Example of "nouny" language:

The prediction of the existence of antiparticles was made by Dirac in 1927 and its confirmation was an important reason for the construction of the Beavatron at Berkeley in 1954.

Mr. Follett's correction:

Dirac predicted in 1927 that antiparticles exist.  Once this statement was confirmed, the Bevatron was built in 1954.

-Taken from Oops, whose grammar book is this anyway?  p. 212.


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If you haven't noticed already, I love Malcolm Gladwell.  Not because I agree with everything he says, but because I love his hair.  And it almost seems as if he's the biggest pothead in the world yet he sounds so intellectual.

Haha, but really, I love Gladwell due to his story telling ability.  He has the ability to spin seemingly pedestrian stories into something magical.  Who knew that we can learn so much from spaghetti sauce?




Skip to 1:28 to hear Malcolm Gladwell

to be writing without to be, and "-tions"

Have you ever tried writing without some form of the verb, "to be?"  It is quite difficult, and as you can see, it took me two sentences until I used the most popular verb in the English language.  If you did not know, the verb "to be" has eight different conjugations: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been.  From this point on, I shall attempt to write this post without using any forms of "to be" unless I explicitly intend to, or in the progressive form (as in 'he was running' - running is the real verb, not was). I will also attempt to rid of "-tions" and unnecessary nouns from my writing.  Here we go:

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I absolutely hate trenching through piles of nouns and weak verbs that link them.  I do not understand why people love to make a statement when they can state their view.  I believe that their preference for nouns undermine their ability to write because they should really prefer verbs.  From time to time, government employees may find that communication through nouns and passive voice will yield better results, but in most cases, writers should really communicate.  So stop it with the obliteration of verbs before you obliterate the English language and annoy your audience beyond disbelief.  The deterioration deteriorates. 

I never had problems writing without "to be" in college, but now I do, which shows my weakening writing skills.  A fledgling high school student may believe writing with multiple "-tions" and "-ments" reflects professionalism when in reality, it only reflects their lack of understanding of the English language.

So remember - do not try to search for expressions, but please express yourself.

Malcolm Gladwell on writing

"it's like umm... playing a piano.  In a sense that if you want to be a writer, you have to write and you have to write everyday... and if you don't write everyday, then your technique suffers.  And uh... and also you have to be willing to do twenty drafts.

Whenever I talk to young writers starting out and they are curious about the process, I always ask them, 'well, how many drafts do you normally do?'  They always radically underestimate it.  They do two drafts and they get discouraged they say, 'well, I've written something that's terrible.'

Well, everything I write after two drafts is terrible too.  I mean, everyone's stuff is terrible unless you're some kind of... Picasso.  It took me a long time to learn that but it's the most valuable lesson I've learned.

Even when you're experienced, it doesn't come easy, and it shouldn't come in easy.  If it comes in easy then you're not doing it right."

Writing practice

I feel the urgent need to brush up on my writing skills.  Upon graduating college many years ago, I had few chances to concoct together coherent and succinct essays, and my writing skills have gone downhill.  Yes, posting indelible pictures on blogspot is fun, but my urgent need lies in resurrecting my writing skills.  I suppose this is my desert for letting life pass me by.

I don't know why I use big words when I tell myself to write better.  I think it's elementary to believe that good writing primarily comes from larger vocabulary, especially nouns and adjectives.  Of course, nouns and adjectives are important to a degree, but I believe factors such as verb choice, utilization of phrases over clauses, coherent logic, and succinct expression play bigger role in developing a sense of elegant style. 

First things first, I must rid of all forms of "to be's" in my writing.  Well, everything except for the progressive form that is.  But since I feel like going out for a smoothie, I shall write more about this matter later...

Dear US Government

please hire me.

Depletion

I'm quickly exhausting all photographic possibilities in this room.  Okay, that's pretty much impossible, but I'm running out of ideas.

Enjoy:

Sports, Athletics

(for my blogging purposes, I will define sports as an athletic activity)

Some people believe that sports are pointless, and it's quite idiotic for grown up adults to chase after a ball per se.  I disagree.  Sports do have a point - it's a tribute to human anatomy.  Athletes are at the pinnacle of physical performance and they constantly push themselves to test the limitation of human beings.

Let's face it - anatomy is important and proper respect should be given.  We are not brains in a vat floating around space. 

With that said, I need to lose some weight.