₦airaland Forum

A common error with commas is to sprinkle them where they don’t belong. Here are five examples of this type of comma error.

1.
Incorrect: The laptop on the table, is mine.
Correct: The laptop on the table is mine.

Do not separate a subject from its verb. The subject is “The laptop on the table.”

2.
Incorrect: Motel rooms, that are dirty, ought to be illegal.
Correct: Motel rooms that are dirty ought to be illegal.

Do not set off a restrictive clause. The clause “that are dirty” is essential to the meaning of “motel rooms.” No commas are needed.

3.
Incorrect: The dog understood at once, what his handler wanted.
Correct: The dog understood at once what his handler wanted.

Do not separate a verb from its direct object or complement. The clause “what his handler wanted” is the object of the verb understood.

4.
Incorrect: Jethro wanted to be either a brain surgeon, or a fry cook.
Correct: Jethro wanted to be either a brain surgeon or a fry cook.

Do not use a comma to separate paired elements joined by coordinate conjunctions. The paired elements are “a brain surgeon” and “a fry cook.” No comma is needed.

5.
Incorrect: The famous author lives in a small town, because she doesn’t like the noise of a big city.
Correct: The famous author lives in a small town because she doesn’t like the noise of a big city.

Do not set off an introductory independent (main) clause from a following dependent clause. “The famous author lives in a small town” is the main clause.

Note: if the dependent clause comes first, a comma is needed: “Because she doesn’t like the noise of a big city, the famous author lives in a small town.”


Maeve Maddox

Top 10 Confused Words in English (2)

6. appraise / apprise
Appraise means “to set a value on something.” Apprise means “to inform”:

A new Audemars-Piquet limited-edition women’s pocket watch with Swiss movement appraised at $13,500.

As stated in Marby, “only when it develops that the defendant was not fairly apprised of its consequences can his plea be challenged under the Due Process Clause.”



7. aural / oral
The adjective aural relates to the ear or to hearing. The adjective oral relates to the mouth or speaking.

The study investigates listening and aural experience in a New York City community devoted to avant-garde jazz.

A good oral presentation is well structured; this makes it easier for the listener to follow.

After the accident, Jones required extensive oral surgery.

8. bring / take
Both of these verbs have multiple meanings, but as a pair, they form opposites in the context of conveying something from one place to another.

Bring is “to carry along from one place to another.” The word implies motion towards the place where the speaker or auditor is.

Take also means “to carry something to another place,” but the movement is away from a place. The Chicago Manual of Style explains the difference this way:

The simple question is, where is the action directed? If it’s toward you, use bring (e. g., bring home the bacon). If it’s away from you, use take (e.g., take out the trash). You take (not bring) your car to the mechanic.

9. bated / baited
The error with these words occurs in the idiom “with bated breath.” The error is to write baited for bated. In the context of the idiom, bated means “in great suspense.” In another context, baited means “with bait attached,” as in “The hook is baited with a worm.”

10. broach / brooch
Both words are pronounced the same. Broach is a verb meaning “to open up.” Literally, one might broach a cask of wine. Figuratively, one might broach a subject in conversation:

I sat and waited in the awkward silence, trying to decide if I wanted to broach the subject of his hesitation in Belgrave Square.

Brooch is a noun. Originally, a brooch was used like a safety pin to fasten clothing together. Those who could afford it wore decorative brooches fashioned of precious metals set with precious stones. No longer essential to secure clothing, a brooch is usually just an ornament pinned to something:

Create a choker necklace using a narrow scarf and flashy brooch.


Credit: Daily Writing Tips

Top 10 Confused Words in English (1)

1. affect / effect
These two words have specialized meanings in psychology, but in ordinary speech and writing, affect is most often used as a verb meaning “to act on or to cause a change” and effect as a noun meaning “a change that is the result of some action”:

How will the move to New Orleans affect the family? (verb)
What is the effect of this move on the children? (noun)

Note: Effect can also be used as a verb meaning “to cause” or “to bring about”:

The new mayor has effected positive change in the police department.

2. advice / advise
The error with this pair results from mispronunciation and failure to distinguish between a noun and a verb. The c in advice is pronounced with the sound of /s/. The s in advise is pronounced with he sound of /z/.

Advice is a noun meaning “recommendation regarding a decision.” Advise is a verb meaning “to recommend”:

She always gives me good advice. (noun)
What do you advise me to do? (verb)

3. aisle / isle
Both words are nouns. An aisle is a passageway between rows of seats, shelves, or other fixtures or obstacles that people need to move between. An isle is an island:

You’ll find the children in the toy aisle.
Robinson Crusoe was stranded on a desert isle.
I want a modern kitchen with a work isle in the middle.

4. adverse / averse
Both words are adjectives that imply a form of opposition. Something that acts against one’s interests or well-being is adverse. The word averse describes feelings of repugnance towards something:

The jury delivered an adverse verdict against the defendant.
Ferris Bueller was averse to attending school that morning.

5. amoral / immoral
Morals and morality relate to considerations of right or wrong. For anyone who has internalized a code of moral behavior, acting against it is immoral.

For example, Macbeth acknowledges that it is wrong for a host to kill his guest, but he and his wife do it anyway. Their murder of Duncan is immoral. When the sharks in Jaws kill people, their behavior is amoral. They don’t feel that it’s wrong to kill a human being. Here are two examples of current uses of amoral:

Nature is amoral. Nature is neither good nor bad. It just is.

Mr. David Coleman once said that no one really cares about what a student thinks and feels. What is important is writing and reading information text. Thus, the Common Core is an amoral curriculum.



