by Naomi L. | May 25, 2015 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: garrulous
Pronunciation: GA-r(y)ə-ləs
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
This one’s another word I picked off the vocabulary flashcard stack. Though I haven’t used it much myself yet, I like the word “garrulous” for the way it sounds. It’s kind of a poetic way to define someone who talks too much, which I’m sure we all could have used at least once in our lives. Such “garrulous” acquaintances make great inspiration for chatty characters, don’t you think?
A “garrulous” person is someone who talks in excess, usually about matters of little importance. The word comes from the Latin adjective garrulus, meaning “talkative”. This adjective stems from the verb garrire, which means “to chatter” or “to prattle”.
The word “garrulous” is similar to another adjective I’ve featured in my vocabulary segment before: “loquacious“. The difference between these adjectives is that the excessive talkativeness in “loquacious” is implied, whereas in “garrulous” it’s explicit. Either word is good for defining characters who talk too much, so it’s up to you to decide how apparent you want their loquacity to be. If you know people who can’t stop chattering, then you should have no trouble finding inspiration for a few “garrulous” characters for your stories. Good luck!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | May 18, 2015 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: stochastic
Pronunciation: stə-KA-stik
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: randomly determined; having a random probability distribution or pattern that may be analyzed statistically but may not be predicted precisely
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
How about another scientific word for your list? This week’s vocabulary word jumped out at me while I was reading a paper for an Ecology test, and I realized that although I had already seen it a couple of times, it hadn’t yet occurred to me to include it in my Word of the Week segment. Perhaps that’s because I’ve only ever seen it in academic writing, which makes sense because it’s a statistics term. Still, I think it’s interesting enough to warrant a spot on my vocabulary list. After all, what’s fiction without a few random and unpredictable events?
A “stochastic” event is one that has a random probability of occurring. The word comes from the Greek adjective stokhastikós, which in turn is derived from the verb stokházomai, meaning “to aim at” or “to guess”. This verb stems from the noun stokhós, which means “aim”.
Whenever the word “stochastic” appears in an academic paper I’m reading, it’s always being used to explain a mathematically random pattern observed in the results. Despite its primary use as a statistical term, I believe this adjective could work to describe random non-scientific occurrences as well. If you’re looking for a new and/or advanced word to define the unpredictable events in your stories, “stochastic” may be an interesting alternative to consider! Good luck!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | May 13, 2015 | Blog, Creative Writing, What If? Writing Prompts |
To keep up with my creative writing, I’m sharing a new set of “What If?” Writing Prompts for you to enjoy. This week’s post features another batch of prompts in the paranormal genre. See what sorts of mysterious stories you can write based on these ideas! Have fun!
What if… the two-hundred-year-old ghost of a former resident were haunting your house?
What if… you lived alone, but kept finding notes scribbled on your bathroom mirror whenever you took a shower?
What if… you had a mirror in which you could see the future?
What if… you could telekinetically manipulate objects based on your emotions?
What if… you held a seance for a departed loved one… that went horribly wrong?
Good luck spinning your own paranormal tales!
If you have any “What If?” writing prompt suggestions (for any theme), please feel free to share them in the comments below. Ideas I like may be featured in future “What If?” posts, with full credit and a link to your blog (if you have one)! Also, if you’ve written a piece based on an idea you’ve found here, be sure to link back to the respective “What If?” post. I would love to see what you’ve done with the prompt! Thank you!
by Naomi L. | May 11, 2015 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: sycophant
Pronunciation: SI-kə-fənt / SI-kə-fant
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
She turned you into this untrusting, crazy, jealous sycophant! [her friends stare at her] All right, so I don’t know what “sycophant” means, but the rest is right!
– Phoebe Buffay, Friends (Season 4, Episode 18 – The One With Rachel’s New Dress)
Remember that word I wrote about last week? It’s time to put it to good use. The first (and probably only) time I ever heard the word “sycophant” was in an episode of Friends, when the women try to help Ross overcome his irrational fear that he might lose his girlfriend Emily to his ex-wife’s life partner Susan. In an attempt to convince him that he’s being unnecessarily jealous, Phoebe uses an uncommon word that she’s never used before – to humorous effect, as Ross’s jealousy is hardly an indication that he wants to please important people just to get ahead.
A “sycophant” is someone who acts in an excessively obedient or attentive manner toward an important person as a means of gaining an advantage. The word arose in the mid 16th century as a reference to informants, and can be traced back through the French noun sycophante to the Greek noun sukophantēs, meaning “informer”. This noun is comprised of the noun sukon “fig” and the verb phainein “to show”, which may be a reference to the insulting “fig gesture” made toward informers.
