Dead Words

Dead words are simply words which are so overused in the English language, they no longer have much meaning nor do they add any emotion to the work. Some people however are a little strict about their use, and they may mark your grade down for it in school. Check with your teacher on which words you can use because some of the ones on the internet are not really dead words. Sometimes it can be an opinion, like some of the words I saw while trying to find a list.

that
so
a lot
like
got
very

You might even see out there on the internet to never use the word "said". I am a not a strong supporter of using the word "said," but I don't think you should use it every single line. Spice up your writing with emotion words rather than using the constant "said," but don't over do it to where you never see the word "said". Sometimes, you don't even need dialogue tags, especially if it's a conversation or fight between two characters. The reader can keep track of who's saying what.

"That" tends to take away emotion from the subject or object of the sentence. It's easy to replace with who, whom, or which. In turn with each other depending on what the sentence demands.

"So" is commonly a passing of time, and if you're looking for word count, it's much easier to replace with a longer sentence. You can even cut it completely and no harm done.

"A lot" you know, I don't understand why this one is a dead word. I see nothing wrong with it. It simply expresses there is an abundance of something. Maybe they just want you to use fancy language.

"Like" this one gets irritable after a while. It's used for comparisons and saying if you have crushes on people. It's easily over used, I see nothing wrong with it in conversation or dialogue, but it's generally best to avoid.

"Got" I got a frog in my pocket. Replaceable with "have" or "received," same general use as the word "like."

"Very" usually in conjunction with the word "like," meant to rank importance on a certain subject. Use fancier language when not in dialogue.

Tenses

Extremely tense I would believe. ;)

Before we can discuss any more topics we have to discuss the power of the tense you write in. Many writers are known either for their ability to write in the same tense, or for not even knowing whether it is past, present, and future. Though, I must say at this point, I don't understand how someone could manage to write well while writing in future tense. While conversations between characters may have varying tenses inside them, the main writing will not.

Past

When you are writing in the past, it means you are writing something which has already "happened". I put the word "happened" into quotations for reference to different genres*. In Fiction all events are fictitious and have not actually taken place, compared to a Historical fiction/non-fiction where the event will most likely have happened sometime in the past and is merely a report.

Ex:

"At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.

‘Little tyke,’ chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four’s drive." (J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, page 2, 1997)

Notice how action verbs end with an "ed" which is a perfect example of something which has already happen"ed".

Present

Quite a few books are written in present tense, but we tend to not notice as we read for quite sometime it is written as something which is going on as we read. There will be references to the past in the conversations between characters or in memories, but the main text will keep everything without the "ed" suffix. The present tense can be used to talk about things we know to be true or untrue, also ongoing situations or things which are happening right now, or even the laws of science. When speaking of "true" or "untrue" knowledge, there is a simple test. True statements are positive sentences, as where the untrue would be negative sentences. 

Ex:

"'Hey, Catnip,' says Gale. My real name is Katniss, but when I first told him, I had barely whispered it. So he thought I’d said Catnip. Then when this crazy lynx started following me around the woods looking for handouts, it became his official nickname for me. I finally had to kill the lynx because he scared off game. I almost regretted it because he wasn’t bad company. But I got a decent price for his pelt." (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, page 8, 2008)

Make note of how the present tense stays in tact, even while reflecting to the past. While there may be words with the "ed" suffix, the story format is still present tense because Katniss is recalling a memory.

Future

Future tense. It means something which hasn't happened yet, but will. This doesn't mean like the movies "Back to the Future" because is it past January 26th, 2014 and I do not see several of the cool inventions they thought we'd have. Though, I bet we can still look to the future for those toys. We also tend to never realize how often we use the Future tense although it seems like we never use it. Who would want to read a book written like this:

Suzy will walk down the street and enter the book store, she will proceed to buy a book and spend a few hours reading it.

It's not terribly intriguing, nor is it something we find easy to read. It doesn't seem to fit in literature, but all over within book and daily conversations future tense is present. If you've ever made a bet on the outcome of future events, then you've used future tense. If you've won every prediction you've made, I suggest becoming a seer.

Future Tense is used in our daily conversations by our own affirmations as to whether we will do something or not. Even our activities are part of future tense, saying we are going skating or will be spending the night doing homework is future tense.

Next time you talk to someone, pay attention and see how many of the three tenses you use.

*For those who might not know what a genre is: the type or category something is in. e.g.: Pop, Rock, Classical, Rap. e.g.: Fiction, Historical, Fantasy, Non-Fiction.

CALLING ALL TEACHERS

Hey teachers from all over the world,

Do you see the little page right up top which says "PowerPoints"? It is for you! Or anyone who wants to study a little more in depth into a certain aspect of English. I'm hoping you'll be able to improve the literary skills of your students with them, so feel free to look through and see if you can use them in your class rooms. They are built by a teen for other teens. Literary skills are waning all over and this is to help combat it! There is all sorts of topics, more are being uploaded every so often. If you just want a quick overview to introduce your students to English, there is a PowerPoint to show. If you want to do something lesson by lesson, focusing on something different everyday, then there's some for those days as well. Whatever your needs may be, hopefully you can find it all right there. Feel free to check it out at any time.

Sincerely,
A High School Senior

P.S. If you want anything in particular feel free to contact me. I just might be able to whip it up for you.

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. ;)

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,"