AUTHORS' ANNEXE (English Language Discussions)

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:24 pm

Hi Paul
I have recently submitted a manuscript, entitled
Rhymes & Reasons, and received the predictable
publisher's rejection letter. However, in light of other
writers' dispiriting experiences in trying to get published,
I regard such a response as a badge of honour.
Hope springs eternal.
Keith

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:54 pm

I must apologise to readers of this thread: I have just
noticed a couple of duplicated posts transferred from
my manuscript. I have now listed all of my English language
items, therefore no such double entries should not recur.
Please forgive my foolishness fellow members.
The following would have appealed to Matt's devotion
to musical enunciation.

EUPHONY

Lines resonant with male and female rhymes
remind one of a clock's Westminster chimes;
words that are boiled sweets rolling on the tongue
or like longinquent church bells being rung.
While sentences can chime and toll and ring,
some turns of phrase mellifluously sing:
The moan of doves in immemorial elms
and murmuring of innumerable bees.
And if you want to hear some symphony
read Yeats's lush Lake Isle of Innisfree.

Note. Longinquent is an adjective created
from the abstract noun longinquity,
which means distance or remoteness.
(The couplet in italics is by Tennyson.)

Keith

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:05 pm

It is gratifying to note that this thread is well read,
if not over-contributed to. The following is another small
step towards the dual destination of entertainment
and enlightenment:

FAIR HAIR

Blonde with an 'e'
describes a she,
without 'e' blond
becomes a he,
and should you need
to describe the pair
you say both are blessed
with blonde hair.

Keith

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:01 pm

I hope that followers of this didactic thread
will be 'interested' in the word distinctions
explained here:

INTEREST FREE
(a deal of difference)

When a football referee
officiates in a disinterested manner,
he brokers the usual noble deal
because he is being impartial.

When someone, usually a she,
is uninterested in the matter
she deems the diversion 'no big deal'
and is indifferent to football.

Keith

Note. Disinterested means: without bias.
Uninterested: not personally concerned.

mariana44 · Post by **mariana44** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:51 pm

I had never realised before the distinction between those 2 words.

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:15 am

Thanks for that Keith, I hadn't realised that either!

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:31 pm

At least a badly-needed win for Leeds today, Gray.
I'm not convinced their new young manager will prove
to be their messiah. However, I hope I'm proved wrong.

FINDING OUT

Imagine you are a language detective hired to discover
the difference between the nouns enquiry and inquiry.
Your prying and probing would lead you to the correct
conclusion that an enquiry is a request for information
often posed in the plural: enquiries about transport
availability and timetables, possibly.
An inquiry makes greater demands on your powers of
deduction because it is an investigation: an inquiry
into the cause of an accident, or a coroner's inquiry into
the circu-mstances of someone's death.

Such clues help you become a linguistic sleuth,
equipping you to establish a meaning's truth.

Keith

paul jh · Post by **paul jh** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:13 pm

Encore please, Keith

I know somewhere you wrote the instructions for double quotes and single quotes. Can you provide that again, as I don't quite have time to search all the previous pages? I'm not using them correctly and I want to change that immediately. Thank you.

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:27 pm

Hi Paul
You must have read my mind because I have just
been looking at this very subject in the context
of dialogue in the jokes I have posted. (See Today's Joke
on Thought of the Day.) Fairly predictably,
I found that a few revisions were required.
The rule is 'double within single' although it is not
set in stone. Some writers do it the other way round.
The reason they do so is because when the passage
ends with the second quote you end up with three
odd-looking quotes. The other thing to bear in mind
is that a single quote doubles as an apostrophe. That said,
I still prefer to use single quotes; I think they have
a less cluttered appearance. Thanks for taking an interest;
other forum members please copy.
Keith

paul jh · Post by **paul jh** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:12 am

Thanks Keith.

I thought you or Gray had specific rules when a single quote should be used vs double. For example, if quoting someone, always use double, but if just highlighting a 'special' word, use single (or italics might be preferred).

And I thought the rule was single within double.

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:17 am

Keith

That's so funny.

I've been reading the above and decided to seek clarification.
My brother is an expert on such matters and he assures me it's a single at the the beginning of the night but a double when the barman calls last orders.

Hope this helps.

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:04 am

Now that is something that takes few scholars to understand Gray.

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:21 pm

Hi Paul
The practice of enclosing a single word within quotes
is to highlight its special, or dubious, nature.
The use of double within single or single within
double is discretionary, in the final analysis.

Gray, your erudite brother's definition is the best
I've heard - very funny!

However even I would struggle 'literally' with such
concepts after a last order double.
Keith

Well done from me, too, Lena & Harry.
Prolific and pertinent posts.
Keith

keithgood838 · Post by **keithgood838** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:52 pm

WRONGHEADEDNESS

Greek hero, Heracles, was seen heading
towards the swamp near Lake Lerna
to slay the many-headed monster, Hydra.
Upon cutting off its heads using a harvesting sickle,
he was dismayed to find that two instantly grew back.
Heracles enlisted the help of his nephew, Iolaus,
who devised the plan to scorch each neck stump
thus preventing regrowth.
By this method the dreaded monster was finally defeated.

To where, you may ask, is this toe-dip into the classics leading?
To the murky wrongheaded use of headed
as in 'they were headed north' instead of heading.

Keith

Note. Yesterday, of all days, the Guardian's
leading editorial, referring to David Cameron,
ended, 'He cannot complain if some ask where
his Tory project is headed.' Tut, tut.

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:03 pm

Very funny, Lena!

Keith, very interesting, I don't think I have ever used the word 'headed' in that context, so I am quite pleased with myself.