To be honest, I have yet to find a good place for the word “sycophant” in my fiction. I do like the sound of it, though, so it would certainly be a good alternative if I were to write a character who relentlessly pleases others for their own gain and wanted to avoid vulgar terms such as “suck-up” and “kiss-ass”. Perhaps I’ll use it in one of my stories someday, but if you tend to create such phonily obsequious characters, you can already start writing a “sycophant” or two into your fiction! Good luck!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | May 4, 2015 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: obsequious
Pronunciation: əb-SEE-kwee-əs
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Jamie: What do you mean you told him not to go out with me?
Ira: What do I know? I met you one time; you kept showing off your vocabulary!
Jamie: [to Paul] You never told me he didn’t like me.
Paul: Because you were so down on him, I didn’t want to fuel the fire.
Ira: Wait, wait, wait, you didn’t like me?
Jamie: On first impression, you were a little obsequious.
Ira: You see? There, you’re doing it again!
– Mad About You (Season 3, Episode 19 – Money Changes Everything)
The first instance in which I can remember hearing the word “obsequious” was in an episode of Mad About You. During an argument over one of Ira’s bad decisions, Jamie finds out that he initially disliked her for her pretentious use of advanced vocabulary. To make matters worse, she proves his point by calling him out on his overeagerness to please in the most patronizing way possible. But then again, knowing Ira, there’s always the chance Jamie simply used “obsequious” in place of “obnoxious”, either purposely to confuse him or by mistake because her husband’s cousin did have a tendency to be irritating in more ways than one.
An “obsequious” person is someone who is attentive or obedient to the point of excess. The word arose in the late 15th century as a non-depreciatory term and comes from the Latin noun obsequium, meaning “compliance”. This noun is derived from the verb obsequi, which means “to follow” or “to yield to”.
I have yet to work the word “obsequious” into my fiction, but I could definitely see myself using it to describe some of my characters who go out of their way to please others. Although the word didn’t originally have a negative connotation, its modern definition seems to suggest a level of obedience that borders on annoying, which I suppose makes it a sort of formal synonym for “kiss-ass”. If you tend to write characters who are relentless people-pleasers, “obsequious” may be an excellent adjective to use in your stories. With any luck, you may even teach your readers a new word!
Jamie: [muttering] Plenty of people use “obsequious”.
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | April 29, 2015 | Blog, Creative Writing, Writer's Toolkit |
Remember that Grammarly quiz I shared last month in celebration of Grammar Day? Well, around the same time, the good people over at Grammarly offered me a free trial of their grammar checker as a gift for the occasion! Naturally, it was the perfect opportunity to try it out and write a review on it for my Writer’s Toolkit segment. After all, even the best writers need a little help checking their spelling and grammar, right?
So without further ado, here is my review of the Grammarly grammar checker. Enjoy!
About Grammarly
Grammarly, or the Grammarly®Editor, is a spelling and grammar checker that automatically proofreads text in English. According to the site’s product page, Grammarly “corrects contextual spelling mistakes, checks for more than 250 common grammar errors, enhances vocabulary usage, and suggests citations”. Aside from its primary function as a proofreader, the editor also features a thesaurus that suggests improvements on word choice and a plagiarism checker that compares text with over 8 billion pages on the Web.
Grammarly offers a few features for free, such as the quick grammar checker on their home page and the Google Chrome plugin that automatically checks any text you type in your browser. The full version can be accessed via premium subscriptions of $29.95/month, $59.95/quarter ($19.98/month), or $139.95/year ($11.66/month).
My free trial of Grammarly lasted for one month, during which time I used it to proofread my stories and blog posts. I also installed the Grammarly plugin on my Google Chrome browser, which for the purposes of this review is considered an extension of the full proofreader on the Grammarly website. Since I work on a Mac, I was not able to test the Microsoft Office add-in.
Pros
The first thing I noticed when I started using the Grammarly proofreader is that it doubles as a teacher. When the editor catches an error, it doesn’t just tell you that it’s wrong; it tells you why it’s wrong. This is immensely useful for learning about mistakes you didn’t even know you were making so you can avoid making them again. I’ve already learned a couple of grammar rules myself! Explanations include examples of correct and incorrect uses, and a fun little bonus is the score in the bottom right corner that evaluates how grammatically correct your text is overall. It’s like having your own private grammar tutor!
Another handy feature is the vocabulary enhancement thesaurus. The editor flags words it finds too common or repetitive and suggests replacements that may improve the quality of the text. It can also check a document against pages across the Internet to identify possible plagiarism, and while I confess that I only tested this a few times, it seems to work fairly well. Both of these features can be toggled on and off, which makes them optional additions to an already powerful proofreading tool. And yet another bonus is the preset configuration list for types of documents ranging from formal to creative writing, so you can actually teach the editor what sorts of errors you want it to focus on when proofreading your text!
