You - The Carpenters

Word Choice in Writing

(Thought - Random)

   
          'One pearl is better than a whole necklace of potatoes!'  very much applies to writing!  This is from author, Constance Hale, as she goes on to state that strengthening out grammar and syntax is not the be all and end all of writing but the need  of a command of language as you need a commanding idea.   Your basic ability as a writer to discriminate between pearls and potatoes - because choosing the words fit to be strung in sentences should lead to well-crafted writing.

        So  let me here pick up some of Ms Hale's  suggestions on word choice that could lead to writing that can 'plunge deep and pulsate with life'.  For instance,  try not for big shot words but for big ideas... use short common words that name big things like hope and pride and commitment.  Don't use nine words where three is sufficient.  Just remember, however, that to eliminate expressive words that intensify or vivify meaning in writing is not simplicity.

        In choosing nouns, choose those that are rich in connotations of emotion or sensation.  When you have the word house in your mind, wouldn't you rather take cottage, or duplex, shack, or bungalow or even  A-frame?  Pick bungalow, however, if you want to capture coziness and a homey atmosphere.  If you think  terms like abode, dwelling and residence are colorless and opt for Victorian, hacienda or manor,  you're okay, I guess... just remember that plain nouns can also be strong.

        The use of the active voice in verbs makes for a strong, direct and mascular effect: - the sky hangs languidly, the mountains glower darkly, the fireflies glimmer playfully.  But instead of using walks, why not  paces, skips, skedaddles!  Instead of says, why not wails, whispers, insists! For stronger impact, opt for the substitutions:  he has a plan to - he plans to;  team had 10 loses - team lost 10 games;  she left the company - she quit;  make contact with - call, fax, email;  exhibit a tendency to - tend to;  cause an investigation - find out;  is not in a position to - cannot!

       So the nouns, you will remember from grammar school, are the substantives while the verbs are basically the action carriers.  The following modifiers would now be the adjectives (noun modifiers) and the adverbs (verb and adjective modifiers).  They function as meaning enhancers:  beautiful girl, interesting comment,  incredible discovery.....rapidly responded,  frighteningly beautiful,  super fast!  To reverse the adjective-noun pattern though is poetic license as in:  light fantastic, bliss eternal, hot cup of coffee.  But watch out for doublers or redundancies like: free gift (gifts wouldn't be gifts if paid for), afternoon matinee, true facts, vast majority, serious danger, grave emergency.  Or coining opposite adjective-noun confusers like:  new tradition, original copy, partial cease fire, or limited lifetime guarantee.  As for adverbs,  clip those hedges, you don't need the adverbs here:   screeched loudly, rudely insulted, gently caressing, meld together.   And instead of saying, quite happy,  go for thrilled; instead of wiped out, or very tired, say lethargic; instead of truly moved, say touched.

        If nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are known as content words, prepositions and conjunctions would be two of what are termed function words.   Prepositions are there for spatial relationships and parallel structuring but rid your writing of them whenever you can and lodge your ideas directly in nouns and verbs. Avoid as of now, at present, at this point in time.  Use if rather than in the event that.  Use many rather than a great number of.   Use about rather than with reference.   Use for rather than in the interest of.  Prepositions aren't verbs so say he dances hula rather than he's into hula.  Conjunctions, on the other hand, are connectors - they help to smooth prose.  Just remember that like is followed by a noun:  looks like Matt Damon...and that as introduces a clause:  do as I say.   You say you can learn this as I have rather than like I have.  An overabundance of ands is to be avoided....although a conjunction can start a sentence as in And God said:....!

        Thus your basic ability as a writer to discriminate between pearls and potatoes....and to choose the words fit to be strung in sentences should lead to well-crafted writing.  As C. Hale expressly states:  One pearl is better than a string of potatoes!
         
                                                         ------------------------------------





                

       



     

1234 - Plain White T's

Persona and Tone in Writing

(Thought-Random)

   
         When you read words written on the sand, you normally would want to know who wrote them, wouldn't you?   You'll have to agree with me that it's kind of a natural human response to language to seek out the source... the someone who created it.  And one reason could be is that the feeling of someone talking to you brings a great satisfaction out of reading.  You get to think and feel like the one who is communicating to you  and you tend to see things from his perspective.  And this sense of being one with the writer somehow makes you want to read further what he has written. 

