Effective Writing Made Simple

Subordinating Conjunctions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 19:39:00 +0000

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions join unequal elements in a sentence or a clause that cannot stand by itself.

e.g. When we arrived at the station, the train had left.

e.g. We will not succeed unless we get your support.

e.g. His parents worked hard so he might have a good future.

e.g. I will help you as long as you ask me.

e.g. I will help you whenever you ask me.

e.g. I will help you provided (that) you ask me.

e.g. I will help you if you ask me.

e.g. I will not help you even you ask me.

e.g. Although I am your brother, I will not help you.

e.g. You will stay here till everything is done.

e.g. He behaved as though he were better than you.

e.g. Though he had lost his fortune, he remained cheerful.

e.g. Since spring is coming, we have to prepare the garden.

e.g. Because spring is coming, we have to prepare the garden.

EFFECTIVE WRITING MADE SIMPLE

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Choice of Words

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 18:46:00 +0000

Writing has to do with words, in particular, the choice of words. A good stock of vocabulary is of course important. But other than that, you also need to know the exact meaning of each word so that you will use it correctly. There are many words that may sound similar, but they have different meanings, and thus they are confusing.

Mellow / Melodious

Mellow: mature; soft and pure; rich and full.

e.g. As he continues to age, he become more mellow and compassionate.

Melodious: tuneful; pleasant to the ear.

e.g. He voice is melodious; he should take up singing.

Reign / Rein

Reign means to rule over; rein means to control (e.g. an animal)

e.g. The emperor reigned over the country for decades.

e.g. You must rein in your hot temper.

e.g. Beware of giving free rein to your reason. (i.e. not release from any restraint).

Defuse / Diffuse

Defuse means to decrease the danger, such as deactivate a bomb; diffuse means to spread over a wide area.

e.g. It is difficult to defuse the conflicts in the Middle East.

e.g. Once you open the bottle of fragrant herbs, their scents will diffuse.

Genteel / Gentle

Genteel: well-bred, polite; imitating the lifestyle of the rich.

e.g. Your friend is genteel. Is he very rich?

e.g. All along he has been living in genteel poverty. He is not practical.

Faint / Feint

Faint (both as a noun and a verb) means loss of consciousness; feint means a misleading attack.

e.g. She fainted when she heard the bad news.

e.g. The robber, who gave a feint, began to attack the policeman.

Studio / Studious

Studio: a place where pictures are taken, or films are made.

e.g. The film was made in a Hollywood studio.

Studious: fond of study; careful and thoughtful.

e.g. To be a good scientist, you must be studious.

Hail / Hale

Hail means to greet or salute; hale means healthy and strong.

e.g. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee."

e.g. A man is hale when his complexion is rosy.

e.g. This dress is too loose for you (not tight enough).

Some time / Sometime / Sometimes

Some time means a period of time.

Sometime, as an adverb, means approximately; as an adjective, means former or occasional.

Sometimes, as an adverb, means now and then.

e.g. We have been for the train for some time.

e.g. Why don't you visit me sometime?

e.g. She was my sometime girlfriend.

e.g. Sometimes I like her, and sometimes I don't -- that's our relationship.

Accountable to / Accountable for

Accountable to means responsible to someone; accountable for means responsible for something or having to explain.

e.g. The Manager has to be accountable to the Board; he has to be accountable for all his business decisions.

Lose / Loose

Lose means being unable to find; loose means to set free or to become less tight.

e.g. Here is your ticket to the game; don't lose it.

e.g. Don't lose your temper (become angry).

e.g. You are too loose with your children (you have little or no control over them).

Impersonate / Personate

Impersonate is to copy or imitate a person for fun; personate is to claim to be another person with the purpose to cheat or deceive.

e.g. The comedian impersonated the President to entertain the audience.

e.g. Someone personated the client, and took the money.

Recourse / Resort

Recourse means turning to others or something for help; resort means to turn to for help (both noun and verb).

e.g. His only recourse was the police.

e.g. The police should not resort to violence to stop the peaceful demonstration.

e.g. The army decided using violence as the last resort.

Decorative / Decorous

Decorative: having an artistic or showy effect.

e.g. The ballroom with all the ribbons and flowers are very decorative.

