I joined NaBloPoMo

...which stands for National Blog Posting Month ( www.nablopomo.com). Basically, bloggers try to post every day for a month and there is a certain theme applied to each month, though it's not required. And since I really have been neglecting to write, I decided to sign up.
This month's theme is "tomorrow", so here goes.
Tomorrow is going to suck. Now, don't get me wrong; I'm usually an optimist, but increasingly this summer, I have found it very hard to be optimistic about the weather. I work on a farm, so I am completely at the mercy of the elements. Now in June and July, it was freezing and rainy, so when things started to turn around in August, we were all excited. But for the past week, we've been stuck in the complete other end of the spectrum. It's been nearly 100% humidity and in the nineties every single day, with no relief at night.
So that's why tomorrow is going to suck. I'm going to have to do back breaking labor in the boiling sun and feel like I'm going to faint half the time and still feel like I'm going to die once I get home because there's never any relief from the heat and it just sucks majorly.

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Warped Tour

To any of you who can make it to Warped Tour, be sure to check out the To Write Love on Her Arms tent/booth/thingy.

TWLOHA

Check out Renee Yohe's new book.

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To Write Love On Her Arms Pt 2

I know that I have never received aid from To Write Love on Her Arms nor have any of my friends, but in a way it is affecting my life retrospectively.
Freshman year, a friend and I got into a really rough patch because of another individual. They were abusive and depressed and suicidal and that in turn took a hit on my self esteem and the self esteem of my best friend, who was also involved in this situation. Things went downhill fast. There was always some sort of drama going on as the individual either threatened or attempted suicide or cut or abused drugs. And eventually, my friend, who didn't have a very stable family life, turned to these means too as a way of coping with her pain.
I was young and I had no idea how to handle this and so it spiraled out of control as I tried to help, which only ended up making it worse most of the time. Eventually, things only stopped when the individual moved away and in a huge argument, cut off all contact with my friend and I.
I eventually got over the immediate emotional pain, but I've always wished that I could have done something to help and that's where To Write Love On Her Arms comes in. I found them through Air1 and am now working as part of their street team so that I can do something, if not for my friends then for others.

To Write Love On Her Arms

Check out this cause. They do a lot for suicide prevention and give help which is desperately needed.

APLANG Vocab Packet: Miscellaneous

Conceit - an unusual comparison usually an extended metaphor
Didactic - preachy
Homily - a sermon
Invective - emotional verbal attack
Pedantic - an overly scholarly tone
Periodic sentence -a sentence with its central meaning in a main clause at the end of a sentence.
Predicate adjective - an adjective which follows a linking verb
Subordinate clause - a group of words with a subject and its verb that cannot stand alone.

APLANG Vocab Packet: T-Z

Technical Language (jargon) - the special vocabulary of a trade or profession. Writers who use technical language do so with an awareness of their audience. If the audience is a group of peers, technical language may be used freely. If the audience is a more general one, technical language should be used more sparingly and carefully so as not to sacrifice clarity.

Tension - in a work of literature, is a feeling of excitement and expectation the reader or audience feels because of the conflict, mood, or atmosphere of the work.

Texture - the way the elements of a work of prose or poetry are joined together. It suggests an association with the style of the author - whether, for instance, the author's prose is rough-hewn ( elements at odd with one another) or smooth and graceful (elements flow together naturally)

Theme - the central idea of a piece of work. There can be several themes in a single work.

Thesis - a statement of the main idea of an essay. also known as the controlling idea. may be implied rather than stated directly.

Title - a word or phrase set off at the beginning of an essay to identify the subject, to capture the main idea of the essay or to attract the reader's attention. A title may be explicit or suggestive. (Get your mind out of the gutter.) A subtitle, when used, extends or restricts the meaning of the main title.

