Topics

16

You Asked Me This Question / Ideal book for a 7-year-old?

« on: April 08, 2018, 05:22:33 PM »

I have a 7-year-old nephew who's fond of books. Lately, though, my cousin told me that he has ceased reading and turned into writing. Is there a book you could recommend that emphasizes the importance of reading to would-be writers especially if they're just 7-year-old kids?

17

Badly Written, Badly Spoken / The Need for a Comma

« on: February 24, 2018, 04:44:08 PM »

He theorizes that across the centuries chiles have functioned as a highly effective social pacifier because the boring diet of Mexico's poor, which otherwise might make them revolt in fury, becomes interesting and appealing thanks to the baroque variety of chiles.

In the sentence above, Sir, shouldn't there be a comma after "He theorizes that across the centuries"?

18

Your Thoughts Exactly / Ear for Writing in English

« on: June 16, 2017, 12:12:24 PM »

Ears function when sound waves reach the eardrum, move and pass to the cochlea, and generate nerve impulse sent along the auditory nerve to the brain. If one’s ear or pair of ears isn’t working, she wouldn’t be able to tell her brain to concentrate on a particular sound.

A variety of conditions may also affect hearing: ear infections, which are the most common illness in infants and young children; tinnitus, which can be the result of loud noises; Meniere’s Disease, which may be the result of fluid problems in the inner ear; and ear barotrauma, which is caused by the changes in barometric (air) or water pressure.

How then could she still become the writer she has to be after a brain operation? The surgery, which was brought about by arteriovenous malformation (AVM), had happened 19 years ago but it affected her hearing in her right ear completely. How could she have the “ear for style” that reading specialist Joseph Pendleton of the Victor Valley College has described in the article "An Ear for Grammar and an Ear for Style"?

Writers only need to earn a high school degree, decide on a professional path, attend a traditional training program, complete an internship, and land a job to be one. They must have a Bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in writing or creative writing if they want to pen books, study literature, and pursue a graduate degree.

If they just want to learn the foundations of writing, though, they must have a Certificate. If they just want to write about marketing and online media, they must have an Associate degree in English.

They must have a Master’s degree, however, to be able to own a consulting firm and provide editing and copywriting services. They must also have a PhD to become academic researchers, technical writers, and teacher in universities and colleges.

In his article "What Does It Take To Be a Writer?” Mark O’Bannon opines, though, that writers are only required to have three things: passion, practice, and study. He also likened writers—authors, in particular—to athletes, engineers, musicians, and artists. “All these things require dedication and daily practice. Yes, some are born with great talent, but most people with talent rarely go anywhere without an equal measure of passion,” he had argued.

“Ear” for writing in English is necessary. Only through tapping into the logic of rhythm and structure can communication skills be improved. Writers must just think of commas as pauses in speech, use semi-colons to give readers a mental break, keep past-within-the-past scenarios loose but contained, listen for dashes, and test “me” versus “I” by eliminating the other person.

19

Badly Written, Badly Spoken / Not-for-profit or non-profit?

« on: March 08, 2017, 12:11:12 PM »

Today's the first time I've read about an organization described as not-for-profit. Is that more appropriate than nonprofit?

20

Badly Written, Badly Spoken / The present participle instead?

« on: March 01, 2017, 07:29:33 PM »

Should the present participle of "need" be used in the following lyrics of a song instead?

So, baby, let's just turn down the lights
and close the door
Ooh, I love that dress,
but you won't need it anymore

I really just have this nagging feeling that the line "Ooh, I love that dress, but you won't need it anymore" should have been "Ooh, I love that dress, but you won't be needing it anymore." But the song would lose its rhyme if the correction is really necessary! Should I have meddled with a song's lyrics in the first place?

21

Badly Written, Badly Spoken / "Can follow what you tell ME!"

« on: August 29, 2016, 11:16:22 AM »

Was it correct that "me" was used instead of "him" or "her" in the 9th answer in the commercial below?

https://youtu.be/7G6-N5cqBdM

According to the commercial, one sign that a kid can start going to school is if he or she can already follow commands. This particular qualification was specified in No. 9 as "can follow what you tell me." But the subject referred to is "kid," right? Does that mean grammatical mistakes can be forgiven from time to in the advertising world?

22

Badly Written, Badly Spoken / "Entrance" or "Entry"?

« on: March 24, 2016, 01:26:32 PM »

There's a newly built shopping facility in our area and one of its differences from the other destinations of its kind is the sign on its doors: "ENTRY," to mark the passageway people can get into the mall; and "EXIT," to mark the passageway people can get out. But is "ENTRY" more apropriate than "ENTRANCE" in this case, Sir?

23

Badly Written, Badly Spoken / "This is a paid advertisement"

« on: February 15, 2016, 08:31:43 PM »

Is the sentence "This is paid for _ " more appropriate than "This is a paid advertisement"?

I had overheard a radio station announced "This is a paid ad" after airing the political campaign of a certain politician.

24

Badly Written, Badly Spoken / Understanding tenses

« on: November 30, 2015, 03:08:21 PM »

Sir, why is there no had before the verb developed?

"The communist legacy of isolation and the consequent stereotypes that developed also exerted a huge influence on the self-perception of people with disabilities." ~ Humanity in Action

25

Use and Misuse / People or persons?

« on: November 23, 2015, 02:59:29 PM »

Ever since I've learned your thoughts on how Filipinos with disabilities should be called, I have always tried to label them as "persons with disabilities." Sometimes, though, without meaning to, I would still use "people with disabilities" in referring to the same sector. Could persons and people be interchanged in that case, Sir?

26

Badly Written, Badly Spoken / Subject-verb Agreement

« on: November 12, 2015, 11:19:26 PM »

Was it right? L'usine Squares are?

27

Use and Misuse / Is “Hi!” Proper To Begin A Job Application Letter?

« on: October 22, 2015, 07:48:26 PM »

I don't have my copy of English Plain and Simple with me now (it's in the Philippines) but I could remember that you have suggested then to use "Hi!" when opening a cover letter.

Hopefully, my memory still serves me right. It was, after all, how I've written my cover letter when I had applied for a job here nine years ago. But why is it that some people aren't still comfortable with it? It's as if I've done something wrong whenever that's what I would do in their cover letters!

28

Use and Misuse / 'Even if' or 'even though'?

« on: October 06, 2015, 01:25:57 PM »

Sir, could you remind me of the difference of "even if" from "even though" again, please?

Thank you.

29

Use and Misuse / Modifiers

« on: August 23, 2015, 02:29:37 PM »

Am I right that this sentence is poorly constructed?

Judging from how persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Moldova can still study, defend themselves, and live independently, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) reported that the said country ’has made significant strides to further advancing the rights of children and adults with disabilities in the country’.

If so, would this rewrite make it right?

Judging from how persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Moldova can still study, defend themselves, and live independently, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was able to report on how the said country ’has made significant strides to further advancing the rights of children and adults with disabilities in the country’.

30

Badly Written, Badly Spoken / Apostrophes and acronyms

« on: August 05, 2015, 02:47:56 PM »

Sir, can the 's--I'm not sure how should it be called--be written like in the paragraph below?

"The hippopotamus is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s red list of threatened species as 'vulnerable, due to the significant decline in their population in the past three decades'.

Or should it have just been reconstructed like what I did below?

"Being 'vulnerable, due to the significant decline in their population in the past three decades', the hippopotamus is listed on the red list of threatened species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)."