Decorous: showing good taste.

e.g. The Princess looks decorous in that simple but elegant dress.

Foul / Fowl

Foul means dirty or offensive; fowl a fowl is a bird, such as hen.

e.g. The smoke from that factory fouls the air. (as a verb)

e.g. He always speak foul language, even in the presence of ladies. (as an adjective)

e.g. We are going to have a roast fowl for Thanksgiving.

Admit / Admit of

Admit means to confess an act; admit of means allow of or leave room for.

e.g. He did not admit taking the key without permission.

e.g. The circumstance admits of no delay.

e.g. His admission of guilt shows his honest personality.

e.g. There is no admittance for error.

WORDS AND PHRASES FREQUENTLY CONFUSED AND MISUSED

Stephen Lau

Prepositional Words and Phrases

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 21:52:00 +0000

Touch up: repair.

e.g. Can you touch up the scratches on the car?

e.g. This chair needs some touch-up.

Make up: invent; apply cosmetics; become reconciled.

e.g. He had to make up an excuse explaining why he was so late.

e.g. She made up beautifully before she put on the fancy dress.

e.g. After the heated argument, the man and his wife made up.

Run against: compete.

e.g. I am going to run against him in the coming mayor election.

Die away: disappear.

e.g. The noise died away and it was silent.

Hand over: yield control of.

e.g. The manager has handed over the human resources section to the assistant manager.

Call off: cancel

e.g. Due to the bad weather, the meeting was called off.

Walk over: go to where someone is.

e.g. I have something to give to you. Can you walk over?

Back out: desert; fail to keep a promise.

e.g. You said you would help us, but you backed out the last minute.

Stephen Lau

The Use of Pronouns

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 21:54:00 +0000

A pronoun is a word that stands for a noun. Effective use of pronouns gives flexibility in your writing.

e.g. The manager left for New York. He took a train.

e.g. I bought a winter coat. It cost me one hundred dollars.

Relative pronouns (who, whom, which, that) introduce clauses that describe nouns or pronouns. These relative clauses can be restrictive (that is, containing essential information), or non-restrictive (that is, containing only additional but non-essential information).

Compare the following pairs of sentences:

e.g. The man who shot the policeman was an illegal immigrant. (correct)

The relative clause above identifies the man, and therefore is essential to meaning of the sentence.

e.g. The man, who shot the policeman, was an illegal immigrant. (incorrect)

The non-restrictive relative clause above provides only additional information. The use of a non-restrictive clause with the two commas further implies that it can be deleted; however, without who shot the policeman, the sentence would not make much sense. unless you would emphasize the fact that he was an illegal immigrant.

e.g. The reporter who took the photos is now being sued for invasion of privacy. (correct)

The relative clause above is restrictive because it identifies the reporter being sued.

e.g. The reporter, who took the photos, is now being sued for invasion of privacy. (correct)

The relative clause above becomes non-restrictive with the addition of two commas, and “who took the photos” becomes extra information non-essential to the meaning of the sentence. The sentence without the non-restrictive clause “who took the photos” would still make sense, and therefore is correct as it stands.

Knowing the difference between a restrictive and non-restrictive relative clause will help you in effective sentence construction.

Incorrect use of subjective pronouns is a common grammatical error.

e.g. My father and I went to see the show. (NOT me: both of us went to see the show)

Compare to this one” My father took me to the show.”

e.g. It is I who made the decision. (NOT me: I made the decision.)

e.g. The real winners are we ourselves. (NOT us: we are the real winners.)

e.g. The man who called us was who? (NOT whom: who called us?)

e.g. The woman who lost her purse was she. (NOT her: she lost her purse.)

e.g. John and he went to the movie. (NOT him: both went to the movie.)

The correct use of pronouns can be difficult with certain expressions, such as, as and more than. The following pairs of sentences are correct, but the meaning is different.

e.g. She likes him more than I. (She likes him more than I like him.)

e.g. She likes him more than me. (She likes him more than she likes me.)

e.g. I like Peter better than she. (I like Peter better than she likes Peter.)

e.g. I like Peter better than her. (I like Peter better than I like her.)