        To take the other side of the coin now, let me invite you to consider the task of the writer in choosing how best to engage his audience in terms of point of view.  Writers normally adopt a  Persona, - a self for the purpose of addressing particular people in particular situations.  And this speaker or character would take one of three points of view: - the First Person 'I' ,  the Second Person 'You', and  the Third Person 'He, She, They'. 

          The narrator or persona is not necessarily identified with author or speaker, nor is the listener necessarily the reader of the piece of writing.   But the 'I' speaker either plays a role in the events narrated or speaks directly to his audience and commands some credibility.   When the writer addresses his audience as 'You',  it is an invitation to a relationship with him, at least for the duration of the essay.  And the Third Person point of view would refer to what are known in the trade as omniscient narrators who know everything that  happens and know what all the characters are thinking and feeling.  Now if you might just ask me, - my personal favorite in trying to engage my reader is the use of the 'You' persona.  And why?  Because I, myself, am automatically magnetized to a written work that invites me to share the author's thoughts and sensibilities. I find it effectively grabs my attention... I find it  enthralling to be allowed to look into another person's mind.

        Aside from Point of View,  one other significant aspect in writing  would be Voice - also sometimes called, Tone, or Style, or Diction.  Human attitudes towards people, subject matter, or even to one's own self are conveyed with Tone.  Among these attitudes could be included the following: -  sincere, enthusiastic, angry, amused, ironic, pleading... and the list could go on.  What is of interest here, however,  is the fact that the ordinary meaning of words does not always indicate speakers' attitudes because a speaker, or a writer for that matter, may say one thing but mean another.  Or meanings may be inferred either from context or  from relationships of power and solidarity.  Simple statements like 'Shut the door!' or 'It's raining!', for instance, may be given diverse meanings depending on the situations they were said, and who said which and to whom it was said.   Would you care to play around with interpretations to those two utterances?

        Both persona and tone are critical in writing.  From your readings, you certainly come upon diverse versions of writings that convey same or similar contents;  but certainly, as well, you get to recognize differences that make you decide which would be more interesting.  In terms of persona, this, of course, rests on what particular subject matter it is or to  what particular audience the text was meant for.  But with these and  your considering the use of tone, you surely will find that one is more arresting and compelling - which, in turn, could just give you a head start in being that engaging writer!

                                          ------------------------------------------------

I Love You - Cliff Richard

A Starbucks Moment......

(Thought-Random)

   
          My eyes travel from the green of the lawn to the green of the trees and to the greenish grey of the fog that hovers over these trees.  Can't find the blue of the sky... can't find it.... and I kinda want to see it!!!  Other things forced on my eyes at the moment though is this  ocean of cars at the parking lot.... the other side of this expanse of a window view from where I relish my vanilla latte.

        Did I say I was relishing my coffee?  Actually am trying hard to, - over the din that permeates this coffee shop. People for coffee, just like me....people meeting up with associates....people discovering acquaintances.  People streaming in and out of the doors....  people taking their place in those long lines....people- !

       Making up the things in my mind that I have to do quite competes with that line of people.  Not easy to decide which to pick up first.... but what is real for now is that am trying to drown that blanket of noise with Richard Clayderman's Je t'aime..... on my earphones.  At the same time,  am still trying to make out some kind of blue over that fog hovering over the trees.  Been raining on and off this whole week.... and while I love rain in whatever form it comes-  gently allowing itself to be blown with some wind.... racing down in slants to meet the ground.... coming tentatively in drips and drops as if deciding whether or not to come over to dear earth.... - I do not quite agree with the color discomfort  I am having at the moment that I think it is causing.

       But one thought overrides whatever sights and sounds and mind situations present themselves to me just about now.  Anika will be out of her pre-school class in a moment.  Then I will have that kiss and that hug that will force the sunlight out into these grey skies.....that will turn that meaningless noise into a total Clayderman music.....that will repaint this kaleidoscope of people pandemonium into just a framed masterpiece of a single baby angel by the name of Anika!

