Nuts & Bolts (1-5)
Be passive aggressive
Active verbs move action and reveal characters
Passive verb emphasizes the reciever, the victim
Linking verbs link words/ideas
Use passive verbs to:
Showcase "victim" of action
Call attention to receiver of action
Let form follow function
"His pale eyes were frosted with sun glare"
The eyes receive the action of the sun
Strong active verb elevates weak linking verb
"There were leaves all over the ground"
"Leaves covered the ground"
Avoid wordy linking verb clauses
"It is interesting to note that"
"There are those occasions when"
Linking verbs can create interesting connections
"But their strategies are different"
Watch those adverbs
Tend to express meaning already contained in verb or adjective
"The boys arm was totally severed"
"The boys arm was severed"
Use them if meaning changes
Good: Killing me softly
Bad: Killing me fiercely
Revise weak adverb-verb combinations
"She went quickly down the stairs"
"She dashed down the stairs"
Can be as simple as deleting words ending in "ly"
Terms
Metaphor
Figure of speech identifying something as being same as some unrelated thing for rhetorical effect, highlighting similarities
Rhetoric
Language intended to influence people; may not be honest/reasonable
Simile
Figure of speech involving comparison of one thing with a different kind of thing, used to make a description more emphatic/vivid
Brave as a lion, crazy like a fox
Allegory
Story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically moral/political
Beginning:
Begin with subjects/verbs
Separating subject/verb risks confusing reader
Main claus is locomotive that pulls words that follow
Make meaning early, then let elements branch to right
Helps when struggling with sentence
occasionally delay subject/verb to build suspense
Order
Order for emphasis
Place strong words at beginning and end
Hides weaker stuff in middle
If using quotes, start and end paragraph with them
The end of sentence has slight edge in significance
Periods act like stop signs, drawing attention to final word
This is intensified at end of paragraph
Activate verbs
Strong verbs
Create Action
Save words
Express inner/emotional action
Energizes an argument
Reveal the players
Voice (active, passive) has nothing to do with tense
Tense defines action in time: past, present, future
Use present tense when creating immediacy
Voice defines relationship between subject and verb - who does what
If subject performs action, verb is active
If subject receives action, verb is passive
If neither, verb is linking
Connects subject with word that gives info about subject
A form of "to be"
"They are a problem"
"are" is the linking verb that connects "they" and "problem"
Shows relationship between the two words
Avoid verb qualifiers
seemed to
sort of
could have