Images

Tuesday Two

Tuesday Two

Write a story with only two sentences. Use the photo for inspiration if you wish.

Photo by Jorgen Hendriksen on Unsplash.

A residential area where all the homes have the same terracotta roofs and rectangular, turquoise pools.

Monday Muddle: letdown, let down

Monday Muddle
Monday Muddle: letdown (noun) disappointment; frustration; disillusionment; anticlimax; setback let down: (verb phrase) disappoint; lower; begin landing an aircraft; lengthen; give bad news Examples in caption.

Examples: 

His last book was a letdown. (Noun=disappointment)

I let down my friends when I cancelled at the last minute. (Verb phrase=disappointed)

I let down the rope ladder so she could join us in the tree house. (Verb phrase=lowered)

I was still a good distance from the airport when I started to let down. (Verb phrase=to descend before landing an airplane)

I let down the hem of his pants because he has grown two inches this month. (Verb phrase=to lengthen)

We let down the participants as gently as we could when we cancelled the festival for the second year. (Verb phrase=give bad news)

The object of the verb can also be placed between “let” and “down”. If that is the case, then you know it needs a space.

Wednesday Writing

Wednesday Writing

I have a long list of words that I could choose from, but if there is a word that you often see confused with another, I’m happy to take requests too. The most common muddle in your circles may not be the same as the most common in mine. I want to share what will help you most.

What word mix-ups would you like explained in a Monday Muddle?

Tuesday Two

Tuesday Two

Write a story with only two sentences. Use the photo for inspiration if you wish.

Photo by Paolo Nicolello on Unsplash.

An ivory coloured horse with a dark sandy coloured mane hanging down over its eyes.

Monday Muddle: barely, barley

Monday Muddle

“It’s barely there” does not mean the same as “it’s barley there”. The former means that something scarcely exists. The latter is pointing out a plant or grain.

Monday Muddle: barely, barley barely: (adverb) hardly; scarcely; by a very little; sparsely; almost inconceivably; only just barley: (noun) a grain used for food and in the making of beer; the plant from which the grain is harvested

Wednesday Writing

Wednesday Writing

Fame, fortune, creating a business, or just sharing your story? How you define success depends on your goals. What does success as a writer mean to you?

What does success as a writer mean to you?

Tuesday Two

Tuesday Two

Write a story with only two sentences. Use the photo for inspiration if you wish.

Photo by Max on Unsplash.

Looking down on a sandy beach with some large rocks in between a green forest and turquoise water.

Monday Muddle; about, a bout

Monday Muddle

For some reason, when a noun is preceded by the indefinite article “a”, people like to delete the space between them and turn them into adverbs or prepositions, for example. It’s a mistake seen frequently with “a part”, but also with other combinations. The most common example of the space elimination trend is “a lot”, but deleting that space doesn’t actually create a new word.

The same problem doesn’t seem to exist with nouns preceded by the indefinite article “an”.

Monday Muddle: about: (adverb) approximately, almost, in the opposite direction; in no particular direction; all around; (preposition) on the subject of; in the vicinity of; (adjective) nearby bout: (noun) contest, match; period of time, especially to deal with something (e.g. a bout of the flu) Often preceded by the indefinite article "a".