Credit: Daily Writing Tips

Food Idioms

A universal preoccupation with food is apparent in the many idioms based on it. Here are just ten:

1. apples and oranges: two things that are inherently different or incompatible. For example, “To compare The Chronicles of Narnia to the Twilight series is to compare apples to oranges.”

2. bad apple: a negative or corrupting influence on others; a troublesome or despicable person. For example, “One official of a national motorcycle organization argued that a few bad apples shouldn’t be allowed to ruin all motorcyclists’ reputations…”

3. bring home the bacon: to bring home the prize, to achieve success.

In American usage “to bring home the bacon” means “to earn the living for a household.” The expression probably originated from the custom/legend of the Dunmow Flitch. A “flitch of bacon” is a side of bacon, salted and cured. Married visitors to the town of Dunmow in Essex who knelt on two sharp stones and could swear that during the past twelvemonth they’d never quarreled with their spouse or wished themselves unmarried could claim a free flitch of bacon. Another possibility is that the expression derives from greased pig contests at county fairs. The contestant who succeeded in catching the pig “brought home the bacon.”

4. chew the fat: originally the expression meant to argue over a point, perhaps because people arguing make energetic mouth movements similar to what is required to masticate gristle.

In British usage, both “chew the fat” and “chew the rag” mean to argue or grumble. In American usage, the expressions mean “to engage in friendly conversation.”

5. cream puff: literally, a cream puff is a shell of puff pastry with a cream filling. In British usage, a “cream puff” is an effeminate person. In American usage, a “cream puff “is a used car in especially good condition.

6. cup of tea: something that suits a person’s disposition

The expression is used in both positive and negative contexts:
“A Mozart concert? Just my cup of tea!”
“A ball game? Sorry, football is not my cup of tea.”

7. a pretty/fine kettle of fish: an awkward state of affairs; a mess or a muddle. For example, “As the crisis dragged on to the eleventh month, Bishop Segun introduced a pretty kettle of fish to the whole matter when he instituted an ecclesiastical court…”

In researching this post, I discovered that the expression “a pretty kettle of fish” (with the meaning “a fine mess”) seems to be morphing into “a different kettle of fish” or “another kettle of fish” with the meaning “something else entirely.” For example, “Your website needs to be a whole different kettle of fish.”

8. a lemon: something that is bad or undesirable.

Anything that fails to meet expectations can be called a lemon. For example, “Her first husband was a lemon.”

Most often, the term is used to describe a car that has problems from its time of purchase. Individual states have “lemon laws” intended to protect consumers from substandard vehicles. The federal lemon law (the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act) was enacted in 1975 and protects citizens of all states.

9. full of beans: full of energy and high spirits. For example, this headline: “Hollins still full of beans as he settles in at Crawley Town”

In current usage the expression “full of beans” is so frequently associated with children that it has been adopted as a brand name by child care centers and a children’s clothing store. I’ve always assumed that the expression derived from the idea of a frisky bean-fed horse, but recently I read that at one time beans were considered an aphrodisiac.

10. hot potato: a delicate situation that must be handled with great care. For example, this headline: “Herbert’s ‘Healthy Utah’ Plan Could be a Political Hot Potato”

Maeve Maddox

Best Writing Tips

These writing tips cover the basics and the most important aspects of writing.

1. Do it. Write.
2. Read as much and as often as you can. Remember, every writer is a reader first.
3. Keep a journal or notebook handy at all times so you can jot down all of your brilliant ideas. If you’ve got a smartphone, make sure it’s loaded with a note-taking app. A voice-recording app also comes in handy for recording notes and ideas.
4. Make sure you have a dictionary and thesaurus available whenever you are writing.
5. Be observant. The people and activities that surround you will provide you with great inspiration for characters, plots, and themes.
6. Invest in a few valuable resources starting with The Elements of Style.
7. Grammar: learn the rules and then learn how to break them effectively.
8. Stop procrastinating. Turn off the TV, disconnect from the Internet, tune out the rest of the world, sit down, and write.
9. Read works by highly successful authors to learn what earns a loyal readership.
10. Read works by the canonical authors so you understand what constitutes a respectable literary achievement.
11. Join a writers’ group so you can gain support from the writing community and enjoy camaraderie in your craft.
12. Create a space in your home especially for writing.
13. Proofread everything at least three times before submitting your work for publication.
14. Write every single day.
15. Start a blog. Use it to talk about your own writing process, share your ideas and experiences, or publish your work to a reading audience.
16. Subscribe to writing blogs on the Internet. Read them, participate, learn, share, and enjoy!
17. Use writing exercises to improve your skills, strengthen your talent, and explore different genres, styles, and techniques.
18. Let go of your inner editor. When you sit down to write a draft, refrain from proofreading until that draft is complete.
19. Allow yourself to write poorly, to write a weak, uninteresting story or a boring, grammatically incorrect poem. You’ll never succeed if you don’t allow yourself a few failures along the way.
20. Make it your business to understand grammar and language. Do you know a noun from a verb, a predicate from a preposition? Do you understand tense and verb agreement? You should.
21. You are a writer so own it and say it out loud: “I am a writer.” Whether it’s a hobby or your profession, if you write, then you have the right to this title.
22. Write, write, write, and then write some more. Forget everything else and just write.
Do you think these are the very best writing tips? If you have any tips to add to this list, leave them in the comments!



Melissa Donovan

7 Ways Twitter Sharpens Your Writing

Twitter launched in 2006, at the dawn of the golden age of blogging. Nowadays, it’s known as a social network, but back then Twitter was a microblogging service. Twitter made sense to bloggers because, in simple terms, it was a blogging platform where blog posts had to be squeezed into 140 characters.
Twitter is a blogging platform and a place to sharpen your writing skills.
As a writer, you can use Twitter for all of the following.

