Let’s consider a twist to the infamous grammatical construction called the passive voice. We would be hard put to find a manual of English composition that doesn’t warn us off using this design too often, but understanding a little more about it might alert us to other possibilities we could cautiously employ. First, what is …
Author Archives: rultimo
Once Again, the Comma
One of the more persistent difficulties in writing is where to place a comma. Many of us were taught to put a comma where you breathe, and I am of the opinion that that well-meaning directive has caused more problems than it has solved. I say this not because the instruction is without merit, but …
Some Basics
Let’s return to some basics to remind ourselves how best to approach a sentence we want to revise. To revise something means, literally, to look at it again, and revising a sentence begins by analyzing it. When we analyze a sentence, we are said to be loosening it apart (that is the derivation of the …
Balanced and Parallel
There is a fine example of a balanced, parallel sentence in Oscar Wilde’s short story The Selfish Giant, and it would be worth a few minutes to consider its construction and force. The story is a tale of contrition, or if we are apt to find a deeper message, perhaps even of what the theologians …
Knowing the Why
It is not unusual for us to say about a picture we see or a song we hear, I like that. It is unusual, though, to go on then to say exactly why. If we ask why it is that a picture or song or anything else moves us, we are in pursuit of the …