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January, 2007Getting Started: Writing when “blocked”
Since 2003, I’ve offered a January tip, each year, about getting started in writing. A list of former Tips on this subject appears at the end of this message.
If you feel “blocked” or at a loss for material, here’s a technique that is sometimes called freewriting, for breaking through the barrier and getting started:
Just start to write, quickly and without pause. You can also dictate your material into a tape recorder or digital recording device.
Do not edit in any way. Just let the ideas flow. If all else fails, write about the difficulty of the task. You’ll probably discover that in this process you will in fact have written something useful, and that a quantity of useful material now appears amid the freewriting that you’ve done.
A variation of this is called speedwriting. Here one writes in the same quick and unedited way, without pause, but with a time limit and an actual set timer.
Remember, don’t rewrite, don’t reread, don’t edit, and don’t pass judgment on the material. Let it flow!
Previous tips on getting started, appearing on the website:
2003
Tip #3, December, 2000: Can't get started?
Tip #6, March, 2001: Daunted by the blank page?
Tip #21, August, 2002: A style tip: Varied Beginnings
Tip #26, January, 2003: The opening sentence
Tip #38, January, 2004: Opening lines
Tip #50, January, 2005: Getting Started, Looking Back
Tip #62, January, 2006: Getting Started: Organizing Material
Happy New Year,
Lucy
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Colloquialisms, 1.
The October tip ,#71, discussed slang and mentioned future tips about colloquialisms. This is the first of two colloquialism tips.
What is the difference between slang and colloquialisms?
They overlap, and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. However, “slang” commonly refers to specially-created words and phrases, such as “freebie,” “bonkers,” and “Yuck!” Slang may be specific to a region, age group, or culture.
Colloquialisms, on the other hand, usually employ standard words in new meanings. Colloquialisms originate in spoken language; the word itself comes from a Latin word for speak.
Examples:
“Over the top”
“Go for,” as in “I could go for a burrito.”
Colloquialisms are used primarily in conversation. Although they add color and vigor to our language, they are generally considered unacceptable in formal writing.
Whether or not they are acceptable in public speaking depends upon the nature of the speech and of the occasion. For speakers as well as writers, the important skill is to know the difference; that is, to recognize colloquialisms and to know when we are using them.
This requires a certain level of language awareness. A colloquial expression that we hear constantly can begin to sound normal. For instance, a person who works with youth may hear “I’m like,” meaning “I said,” so often that this terminology begins to sound like standard American English!
Example of this currently popular colloquialism:
“My friend came in carrying a unicycle and I’m like, ‘What are you gonna do with that?’”
A related example: “go” or “goes” meaning “said.”
“I said to my boyfriend, ‘Let’s go skiing,’ and he goes, ‘In this weather? It’ll be fifteen below!’”)
Further examples of colloquialisms:
1. The word “thing” used in place of more precise word.
Example: “There are several things that I ask you to remember.”
(More precise alternatives include “principles,” “points,” and “procedures.”)
2. Popular metaphor such as “raining cats and dogs.”
3. Informal use of ordinary words.
Example: “kind of,” as in “Those decorations are kind of garish.”
In next month’s tip we’ll continue to examine colloquialisms. I’ll close with one:
Here’s lookin’ at you!
Lucy
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Colloquialisms, 2: Deliberate grammatical errors!
As mentioned in the previous two tips, on slang and colloquialisms, these speech-based forms add color and vigor to our language and we needn’t avoid them altogether. We benefit, however, from recognizing colloquialisms. We can then decide when and when not to use them.
A type of colloquialism that we occasionally read, hear, and use is the deliberate use of a grammatically incorrect sentence. Examples:
--“It’s me!”
--“Who do you know?”
We often deliberately choose these incorrect versions in order to avoid appearing stilted or pedantic. That’s a justifiable motive; on the other hand, some readers or listeners are annoyed by any grammatical error.
How do we balance this?
A suggestion:
In informal texts we can use such expressions occasionally, when they are unusually appropriate, but sparingly, NOT EMPHASIZING NOR NEEDLESSLY REPEATING them. (In formal writing we should of course avoid these incorrect forms altogether.)
Here’s an example:
Imagine that you are writing an article or speech about elections. You write, “Whom are you going to vote for?” Then you balk at the ”whom” because you think it sounds stuffy. You change it to “Who are you going to vote for?” Then you worry that a percentage of readers or listeners will label this as bad grammar. Since this is your theme, it recurs at various points in your text.