                                            --------------------------------------

Clavis55

Some Pre-writing Thoughts

(Thought-Random)

   
          Notice that when you come across a written piece, - a story, an essay, a letter, or perhaps even a poem, -  your reaction could be "I like it!" or "I don't like it"!   You respond one way or another. You might even say, "I didn't get it!"... or perhaps say, "I want to read that again"!  A lot to say about these responses but let me streamline my thoughts for now and share with you a couple; one being that responding  to what you read is somehow a movement  towards appreciating not only writing you like,  but also writing you might not like.    After all, to be a competent writer, you first have to be an attentive reader.

        Thus when you are an engaged reader,  you get to have an insight into the elements of  successful writing.... you get to recognize the writer's skill,  the effort he made....  you get to admire the emotions he or she is able to make you feel.  And from a sea of written language where in you swim,  you usually respond in writing to what you read.   Usually.   Because sometimes,  you just write whenever you feel like.... and then wait for others to respond to it.   If at all!

        Now from your readings, you normally catch  a purpose, wouldn't you?    You would identify three broad categories of writing as classified and explained as such by academicians like Judith Ferster,  namely:  the expository, which is informative;  the argumentative, which attempts to persuade you to think or do something;  and the expressive,  which conveys thoughts and feelings.  If you were to think of the audience to which written texts are addressed, however, you'd distinguish between two kinds:  civic writing, which speaks to communities of any membership and academic writing,  which speaks to students or experts on subjects of study in academic disciplines.

        This invites your attention now to what they call the communications triangle in which the corners representing the message,  its sender, and its receiver,   all center on a common subject matter. What's interesting here is the fact  that these above points are interdependent.  If,  for instance, you'd like to describe your instructor to your best friend; imagine how you'd describe the same instructor on a formal report or evaluation to be submitted to his dean.  Or,  on another situation,  take for granted you were to write two versions of a letter to support a friend applying for job.  One of these would be sent to the prospective employer asking you for the friend's strengths and weaknesses while the other would be for the friend himself to read.  In both cases, the differences between the two sets of writing will likely be different in terms of format,  word choices,  and tone, among other things.

        But it is said there is one other kind of writing often called imaginative which doesn't quite fit comfortably into any of the above-mentioned categories.  Sometimes it is informative, sometimes argumentative and sometimes expressive... sometimes it is addressed to the world, sometimes it is meant only for a particular group or even just for the writer himself - like you or I might be. I'm sure examples of what we are calling imaginative literature or writing fill your mind right now.  But one significant thing is that published or not,  this type of writing - the imaginative kind of writing - can violate the normal rules of genre and still find its place among creative arts.  It is interesting to note that it isn't governed by the formal rules that do letters to the editor, for example, or to laboratory or business reports.  And imaginative writing offers versions of reality with insights into human life.

        So active reading would help you determine not only what a work says but also how it says it.  It helps you shape your responses to what you read....makes you delve deeper than surface meanings,  for one.   But these thoughts, of course,  just begin to scratch the surface of the process of writing.  For now,  it is just to understand and to be aware of the expansive nature of a reading background necessary for you to be a competent writer.  Perhaps not just a breeze but doable when you set your heart to it.  And therefore,  to understand why you 'd respond to a written text with "I like it!" or "I don't like it"; with "I didn't get it!" or "I want to read that again!" -should  help you become an effective and persuasive writer.
              
                                  ----------------------------------------------------------------

How to Write About Anything: Excerpts

(Thought-Random)

  

        Great writers are always great readers.  Learning how to be an active, engaged reader helps you to become an effective and persuasive writer.   On reading a piece of terrible, even ridiculous writing,  you would most naturally recognize it to be such.  You'd usually even be hard pressed to explain why the writing is bad and what could be done to make it better. So when you can recognize and understand what makes writing good or bad, then you can use that knowledge to produce strong and effective writing of your own.

        Successful writing depends on insightful reading, careful research, and rigorous analytical reading.  Successful writing requires you to develop active-analytical strategies (as opposed to passive-receptive reading).  By reading novels and short stories,  you get to learn how passive reading turns you to a simple receiver of whatever text has to offer ( empirical information, emotional pleasure) while active insightful reading empowers you to more effectively evaluate and interpret the meaning of what you read making you a better writer in the process.