Use possessive pronouns with gerunds (words ending in ing) correctly.

e.g. You don’t like my going to the movie by myself. (NOT me going: you don’t like the “going” not “me” the person.)

e.g. Your smirking irritates me. (NOT you smirking: not “you” but your “smirking” irritates me)

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent (the noun that a pronoun refers to).

e.g. All is well. (referring to the sum of all things)

e.g. All are well. (referring to a number of people)

e.g. Everyone wants to get his or her application submitted. (NOT their)

e.g. None of them is going to succeed. (NOT are: the subject is none)

e.g. Some is better than none. (referring to a quantity)

e.g. Some are good. (referring to a number of things)

EFFECTIVE WRITING MADE SIMPLE

Stephen Lau

Subordinating Conjunctions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 21:37:00 +0000

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions join unequal elements in a sentence or a clause that cannot stand by itself.

e.g. When we arrived at the station, the train had left.

e.g. We will not succeed unless we get your support.

e.g. His parents worked hard so he might have a good future.

e.g. I will help you as long as you ask me.

e.g. I will help you whenever you ask me.

e.g. I will help you provided (that) you ask me.

e.g. I will help you if you ask me.

e.g. I will not help you even you ask me.

e.g. Although I am your brother, I will not help you.

e.g. You will stay here till everything is done.

e.g. He behaved as though he were better than you.

e.g. Though he had lost his fortune, he remained cheerful.

e.g. Since spring is coming, we have to prepare the garden.

e.g. Because spring is coming, we have to prepare the garden.

EFFECTIVE WRITING MADE SIMPLE

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Difficult But Common Words

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 18:03:00 +0000

Focus on learning some of the most popularly used difficult-but-common words in the English language. The objective here is to familiarize yourself with the most common senses of the difficult words you are most likely to come across.

Opulent: having wealth and luxury

e.g. Now that he had filed for bankruptcy, it would be difficult for him to maintain his opulent lifestyle.

Insolent: rude and disrespectful

e.g. He was simply offering his advice out of goodwill, but your response was insolent and inappropriate.

Malleable: easily adaptable or changeable

e.g. In this economic environment, people are malleable to economic reforms.

Emanate: come from a source

e.g. The sounds emanating from next door were so disturbing that we finally called the police.

Flaunt: to show off in an ostentatious way

e.g. Nobody likes her because she is always flaunting her wealth in her jewels and her furs.

Homage: high respect or honor

e.g. Even the Queen paid homage to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country.

Contrition: sadness or remorse over past wrong actions

e.g. The judge gave him the maximum sentence because he showed no contrition even when confronted by his victims.

Baneful: harmful or destructive influence

e.g. The custody of the children was taken from the parents because of the baneful influence of their lifestyle on their children.

Fledging: young and inexperienced.

e.g. As a fledging reporter, he was quite nervous when he interviewed the President.

Catch-22: an impossible situation, a predicament

e.g. He found himself in a catch-22: he could not stay, but he did not have the means to leave.

Debacle: a complete failure

e.g. The bailout, to many, was a financial debacle.

Oblique: indirect or unclear.

e.g. The young man’s testimony was oblique to be of any use as a witness for the police.

Consternation: sudden amazement.

e.g. The plunge of the Dow Jones Industrial Average caused a great deal of consternation in the financial markets worldwide.

Incorrigible: incapable of being reformed (often used in a lighthearted, ironic sense).

e.g. You’re incorrigible, forever getting into scrapes and causing mischief.

Elucidate: explain in full or make clear

e.g. To throw more light on the issue, the President began to elucidate his statement.

Cumbersome: hard to manage, or troublesome

e.g. The task of tidying up the entire basement is not only exhaustive but also cumbersome to a nine-year-old kid.

Incognito: hidden or unknown with the purpose of intentionally changing appearance.

e.g. Many movie stars wear dark sunglasses in hopes of remaining incognito at public places.

Nether: lower, such as the nether regions of something are the parts that lie beneath or beyond the main part.

e.g. Dante takes the reader on a journey to the nether regions of hell.

Clandestine: secretive or kept hidden from authorities.

e.g. Nowadays, terrorists may use the Internet for their clandestine communication with one another.