1. Practice your writing.
Twitter is a writer’s sandbox. You can be creative, try out new things, see what works and what doesn’t. Because each update is so tiny and transient, your mistakes are quickly forgotten. But when you do something that resonates with your readers, it can reach thousands or hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of minutes.

2. Network with other writers
Twitter is known as a social network because it’s fantastic for networking. You can use it to talk directly with all kinds of writers from established old school writers (Neil Gaiman, Paulo Coelho, Alain de Botton) to successful self-published writers (Sean Platt, Joanna Penn, Ali Luke) to superstar bloggers (Jeff Goins, Danny Iny, Mary Jaksch).
Perhaps most important of all are the thousands of all-around friendly writers and editors who are still on the journey and are happy to chat, ask for feedback on their writing, and give feedback on yours. Some of my favorites are John Wiswell, Amanda Socci and Jackie Pearce.
As you network with other writers, you’ll discover writing tips, new writing challenges, and writing communities where you’ll feel right at home.

3. Keep your writing concise
Twitter gives you only 140 characters to play with, so it squeezes the excess pith from your words, leaving only the nourishing juice. You’re forced to write concisely, to discard the ore and share only the gold.

4. Track your results
To succeed as a professional writer, you must take a keen interest in numbers. Twitter allows you to track the success of your writing in hard numbers. You can see whether your follower count is growing, whether your tweets are being shared, and (using simple web apps such as Buffer) whether people are clicking the links you share.
If your follower count is flat-lining and your links aren’t being clicked, that’s useful feedback, and you can start to do things differently.

5. Find out what your readers want
One way of attracting more readers is knowing what your readers want. The simplest way to do this is to ask them, and Twitter provides the perfect platform to fire out questions to your readers.
Also, take note which tweets are most popular with your followers – either through retweets, replies, or clicking the link you shared. When readers share or reply to your tweets, they’re saying “More like this, please”.

6. Learn what entices
Twitter, with its built-in systems for tracking results, is ideal for learning what gets attention and what gets ignored. In particular, you can use Twitter to practice writing headlines that get the most clicks. The better you are at writing neck snapping headlines, the more readers you’ll attract to your blog posts, ebooks, and articles.

7. Discover creative inspiration and ideas
Twitter is a playground of ideas. Everywhere you look, you’ll find ideas for stories to tell, research to pursue, and people you could interview for your next article.
Whenever you feel stuck for writing ideas, turn to Twitter. In just a few minutes you’ll find an idea or story angle that excites you and you want to pursue.

Credit: Write to Done

Preposition Mistakes: Accused and Excited
By Maeve Maddox

The use of prepositions is tricky, even for native speakers. Certain prepositions are used with certain words, while others are not. Here are four examples of nonstandard usage.

1. Accused

Incorrect: They were arrested and accused for murder.
Correct : They were arrested and accused of murder.

The preposition of follows the verb accused.

One may be “indicted for murder” or “tried for murder,” but one is “guilty of murder,” “suspected of murder” or “accused of murder.”

2. Moment

Incorrect: He stopped in the middle of the street to look back; the hurtling ambulance struck him in that moment.
Correct : He stopped in the middle of the street to look back; the hurtling ambulance struck him at that moment.

A moment is an extremely brief portion of time, an instant too brief to measure. In a literary context in which a character is experiencing an event in emotional “slow motion,” the phrase “in that moment” can be an appropriate stylistic choice to suggest that a great deal is happening within the instant. Likewise, the expression “to live in the moment” treats moment as having duration, as opposed to instantaneousness. In most prosaic contexts, however, the appropriate preposition is at:

At that moment he knew what his mother was thinking, and that she loved him.

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one.

Note: There is the polite expression “in a moment,” as in, “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

3. Accord

Incorrect: Wells told agents in Indianapolis that she left her home on her own accord and was not taken against her will.
Correct : Wells told agents in Indianapolis that she left her home of her own accord and was not taken against her will.

The noun accord in this expression means harmony or agreement. To do something “of one’s own accord” is to do something without coercion, freely, willingly.

4. Excited

Incorrect: I am excited for the new Apple watch.
Correct : I am excited about the new Apple watch.

The adjective excited is conventionally followed by the prepositions by, at, and about. Although growing in popularity with some speakers, the use of for after excited is regarded as nonstandard. Here are three more examples of standard usage:

Many dogs are excited by the presence of other dogs or humans.

She was excited at the prospect of living in London.

Royals fans [are] nervous and excited about their return to the postseason.

Here are ten ways to produce more vivid, direct, concise prose by replacing wordy phrases with fewer words and reorganizing sentences. It is not advisable to employ these strategies indiscriminately, but prose will usually be improved by following the recommendations below.

1. Use Active Voice

When a sentence includes be or any other copulative verb, such as is or are, recast the sentence to omit the verb.
Before: “The meeting was seen by us as a ploy to delay the project.”
After: “We saw the meeting as a ploy to delay the project.”

2. Avoid Vague Nouns

Phrases formed around general nouns such as aspect, degree, and situation clutter sentences.
Before: “She is an expert in the area of international relations.”
After: “She is an expert in international relations.”

3. Use Words, Not Their Definitions

Replace explanatory phrases with a single word that encapsulates that explanation.
Before: “The crops also needed to be marketable so that families would be able to sell any yields that exceeded what they personally required.”
After: “The crops also needed to be marketable so that families would be able to sell any surplus.”

4. Avoid Noun Strings

Reorganize sentences to eliminate series of nouns used as adjectives.
Before: “The lack of a secure transfer may hamper computer security incident response efforts.”
After: “The lack of a secure transfer may hamper responses to computer-security incidents.”

