Author Archives: ljsdas@guest.arnes.si

Language Note of the Week 33

The first sentence is crucial for setting the tone (see “Reminder” at http://www2.arnes.si/~bjason/LNW.pdf). Consider the tone set by these first sentences from real (but slightly changed) motivation letters: 1) “I would like take a chance and participate in study program … Continue reading

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Language Note of the Week 32

Two short ones: 1) “This is because the 13th-century Italy was unusual.” Nope. “This is because 13th-century Italy was unusual.” Drop the definite article when you use AS A NOUN PHRASE “13th-century Italy” or “19th-century France” or “x-th-century whatever.” 2) … Continue reading

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Language Note of the Week 31

1) You may blithely pile up adverbs when describing an action: “My sister scampered slowly, clumsily, hungrily, ridiculously towards the cookie jar.” That example is clear, fine and mean. Here, the two -ly adverbs are dissonant and mildly confusing: “Hemingway’s … Continue reading

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Calls for papers for forthcoming issues of EJES

The call for papers for volume 19 is available: – Mendacity in Early Modern Literature and Culture – Modern Creatures – Poetics and Partition Please note that the deadline for proposals for all of the issues is 31 October 2013, with delivery of … Continue reading

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Language Note of the Week 30

Take three seconds and shorten this sentence: “What Ralph evokes in Randy is something new.” “_______ evokes in Randy __ something new.” Or: “Ralph evokes something new in Randy.” Unless you need time to think, or unless you want to … Continue reading

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Language Note of the Week 29

Some sneaky adjectives look like they should be adverbs because they end in -ly. “We piled our dishes DISORDERLY” is wrong. “She passed him a cup of tea MOTHERLY” is equally wrong. There are a few solutions here: 1) opt … Continue reading

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Language Note of the Week 28

How’s this for a non-informative (and real!) newspaper headline? “Billionaire investor was keen on investing, fraud trial told” No kidding. And avid dancers like to dance. Avoid such repetition in your writing. Admittedly, I have never received such a banal … Continue reading

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ESSE 2014 KOSICE Conference

Dear Colleagues, The 1 May 2013 deadline for Seminars and Round Tables (proposals from prospective convenors) for ESSE 2014 KOSICE Conference is approaching fast. You are invited to submit proposals for seminars and round tables on topics related to our … Continue reading

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Language Note of the Week 27

Some typographical niceties today: 1) Don’t use two apostrophes (‘’…’’) instead of quotation marks (“…”). 2) Make sure your quotations marks face in the right direction – i.e. that they are looking at the quoted text. This is wrong: ”quoted … Continue reading

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Language Note of the Week 26

Short and not simple this week: instead of the half-Slovenglish “how it would be like…,” write “what it would be like to…” NOT: “I wonder how it would be like to climb Everest.” BUT: “I wonder WHAT it would be … Continue reading

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