As both noun and verb, the word regard has numerous meanings and uses in English. Sometimes it is correctly used in the plural; sometimes not. For example, in the polite formula Give my regards to your family, regard is correctly rendered in the plural. In this context, “regards” means “affectionate or respectful feelings.” In the expressions with regard to, in regard of, and in regard to, however, adding s to regard is nonstandard usage. The following examples from the web illustrate the error:
Many speakers and writers do add the s in these contexts, so if you want to do so, you’ll have plenty of company. However, if you are choosy about the company you keep, you may wish to consider what the respected writing guides have to say about “in regards to.” The Chicago Manual of Style places “in regards to” in its section on “good usage versus common usage”:
The Oxford English Dictionary lists “in regards to,” but labels it “regional and nonstandard.” The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (1993) accepts In and with regard to, regarding, and as regards as “Standard,” but firmly declares that with regards to is “Nonstandard.” Paul Brians at Washington State University has no patience with it either:
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Daily Writing Tips---In Regard to, With Regard to...
Monday, April 25, 2011
Writing Tips
There’s no question: As useful as is, am, are, was, were, be, being, and been, um, are, their very ubiquity can overwhelm prose. The problem? Forms of “to be” tend to make a sentence generic and vague. Their easy utility is a sign that they should not be eliminated, but it’s easy enough to reduce their frequency of appearance, thereby strengthening individual sentences to make for more potent prose. Here are some quick fixes: 1. “The man is standing in the middle of the street.” 2. “The plane was flying just above the treetops.” 3. “This is a difficult problem that is going to require months of research.” 4. “This is an old house that is in danger of collapse during an earthquake.” 5. “Smith’s report is a most valuable contribution to our understanding issue.” Forms of “to be” are also complicit in sentences that start out weakly with the expletives it or there(also known as dummy, or pleonastic, pronouns), such as “It was announced today that tomorrow’s parade is canceled” and “There were several reasons for canceling the parade.” You can easily strengthen such sentences by introducing the actors into the subject: “Parade organizers announced the cancellation of tomorrow’s event,” or “They gave several reasons for canceling the parade.” But sometimes the actors are unknown or irrelevant, so, again, seek not to exterminate such syntax; just make an effort to minimize it. |
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Writing Groups
How to Start a Writing Group - DailyWritingTips |
Posted: 25 Mar 2011 04:19 AM PDT This is the second post on our series about writing groups. The first one is 5 Reasons to Start a Writing Group. You’ve determined to seriously pursue a writing career, but you feel like you need support and feedback. Although you joined a couple of writing groups, you dropped out of each one because the fit just didn’t feel right. What do you do now? Start your own group, of course. 1. ComposeHow many members do you want? What level of experience should they have? Should all members be writing for the same market? It’s best to start small (up to half a dozen people), seek people with similar experience levels (writers with one or more published short stories, for example), and select others writing in the same genre or niche — and working in the same form, whether short stories or novels — as you are. The closer the skills and interests of group members, the more productive it will be. (But be flexible about demographic details such as gender and age.) 2. ProposeDesign a simple but informative flyer. Specify the details about ideal group composition you have decided on, pick a day and time for regular meetings (the most frequently recommended meeting duration is two hours), and provide contact information. Print copies and post them, but be discriminating: Target writer habitats such as bookstores (especially those that sell used books), cafes, and schools, and avoid blanketing general-purpose bulletin boards. 3. ScreenBriefly interview people who contact you. Tell them you’ll check back after you’ve lined up the number of people you want to start with. Take notes and, immediately after the call or email exchange, evaluate them with a simple yes, maybe, or no and perhaps a couple of notes to remind you why you assigned that grade (“sincere — asked about my writing”; “insecure? but good fit,” “arrogant”). If a “no” persists in trying to join, tell them, “I’m looking for people who aren’t yet quite at your level” or “I have the number I want, but I’ll keep you in mind if someone drops out.” 4. FormWhen you have enough “yes” candidates, consider adding a couple of strong “maybe” prospects in case one or two people drop out; if you have more defections later, you can always recruit others or disband and start again. If three of you work well together but don’t feel comfortable continuing with one or more of the others, break up the group and start over with that cooperative core. But take care to avoid acting like a clique, and be diplomatic. 5. LocateChoose a setting and stay with it. If you plan to host at your home, stick to that location rather than rotating among everyone’s domiciles. Better yet, meet at a local library (some have small meeting rooms available for just this type of purpose) or a community center, or a quiet cafe. 6. ScheduleContact and confirm your finalists, and if anyone backs out, keep recruiting from the “maybe” list or from new candidates. Set up the first meeting; if the day and time doesn’t work for someone, jot down their preference and bring it up when the rest of the group convenes for the first time. If the alternate day and time is equally convenient for everybody, consider switching for subsequent meetings. If not, wish the person good luck in finding a group that meets at a better time for them. 7. AssignAsk members to bring an excerpt from a current project — something that will take five minutes or less to read — so that others will have an immediate grasp of everyone’s skill and style. Next up: How to conduct writing groups. |
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The Journey to Hell (pages1-3)
Luk Decato Embe, a dweller in Pairai’se, a strange land far away from Umbraland his homeland…,
“Um, a stranger in a strange land,” he took a few steps away from the mirror, arms akimbo, eyed his reflection, up and down, and addressed the man in the mirror rather sarcastically, “Decato’s a stranger in Paradise?” He took two steps forward and whispered slowly to his reflection, “a universal stranger, even in Umbraland.”