5. Convert Nouns to Verbs

When a sentence includes a noun ending in -tion, change the noun to a verb to simplify the sentence.
Before: “They will collaborate in the creation of new guidelines.”
After: “They will collaborate to create new guidelines.”

6. Reduce Verb Phrases to Simple Verbs

Identify the verb buried in a verb phrase and omit the rest of the phrase.
Before: “The results are suggestive of the fact that tampering has occurred.”
After: “The results suggest that tampering has occurred.”

7. Replace Complex Words with Simple Ones

Choose simpler synonyms for multisyllabic words.
Before: “The department will disseminate the forms soon.”
After: “The department will pass out the forms soon.”

8. Avoid Expletives

Don’t start sentences with “There is,” “There are,” or “It is.”
Before: “There are many factors in the product’s failure.”
After: “Many factors contributed to the product’s failure.”

9. Eliminate Prepositional Phrases

Replace “(noun1) of the (noun2)” phrasing with “(noun2)’s (noun1)” phrasing.
Before: “The decision of the committee is final.”
After: “The committee’s decision is final.”

10. Reduce Wordy Phrases to Single Words

Replace phrases that signal a transition with simple conjunctions, verbs, or other linking words.
Before: Due to the fact that the project is behind schedule, today’s meeting has been postponed.
After: Because the project is behind schedule, today’s meeting has been postponed.

Credit: Daily Writing Tips

Among the oldest words in English are the personal pronouns I, you, he, she, it, we, and they.

Two of the personal pronouns, you and it, have only one form that is used as either subject or object:

See that goat? It bit me. (It is the subject of the verb bit.)
I hear a bee. Do you see it? (It is the object of the verb see.)
There’s a poisonous spider. Step on it! (It is the object of the preposition on)

You agree with Charlie on everything. (You is the subject of the verb agree)
That car just missed you. (You is the object of the verb missed.)
This information must remain between you and me. (You is the object of the preposition between.)

Five of the personal pronouns have two forms each: a subject form (I, he, she, we, they) and an object form (me, him, her, us, them).

The most common errors occur when subject and object forms are reversed.

Two additional errors that seem to be increasing are 1.) replacing a personal pronoun with a pronoun ending in -self and 2.) using a personal pronoun in a context that calls for a possessive adjective.

Mistake #1: Object form used in place of subject form

Incorrect: In the next several weeks, my colleagues and me will be discussing the appropriate way to do that. (Jay Inslee, Congressional Record)
Correct : In the next several weeks, my colleagues and I will be discussing the appropriate way to do that.

The subject forms I, he, she, we, and they are used as the subject of a verb. Here are models of correct usage:

We went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. (subject of the verb went)
The children and I had a lovely time. (subject of the verb had)
My colleagues and I will be discussing the plan. (subject of the verb will be discussing)

Mistake #2: Subject form used in place of object form following a preposition

Incorrect: She made each child feel special by taking pictures and spending quality one on one time with they and the dog. (A testimonial written by a person who has an M.A. degree)
Correct : She made children feel special by taking pictures and spending quality one on one time with them and the dog.

When the object of a preposition is a pronoun, the object form is required.

Reminder: Prepositions include such words as with, to, in, on, under, and between. Here are two examples of correct usage:

The butterfly alighted on her. (object of the preposition on)
She gave the horse to Jack and me. (object of the preposition to)

In the sample sentence, a social worker made children feel special by spending time “with them.”

Misake #3 Subject form used in place of object form following a transitive verb

Incorrect: Rodgers then followed she and her daughter out of the grocery store. (New York Daily News)
Correct : Rodgers then followed her and her daughter out of the grocery store.

When the direct object of a transitive verb is a pronoun, the object form is required. Here is an example of correct usage:

The supervisor commended him for his contribution. (direct object of the verb commended.)

The transitive verb followed requires the object form her.

Mistake #4 Subject form used in place of the corresponding possessive adjective

Incorrect: Susan announces she and her husband’s plans to divorce in front of Atticus’s family. (Downtown Abbey site)
Correct : Susan announces her and her husband’s plans to divorce in front of Atticus’s family.

Note: The personal pronouns have corresponding possessive forms. The possessive adjective forms are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their. They stand in front of the noun that is “possessed.” For example:

Jack is his friend. (possessive adjective that corresponds to personal pronouns he and him)
Sally is her friend. (possessive adjective that corresponds to personal pronouns she and her)

She is a subject form and cannot be used as a possessive adjective. Susan announces plans for the impending divorce. They are “her husband’s plans.” They are “her plans” as well.

Mistake #5 Reflexive pronoun used in place of personal pronoun

Incorrect: Both my wife and myself felt so much happier after watching this movie.
Correct : Both my wife and I felt so much happier after watching this movie.

Pronouns that end in -self or -selves are called “reflexive pronouns” or “emphatic pronouns.” Here are examples of their correct use:

The boy cut himself with the hedge clippers. (reflexive pronoun)
The mayor herself delivered my newspaper today. (emphatic pronoun)

There may be occasions when the emphatic form is wanted for a rhetorical flourish, but in ordinary speech, replacing a personal pronoun with one ending in -self or -selves is nonstandard usage to be avoided.



Maeve Maddox

Should it be “Hear” or “Listen to”?

Oftentimes, people use these two words interchangeably and end up misusing them.

For instance, look at this sentence:

1. * Let’s hear some music.

When we just want to say that sounds come to our ears, we use the verb hear. Listen to suggests that we are concentrating, paying attention, trying to hear as well as possible. Note, however, that if listen is followed by an object, the preposition to must be used. Look at these sentences:

2. I entered the room and sat on the bed; suddenly, I heard a strange noise.
3. Can you hear anything?
4. Listen carefully; if you hear your name, go into that Black Maria.
5. Darling, let’s listen to some music.