Tone - can also be called attitude. is the way the author presents a subject. can be serious, scholarly, humorous, mournful, ironic, just to name a few. A particular tone results from a writer's diction, sentence structure, purpose, and attitude toward the subject. A correct perception of the author's tone is essential to understanding a particular literary work; misreading an ironic tone as a serious one, for instance, could lead you to miss the humor in a description or situation.

Topic sentence - states the central idea of a paragraph and thus limits and controls the subject of a paragraph. usually appears at the beginning of the paragraph, but can be put anywhere.

Transitions - words or phrases that link sentences, paragraphs, and larger units of a composition to achieve coherence. these devices include parallelism, pronoun reference, conjunction and the repetition of key ideas, as well as the many conventional transitional expressions such as moreover, on the other hand, in addition, in contrast, therefore.

Understatement - when an author assigns less significance to an event or thing than it deserves.

Voice - how the speaker of a literary work presents himself or herself to the reader. Can be loud or soft, personal or cold, strident or gentle, authoritative or hesitant or can have any manner or combination of characteristics.
Also a grammatical term e.g. active and passive verbs.

Writing process - consists of five stages: prewriting, writing drafts, revision, editing, and publication. not set in stone.

Zeguma - a particular breech of sense in a sentence. It occurs when a word is used with two adjacent words in the same construction but only makes literal sense with one of them e.g. "She carried an old tapestry bag and a walk that revealed a long history of injury".

APLANG Vocab Packet: R-S

Repetition - the reiteration of a word or phrase for emphasis

Revision - don't think you need this one, but if you do, message me.

Rhetoric/Rhetorical Purpose - Rhetoric is the art and logic of a written or spoken argument. Rhetorical writing is purposeful; examples of rhetorical purposes include to persuade, to analyze or to expose.

Rhetorical or stylistic devices - the specific language tools that an author uses to carry out a rhetorical strategy and thus achieve a purpose for writing. Some typical language devices include allusion, diction, imagery, syntax, selection of detail, figurative language and repetition.

Rhetorical Question - a question that is asked for the sake of argument. No direct answer is provided to rhetorical question; however, the probable answer to such a question is usually implied in the argument. Writers often use rhetorical questions to introduce topics they plan to discuss or to emphasize important points.

Rhetorical strategy - a plan of action or movement to achieve a goal. In rhetoric, strategy describes the way an author organizes words, sentences, and overall argument in order to achieve a particular purpose.

Satire - to ridicule or mock ideas, persons, events, or doctrines, or to make fun of human foibles or weaknesses. Gulliver's Travels are satires of particular people and events of Jonathan Swift's time.

Selection of Detail - the specific words, incidents, images or events the author uses to create a scene or narrative are referred to as the selection of detail.

Sequence - the order in which a writer presents information. writers commonly select chronological order, spatial order, order of importance, or order of complexity to arrange their points.

Simile - commonly used figure of speech which uses the words "like" or "as" e.g. He drank like a camel.

Slang - the unconventional, very informal language of particular subgroups of a culture. Slang, such as bummed, coke, split, dis, blow off, and hot are acceptable in formal writing only if it is used purposefully.

Slanting - the use of certain words or information that results in a biased point of view.

Speaker - the narrator of a story, poem or drama. The speaker should not be confused with the author, who creates the voice of the speaker; the speaker is a fictional persona.

Specific/General - General words name groups or classes of objects, qualities or actions. Specific words, in contrast, name individual objects, qualities or actions within a class or group. To some extent, the terms general and specific are relative. For example, dessert is a class of things. Pie, however is more specific than dessert but more general than pumpkin pie.
Good writing judiciously balances the general with the specific. Writing with too many general words is likely to be dull and lifeless; they do not create vivid responses in the reader's mind as concrete specific words can. However, writing that relies exclusively on specific words may lack focus and direction, the control that more general statements can provide.

Strategy - the means by which a writer achieves his or her purpose. May include rhetorical decisions the writer makes about organization, paragraph structure, syntax and diction.

Style - the individual manner in which a writer expresses his or her ideas. The author's particular selection of words, construction of sentences and arrangement of ideas create style.

