Do You Make These 3 Mistakes in Expression?

We always intend to say what we mean, but do we always actually say what we mean?

‘She strode straight through the door.’ So, is ‘she’ a superhero, a ghost, or blind? She might well have walked straight through the open doorway. But it’s doubtful she ploughed through the barrier itself. A small adjustment, but one that’s vital to the correct understanding of your words.

‘Your not getting you’re wicked way with me.’ I know; you wouldn’t dream of doing this. But you’d be surprised how many times the possessive is mixed up with the contraction. And it’s easily corrected. Just spell out the contraction ‘you are’ in full and the sense becomes immediately obvious. So, perhaps, now you are getting your wicked way with me, after all. I look forward to the encounter.

‘More then anything else, this confusion drives me up the wall, than I go into a rage.’  Once again, you never do this, do you? One letter different, but such variation in meaning.

‘Then’ is an adverb, conjunction, noun and adjective we use to express an aspect of time. Examples?

Adverb – ‘Carelessly, in her infatuation for Bob, she caught what was then known as a social disease.’ Conjunction – ‘He went swimming, then he put on his trunks.’

Noun – ‘That was then, this is now.’

Adjective – ‘She approached the then Prime Minister and punched him on the nose.’

‘Than’ is a conjunction and a preposition that introduces comparison.

Conjunction – ‘It is better to have done that, than never to have done this at all.’

Preposition – ‘Jenny was bigger in all her proportions than was Jane.’

So, ‘then’ for time and ‘than’ for comparison. Easy isn’t it?  

The picture? I like to give a little colour to my posts, and Zemanta, my usual source for these, revealed nothing relevant, so enjoy the French countryside.

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• Most of What You Think You Know About Grammar is Wrong

Stuart's Daily Word Spot (Antonyms): Gaiety/Sadness

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Gaiety/Sadness

Gaiety: noun - cheerfulness, mirth, frivolity, merrymaking.

Sadness: noun - the condition of being sad. Sad: adjective - sorrowful, mournful.

'Between evocative crashing of breakers on the sand, the hungry cries of the seagulls, and the light soughing of the onshore breeze, Jake could hear the gaiety of the beach party he approached, as they played, laughed, danced and ate around their driftwood bonfire.'

Personal note: I think it's rather sad that, as writers, we've lost the use of the word 'gay', which was such an evocative adjective for which there is no real synonym. Nothing against the gay community; just a tinge of regret that they chose that particular word as a label.

'Walking the shore, just out of reach of crashing breakers, feeling the lonely cries of gulls and allowing the offshore breeze to tangle her blonde tresses, Faith felt the deep sadness of her separation from all that she knew and loved in the world.'

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Habitué

Habitué: noun - someone who can usually be found in or at a specific place or kind of place; a devotee.

'You can always find Gina down at the seafront café; she's an habitué of the tawdry and superficially glamorous.


Pic: A leaf from a water lily in the pond in my garden. Included simply because I like the picture, and Zemanta failed to come up with a suitable illustration. 

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Ambiguity or uncertainty?

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Ambiguity or uncertainty?

Ambiguity: noun - hesitation, doubt or uncertainty about your course; something that can be understood in more than one way; an uncertainty; double meaning; an expression having more than one meaning.

Uncertainty: noun - being uncertain; doubtfulness, hesitation or irresolution; a point of doubt; something of which the outcome is uncertain;

As you can see, these two words are interchangeable in many cases. However, I'm concerned here with their application to writing. An author can use ambiguity to express a dilemma experienced by a character. He can describe events, emotions and actions in terms that leave the reader feeling uncertain. And both of these techniques are valid. What a good writer will avoid, however, is the use of ambiguity to excuse his own uncertainty about elements of his story or characterisation. Such ambiguity is quickly seen for the uncertainty it is in reality and a reader thus alerted will then have difficulty in continuing to trust the honesty of the writer. Once you've lost a reader's trust, you've almost certainly lost a reader.

So, if you're portraying ambiguity, make sure your own lack of resolution is not the cause and that you display doubt in a way that makes it clear who or what is uncertain. Ambiguity is a subtle quality in writing and needs careful handling if it is to be understood for what it is.

'Martha's eyes grew soft and wide every time she saw Harry, but her hands clenched into tight fists as he approached.' 

Martha's feelings for Harry are ambiguous, but it is clear the writer intended this and there is no sign of uncertainty from the author.

'Brian was determined as he drew the gun from the holster; this was the chance he'd dreamed of for so long. He pointed it through the gap in the fence, but, suddenly, he wondered whether he should actually kill his rival.' 

This displays more uncertainty on the part of the writer than the potential killer. In particular, that give-away 'suddenly' suggests the author rather than the character is uncertain about what should happen. The first sentence makes it clear the character is set on doing the deed and it is only in the second sentence that the writer has had some doubts about whether he should allow his character to kill at this time.