Note, however, that we use hear when we talk about experiencing musical performances, radio broadcasts, talks, lectures, etc:

6. Did you hear the President’s speech?
7. My wife and the home-help say they heard Lagbaja play Lili Bolero last night.
8. I spent the whole holiday listening to jazz

Not *I spent the whole holiday hearing jazz.

Credit: Basic English: “A trouble-shooting approach” by Adeleke A. Fakoya

The Many Faces of “Run”

Run is one of those words that can be either a noun or a verb.
As a verb, the principal parts of run are:
run, ran, (have) run.

Merriam-Webster offers an interesting historical observation: “The past tense run still survives in speech in southern England and in the speech especially of older people in some parts of the United States. It was formerly used in literature, and was a standard variant in our dictionaries from 1828 until 1934.”

In 2009, the standard forms are run/ran/(have)run.

The verb run has numerous meanings. Here are only a few:

move faster than walking – The children ran all the way home.
operate – My father has run the family business for fifty years.
be in charge of – Miss Jones runs the secretarial pool.
seek office – Ralph Nader has run for President several times.
flee – The indicted murderer skipped bail and ran.
go back and forth – This bus runs from here to the airport every two hours.
to thread or penetrate – The electrician ran a wire from the kitchen to the basement. His helper ran a splinter into his thumb.
to publish – The Gazette ran my son’s story in the early edition.

As a noun run has plenty of meanings as well. Here are a few:

the act of running – He went for a three mile run.
a score in baseball – How many runs does our team have so far?
a term in football – Tommy scored a 10-yard run.
a sustained effort – He’s making another run for the White House.
a unit of production – This is the book’s first run.
a series of something – He’s had a run of unfortunate relationships.
The Mousetrap had a very long run in London.
We’ve had a run of bad weather.
excessive withdrawals – Economic turmoil led to a run on banks.
normal kind – These are not the usual run of first graders.
freedom of movement – We give our cats the run of the house.
an enclosure for animals – The dogs stay in the run.
a flaw in knitted fabric – These stockings have too many runs in them.

Idioms with “run”
to have the runs – experience diarrhea
to run around – be sexually promiscuous
to run around with – associate with
to run across – discover by chance
to run after – seek someone’s company
to run a tight ship – manage strictly
to run circles around – demonstrate superiority
to run interference for – smooth the way for another person
run-off – 1. rain water (and other precipitation) drained by creeks and rivers 2. an election subsequent to a principal election in which no winner could be determined
run of the mill – ordinary
runaround – deceptive, evasive treatment of one person by another (When I asked about layoffs, the boss gave me the runaround (i.e., he did not provide a direct answer).
on the run – evading and hiding from pursuers

Credit: Daily Writing Tips

Good At, Good In, and Good With
By Maeve Maddox

One of the numerous meanings of good is “competent, skillful, clever at or in a certain action or pursuit.”

‘Good at’ and ‘Good in’ are often used interchangeably, but generally speaking, “good at” is used with an activity:

He’s good at football.
She’s good at product design.
Her mother is good at Trivial Pursuit.
When Fatima was only six, she was good at drawing.

When it comes to school subjects, both “good at” and “good in” are used:

Jere is good at math: he always finishes first.
Jere is good in math: he makes all A’s.

It’s difficult to formulate a rule for “good in.” An actor can be “good in a role.” A level-headed friend is “good in an emergency.”

A similar expression used to indicate competency is “good with”:

Because Daiki is good with numbers, he plans to study accounting.
Maribel is good with children; she wants to be an elementary teacher.
Amos is good with his hands; he remodeled the entire house.
Lilah is good with money; she saves at least 40% of her allowance every week.

Here are some examples of all three expressions as used on the Web:

Michael Phelps: Good at swimming, better at golf
Why are humans and dogs so good at living together?
School shootings: We’re good at finding fault, not so good at finding a solution
Is it true that people who are good at music can learn a language sooner?
Are you good in a crisis?
Are pit bulls good with kids?
Are you good or awful with money?

When it comes to using prepositions in idioms, memorization is often necessary.

Writing a Thank You Note (2): Writing a Business Thank you Note

Sending a thank you note is always a lovely gesture – and often an expected one. I’m sure that when you were a child, your parents encouraged (or forced) you to write thank you notes for birthday and Christmas presents. As an adult, you should still make a point of writing a thank you note to express gratitude in a number of situations. These come in both personal and business contexts:

It’s appropriate to send a thank you note:
After attending a job interview.
After receiving a promotion or payrise.
After a business lunch, dinner or party.
When an acquaintance has given you their time and advice.
When a manager or professor has supplied you with a reference letter.
To co-workers who’ve given you a gift (this last one may fall into the “personal” category, depending on how well you know your colleagues).
Thank you notes are mandatory and expected in some situations. A recent survey by CareerBuilder.com found that:

Nearly 15 percent of hiring managers would reject a job candidate who neglected to send a thank you letter after the interview
32 percent said they would still consider the thankless prospect but that their opinion of him or her would diminish
– advice from Write Express

As you can see, after a job interview, a thank you note may be a must. (This will depend on your career area and the business etiquette in your country.) And in any business situation, it never hurts to send a polite letter, whether or not you think it’s absolutely required.

A business thank you letter is somewhat different to the sort you send to your Grandma in gratitude for your Christmas slippers. Your business letter should:

Be typed, ideally on letter-headed paper. (Handwritten or emailed letters are okay if you know the recipient will prefer this.)
Be sent promptly (within 24 hours of an interview, for instance).
Be friendly but also professional. It would be very inappropriate to end a business thank you with “love from”.
Structuring a Business Thank You Note

As with the personal thank you note, there’s an easy formula to follow.