Subject - its content, what the essay is about. Depending on the author's purpose and the constraints of space, a subject may range from one that is broadly conceived to one that is narrowly defined.

Syllogism - an argument that utilizes deductive reasoning and consists of a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion e.g.

• All trees that lose leaves are deciduous (major premise)
• Maple trees lose their leaves (minor premise)
• Therefore, maple trees are deciduous (conclusion)

Symbol - a person, place or thing that represents something beyond itself. the beaver = Canada. bald eagle = america Literary symbols often refer to or stand for a complex set of ideas. The moors in Wuthering Heights symbolize the wild and complex relationship of Catherine and Heathcliff.

Synonym - a word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word.

Syntax - the way words are arranged in a sentence. The following two sentences share a similar meaning but have different syntax, or word order. "The big blue sky beckoned her" "She was beckoned by the big blue sky"

APLANG Vocab Packet: L-P

Logical Fallacies - an error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid. Some of the more common logical fallacies are

• Oversimplicfication - the tendency to provide simple solutions to complex problems e.g. The reason we have inflation today is that OPEC has unreasonably raised the price of oil.
• Non sequitur ("It does not follow") - an inference or conclusion that does not follow from established premises or evidence e.g. It was the best movie I saw this year so it should get an academy award.
• Post hoc, ergo propter hoc (After this, therefore because of this) - Confusing chance or coincidence with causation. Because one event comes after another one, it does not necessarily mean that the first event caused the second e.g. I won't say that I caught cold at the hockey game, but I certainly didn't have it before I went there.
• Begging the question - Assuming in a premise that needs to be proven e.g. If American auto workers built a better product, foreign auto sales would not be so high.
• False analogy - making a misleading analogy between logically unconnected ideas e.g. He was a brilliant basketball player, therefore, there's no question in my mind that he will be a fine coach.
• Either/or thinking - the tendency to see an issue as having only two sides e.g. Used car salespeople are either honest or crooked.

Logos - the use of reason as a controlling principle in an argument. In rhetorical writing, authors often attempt to persuade readers by appealing to their sense of logos, or reason.
A type of argumentative proof having to do with the logical qualities of an argument: data, evidence, factual information.

Metaphor - don't think you need this one. message me if you do.

Metonymy - figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it. For example, a crown in associated with royalty, and is often used as a metonym for royal authority: "The edict issued today by the Crown forbids grazing in the commons".

Mood - the prevailing or dominant feeling of a work, scene or event. Mood is similar to, but not the same as, atmosphere.

Narration - one of the four basic types of prose. To narrate is to tell a story. Most often used in fiction, but is often used in nonfiction in conjunction with other types of prose.

Objective/Subjective - Objective writing is factual and impersonal whereas subjective writing, sometimes called impressionistic writing, relies heavily on personal interpretation.

Onomatopoeia - an effect created by words that have sounds that reinforce their meaning e.g. zoom, crash, screech, hiss, swish, splash

Opinion - a belief or conclusion not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof. An opinion reveals personal feelings or attitudes or states a position. Opinion should not be confused with argument.

Organization - thoughtful arrangement and presentation of one's points or ideas. Narration is most often organized chronologically, while exposition may be organized from simplest to most complex. There is no single correct pattern of organization for a given piece of writing but good writers are careful to discover an order of presentation suitable for their audience and their purpose.

Overview - a brief summary of the whole work

Oxymoron - combining two contradictory words in one expression e.g. wild docility

Pacing - speed of a story's action dialogue or narration. some stories are told slowly. Events happen at certain speeds according to the narrator's purpose. For example, action movies are often fast paced, but when their pacing slows, the audience knows that the section is being given special emphasis.

Paradox - a seeming contradiction that in fact reveals some truth. e.g. he lifted himself up by his bootstraps (physically impossible, and thus reveals the enormity of the person's achievement)

Paragraph - don't think you need this one, but message me if you do.