Déjà vu (pronounced as day-zhuh VOO): (French) something “already seen” in the past.

e.g. If you still remember the decoration and design of last year's exhibition, you will have a sense of deja vu when visiting this year's exhibition.

WORDS AND PHRASES FREQUENTLY CONFUSED AND MISUSED

Stephen Lau

Confusing Words and Phrases

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 18:15:00 +0000

In the English language, there are many words that look similar and can be confusing, especially to ESL learners.

Noteworthy / Noticeable

“Noteworthy” means deserving attention; “noticeable” means easily seen.

e.g. The candidate's accomplishments are noteworthy.

e.g. The flaws in the Governor's character are easily noticeable to the public.

Arise / Rise

Arise: appear; begin.

e.g. When he was just about to call 911, a few men in uniform arose.

Rise: appear above the horizon; get out of bed.

e.g. The sun rises in the east.

e.g. He rises very early every morning.

Mellow / Melodious

Mellow: mature; soft and pure; rich and full.

e.g. As he continues to age, he become more mellow and compassionate.

Melodious: tuneful; pleasant to the ear.

e.g. He voice is melodious; he should be a singer.

Studio / Studious

Studio: a place where pictures are taken, or films are made.

e.g. The film was made in a Hollywood studio.

Studious: fond of study; careful and thoughtful.

e.g. To be a good scientist, you must be studious.

Defuse / Diffuse

Defuse means to decrease the danger, such as deactivate a bomb; diffuse means to spread over a wide area.

e.g. It is difficult to defuse the conflicts in the Middle East.

e.g. Once you open the bottle of fragrant herbs, their scents will diffuse.

Perishable / Perishing

Perishable: liable to die quickly.

e.g. Fresh vegetables are perishable; put them in the refrigerator.

Perishing: causing suffering.

e.g. Negative thinking may cause perishing emotions and thoughts.

Lose / Loose

Lose means being unable to find.

e.g. Here is your ticket to the game; don't lose it.

e.g. Don't lose your temper (become angry).

Loose means to set free or to become less tight.

e.g. You are too loose with your children (you have little or no control over them).

Waive / Wave

Look at Life Problems

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 19:58:00 +0000

Look at Life Problems

How I deal with my complaints

In my daily life, I try to catch myself complaining about anything, such as the weather—whether I am making a comment or just thinking a thought about the weather. By not complaining, I try to avoid putting my mind in a state of unconsciousness that creates negative energy and denial of the present moment. When I am complaining, I am in fact saying: “I cannot accept what is, and I am a victim of the present situation.” Understandably, in the present moment, we all have only three options in any situation that we are complaining about: get away from the situation; change the situation; and accept the situation as it is.

If I want to take any action—whether it is getting away or changing the situation—I try my best to remove any negativity first and foremost.

If it is my decision to take no action, I honestly ask myself if it is fear that stands in my way of taking any action: I tell myself that any action is often better than no action. Staying in the present moment does the mental trick of controlling my thoughts: focusing my mind on the present moment, and looking objectively at the fear that may be holding me back from taking any action, without letting fear get into my subconscious mind to create any negativity.

If, after much deliberation, I still decide to take no action, then I accept it fully and consciously, with no regret and no “should have” or “might have” because the whole episode now belongs to the past and is no longer real for me. It is important for me not to experience any inner conflict, resistance, or negativity in the mental process of deciding to take no action.

How I deal with stress

Stress is inevitable in contemporary living. My wife sometimes complains that I stress her, and my spontaneous reply is: “If I don’t stress you, something or somebody would stress you. Just learn to cope with it!” Yes, everybody has to cope with stress, and not to deal with the stressor.

When I was working on a book, it was easy for me to focus too much on the future and forget about the present. My mind seemed to be preoccupied with getting to the future, that is, finishing a certain chapter or the completion of a book, such that I easily forgot about the present. Then I began to realize that my stress was due to my “being here” but “wanting to be there.” With that realization, I have learned to re-focus more on the present, and less on the future. As a matter of fact, I have stopped creating timelines for my writing. In the writing process, sometimes I don’t like what I have written (what is known as a writer’s bad days) but I try to enjoy the writing process, rather than looking at what I have written and what I don’t like about. By focusing on the present, instead of on the finished product in the future, I have learned to enjoy my writing and the writing process, and I am able to revise what I previously did not like. So, the key is doing something totally focused on the present moment.