Set your letter out as a proper business letter, using letter headed paper and including your address, the recipient’s address, and the date. (You can find instructions on US business letter format and UK business letter format here on Daily Writing Tips.)
Address the recipient as “Dear [name],” erring on the side of caution regarding formality. (“Mr Jones” or “Dr Smith” rather than “Bob”).
Start by thanking them for the interview, pay rise, promotion, event, or other occasion that you’re writing about.
Go on to mention something specific about how it has helped you, or how you enjoyed the event. Be sincere, and make it clear how much you appreciate their time and effort.
You may want to mention the next occasion on which you hope to see them – though try not to be presumptuous. If you’re writing a thank you note for an initial interview, don’t act as though you’ve already been given the job!
End with “Yours sincerely” when writing to someone you don’t know well (an interviewer or acquaintance from another company). If you’re writing to your boss or manager, “Best wishes” or “Many thanks” might be an appropriate way to close your letter.


Example of a Business Thank You Note

There are some good examples at Business Thank You Note Samples, including this one:

Dear [City officials names],
We’d like to express our gratitude for the school administrators’ luncheon last week. The luncheon itself was very well done and enjoyed by all, but of course it’s the sentiment behind the gathering that means the most. The city’s renewed united commitment is a boost to the administration’s morale and a vote of confidence in the school’s future. For that, we thank you .
Best wishes,

As with a personal note, a business thank you letter needn’t be long. Indeed, since the recipient is likely to be busy, you should try to be concise and stick to the point. And make sure you double and triple proofread your letter – especially if it’s one you’ve sent after an interview, in the hopes of being hired. Early impressions really do count for a lot.

by Ali Hale

Writing a Thank You Note (1): Personal Thank You Notes

Sending a thank you note is always a lovely gesture – and often an expected one. I’m sure that when you were a child, your parents encouraged (or forced) you to write thank you notes for birthday and Christmas presents. As an adult, you should still make a point of writing a thank you note to express gratitude in a number of situations. These come in both personal and business contexts:

It’s appropriate to send a thank you note:
When you receive a gift (especially important for wedding gifts).
When you’ve been a houseguest in someone’s home (this is sometimes called a “bread-and-butter letter”).
When someone has done a particular favour for you.

Obviously, the types of thank you notes you write in a personal context (to your grandma, for instance) will differ considerably from the types you write in a business context (to an interviewer whom you barely know). I’ll cover the “personal” and “business” notes separately, outlining the general structure and giving you some examples.

Writing a Personal Thank You Note

If merely expressing your gratitude doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to write a thank you note, you might like to read these words of advice from Leslie Harpold.

I will also grudgingly tell you the hidden secret of thank you notes: They improve the frequency and quality of the gifts you receive. People like being appreciated, and if they feel you actually notice the nice things they do for you, they’re more likely to give an encore performance.

How to Write a Thank you Note

Ideally, your letter should be on paper rather than emailed. If you are emailing, you must send individual thank you notes rather than mass-emailing everyone who gave you a gift.

In most cases for a personal note, it’s not appropriate to set it out as a formal business letter. Instead, use good-quality notepaper or a nice greetings card.

Structuring a Personal Thank You Note

You should put your address at the top (or, if you know the recipient will already have your address, simply put the name of your town and state). Add the date.
Address the recipient as “Dear [[name]]”, then open the letter by thanking them for the gift, hospitality or kindness offered.
Your second sentence or paragraph should give some indication of your enjoyment or use of the gift.
Some people like to go on to share a little news, especially if they have been out of touch with the recipient for a while. Some etiquette experts, though, suggest that the thank you note should purely be about the recipient’s kindness, not about your own life. I believe that in a personal context, it’s fine to share your news.
A good closing sentence or paragraph is one which looks forward to seeing or speaking to the recipient – especially if a reunion or holiday is coming up. Mentioning “thank you ” again is a good idea, to emphasise the point of the letter.
You should not end with “yours sincerely” but with a less formal phrase; “love” or “love from” is often appropriate for relatives, or “best wishes”, “warmest wishes” or even “thanks again”.
Example of a Personal Thank You Note

Here’s an example, from the Etiquette Grrls’ book More Things You Need to Be Told (p56):

September 1, 2005

Dear Katherine,

Thank you so much for the wonderful book about nineteenth-century architecture of Long Island that you sent me. Not only was it the perfect present (I haven’t been able to put it down!) but it will certainly come in handy for my studies. You always pick the perfect thing!
Again, thanks so much, and I’ll talk to you soon.

Love,
Bitsy

As you can see, a thank you note needn’t be long to be friendly, polite and effective.

Ali Hale

'If' Versus 'Whether'

Although in informal writing and speech the two words are often used interchangeably, in formal writing, such as in technical writing at work, it's a good idea to make a distinction between them because the meaning can sometimes be different depending on which word you use. The formal rule is to use if when you have a conditional sentence and whether when you are showing that two alternatives are possible. Some examples will make this more clear.

Here's an example where the two words could be interchangeable:

Squiggly didn't know whether Aardvark would arrive on Friday.

Squiggly didn't know if Aardvark would arrive on Friday.

In either sentence, the meaning is that Aardvark may or may not arrive on Friday.

Now, here are some examples where the words are not interchangeable:

Squiggly didn't know whether Aardvark would arrive on Friday or Saturday.

Because I used whether, you know that there are two possibilities: Aardvark will arrive on Friday or Aardvark will arrive on Saturday.

Now see how the sentence has a different meaning when I use if instead of whether:

Squiggly didn't know if Aardvark would arrive on Friday or Saturday.