Parallelism - a literary technique that relies on the use of the same syntactical structures (phrases, clauses, sentences) in a series in order to develop an argument or emphasize an idea.
Parallel structure is the repetition of word order or form either within a single sentence or in several sentences that develop the same central idea e.g. "At sea, on land, in the air, we will be loyal to the very end" "I see one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished."

Parody - an effort to ridicule or make fun of a literary work or an author by writing an imitation of the work or an author's style.

Pathos - a sympathetic feeling of pity or compassion evoked by an artistic work. In rhetorical writing, authors often attempt to persuade readers by appealing to their sense of pathos, or their emotions.
A type of argumentative proof having to do with audience: emotional language, connotative diction and appeals to certain values.

Person - a grammatical term that describes the relationship of a writer or a speaker to an audience by examining the pronouns that are used. Depending on the choice of pronoun, narration is said to be written in first person (I, we), second person (you/y'all) or third person (he, she, it, they)

Persona - the character created by the voice and the narration of the speaker of a text. The term "persona" implies a fictional representation or an act of disguise (that the speaker is not the author, but a created character)

Personification - a figure of speech in which ideas or objects are described as having human qualities or personalities e.g. The saddened birch trees were bent to the ground, laden with ice; they groaned and shivered in the cold winds.

Point of view - the particular perspective from which a story is told e.g. subjective, omniscient, limited third person, first person.

Prewriting - the steps taken before actually writing a piece - deciding topic and purpose/audience, researching, brainstorming, making connections

Process analysis - type of exposition. Answers the question "how?". Explains how something works or gives step-by-step directions for doing something.

Publication - when the writer shares his or her writing with the intended audience. Can take the form of a typed or oral presentation. The important part is that the writer's words are read in what amounts to their final form.

Pun - a play on words. created by using a word that has two different meanings or using two different words with similar meanings.

purpose - what the writer wants to accomplish in a particular piece of writing.

APLANG Vocab Packet: F-J

Fact - a piece of information presented as having verifiable certainty or reality

Figures of speech - brief imaginative comparisons that highlight the similarities between things that are basically dissimilar. Also known as similes, metaphors, and personification.

Fiction -comes from a latin word meaning to invent, form or imagine. Works of fiction can be based on actual occurrences but their status as fiction means that something has been imagined or invented in the telling of the occurrence.

Figurative language - umbrella term for all uses of language that imply an imaginative comparison. e.g. "You've just earned your wings", similes, metaphors, symbols

Focus - the limitation that a writer gives their subject. The writer's task is to select a manageable topic given the constraints of time, space, and purpose.

Foreshadowing - a purposeful hint placed in a work of literature to suggest what may occur later in the narrative

Grammar - a set of rules that specify how a given language is ued effectively

Hyperbole - a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used to achieve emphasis. The emphasis is on exaggeration rather than literal representation. Hyperbole is the opposite of understatement. e.g. "my feet are as cold as an iceberg." "I'll die if I don't see you soon"

Idiom - a word or a phrase that is used habitually with a particular meaning in a language. The meaning of an idiom is not always readily apparent to nonnative speakers of that language. e.g. catch cold, hold a job, make up your mind, give them a hand.

Image - a mental picture that is conjured by specific words and associations, but there can be auditory and sensory components to imagery as well. Nearly all writing depends on imagery to effective and imagery. Used by metaphors similes, symbols and personification.

Induction - process of reasoning to a conclusion about all members of a class through an examination of only a few members of the class. This form of reasoning moves from the particular to the general.

Irony - Irony occurs when a situation produces an outcome that is the opposite of what is expected. Also when an author uses words are phrases that are in opposition to each other to describe a person or idea, an ironic tone results.

Juxtaposition - when two contrasting things - ideas, words or sentence elements - are placed next to each other for comparison. Juxtaposition sheds light on both elements in the comparison

APLANG Vocab Packet: D-E

Deduction - process of reasoning from a stated premise to a necessary conclusion. this form of reasoning moves from the general to the specific.