Awareness and concentration are important ingredients in mental clarity and relaxation to de-stress the mind.

How I deal with the past

In my life, I have made many mistakes, which have changed my life—maybe for the worse, or maybe not. Who knows? And who cares?

I never let the past take up my attention. I do not let my thinking process create any anger, guilt, pride, regret, resentment, or self-pity. Like everybody else, I do have these negative feelings and emotions, but they do not last long. I believe that if I allow these thoughts of mine to control me, I would look much older than my calendar age, and, worse, create a false sense of self.

To reminisce what was good in the past would intensify a desire to repeat such an experience in the future, and thus creating an insatiable longing that may never be fulfilled. To recall what was unpleasant in the past would generate feelings of remorse and unhappiness. What is the use? I just let bygones be bygones. In my mind, there is no ”what if.”

How I deal with failures

The path of living is strewn with failures, big and small. But they should not become stumbling blocks in life journey. Like everybody else, I have met my failures:

I look upon my failures with positive attributes: a lesson of humility to show my own limitation and inadequacy; a lesson that I may never get what I want in life; a lesson to strengthen my character as a human being; a lesson to learn about perseverance and survival from failures.

If I had succeeded in those endeavors in the past, I would have embarked on a totally different life journey heading toward a totally different direction. Would I really have been better off or worse off? Who knows, and who cares? I never ponder on the “might have” or the “would have” scenarios.

How I look at death

I am now closer to the end rather than the beginning. That is to say, the thought of death has become more and more real with each day passing. I have come to believe that most elderly people have similar experience.

If I could ask but one question about the future, it would be: “How am I going to die?” and not “When am I going to die?”

I wouldn’t want to know about the when. To me, time is not a big factor. My desire to know the “how” is just out of plain curiosity. Anyway, they are just hypothetical questions without any answer.

In life, we all ask many different questions, some of which are practical, some hypothetical, and some without an answer. To many, living is a search for an answer to many of the unanswerable questions in life.

So, stop looking for an answer to every question asked, but continue to ask, and just live if there were no tomorrow.

Stephen Lau

The Past Tense and the Past Perfect Tense

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 22:11:00 +0000

Learn the past tense and the past perfect tense.

The past tense referes to an action in the past. The past perfect tense also refers to an action in the past, but there is a twist in that the action can indicate the sequence of past actions.

e.g. He lived in South America before he came to the United States. (a fact that he came from South America)

e.g. He had lived in South America for many years before he came to the United States. (indicating a period of time)

e.g. The patient had died before the doctor arrived.(it was too late for the doctor to come)

Compare:

e.g. I have called the police. (I called the police some time ago, and NOW you don't have to call the police again)

e.g. I called the police half an hour ago; they should be on their way.

e.g. I had called the police before you came back. (both actions took place in the past; calling the police took place BEFORE coming back)

You use different tenses according to the sequence of actions or the meaning attributed to your sentences.

Stephen Lau

Better English for You

Prepositional Words and Phrases

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 23:55:00 +0000

Touch up: repair.

e.g. Can you touch up the scratches on the car?

e.g. This chair needs some touch-up.

Make up: invent; apply cosmetics; become reconciled.

e.g. He had to make up an excuse explaining why he was so late.

e.g. She made up beautifully before she put on the fancy dress.

e.g. After the heated argument, the man and his wife made up.

Run against: compete.

e.g. I am going to run against him in the coming mayor election.

Die away: disappear.

e.g. The noise died away and it was silent.

Hand over: yield control of.

e.g. The manager has handed over the human resources section to the assistant manager.

Call off: cancel

e.g. Due to the bad weather, the meeting was called off.

Walk over: go to where someone is.

e.g. I have something to give to you. Can you walk over?

Back out: desert; fail to keep a promise.

e.g. You said you would help us, but you backed out the last minute.

Stephen Lau

The Use of Pronouns

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 21:41:00 +0000