Now, in addition to arriving on Friday or Saturday, it's possible that Aardvark may not arrive at all. These last two sentences show why it is better to use whether when you have two possibilities, and that is why I recommend using whether instead of if when you have two possibilities, even when the meaning wouldn't change if you use if. It's safer and more consistent.

Here's a final pair of examples:

Call Squiggly if you are going to arrive on Friday.

Call Squiggly whether or not you are going to arrive on Friday.

The first sentence is conditional. Call Squiggly if you are going to arrive on Friday means Aardvark only needs to call if he is coming.

The second sentence is not conditional. Call Squiggly whether or not you are going to arrive on Friday means Aardvark needs to call either way.

To sum up, use whether when you have two discrete choices or mean "regardless of whether," and use if for conditional sentences.


Mignon Fogarty

10 Popular School Idioms

Ready for some school idioms? Let’s get to it and make this schoolhouse rock! Here is a list of ten popular education idioms and examples of how to use them:

1. A for effort! - recognizing that someone tried hard to accomplish something, although they might not have been successful.

Example: “The cake didn’t turn out like she had planned, but I give her an A for effort!”

2. Copycat- someone who copies the work (or mimics the actions) of others

Example: “Janie is a copycat- she was looking at my answers while we were taking the test!”

3. Learn (something) by heart- to memorize something completely

Example: “I have played that song so many times that I have learned it by heart and don’t even have to look at the music.”

4. Pass with flying colors- to pass (a test) easily and with a high score

Example: “Todd must have studied a long time because he passed the test with flying colors.”

5. Play hooky- to skip school

Example: “My friends are playing hooky today so they can be first in line for concert tickets this afternoon.”

6. Drop out of school- to stop attending school

Example: “Maurice had to drop out of school when his mother became ill so that he could help take care of her.”

7. Put your thinking cap on- to think in a serious manner

Example: “We’re all going to have to put our thinking caps on to tackle this big problem.”

8. Show of hands- raising hands to vote about something

Example: “By a show of hands, how many of you would prefer to have the test on Friday?”

9. Teacher’s pet- the teacher’s favorite student

Example: “Jonathan is the teacher’s pet- she always calls on him first.”

10. Bookworm- someone who reads a lot

Example: “She is such a bookworm! She seems to have a new book every day!”

There are plenty more school-related idioms; are there any that you can think of? Share with us!

Jessica Weeg

Five Colour Idioms: White

It can be said that colour succeeds in communicating without uttering a word. However, what exactly is communicated is very much culture dependent due to the multitude of symbolic representations associated with colours in any given culture. It makes sense, then, that colours often appear in various language expressions and are used to convey non literal meanings.

Today’s colour of choice is white, tomorrow we will look at black and then green the day after; in what will be a miniseries on idioms and colour in the English language.

Check out the following five white colour idioms below.

(1) Raise (or wave) a white flag
Meaning: to indicate that you have been defeated and you want to give up
Sample Sentence: After we captured them, they had to raise a white flag.
Pop Culture Reference: Pop singer Dido references the symbolism represented in this idiom in her song “White Flag,” singing: “...and I won’t put my hands up and surrender. There will be no white flag above my door…”

(2) white-tie event/affair
Meaning: an event that requires guests to wear formal dress such as men wearing white bow ties with formal evening attire
Sample Sentence: There was a white-tie wedding ceremony last week which I had to attend.
Pop Culture Reference: Band names are known for being creative or including play on words. The pop/electronica band The White Tie Affair chose to name themselves with this idiom.

(3) White elephant
Meaning: a useless, an unwanted possession that often costs money to maintain
Sample Sentence: Your car is a white elephant, as it often breaks down, causing you too much expenditure.
Pop culture reference: As one alternative to the Western Christmas gift exchange tradition of “Secret Santa,” a White Elephant gift exchange includes a group of family, friends, or co-workers each of whom gets one wrapped gift. Staying true to the idiom’s meaning, the gifts are usually inexpensive, humorous, or used items from home, seeking to provide entertainment for those involved rather than value.

(4) White lie
Meaning: a harmless or small lie told to be polite or to avoid hurting someone’s feelings
Sample Sentence: He told a white lie when his father asked where he was going.
Pop Culture Reference: The popular TV series Breaking Bad has gained so many fans across the world that some have decided to craft special beers in honour of the protagonist Walter White who told many white (and perhaps even more unwhite) lies throughout the show. The India white ale beer is a play on words in itself, named Walt’s White Lie.

(5) White as a sheet
Meaning: pale
Sample Sentence: Jane was as white as a sheet because of the illness she had suffered for months.
Pop Culture Reference: In the poem Song of Myself, in the famous poetry collection Leaves of Grass, the great Walt Whitman writes the line: “The captain on the quarter-deck coldly giving his orders through a countenance white as a sheet…”

Militza Petranovic

Empathize vs. Sympathize

For about 300 years, English speakers didn’t have to choose between sympathize and empathize to express the idea of sharing another’s feelings. Empathize hadn’t been invented yet.

The first OED example of sympathize in the sense of “to share the feelings of another” is dated 1607; the first use of empathize with this meaning dates from 1916.

However, the noun empathy was introduced in 1895 by a psychologist to describe “a physical property of the nervous system analogous to electrical capacitance, believed to be correlated with feeling.”

This definition of empathy did not survive, but the word has found a lasting place in the vocabulary of psychology as the English equivalent of German Einfühlung: “sympathetic understanding.” This kind of empathy is “the ability to understand and appreciate another person’s feelings and experience.”

Before the psychological term empathize entered the general vocabulary, speakers did just fine with sympathize when they wished to speak of feeling the joy or pain of others.

