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Category Archives: Tips
Language/Writing Tip 30
Lists. Always a thrilling topic. Make sure to order your lists clearly. If you mention “The works of Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Hemingway, Faulkner and Woolf…,” you can arrange them: 1) alphabetically: “The works of Chekhov, Dickens, Dostoevsky, Faulkner, Hemingway, Tolstoy … Continue reading
Language/Writing Tip 29
The author and punctuation. 1) Instead of “the author,” just write the author’s name. E.g. NOT “The author’s novel…” but “Hemingway’s novel…” Two more details: i) remember, in literature papers, to avoid Slovenian-style initials – NOT “C. Dickens” but “Charles … Continue reading
Language/Writing Tip 28
A short one on colours: “Red colour is important to my life.” That’s redundant. “Red is important to my life.” (since “red” is obviously a “colour”). If you want to emphasize the colourness of the colour red, write: “The colour … Continue reading
Language/Writing Tip 27
Here are two quick ones: 1) “too long” can neatly be replaced by “overly long” when used before a noun. “This too long novel is dull.” “This overly long novel is dull.” (Hyphenated “too-long” has a smidgen of humour. E.g. … Continue reading
Language / Writing Tip 26
Here’s a quick rule that you’ll be tempted to break often: don’t have two massive sentences in a row. A fiction editor once told me that 20 words is already a long sentence. Two qualifications: “long” is not pythonesque; fiction … Continue reading
Language/Writing Tip 25
Instead of a proper tip,a list of comma splices: 1) “The ending is also the climax, the whole story almost unveils in front of us, but when the friend tells him what the flower means, we are surprised and understand … Continue reading
Language/Writing Tip 24
Two quick tips: 1) In written English, don’t bother with “it seems TO ME.” “It seems” always shows your personal attitude. 2) The sentence lead-in “It can be seen that….” very soon clogs up the sentence. To save a few … Continue reading
Language/Writing Tip 23
Experiment with where you place your quotations. Compare the following: 1) “‘We’ve got him now!’ said Joe. ‘He can’t get down without being caught!’” vs. 2) “Joe said, ‘We’ve got him now! He can’t get down without being caught.’” vs. … Continue reading
Language/Writing Tip 22
Here are a three off-the-cuff tips for adding life to your writing: 1) Use adverbs when relating neutral information or citing other sources: Compare: “As Jones states, ‘Hamlet is a famous play.’” vs. “As Jones CORRECTLY states, ‘Hamlet is a … Continue reading
Language/Writing Tip 21
Another short one this week: The phrase “Until not a long time ago…” is less idiomatic than “until not long ago…” “Until not long ago, I cheered for Ptuj.” It’s obvious that “long ago” has to do with time, so … Continue reading