        Examining the characteristics of powerful, persuasive prose gets you to learning how to adapt and incorporate those strategies into your own writing.  The essay is perhaps the richest and most varied genre for studying the characteristics of a good argument.

       Writing, when it is well done, is never just words on a page - good writing invites interaction.  The reader engages with the words, interacts with the language and the ideas of the author.

       An increased ability to recognize good writing, thus,  is an increased ability to produce powerful writing yourself.



From Professor Dorsey Armstrong

The Mother

(Thought-Random)

     

         My mother is a poem

         I'll never be able to write 

        though everything I write

         is a poem to my mother....


........poetic lines from Sharon  Doubiago but which I could pick up as my own in its total  metaphoric essence.   To define a mother is, in fact, a challenge because of the diverse roles she plays. She has been identified as a beacon that lights up the future but at the same time reflected on the past in the guise of fond memories.  Whether biological or surrogate,  the mother had always been home..... or the bank where hurts and worries were deposited.  This latter concept might even be a mirror-reflection of a child happily caught 'between a scream and a hug'!  But on a more sentimental strain,  "the best conversations with mothers always take place in silence,  -when only it is the heart that speaks".  Beautiful!

        So the mother has always been idolized, deified, set on a pedestal of nothing but the labels of perfection. Talk about beauty, of patience, kindness, affection,  understanding..... add to these selflessness and sacrifice - you name it!   To none of these do I disagree, of course.  I totally subscribe to the idea that a mother is all of the above - and more!  Of the good things!  It's just that I know of one mother who doesn't really reach up to all of these above.

        This one mother, if I may talk about her, was one who lost hers long, long before she even became one...before she became a mother herself.  Which is why, perhaps, maternal instincts on the caring side of it were ingrained in her at a tender age.  And very strongly at that.  Three younger brothers had to look up to her for the mother anchorage.  Half siblings also came to the picture later but cousins too became part of her world to care for.  And family was just so close.

        In time came career and other career- related endeavors for this mother.  As it turned out, her maternal instincts apparently could not be contained in her any longer as evidenced by a seemingly magnetic rapport that effortlessly radiated and extended also to both her students and her younger colleagues.    So much so that when with her own children next, she tried to pour on them all - and if there could even be such a thing as more than all,  she would have lavished on them this -more than all-  that she could of her motherly love......as if to compensate... or maybe to  fiercely counter the fact that she herself had been denied such motherly concerns she  goes on  missing... even as she hears about all these from others.   I think.

        Well, I just think so, really.  But talk about the aspects lovingly given to mothers such as beauty and patience, affection and understanding - I give her minus points on these.  This mother is so imperfect along these lines, you know!  There are times when she is erratic - when she miscalculates, perhaps so much as to  end up leaving such a thin line between sympathizing and empathizing!  Oh yes, she scolds too, imagine that.  An imperfect being demanding perfection?  And what were those  other aspects again....selflessness, sacrifice?  But she is such an ambitious person, this mother.    A  lot of times will she assert her goals and consider these as other methods of a mother imparting education!  Now that, I am not so sure about.

        But let me tell you one thing I know for sure.  The existence of this mother feeds on the subliminal  fire of her motherhood.  One evident reason for this was one other  pain that rammed her heart the day of her first childbirth  - a desolate feeling...a confirmation... that her fond wish for her own mother to be somewhere nearby  at that special moment was at best inconceivable!  This experience,  however,  has taught her to transition that frustration  to be her strength in life as a mother....a mother imperfect, and a far cry,  perhaps,  from  the perfection that was her mother.  Flawed...fallacious....and imperfect, yes!  Still, I would say,  this mother is a mother! Hope you would , too? :)
                                                   -----------------------------

Ella Anika - 2

 (Thought-Random)

       Anika has become my morning and afternoon, - my day and night, - my thoughts, my emotions, - my

yes's, my no's!  Not that I'm complaining, dear one!  On the contrary, I thank heaven for Anika!  She puts

that smile on my face... she  fills the void in this my life's vacuum....she blocks decisions that threaten to cut my

air... she incredibly points to answers to my questions - at least, those that seem elusive of yes, -answers!