A compromise:
Avoid using that sentence more than once in your piece. Further, you can acknowledge its colloquial origin by using a sentence like, “As they say, ‘Who are you going to vote for?’” Then, when you restate the theme, you can easily reword it, as in “Which candidate will you choose?”
Another way of showing awareness that you are using a grammatically-incorrect popular saying is to put it into a direct quotation. Example: “As my three-year-old says when he sees his face in a photo, ‘IT’S ME!’”
On the who/whom question, mentioned above:
Some language experts consider the who/whom distinction nearly obsolete. Conversely, many readers and listeners continue to honor the difference and cringe slightly at a “who” used where traditional grammar rules require “whom.” In the May Writing Tip we’ll take a look at the who/whom question.
Lucy
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The who/whom question – 1.
As mentioned in last month’s tip, some language experts consider the who/whom distinction nearly obsolete. However, many others continue to honor the difference. Let’s take a look at it.
1. WHO
“Who” is always the grammatical SUBJECT of its own clause. (A subject and a verb constitute a clause.)
Examples:
--Who came through the door?
--Who made the coffee?
“Who” is also the correct form for a “predicate pronoun”; that is, a pronoun following a form of the verb “to be.” Example: --Your fiancé is who?
2. WHOM
“Whom” is always the OBJECT of a verb or preposition. Examples:
--Whom did you choose as soloist?
--With whom is she talking?
--“Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” (John Donne, 1572-1631)
In our next tip we’ll look at “who” and “whom” in subordinate clauses. That’s where the greatest confusion arises regarding these two similar pronouns.
Lucy
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80The who/whom question – 2.
A little self-test: please fill in the blanks with “who” or “whom”:
1. We know______arrived at the theater first.
2. We know _____ you chose.
3. It’s all in _____you know!
Most of us know immediately that in sentence #1 “who” is correct.
The second two are trickier. For each we might choose “who” because we often hear it said that way. However, “whom” is correct in both #2 and #3.
The rule:
Use the form of the who/whom pronoun that is correct IN ITS OWN CLAUSE.
For example, “its own clause” in sentence #2 is “whom you choose.” There the pronoun is the direct OBJECT of the verb “choose,” so it is in the objective case (whom).
In sentence #1, its own clause is “who arrived at the theater first.”
There, “who” is the grammatical SUBJECT of the verb “arrived” and is thus in the nominative case (who).
The same rule applies, of course to “whoever” and “whomever.”
Deviations in conversation:
In order to avoid sounding stilted or pedantic we sometimes intentionally use a grammatically incorrect “who” instead of “whom,” as in the popular saying, “It’s all in who you know.”
That’s fine, but it’s beneficial to recognize when we’re doing this, and make a choice. If we know grammatical rules, we can decide when and when not to break them.
For more on the subject of deliberate errors see the Tip of March, 2007, entitled “Colloquialisms, 2: Deliberate grammatical errors!”
Lucy Paine Kezar
Communicate for Results!
www.KezarTraining.com
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Tip #79
Keep a vacation journalWe can improve our writing simply by writing a few lines each day.
Keeping a journal is a way of doing this.
Suggestion: Keep a journal while on vacation. A few lines each day will suffice. If you usually write on a keyboard but one isn’t available, write in longhand, perhaps in a small notebook. Benefits include the following:
1. New ideas often come to mind when we have more time than usual to think and imagine. Ideas for inventions, career-change plans, and other new directions are often born in leisure moments.
2. Our travel notes may prove useful for future travel.
3. In writing about thoughts and plans we gain clarity.
4. As mentioned, this process, even done for a few minutes a day, improves both our ease and our effectiveness in writing
A previous Writing Tip on benefits of daily writing is the following (it appears, with all of the other Tips, on the website):
Tip #17, April, 2002: No day without a line
(“Nulla dies sine linea” is a famous Latin quotation attributed to writer, politician, and military leader Pliny the Elder, AD 23-79.)
Lucy Paine Kezar
Communicate for Results!
www.KezarTraining.com
Tip #85
I offer a quotation at year's end:
The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and
familiar things new.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Happy New Year,
Lucy
Lucy Paine Kezar
Communicate for Results!
www.KezarTraining.com
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