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Solving your writing problems since 1998! |
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~ The Write Way ~ Friday 8 September 2000 Computer Crashes
Greetings, Thanks for your commiserations on my ‘puter crash – it’s always a comfort to know that you’re not suffering alone! One of the (many) consequences of my collapse was that I lost files from two weeks of work (yes, I know I should back up ... I’m really going to start now ...). If, by chance you’ve saved an html copy of the newsletter from 11 August or 18 August, could you send it to me? I hadn’t even posted those to the archives when the trouble started. We conclude our brief look at the parts of speech this week, casting an affectionate glance over adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. 5. ADVERBS These have a similar function to adjectives - except that adverbs give a helping hand to verbs (and other adverbs and adjectives). Adverbs are easy to identify; just ask "HOW", "WHEN", "WHERE" or "WHY" AFTER verbs or "HOW" BEFORE adjectives or other adverbs. She speaks QUICKLY. (How does she speak? Quickly.) He's a VERY happy child. (How happy is he? Very.) He walked RATHER slowly. (How slowly? Rather.) Marmaduke ran THERE. (Where did Marmaduke run? There.) They arrived EARLY. (When did they arrive? Early.) Most adverbs end in -ly, so all in all, they're a fairly predictable gang. slowly, quickly, laughingly, haltingly, properly etc 6. PREPOSITIONS The word "preposition" means "placed before" and it shows RELATIONSHIPS between:
The girl WITH the red hair ran INTO the surf. Nobody BUT me has climbed that tree. Abercrombie spoke TO Harry and me. 7. CONJUNCTIONS These, too, are quite tame when compared to some other parts of speech. Conjunctions are words which are used to JOIN :
Note. A "clause" is a meaningful group of words which DOES contain a verb, but which does NOT make sense on its own. Dad bought the house IN WHICH YOU ONCE LIVED. The clause "in which you once lived" has a verb, LIVED, but if you walked up to someone and said, "In which you once lived." that person wouldn't have a clue what you were on about! Common conjunctions are: and, but, or 8. INTERJECTIONS This is the last member of the family (and, though I hate to say it, the least important ... sorry ...) An interjection is a word which is "thrown in between" other words. Oh! Wow! Gosh! Well! They are usually, but not always, followed by an exclamation mark. They're not used in formal writing at all since they, by their very nature, are fairly laid-back characters and not at all suited to life among the Movers and Shakers. Ah well, that's the way the cookie crumbles. (See what I mean?) If you'd like a refresher course in language so you can brush up your writing skills, you can enrol (or "enroll" depending on what part of the world you call home!) in my writing tutorials. Visit http://www.write101.com/writewell.htm for details or go straight to my secure order form and get started now.If you're in business for yourself, you'll expend a great deal of nervous energy agonising over writing sales letters. Now there's a way to avoid this (so you can spend your time worrying about your tax, suppliers, customers ... who's been leaving the dirty coffee cup in the sink and all those important issues!) Here it is! http://www.write101.com/letters/sales.htmThis week's quiz: Eliminate the jarring word in each group: Last week’s quiz: Some curly spelling this week - which is the correct form? 1. accomodation /accommodation - ACCOMMODATION 2. mischievous /mischievious - MISCHIEVOUS 3. gaurantee /guarantee - GUARANTEE 4. rememberance /remembrance - REMEMBRANCE 5. parallel / parralel - PARALLEL 6. refridgerator /refrigerator - REFRIGERATOR 7. rhuematic / rheumatic - RHEUMATIC 8. definately /definitely - DEFINITELY 9. cemetery / cemetary - CEMETERY 10.comparitive / comparative - COMPARATIVE ~ * ~ CONFUSED BY TECH-SPEAK? Frustrated with Help Files that don't help? Get lost on the Web? The Newbie Club at has been designed especially for you. No Jargon. No Geek-Speak, and the most revolutionary Newbie Learning System ever to hit the Web. Get over NOW to http://www.newbieclub.com?write101 and transform your PC and Internet experience for ever.~ * ~ Susan sent this in – it’s guaranteed to tug a wry smile from us all: A journalist assigned to the Jerusalem bureau takes an apartment overlooking the Wailing Wall. Every day when she looks out, she sees an old Jewish man praying vigorously. So, the journalist goes down and introduces herself to the old man. She asks, "You come every day to the wall. How long have you done that and what are you praying for?" The old man replies, "I have come here to pray every day for 25 years. In the morning I pray for world peace and then for the brotherhood of man. I go home have a cup of tea and I come back and pray for the eradication of illness and disease from the earth." The journalist is amazed. "How does it make you feel to come here every day for 25 years and pray for these things?" she asks. The old man looks at her sadly. "Like I'm talking to a wall." If you have any friends who might enjoy The Write Way - please send them a copy and tell them they can subscribe just by clicking on this link: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@onelist.com?subject=Tips~ * ~
Tautology of the week: here are a couple of old friends – I’m sure you’ve bumped into at least one of them this past week. "Call now to receive your complimentary free gift!" "Get ready for a radical new change in the way you do business!" "The end result will be improved returns." And a Latin phrase for those times when you’re accosted while waiting for a bus or, worse still, when you’re just planning a nice, quiet time at home alone, with a good book and a packet of Twisties: Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione! (I’m not interested in your dopey religious cult!) Regards, Jennifer To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to WritingTips-unsubscribe@onelist.com or go to the ONElist web site, at www.onelist.com, and select the My Groups link from the menu bar. This menu will also let you change your subscription between digest and normal mode.
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