CAPIERCE WRITING
Impeccable Sources for Your Spelling and Writing Concerns
Spelling Rules, Rules of
Grammar & Vocabulary Pages, Misplaced Modifiers,
Style and Tone of a Piece of Writing
Copied and Redesigned By Capierce Writing From:
Instant Spelling Dictionary, New Third Edition,
Career Institute, Mundelein, Illinois 60006
Poor Spelling Is Now An American Plague
http://www.capiercewriting.org/
Four Basic Rules of Spelling
Rule #1: Words ending with a silent e usually drop the e before a suffix beginning with a vowel.
Examples: survive + al = survival; abusive + ive =
abusive.
Rule #2: Words ending with a silent e usually retain the before a suffix, beginning with a consonant.
Shameless
Exceptions to the rule: judge, judgment; acknowledge, acknowledgment.
Rule #3: Words of one syllable, ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel.
Examples: Run + ing = running; big + est = biggest; bag + age = baggage.
The rule does not apply if the word ends with two or more consonants of if the final consonant is preceded by two vowels instead of one.
Examples: debt + or = debtor; yard + age = yardage; frail + est =frailest; swear + ing =swearing
Rule #4: Word of Two or more syllables that are accented on the final syllable and end in a single consonant preceded b y a single vowel, double the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel. If the accent is not on the last syllable, the final consonant is not doubled.
Accent on Last Syllable: refer + ing =referring; regret + able = regrettable
Accent Not on Last Syllable: benefit + ed =benefited; differ + ence =difference
One exception to this rule is the word: transferable
If the word ends in two consonants, if the final consonant is precede by two vowels, or if the accent shifts to the first syllable when the suffix is added, the rule does not apply. For Example: perform + ance = performance – two consonants; repeal + ing = repealing – two vowels; refer + ence = reference – accent shifts.
Very Important Usage Problem: Noun and Adverbs Noun Clauses and Adverbial Clauses
The word which, referring to a clause or sentence. The relative pronoun, which, can sometimes refer to a clause or sentence, as opposed to a noun phrase: She ignored him, which proved to be unwise. They swept the council elections, which could never have happened under the old rules. While these examples are perfectly acceptable, using which in this way sometimes creates ambiguities. The sentence It emerged that Martha made the complaint, which surprised everybody may mean either that the complaint itself was surprising or that it was surprising that Martha made it. You can avoid the ambiguity by using other constructions such as It emerged that Martha made the complaint, a revelation that surprised everybody. It is important to remember that you can use which in this way only when the clause or sentence it refers to precedes it. When the clause or sentence follows, you must use what, particularly in formal style: Still, he has not said he will withdraw, which is more surprising. Still, what is more surprising, he has not said he will withdraw.
In initial position the adverb is usually followed by a comma: Suddenly, the train started moving. Many adverbs in initial position modify the entire sentence rather than the verb: Fortunately, Higgins survived the ordeal. Admittedly, the city could use a new library. Frankly, the Bruins don’t stand a chance in the playoffs. Strangely enough, a few of these sentence modifiers, especially hopefully, have been criticized by usage commentators for decades as grievous faults, while others like thankfully and mercifully have gone relatively unnoticed.
Verbs-Transitive and Intransitive; Collective and Proper/Improper Nouns, Gerunds, Adjectives and Adverbs.
Consulting With: Read by going on line:
American Heritage® Book of English Usage. 1996.
With a detailed look at grammar, style, diction, word formation, gender, social groups and scientific forms, this valuable reference work is ideal for students, writers, academicians and anybody concerned about proper writing style.
Consulting With: Eleanor A. Caton, Grammarian for Capierce Writing. Masters + + in English Literature, Extra Credit Hours Accrued: University of London, England.
· Eleanor was Recently Denigrated, And We were told She Was Not A Grammarian. She was Graduated From Albany State University, 1958 and Completed Her Master’s Degree in 1959.
· Teaching Grammar and English Literature, East High School, Rochester, New York, 1961 –1992.
· New York State Licensed Teacher, Contact Albany, New York.
· Available for Private Literature Instruction and Tutoring
Misplaced Modifiers: A Very Common Problem Of Careless Writers...
Modifiers should be placed next to the words they modify.
Example One and Two: I found the tie in the drawer that I lost.
I looked for the missing paint brush near the easel that I misplaced.
They should read: I found the tie that I lost in the drawer.
I looked for the misplaced, missing paintbrush near the easel.
The drawer was not lost, the tie was.
The easel was not misplaced, the paint brush was missing, near the easel.
Example Two: Falling down the stairs my leg broke.
It should read: Falling down the stairs, I broke my leg.
The leg can not fall down the stairs and break all by itself,
as if it were not attached to your body!
1. Treatise: a formal, systematic article or book on some subject, especially a discussion of facts, evidence or principles and the conclusions based on these; a narrative; tale.
2. Exigent: calling for immediate action or attention; urgent, critical; requiring more than is reasonable; critical.
3. Errant: roving or wandering, especially in search of adventure; itinerant; erring or straying from what is right or the right course; shifting about.
4. Errancy: the state or the instance of erring; a tendency to err.
5. Inexorable: that cannot be moved or influenced by persuasion or entreaty; unrelenting; that which cannot be altered, checked.