'Brian drew the gun from its holster without hesitation and aimed it through the gap in the fence. As his intended victim wandered into view, and turned her face to him, he discovered his hand was shaking.'

Here it is the character who is uncertain and the writer has employed ambiguity to give more depth to the story.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Need or want?

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Need or want?

Need: noun - necessity for a person or thing; a condition or time of difficulty, distress, or trouble, lacking or requiring some necessary thing; exigency, emergency, crisis; destitution, lack of the means of subsistence or of necessaries, poverty; requiring or being motivated to do, a necessity to do; something requiring action; a particular point or respect in which some necessity or want is present or is felt; a piece of necessary business; something wanted, a requirement.

Want: noun - lacking something desirable or necessary; deficiency or shortage; lacking the necessities of life; penury; poverty, famine, starvation; hardship or suffering; a condition marked by the lack of some necessity; need; something needed or desired; a requirement, a request; a defect, fault or shortcoming.

When I decided to compare these two words, in common with many older folk, I assumed their dictionary definitions would support my preconceptions. However, the good old SOED has educated me once again. On the face of it, the two words can be interchanged more or less unconditionally.

BUT, when it comes to that oft heard phrase, 'I need…' usually uttered by an offspring, there is a distinction that should be made, I think.

Children of all ages, and I include those adults who refuse to mature, often state that they need something when they simply desire it. Usage suggests that, in most cases, they 'want' what they call a 'need'. I think I can best express this by explaining that in this particular case, 'want' indicates desire and 'need' indicates necessity.

So:

'I need a new dress, skirt, etc.' should properly be expressed as 'I want a new…' since the item in question is not a necessity but something desired.

'I need a text book, set of pens, breakfast, etc.' is fine, as these are necessities for either life or schooling.

The dividing line is fine and, probably, subjective, but I think all parents will know where it should be drawn.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Rabbit

Rabbit: noun - a burrowing and gregarious plant-eating mammal of the family Leporidae, order Lagomorpha, with long ears and a short stumpy tail; something resembling a rabbit; in Naval and Australian slang - a smuggled or stolen article; a pneumatically or hydraulically propelled container used to carry material into a nuclear reactor etc.; conversation, talk - in rhyming slang; rabbit-and-pork.

‘Whenever Daphne came across her old boyfriend in company with a pregnant girlfriend, she would accuse him of breeding like a rabbit, even though he’d avoided that fate with her.’

‘God, that bloke doesn’t ‘alf rabbit on; never stops yakking.’

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Amount or number

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Amount or number

Amount: noun - total to which anything amounts, total quantity or number; quantity or sum viewed as the total reached; 

Number: noun - precise sum or aggregate of; abstract entity representing a quantity, used to express how many things are being referred to, or how much there is of something; an arithmetical value corresponding to a particular quantity of something; word, symbol or figure representing an arithmetical unit, a numeral; total, value expressed in figures, a statistic; arithmetical value; person or thing having a place in a series; any of a collection of songs or poems; a song, tune; girl or young woman; full count of a collection of persons or things.

Where Amount usually refers to a mass, number generally refers to a quantity.

‘An enormous amount of publicity surrounded the death of John F Kennedy.’

‘The number of stories relating the death of Elvis Presley could be counted in thousands.’

‘The pretty girl was a cute number, dressed in a stylish number, as she listened and danced to the latest number played by the rock band.’ 

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Short Story

Short Story: noun – a form of fiction in which, ideally, an event or series of events interacts with a character in such a way that the character undergoes some change, small or large; any short piece of fiction not long enough to be considered a novelette or novel; a tale, as opposed to an anecdote; a short form of fiction with a beginning, a middle and an end.

And, instead of an illustrative sentence, seems to make sense to provide an illustrative example. One of my own: 

Not the Type to Murder His Wife

Charles, murder Madge for another woman? Ludicrous. Makes you wonder what they were thinking: the police and the court. He’s not the type. Not to murder his wife. Not for passion. Only have to look at him to know he’s the very stuff of decency and stolid convention.

Hair cropped short and never out of place, Brylcreemed down to a glossy mat. Smart suit, white shirt, dark regimental tie and polished shoes buffed until you can see your face in them. Which, by the way, you’re likely to just before said shoe smacks into you, should you dare insult him. Short moustache, permanently stained with nicotine like the tips of the fingers on his right hand. Clean cut nails that can undo small screws or unpick staples.

Of course, he did always say, ‘Madge has a mind as deep…as a puddle of mud and the soul…of a brown boot.’

Big in the Women’s Institute, was Madge. Wore tweeds, would you believe? Made real jam, sponge cakes light as air, proper biscuits. Never break a tooth on Madge’s cookies. Into good causes: save the local hunt, retirement homes for lame otter hounds, that sort of thing. Pillar of the local church: well in with the vicar and his wife.

