argot is a language primarily developed to disguise conversation, originally because of a criminal enterprise, though the term is … Read more
How do you write around the outmoded usage of the pronoun he or him when a male is not necessarily the subject of the reference? Here are ten strategies — none ideal in every circumstance — for achieving gender neutrality. 1. Use He or She Before: “Ask the student whether he is prepared to give … Read more
Have you ever considered making some money with your writing skills? If you have you’ll be pleased to know that our Freelance Writing Course is open for enrollment again. It’s basically a 6-week program that aims to give you all the information and tools you need to start a freelance writing career online. Here are … Read more
Below are my responses to questions from readers about when to capitalize words in certain contexts. 1. Would you write, “I study algebra,” or “I study Algebra”? “I’m enrolled in algebra II,” or “I’m enrolled in Algebra II”? Is the following sentence correct? “The school offers algebra, French, physics, Spanish, Geometry, and english.” When you … Read more
Why is that despite the fact that the English language has hundreds of thousands of words, we have no single-word term for many emotions and other concepts that are specifically represented in other languages and that would be beneficial for everyday use? For example, English has no word equivalent to gianxi, a Chinese term akin … Read more
Sometimes it just won’t do to be sober and serious when referring to someone in authority. These terms help convey an irreverent tone about a lordly leader or an officious official. 1. Big cheese: Interestingly, this slang phrase for an important person has nothing to do with dairy products; derived from a Persian word, chiz, … Read more
Just for fun, I recently searched online for websites that sell academic essays, with the intention of evaluating the quality of their product. Immediately, however, I found I could judge these providers just by their marketing content — and most of them failed the test. College-essay services have been around for decades. I recall that … Read more
Bullet lists — distinguished from numbered lists in that they do not imply a priority or chronology in the order in which the list items appear — are useful for when a list becomes too unwieldy to be formatted in line (within a sentence), but just as in a sentence’s in-line list, the bullet list’s … Read more
What is the rationale, if any, for the predominance of one suffix over one that performs the same function? Last week, I discussed the question of choosing between the suffixes -logic and -logical. Here, I take a look at other suffixes that compete with each other when various parts of speech are converted to others. … Read more
If you find yourself making any of the following types of errors, general or specific, brush up on your writing with grammar guides and usage handbooks and/or any or all of the other strategies mentioned at the end of this post. 1. Appending an s to words in which, in most usage, the letter should … Read more