6. Inept: not suitable to the purpose; unfit; wrong in a foolish and awkward way; clumsy or bungling; inefficient.
7. Inerrant: not erring; making no mistakes; infallible.
8. Intermediate: being or happening between two things, places or stages; in the middle.
9. Renaissance: a new birth; rebirth; revival; a great revival of art, literature and learning in Europe in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Yet, the ideas of the Renaissance were based on classical sources: it began in Italy and spread gradually to other countries; these ideas marked the transition from the medieval world to the modern, in which man is the center of life, Not God and His Church.
10. Pedophilia: abnormal sexual desire in an adult for children; it is not “Normal” it is a fixation, an aberration.
11. Imbue: to fill with moisture; saturate; to permeate or inspire with principles, ideas, emotions, etc.
12. Dogmatic (s) : the study of religious dogmas, especially those of Christianity A. Dogma: opinion; judgment; a doctrine or body of doctrines formally and authoritatively affirmed. A belief or doctrine that is handed down as true or indisputable and often connotes arbitrariness, arrogance, etc.
13. Doctrine: something taught, teachings. Something taught as the principles or creed of a religion, political party etc.
14. Precept:: this word refers to an injunction or a dogma intended as a rule of action or conduct
15. Tenet: emphasizes the maintenance or defense, rather than the teaching of a theory or principle as in the tenants of a political party, for example.
16. Ineffable: too overwhelming to be expressed or described in words; inexpressible; too awesome or sacred to be spoken.
17. Exegesis: What is an Exegete? Exegesis is an explanation or a critical analysis or the interpretation of a word or a literary passage and it is whom the Apostolic Fathers are called: exegetes. They are mostly Saints; after the Apostles, who taught then the Gospels and the Life of Christ and His Miracles, especially His Dogma, and His Fulfillments of the Old Law, about which these exegetes, sometimes wrote treatises, letters, books or they dissertated. Many are they who are considered by Catholic historians, and Holy Mother Church as Doctors of The Church—Law;. As defenders of the faith up to and including their own students and followers, until the fourth and fifth centuries, many were scholars and mystics. Others lived from then up to the present era: all exegetes. St. Augustine was an exegete in 350.. Exegetics is the scientific study and the practice of exegesis; an exegete is an expert in the study of exegesis. Saint, Sir Thomas More, beheaded by the sycophants that followed the infamous King Henry VIII of six wives fame, was noted for his legal exegeses.
It is most important that all clients of Capierce Writing utilize the study of writing, its recognition as a science, but its basis in art, as writing is an art, and thus must be respected as a spiritual temple from which truths are delineated, within which is an altar on which the concern for reverence and the fear against untruths is respectfully placed. Research, editing, proof readings, the classic, writing disciplines, are endemic within the inspirations that propel us all, should inspire us, to use language for the advancement of our exegetical understandings. At Capierce Writing, we strive to be exegetes, who are always pursuing clean and complex exegesis.
What contributes to a flourishing writing style is indicative of skills that makes some writers achieve great notoriety: the writer was not afraid to use three technical approaches in order to tell the story, advancing the plot. The first example of some styles: the use of many digressions, in which the writer continues to elaborate, to draw away from his main topic sentence. He comes back, full circle, to the subject, with the army of examples he has just given; he has fortified his thesis a hundredfold.
The second and third attributed to the style of a good writer: the use of punctuation, including apt quotations, the semi-colon and colon. They are utilized freely throughout a tome or essay. Does it make a difference, imply affectation, if a scriber uses them many times, if they are used correctly? With these two devices, a writer should not fail to hold your interest. The third is not always exhibited immediately, but it is the use of a tone that is both explicative, perhaps derisive, descriptive and florid but without arrogance or condescension: it is persuasive.
Good writers never placate, or over exaggerate, but write about what they know, incorporating research, which shows how they respond to a subject, even if it is overweening or unattractive. A good writer teaches his audience with humor, pathos, sadness, some with deep and emphatic emotional depiction, descriptive passages to which all may relate, at some point in the story. The use of first and third person are generally employed; a well read first person narrative is, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, told through the singular experiences of a child, in flashback...
What is the tone of a piece of writing, of an essay or a treatise, perhaps? How does a writer actually create a tone, a tone didactic or vague, imaginary, ambiguous and confusing: non-committal? Should certain tones be avoided, for fear of offense, or should writers plod on despite the criticism many today receive, for being judgmental, narrow? Is opinion too subjective, emotionalism? Does a specific opinion have to be backed up, in the exegesis, by at least three facts, scientific, historical, biblical or all three? Capierce Writing can answer these questions, with hundreds of examples, especially concerning opinion, the use of logic, syllogism and the Aristotelian mean.
If any of what we just mentioned seems vague, or you are confused, if you are not use to basic writing analysis, you are in definite need of a writing service. Writers often have to start over, for what they have envisioned does not come any where near the product they have produced. This is usually from lack of tone, in their work: writers cannot afford to be wimps, afraid to commit. They will never invoke a response: the focus of all wordsmiths. It is evidenced in all of their work, like the books, essays and stories by Mark Twain. The tone throughout Huckleberry Finn, may come to mind.