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What is the true difference between speciality and specialty? Is it because the former is British English and the latter is American English? I decided to trawl the internet and a few books in the library today to find out some more, but the answer is not that straighforward. First I’ll start with some definitions. Definition (as … Continue reading
According to Wikipedia, per se is a Latin phrase meaning ‘in itself’, although the individual Latin words can be defined as: per = by or through se = itself, himself, herself or themselves The Merriam Webster dictionary explains that per se can be used as an adverb or an adjective as follows: Definition of per se as an adverb (source: … Continue reading
Merriam Webster defines the noun frisson as a “brief moment of emotional excitement”. The Collins English Dictionary has a similar meaning of “shiver of fear or excitement” . The appropriate synonyms are shudder and thrill which is also the translation of frisson in French (according to About.com). Did you know that the first known use of this word … Continue reading
Your writing style is unique to you – if people choose to read what you write, it will be because they like your style and the personality that shines through. William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well, says that “all writing is a journey; you the writer are asking someone to go on a trip with you”. This could apply … Continue reading
On my way home from work I flicked through The Little Red Writing Book by Brandon Royal in order to get some inspiration for today’s blog. In the introduction he explains that “writing had four pillars – structure, style, readability and grammar” and compares each pillar to a single chair leg. My interpretation of this is the … Continue reading
Yesterday I blogged about similes and today I am going to explain how they differ from metaphors. Graham King in his book Collins Improve your Writing Skills, explains that metaphors are “describing something by using an analogy with something quite different”. In the example it’s raining cats and dogs, we don’t actually think that there are cats and dogs falling … Continue reading
According to Graham King in his book Collins Improve your Writing Skills, a simile “makes a direct comparison between two dissimilar things”, for example, as fit as a fiddle or as drunk as a skunk and similes are usually joined by the introductory words ‘as’, ‘like’, ‘as if’ or ‘as though’. Bernard C Lamb in his book The Queen’s English calls them … Continue reading
To mark the milestone of my 200th blog on my daily My Writing Challenge I thought I’d show you something a little different. Did you know that The Free Dictionary (by Farlex) is more than just a dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia? The link above will take you to their home page which has a whole range of information and … Continue reading
A work colleague emailed me today with this scenario: ‘In doing so’ versus ‘In so doing’ – which is better or grammatically correct? Or is it the use of old fashioned language to use the latter? Before researching, my immediate thought was that ‘in doing so’ sounds better, but after a quick glance at some forums both … Continue reading
How do you decide what your writing or blogging niches are? I’ve recently been thinking a lot about this question. Obviously writing is one of my niches (hence this blog), and I also have a list of niches on my main website http://www.sandramadeira.com/ which includes topics such as parenting, meditation and herbal teas (quite a mixed bag). These are … Continue reading
My Writing Notebook 