Tag: #Language

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Forever Learning #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

What subject would you like to learn more about?

Every day is an opportunity to learn something new.

Here in Pennsylvania, PA, as well as many other states, college tuition is free for senior citizens. (They still have to pay for books and other fees.) After retirement, I looked forward to the opportunity to take classes in my abundance of free time. Well, neither has happened. The free time or the classes.

That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped learning. Buying an old house comes with lots of unexpected minor challenges. I know more about sump pumps than I ever imagined or wanted. I also am learning new things about growing flowers and keeping them away from the local wildlife, especially deer. (Although I didn’t know that rabbits and squirrels would eat electrical wires. That was an interesting lesson.)

What would I choose to learn?

Bird watching in the spring of the year is fun. Lots of migratory birds travel through here. I have several books about identifying birds, but often can’t also get a picture of them good enough to use. I need a better camera on my phone—shoot, I need a new phone—or a few lessons on photography.

I’m always trying to learn new things about writing to improve my stories. It’s probably a bad thing, but I’ve stopped chasing down every seminar that promises to make publicity a breeze. I swear, selling your book is all luck. (Speaking of which, Edwards Investigations – The Rimer File releases Nov. 2nd!)

I keep learning new things about the community I moved to after retirement and the folks who live here. I figure if I plan to live the rest of my life here, I should put some effort into being a part of it.

All those are just part of my daily life. One thing I’d like to dive into more is linguistics. I’d love to know more about language and how it develops. I’ve seen enough changes in my own life, but I’m curious about the history of words. (When did you first hear the term AI?)

What do our other authors want to learn? Check out their posts to find out my following the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe

Oct 28, 2024

What subject would you like to learn more about?

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Rebel With A Cause #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

March 11, 2024

What rules of writing do you break on purpose?

You can guess the easy ones.

Ending a sentence with a preposition is out!

Never start a sentence with an ‘ing’ word.

Never use too many exclamation points!!!

Never start three or more sentences in a row with the same word.

I am careful about several of these. The ‘too many exclamation points’ is a personal grievance. I limit myself to using them in dialogue, and even then I use as few as possible. I stop and consider each one I type. When I read others’ writing, their heavy use decreases my reading enjoyment.

But there are times when a writer breaks the rules to make a point and speak in their own ‘voice.’. For example, my use of “Never” at the beginning of this piece. The built-in WordPress tools kindly reminded me I shouldn’t start three sentences in a row with the same word. I don’t know how to tell the tool-“Yes, I know. Now go away.”

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

The most frequent place I flaunt the rules is in dialogue. When writing my characters. I strive to make them sound like people in real life. The people I run into in the store or at an event. Or the ones I overheard in a restaurant. (Yes, using sentence fragments is breaking the rules.) Even then, I have to be careful. I don’t want my librarian with several college degrees to sound like she never made it past kindergarten. Real people don’t always talk the way the rules dictate, much to the dismay of teachers everywhere.

Which rules do I break on purpose?

Any of them. It depends if straying from the mandate suits the story, the character, and the plot. We also need to consider that the rules of grammar change as language changes. It’s no longer the rules to have two spaces between sentences, at least according to U.S. grammar. And think about all the words that have been introduced in languages based on new technology, let alone the rules that are being formulated to deal with texting and other forms of on-lime communication. I’m old enough to have witnessed the shift in language—social media didn’t exist when I was a young ‘un.

What rules do the other writers this hop break? Find out by following the links below.

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

March 11, 2024

What rules of writing do you break on purpose?

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Speaking in Tongues — Well, Accents, Anyway #Openbook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

March 7, 2022

Can you speak in an accent that isn’t your own? Can any of your characters do this? How do you indicate that in your stories?

I studied French in high school, and Russian in college. (We won’t talk about my short-lived fantasy about working for the CIA.) I got passing grades in both, but wasn’t good at either. (No CIA for me!)

I know what my problem was. I don’t ‘hear’ accents. Well, I hear them, but my brain automatically translates them to the way they sound to me. When I worked as a waitress, I ‘heard past’ the accents of tourists, even those who didn’t speak English as their primary language, and understood what they were saying.  If someone asked me to mimic the accents of my customers, I couldn’t have done it. The translation only works one way.

Now, Harmony Duprie, on the other hand, speaks fluent Southern Belle. (She also knows Latin, but doesn’t use it in conversation.) She picked it up from some of her college friends, and puts it to good use, pretending to be sweet and innocent when she is anything but.

Here are two examples, taken from The Baron’s Cufflinks.

I made a big show out of looking towards Jake. “You mean like a race car driver?” I added a touch of Southern Belle to my act. All I needed was a fan to wave in flutter in front of my face, but I settled for fluttering my eyelashes. “Oh, no, my brother would never forgive me if I let someone else drive his baby. Even someone as good-looking as your friend.”

*****

That was ironic, coming from the man who was playing with Jake’s life. The Southern Belle took over. “Why, whatever are you talking about, Agent?” I asked with as much innocence as I could muster.

*****

Harmony also has to deal with an old French document and its translation in this story, but despite her name, she doesn’t know French. That’s part of the fun.

I don’t do anything special to indicate the use of another language or accent. I just put it out there!

How about our other authors? What do they do about other languages? Just follow the links below to find out.

As always, until  next time, please stay safe.

March 7, 2022

Can you speak in an accent that isn’t your own? Can any of your characters do this? How do you indicate that in your stories?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter