Nouns

Today's topic: the fearsome NOUN. If you haven't yet noticed, I'm an extremely dramatic person, I like to rank things up a few notches and even the simplest things-such as nouns, are not eliminated. We learn when we're young, a noun is a person, place, or thing. Which is the simplest and fastest way to explain a noun, but it's time to go into more depth.

The dictionary.com definition of noun is: any member of a class of words that can function as the main or only elements of subjects of verbs (A dog just barked), or of objects of verbs or prepositions (to send money from home), and that in English can take plural forms and possessive endings (Three of his buddies want to borrow John's laptop). Nouns are often described as referring to persons, places, things, states, or qualities, and the word noun is itself often used as an attributive modifier, as in noun compound; noun group.

Don't really know how to break that down, seems quite clear with examples and everything. Here we can only move forward, which is where we split common nouns from proper nouns. Proper Nouns are usually considered the nouns which have a capital letter (person or place). Proper Noun Examples:

• McDonalds
• Samantha
• Devin
• Mexico
• Paris

Common Nouns are the words which don't begin with a capital letter:

• dog
• sheep
• box
• kid
• boy
• girl
• book

We then have to discuss the pluralization of nouns. There are several forms of plural nouns, the most common are the adding of -s, -es, or none at all, to the end of nouns. Not one cup but two cups, box to boxes, fish to fish. Other examples: child to children, goose to geese, person to people. After all, no one can be more than one person. ;)

Regarding the Art of FanFiction

FanFiction is a great test of your knowledge. You have to create a world off of one already created, pull the same magic, keep the characters within their same realm and personality, all while coming up with your own original plot and manipulating it to your advantage. If this process doesn't sound exhausting or something like a challenge, you need a little wake up call. Sure some author's say they don't like FanFiction, or they don't personally endorse it, but I do.

Wanna know a secret? Cassandra Clare, one of the best known author's of today's age has stated she got her start in writing from FanFiction. Everyone has a passion, so let it be known! There are amazing FanFiction's out there, because people put their heart and soul into keeping the magic of a book, movie, TV show, and more alive. It's not a matter of copying someone else's hard work, it's showing their love, willing enough to let complete strangers read their work and judge it.

There are sometimes things out there in the FanFiction universe, which may seem strange or out there, but that's the joy in writing. Have you heard Not Literally's new song "I Ship It!"? It's a cover of a song they love, "I Love It" by Icona Pop and within three minutes they describe a whole universe of people who aspire to be writers and more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCDgJiPBxfI

FanFiction is not a crime, it's a passion. Besides, anyone who has read and predicted what they think might happen has been writing FanFiction, even if it never made it to paper. Don't ever be afraid to let your feelings or thoughts be known, it just shows you are willing to write, no matter the subject.

Basics of Grammar

I spent days thinking about what I should blog next, I didn't really know what to cover, so in all cases like this- I consulted the internet. The internet, the most wonderful place full of writing tips and help on all sorts of subjects. I am sad to admit (and since this is the internet I deem it acceptable), I whimpered at the sight of all the beautiful grammar at my finger tips. As I aspire to have a Bachelor's Degree in English, nothing could strike me as more beautiful or glorifying than the art of grammar. This will be the start to many grammar discussions as it is a high ranked passion of mine.

When working with grammar it is important we start with the very basics. It may seem silly to start from the beginning when discussing usage, but everything always comes back to this point.

Categories.

Now, I'm sure I have you wondering, what does "categories" have to do with anything? Categories are the very start of everything grammar related. Example: there's a thing called "platerduff", this thing is a type of dog. Let's say I tell you a platerduff is a dog, you understand exactly what it is; perhaps not how it looks, but you know it will resemble other dogs. If we didn't have the category of dog, you wouldn't know what it was, or where to place it. It would be even harder to explain what a platerduff is.

We're going to play a little game, it may seem lame, but it'll teach you why we have to separate grammar and its rules. Find the item which doesn't belong:

• Violin
• Cello
• Trombone
• Bass
• Viola

The Trombone doesn't belong here because it is a brass instrument rather than a orchestral one. We wouldn't know the difference without categories.

The categories or grammar I will eventually be discussing more thoroughly are:

• Nouns
• Verbs
• Adjective
• Adverbs
• Pronouns
• Prepositions
• Conjunctions
• Articles

Keep an eye out for these subjects to hopefully help improve your writing. I'm hoping to increase my understanding as well by studying and teaching these topics. Besides, there is always plenty of room for improvement, and I really want to improve. It's something which needs to happen every time you write, I can attest to the fact you do become smarter as you get older. "One year older and wiser too,"