July Theme: Descriptive Writing
So, its July. And this months theme is descriptive writing: when to use adjectives and adverbs. You may have thought that this theme has been tackled already. And you are right . . . sort of. I mentioned this many times in previous tips, but when I asked for a list of tips last year . . . this one popped up again. I suppose theres no harm in tackling again. So on we go.
Week 1: English Lesson: Adjectives and Adverbs
Week 2: When Not to Use Adjectives and Adverbs
Week 3: When to Use Adjectives and Adverbs
English Lesson: Adjectives and Adverbs
I understand that there may be non-American English speaking people reading this. However, I am not one of them. American English is my only language (though, I am somewhat fluent in British English--and at times, there is a major difference between the two
Now, that thats out of the way, here is a grammar lesson. I went to a school that taught us grammarhammered it into our headsevery year until about 11th grade. I will ever be grateful for the result.
There are eight parts of speech in the American English language: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, interjections, prepositions, and conjunctions. Of those eight, we will be dealing with two: the adjective and the adverb.
Adjectives are words that describe other nouns and pronouns. These include words such as pretty, happy, gorgeous, beautiful, amazing, lonely. Examples in sentences:
She is beautiful. (Beautiful describes the pronoun, she ).
What a gorgeous sunset! (gorgeous describes the noun, sunset ).
He is such a tired, old man! (tired and old are describing he and man (he and man are the same person) ).
Adverbs are words that describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. These include words such as very, only, beautifully, wonderfully, happily, such, and logically. Notice the amount of words that end in ly. Most adverbs will end in ly, but not all. You will also notice that an adjective can be turned into an adverb by the addition of ly.
Examples in sentences:
That is a very nice story. (the adverb, very, is describing the adjective, nice ).
He behaved stupidly. (stupidly describing a verb, behaved )
She dressed most accordingly. (most, an adverb, describing accordingly, another adverb which is describing dressed, a verb)
Hes a pretty lonely guy. (Ah, hah! Pretty, usually an adjective, is being used as an adverb here and is describing the adjective, lonely. The sentence is not saying that the guy is pretty.)
Adjectives and adverbs are used often in the English language to describe. It helps the speaker describe what he is speaking about to the listener. It helps him paint a picture. Notice I said the speaker! The writer needs to tackle adjectives very differently.
But well start to discuss that next week.
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I have kept them for me to read later for the longest time.
And now I'm trying to write a novel(Just to get some experience writing in the long term) and they're really useful to refer to.
Perhaps I'll send in some chapters as I write it and get critique...
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Please critique my work. If you do you can have a piece
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To become a skillful writer is our goal!
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To become a skillful writer is our goal!
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Hear lit tweet here
Yet i'd like to add what nothing helps more with the process of thinking over gazillions of details like a good brainstorming conversation about them. It's hard to find people for that though since they should meet certain criteria, but it helps a TON.
My "worldbuilding buddy" helps me out by asking all the random questions that pops into her head . . . and some not so random ones. We quiz each other on things like, if your character was a fruit, what would he be and why? SO much fun.
Now I'm the one getting carried away . . .
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To become a skillful writer is our goal!
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"My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment to find the end of the journey, in my own salvation and your eternal slumber."
~Genesis Rhapsodos
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To become a skillful writer is our goal!
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