Now that we have a second word for the same concept, empathize has come to denote a stronger, more personal sense of fellow feeling than sympathize.

For example, I may sympathize with the fire victim who has lost her home and all of her possessions, but I cannot empathize with her because, mercifully, I have not experienced that trauma in my own life.

On the other hand, because I had to spend a day and a night in a Red Cross emergency shelter during an ice storm, I can empathize with people who must live in shelters for extended periods.

The great gift of literature is that it enables readers to empathize with a wide variety of fellow creatures. They don’t even have to be human. When I read Black Beauty, I empathized with a horse.

Sympathy and empathy are equally beautiful human characteristics. Sympathize is appropriate in most contexts. Empathize is best suited to situations that you have experienced yourself, either in the real world or through the power of literature.

Credit: Daily Writing Tips

Nobody Makes “Bad Progress”

Three times during a radio interview, a White House spokesman stated that something was “making good progress.”
It occurred to me how often I hear the expression “good progress” uttered by politicians and administrators of various stripes.

We are making good progress towards introducing a bill that will advance that goal.—A US senator.

U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan acknowledged that [our state] is making good progress on our Race to the Top plans.—A state governor.

We have been making good progress in three important areas.—A school principal.

FTA is making good progress on developing more detailed guidance on which we will seek comment in the near future.—An FTA spokesman.

The word progress, both noun and verb, derives from the Latin verb progredi: “to go forward, proceed, advance.”

The English noun progress is defined as “the process of a series of actions through time.”

As a verb, progress means, “to proceed, advance,” “to follow an expected course or pattern.”
“Good progress” is bureaucratic-speak. It sounds good without meaning anything. It’s enough to say, “The FTA is making progress on developing more detailed guidance.”

Progress may be rapid, slow, encouraging, delayed, or uncertain, but to say it is good is to pad language. “Good progress” is often accompanied by other meaningless phrases like “in the near future,” and “grounds for optimism.”

Ordinary speakers may be forgiven for using the occasional cliché, but politicians and others who wish to advance themselves by swaying public opinion should be aware that coming from them, “good progress” signals a desire to avoid specifics.

Note: The pronunciation of progress differs, according to whether it is used as a noun or as a verb.
progress (noun): PRAH-gres (American); PRO-gres (British)
progress (verb): pruh-GRES

Maeve Maddox

The emergence of social media has profoundly changed the way companies communicate with their customers. What used to be a one-way dialogue has become a two-way conversation, a great channel that allows a company to receive both positive and negative feedback they can use to improve their products and services.

Social media is where the conversations are happening today. And your brand needs to be a part of those conversations. Social media can be a great way of increasing brand awareness, customer engagement and long term loyalty and generating a boost in sales; if used correctly.

At TRW Consult, we can help you actively participate in and take advantage of the power of the social media. Our social media campaigns come in different packages to suit your goals, projections and your budget. From social media management consulting to a full, hands-on approach, our team of experts will help give your business the visibility it needs, keeping it in the consciousness of your target market, and increasing your reach.

TRW Consult is an award-winning content development and idea management firm offering world-class content and corporate solutions services to individuals and corporate bodies.

Some of our other service offerings include; content development, research, online marketing, digital solutions, corporate trainings and consultancy.

So, if you’re ready to open yourself up to a wide-variety of potential new customers and fans using a strong and pointed social media campaign, contact us today.

Editing is an essential step in developing effective business documents. Besides correcting grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors, editing can make your writing easier to understand and more persuasive. Here are a few simple editing tips that can help you make your business writing more clear and effective.
1. Replace complicated and long words and phrases with simple ones. Simple words often convey the same meaning as complicated ones, but require less space and are easier to read. For example, you can change ‘facilitate’ to ‘help’; ‘operate’ to ‘use’; and ‘substantiate’ to ‘prove’. Replacing wordy phrases with single words will make your writing more readable and efficient. For instance, replace ‘on a regular basis’ with ‘regularly’ and ‘at this point in time’ with ‘now’.
2. Edit your business writing to replace passive voice with active voice. For example, change ‘Innovative products and services are offered by our company’ to ‘Our company offers innovative products and services’. Using active voice requires fewer words and is more direct.
3. Break up long sentences into shorter ones. Research has shown that comprehension goes down when sentences are too long, so aim for an average sentence length of 20 words or fewer. Sentences over 35 words in length should be broken into two sentences, if possible, when editing.
4. Create a conversational tone by using the personal pronouns ‘you’ and ‘we’. This is important when you want to connect with your customers and be perceived as approachable. For example, change ‘Advice can be obtained from our customer service department’ to ‘You can get advice from our customer service department’.
When editing business writing that is meant to persuade your readers, change ‘our clients’ to ‘you’. For example, ‘We offer you a comprehensive range of programs and services’ sounds conversational, while ‘We offer our clients a comprehensive range of programs and services’ does not.
Another way to make your writing more conversational and friendly is by writing ‘we’ instead of repeating your company name throughout the document.
5. Remove clichés. These overused phrases have lost their meanings and waste space. Examples of common clichés include phrases such as ‘at the end of the day’, ‘for all intents and purposes’ and ‘as safe as houses’.
6. Avoid using business and technical jargon. Like clichés, many of these terms are overused and have vague meanings. Corporate jargon includes words such as actionable, best practice, buy-in, drive (as in ‘drive sales’), incentivise, operationalise, repurpose and value proposition. When editing, think about your readers and replace words they won’t understand with common terms.
7. Read the first draft out loud to judge how it sounds. Is it complicated, wordy or pompous? Rewrite it to make it more human and less robotic.
Editing is an important step in business writing. By applying the editing tips outlined here, you can improve your business writing and communicate more effectively.


Credit: Wordnerd