The Google Chrome plugin also deserves an honorable mention, as it brings all of Grammarly’s features to any web page on which you write. When you type into a text box, an icon appears in the corner and automatically updates a number to indicate how many errors are being detected as you type. Hovering over this icon will open a small tab that shows you how many advanced and critical errors are in your text at the moment, and clicking in this tab or on the explanations that appear when you hover over underlined errors will open the Grammarly editor directly on the page, so you can edit your text without having to navigate away. It even seems to learn your writing style the longer you use it. That’s pretty neat!
Cons
It’s worth noting at this point that the gentleman who set me up with my free trial of Grammarly mentioned its usefulness as more of a “second set of eyes” as opposed to a replacement for a professional proofreader. After trying it out a few times, I quickly realized what he meant. The proofreader points out whatever it believes may be an error, but it can’t always take the full context of the document into account. Sometimes it incorrectly marks an alternative grammar choice as an error, and other times it misreads the context and lets a mistake slide. This issue was already thoroughly covered in a review by Grammarist, so I won’t go into detail here. In all fairness, that article was written over three years ago, during which time Grammarly does seem to have improved on its shortcomings, but it still can’t fully compensate for the judgment of a human being. Grammarly is good for catching errors you missed yourself, but if you need to proofread a whole book, your best bet is to hire an editor.
Perhaps the biggest drawback I noticed while testing Grammarly is that it isn’t entirely relevant to my style of writing. This isn’t necessarily a con, per se; more of an observation of how the editor seems to be specifically geared toward strictly formal composition. Most of the documents I pasted into Grammarly were short stories, and while the proofreader was right to catch many of my supposed errors (even when set to “Creative – Short Story”), over 90% of them were left untouched due to being creative choices on my part as opposed to actual mistakes (e.g. character dialogue or first-person narrative intended to sound “real”). Perhaps this is more of a testament to the perfectionist editor in me than to Grammarly’s limited usefulness, but I still think it’s worth mentioning for the benefit of writers as meticulous about grammar as me. If you know exactly what mistakes you’re making, you don’t need to pay for an automatic proofreader to tell you the same thing.
I should also mention that I do much of my writing on an iPad, and though I was able to use Grammarly well on my laptop, I couldn’t access it at all through my mobile device due to incompatibility issues. I can’t say if the editor works on non-iOS devices because I don’t own one, so this is mostly a note of caution to Apple users, but it may apply to anyone who frequently writes on a smartphone or tablet. Until Grammarly comes out with a mobile app, you’ll have to make due with your device’s built-in spell checker.
Summary
Pros
- Grammatical error corrections with explanations
- More thorough than standard word processor spelling and grammar checkers
- Built-in thesaurus for vocabulary enhancement
- Plagiarism checker
- Settings for different types of documents
- Google Chrome plugin for universal use
Cons
- More useful for formal writing than creative writing
- Misses some grammatical errors
- Incorrectly marks some alternative grammar choices as mistakes
- Incompatible with mobile devices
Conclusion
Is Grammarly worth your money? I’d say that depends on three factors: what you write, how often you write, and how proficient you are at editing on your own. If you’re constantly typing up formal documents, articles and emails that require impeccable spelling and grammar, a premium subscription to Grammarly may be just what you need. If, however, most of your writing consists of poetry or stories that experiment heavily with form and style, then a standard free grammar checker may suffice. Use your discretion when deciding how much help you really need to edit your work.
Based on my brief experience with it, Grammarly certainly seems to warrant the respect it gets, and though I may not need it now while my writing is concentrated in the experimental short story format, I may consider attaining a full subscription for future proofreading of my novels and academic papers (both of which are included in the aforementioned preset list). In any case, Grammarly has certainly gained this writer’s attention, and I believe it deserves the attention of any writer looking for a better automated editor than what the standard word processor has to offer. To paraphrase the famous proverb, your grammar is only as strong as your weakest misplaced comma.
Bonus: I used Grammarly to proofread the first draft of this blog post. Before editing and after including vocabulary and plagiarism checking, it came out to 35 critical issues and a score of 91 out of 100. Thanks, Grammarly!
Today’s creative writing post is brought to you by Grammarly, the World’s Best Grammar Checker. I was not compensated for this review. All opinions expressed here are my own. For more information on Grammarly, visit http://www.grammarly.com/grammar-check. Thanks for reading! Happy writing!
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