…has a decision to make.
“…a stranger even at home,” he thought about that for a while as he toiled with the decision he’s about to make.
After living in hardship for so many years in his adopted land, he’s now capable to take a long break, away from the stressful place Pairai’se has become to him. In fact he has never taken a break in over 27 years; he needs the break to reflect on the accomplishment of his life journey, and to strategize on what lies ahead.
He has acquired a meager fortune—albeit substantial in Parai’se, but a royalty in Umbraland. Suddenly, Umbraland, the hell on earth is the paradise for his vacation.
“What a chance?” He started out, but stopped short of finishing the sentence when he realized he was talking to himself.
He must have been quietly thinking the rest of the sentence as he seems to be saying to himself: to take some of his hard-earned fortune back to his people.
“What a great idea!” he burst out loudly and pumped his fist high up in the air.
Life in Umbraland is so hard, especially in the post-war period, that its citizens believe it’s a living hell. Pairai’se, on the
other hand, is a living paradise, the envy of the world where everyone in Umbraland, seemingly, wants to be. They believe it is free of all mortal sufferings---no poverty, no disease, not even hunger. Every good thing on earth is in abundance---wealth, food, fame, just name it, and you’ll get it. This belief, however, has always proven to be a myth, a saga Luk and others, like him, who have come over will instantly discover, as they set foot in their new land.
Upon arrival at the southern hemisphere of Pairai’se, Luk Embe immediately experienced a lurking culture shock. All his observation was in contrast to the notion of the paradise he had harbored all through the years. He started noticing that poverty, disease, and hunger were also part of the glamour that made up the paradise on earth, and at least in his surroundings, everyone seemed unhappy and carried a gloomy look on the face--- no smiling, no greetings, no romping, and no social interactions as was the case in the culture he left behind. He knew immediately he’d have to change his initial plan, “but when and how?” was another problem confronting him.
Luk’s surprised, shocked and hurt. How come…the reality…the virtual reality is all a damn lie? He concluded then that his initial strategy in migrating to Parai’se was based on a false reality. A new way was therefore necessary for him to adapt and live successfully in his new homeland. He conjured up an ideal mentality, at least in his mind eye, a model to prosperity in his new world.
As he gradually severes communication with all contacts in Umbraland, he constantly longs for those dreamy days he used to relish in and he was constantly “longing for home in Pairai’se,” as he’ll say, “wishing for hell in heaven, light years away from Umbraland.”
When adapting to his new him—a backbreaking task—he came to believe that the physical and psychological torments he’s experiencing in the south was “society’s ways of eliminating the weaklings from the strong and breaking the former down.” As determined as he was to make it, he refused to be that weakling; instead, he developed an attitude that if he could survive in the south, he could survive anywhere in the world, including in hell’s fire. He decided not only to work hard but to work smart, and so he did. However, little did he know that a belief he was nurturing out of his brutal experience would one day come back to “bite him in the butts.”
His anguish in Pairai’se is naught compared to what he’ll undergo when he returns to Umbraland: the shock that awaits him as he disembarks the vessel that will ferry him across the waters to his homeland will quadruple in comparison to the culture shock that changed his life in Pairai’se. Umbraland’s a glimpse at hell itself, he’ll believe.
On landing, he’ll understand what misery is, what poverty is, and what suffering is. He’ll be greeted with sadness instead of happiness; deterioration instead of recovery, death and destruction instead of growth and development. Luk will discover that, after his long journey back home, he’s returned to a ruthless state rampant with fear, crisis, chaos and desperation-- a place where hope is virtually dead. “A people without hope, without courage to go forward, moving around in perpetual sadness,” he’ll silently wonder as he browses through.
However, fear doesn’t only start to terrorize him on arrival at his homeland, but right here in Pairai’se, his adopted land. “You’d die if you set foot in Umbraland,” a bizarre excerpt from a letter he received from a relative back home, the year his grandmother and younger sister died, long before the death of his mother, who’d told him it was just an empty threat. He learnt later from a cousin that it was a confession from a member of the family who was on her death bed. He went into a panic crisis that took a lot out of him physically and mentally. Blood pressure skyrocketed to dangerous levels.
