Posted by Administrator on June 6, 2009 in
The Word These words sound alike but look and function very differently. Allowed is the past tense of the verb allow, meaning “to permit” or “to assign as a share or suitable amount” (please consult your dictionary for other meanings). The dog was allowed to sleep on the bed. She allowed three hours for the drive to [...]
Posted by Administrator on June 4, 2009 in
Newsletter Most of us don’t write the way we speak. Accomplished writers do write with a “voice” though, a unique tone or flavor that brings character and life to their writing. It’s all about the words they choose and how they put them together. Your writing voice develops with time and practice and will change tone [...]
Posted by Administrator on May 5, 2009 in
The Word These two words are easy to mix up. I usually look them up every time I use them, just to be sure I’ve got it right. Hoard is a noun meaning “a supply or fund stored up and often hidden away” or a verb meaning “to lay up a hoard of” or “to keep to [...]
Posted by Administrator on May 5, 2009 in
Writer's Resource Bartleby (www.bartleby.com) is an excellent resource for writers, students, researches, and other curious people. I use it most often to search for quotations, but the site’s content is wide-ranging. You can search through encyclopedias, a dictionary, usage and style guides, poetry collections, and much more. Best of all, the site is very easy to navigate. [...]
Posted by Administrator on May 2, 2009 in
Newsletter Laura became the President of a large Biotech Company. Many years earlier, she had earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from a small College. Her Mother and Father were Biologists too. Many writers love to capitalize “important words.” I see this most frequently with job and degree titles (particularly in author bios and résumés) and [...]
Posted by Administrator on March 31, 2009 in
Writer's Resource The Online Slang Dictionary is a collaborative project and an indispensible source for anyone who writes or edits contemporary (mostly urban) American slang. Particularly when used in speech, slang can provide color and help establish character, but many of us aren’t sure how to spell some of these strange phrases we hear, and this is [...]
Tags: slang
Posted by Administrator on March 31, 2009 in
The Word Many people are not aware that these are two separate words. The two words are often confused and used interchangeably, or a writer will choose one spelling and stick with it for all uses. Trust me (and Mr. Webster), they are totally different words. Complement as a noun refers to “something that fills up or [...]
Tags: complement, compliment
Posted by Administrator on March 28, 2009 in
Newsletter Writing good dialogue is not easy, but punctuating and formatting dialogue usually is easy—and important. Dialogue punctuation and formatting tells the reader when someone is speaking, when their speech stops, if they’re asking a question or making a statement, if the speech is halting or interrupted, etc. Good punctuation is vital to your meaning and [...]
Posted by Administrator on March 3, 2009 in
The Word Lately I’ve seen quite a few characters who either have a guilty conscious or are not conscience. It seems this is the perfect time to review. Conscience is a noun meaning “consciousness of the moral right and wrong of one’s own acts or motives.” That little lie weighed on my conscience. Conscious is an adjective [...]
Posted by Administrator on March 3, 2009 in
Writer's Resource If you listen to National Public Radio, you are probably familiar with Garrison Keillor from A Prairie Home Companion. You may not know that Keillor also records a daily five-minute spot that includes information on important events or milestones in literature and the arts. He also reads a poem—sometimes two—every day (one of my favorite [...]