Big boned woman: heavy. Dark moustache like a line of exclamation marks on her upper lip. Sort of hairy echo of her domineering way of speaking, I suppose. To everyone except Charles.

Good to Charles, she was. Devoted. Warmed his slippers, cleaned his pipe, ironed his Telegraph flat. Meat and two veg every day and a proper roast with Yorkshires on Sundays. Every Friday night she’d pour him a scotch, with a tiny drop of water the way he likes it, before she went up to bed. ‘I’ll be ready and waiting, my dear.’

‘Need more than a ruddy scotch,’ he’d say and we’d laugh.

Perfect wife. And everyone said they were so well suited.

So, folk were shocked when he murdered her. Especially like that. I mean, poor woman, she’d have been mortified. Modest was Madge. Found her in the bath wearing nothing but a natural sponge and an electric fan heater. Hair stood up like stalagmites, they said. Blew all the circuits in the house.

And, I ask you, for what? A blonde tart with legs up to her armpits. Skirts; more like pelmets, wouldn’t cover a ha’penny, if you know what I mean. And a cleavage fit to hide in. Pretty enough face, for a tart. Mind you, wouldn’t do to let Charles hear you call her that. He’d as soon break your neck.

Never any violence in Charles. Wouldn’t harm a fly, as they say. Gentleman. Always holds the door open for a lady and won’t take no cheek. Saw him skelp a young lass once for calling Madge, ‘Fatty.’ Sorted her out. No, wouldn’t stand for anyone giving lip, our Charles.

Apparently, Madge caught them at it. Charles and this blonde. Can’t picture Charles without clothes. Always see him in pin stripes with razor sharp creases, crisp white shirt, very smart and dashing. Had his socks on, though, she said. English, you know. Just can’t see it; not Charles.

Madge said he was grunting like a pig! She could be a bit funny sometimes. I think she imagined that bit. Said the tart was moaning fit to bust. And on clean sheets. She’d only changed the bed that morning. Went out to the Institute to enter her jam tarts and came home to him entering a tart. Naked and gasping on her cream fitted cotton: the ones with jacquard lace edges. So nice. She showed me them the day they came from the catalogue. Lovely.

Big breasts, of course. And blonde, like I said. They always are. Mind you, Madge said it was peroxide: cuffs and collars, if you understand my meaning. Don’t know what men see in them. But then, that’s men for you.

Hadn’t even closed the curtains. I mean, anyone could’ve seen in if they’d been in the garden, you know: standing on tiptoes. Anyone. I know Brutus would have their leg off but that’s no guarantee, is it? Suppose Brutus knew them? He’s a lovely dog; friendly enough if you know how to treat him. They were those blue paisley curtains from Harpers in the High Street. The ones they had on offer last March. Very pretty. I helped her hang them.

Didn’t bat an eyelid, apparently. Made no effort to move after Charles got off her. Madge almost chucked the vase of dahlias at her but she didn’t want to make the bed wet. That big crystal one with the fleur-de-lys motif. Charles’s dahlias, from the border by the shed in the bottom corner. Lovely shades of red. Always good in the garden, Charles.

Just finished, stood, and put his clothes on without a word. Left them to it, she said. Madge didn’t know where to look, poor thing. I mean, she wouldn’t, would she? Just turned her back and told her to get out.

Friday night… this all happened on Wednesday… she poured his scotch as usual. ‘I’m going to have a bath, dear. Take your time: I want to luxuriate in that new Sensual Jasmine from the Avon lady. Why not have another, when you’ve finished? Then I’ll have time to warm the bed.’

Last words he ever heard her speak, I imagine.

Never locked the bathroom door, you know. She told me: open house for Charles. Not any more. Ten years he got. Be out in six with good behaviour. I’ll be waiting.

Charles is such a lovely man, blonde tarts aside. Madge was good to him and she didn’t really deserve that. But it was too good a chance to miss. He need never know. Do his time for the blonde. Come out older and wiser.

I expect Madge was a bit shocked, really, to see me standing there with the electric fan heater. Charles must’ve been a bit shocked, too, when he stumbled through the dark and found her. Of course, I’d gone by then. Actually, her last word was, ‘Aghhh!’ or something that sounded like that.

-ends-

Of course, being a Brit, a bit of a rebel, and prone to break the rules, I don’t necessarily follow all the conventions noted above. But I hope you enjoy this story, regardless.

Stuart’s Daily Word Spot: A while or Awhile

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A while: noun phrase – ‘The bathing beauties in their bikinis had to wait for a while until they heard the results of the contest from the judges.’

Awhile: adverb – ‘After the celebrations, the politicians who’d lost the election remained awhile, hoping the press pack would have dispersed before they emerged.’