And most fascinating is that she supplies from out of the blue  the music that bespeaks exactly of my mornings

and my afternoons,  my days and nights, - my thoughts, my emotions, my yes's, my no's!

        A lot of details there are for all that,  of course,  but let me shelf them  in the  recesses of my mind   for

the meantime,  and invite you to join me in relishing the music interpretations of a favorite - clavis55, - and

that would be of Anika and me - after the kiss she gives getting out of bed and the one getting into bed.

                                         ------------------------------

.....after anika's good morning kiss

.....after anika's good night kiss

Listening - A Simple Anatomy

(Thought-Random)




       I just love listening to this music!  Should you  ask me why..... reasons I might give would be some one hundred and one:  - sentimental,  academic,  familial,  spiritual...?  Could be one of those, actually... and/or a lot more!  One thing that is impressed in my mind at the moment, though,  is that listening,  like speaking, is one communicative skill we take for granted because, perhaps, they just come naturally!  Actually, listening, -just like speaking, or reading or writing, requires much skill and training.

       For some understanding of listening, and picking up some points from Hamilton and Creel,  let me start with the fact that listening is an active process.  This immediately points out to the distinction between hearing and listening because hearing is the passive process.  Hearing will happen anytime you are within an area of sound waves.  You don't exert effort to hear but listening requires you to 'do something' about those sound waves.  Listening requires effort.  Thus, you hear church bells ring but you listen for the ring of your phone - especially when it is a call  from your loved one you're waiting for.

        With listening, you would normally need a verbal message.   But there is more to just paying attention to the words spoken because a good listener will also have to consider the visual and vocal aspects that go with the message.  When breathlessly reaching the coffee shop where your loved one is waiting and she says, "You're late!",  do you recognize a hint of disapproval in her voice... or a flash of irritation in her eyes?  Or is it a casual remark at the speed of time that reaches you - coupled with a touch of tenderness in her eyes...a worry  that you might have had met an untoward event that caused your being late?

        It is said that an understanding of listening goes along with an awareness of some aspects - like selecting what you want to listen to, for one.  You tune out other things like conversations close by or  the television set in the next room to zero down on what you intend to listen to - like advice a family member is giving you. Then you try to understand the message- catch a meaning, - following it with whether you are or not in agreement with what you are listening to.  And finally comes putting the content into memory,  into remembering  - long or short term.

        But some other aspects may yet  stand as barriers to listening    Distractions such as external noise could be conversation or the sounds from television as earlier mentioned.   Ever heard of internal noise?  This may be  manifested, for instance, by physiological or psychological constraints like you feeling sick or tired.... or being angry or worried . Sometimes, you allow yourself  to put significance to appearances, to physical surroundings, to cultural facets - rather than the message. You could also either be not listening enough with lack of attention or with indifference,  or you could be listening too hard that you end up remembering nothing at all.

        Of course listening is there for a purpose.  You need to listen well to enhance your career goals, to help develop and maintain your mental health as well as your relationships with others. And on the basis of these and surely of others, listening has been categorized in diverse ways by various authors.  To mention four of them, let me identify the following:  comprehensive listening - to understand the message of a speaker; critical listening - to evaluate a message for purposes of accepting it or rejecting it ; emphatic listening - to provide emotional support to someone; and appreciative listening - for stimulation, pleasure, and enjoyment.

        And this brings me full circle.   Remember I mentioned that I simply love listening to this piano rendition of  The First of May?   Well,  I do love the entire song, in fact - both lyrics and melody.   I started loving it with the classic Bee Gees.  Then there's this sweet interpretation of Emi Fujita which somehow strikes some chords in my being.  Definitely next, with  Sarah Brightman singing it, I just melt with her voice!    But to me, a simple but refreshing piano arrangement like this one by Gauis Yeong has an unexplainable way of touching my sensibilities for stimulation,  for pleasure,  for enjoyment.  Appreciative listening?

                                           -----------------------------------------


 
    



 

First of May