Definition - one of the types of exposition. It is the statement of the meaning of a word. May be either brief or extended, part of an essay, or the entire essay.

Description - one of the four basic types of prose. TElls how a person, place or thing is perceived by the five senses. Objective description reports these sensory qualities factually, while subjective description gives the writer's interpretation of them.

Dialogue - the talking in a piece of writing. helps to reveal aspects of characters' personalities as well as plot events.

Diction - a writer's choice of words. "That guy was really mad!" vs. "The gentleman was considerably irritated." Also contributes to tone.

Division - opposite of classification. breaking down a single large unit into smaller subunits.

Dominant expression - single mood, atmosphere, or quality a writer emphasizes in a piece of descriptive writing.

Draft - I don't think you need this, but if you do, message me.

Editing - see above.

Elegiac - an elegy is a work of music, literature, dance or art that expresses sorrow. It mourns the loss of something, such as the death of a loved one.

Emphasis - the placement of important ideas and words within sentences and longer units of writing so that they have the greatest impact. End = greatest impact. Beginning = close second. Middle = not so much.

Essay - relatively short piece of nonfiction.

Ethos - characteristic spirit or ideal that informs a work. In "The Country of the Pointed Firs" (a.k.a. Maine) by Sarah Orne Jewett, the ethos of the work is derived from the qualities of the inhabitants who are described as both noble and caring.
Ethos also refers more generally to ethics or values of an arguer: honesty, trustworthiness, even morals. In rhetorical writing, authors often attempt to persuade readers by appealing to their sense of ethos, or ethical principles.

Euphemism - mild or pleasant sounding expression that substitutes for a harsh, indelicate or simply less pleasant idea. Often used to soften the impact of what is being discussed e.g. departed vs. dead, in the family way vs. pregnant

Evaluation - assessment of the effectiveness or merit of a piece of writing. basically reading actively/Why is the author telling me this now?/Soapstone

Evidence - proof/support. usually empirical data, examples, illustrations or opinions of authorities.

Examples - illustrate a larger idea or represent something of which they are a part. A basic means of developing or clarifying ideas. Showing, not telling.

Exemplification - the use of examples. type of exposition.

Exposition - one of the four basic types of prose. Its purpose is to clarify, explain and inform.
Writing or speech that is organized to explain.

APLANG Vocab Packet: B-C

Bathos - a false or forced emotion that is often humorous. Whereas pathos draws upon deep emotion, bathos takes tihs emotion to such an extreme that the reader often finds it humorous.

Beginnings/Endings - I think you probably don't need this one. but message me if you do.

Cause and Effect Analysis - one of the types of exposition. Answers the question "Why?". Explains the reasons for an occurrence or the consequences of an action.

Claim - the thesis or proposition put forth in an argument

Classification - along with division, is one of the types of exposition. when classifying, the writer arranges and sorts people, places or things into categories. makes things more manageable and understandable.

Cliche - an expression which has become ineffective through overuse. Good writers try to avoid these. e.g quick as a flash, dry as dust, jump for joy, slow as molasses

Coherence - quality of good writing that results when all sentences, paragraphs, and longer divisions of an essay are naturally connected. Achieved through 1. a logical sequence of ideas 2. thoughtful repetition of key words and ideas 3. a pace suitable for your topic and your reader and 4. use of transitional words and expressions. NOT THE SAME THING AS UNITY.

Colloquial expressions - characteristic of or appropriate to spoken language or to writing that seeks its effect. Colloquial expressions are informal. only acceptable in formal writing if they are used purposefully. e.g. chem, gym, come up with, won't, photo

Comparison and Contrast - one of the types of exposition. The writer points out similarities and differences between two or more subjects in the same class or category. function = to clarify and reach a conclusion about the items being compared/contrasted.

Concrete/Abstract - a concrete word names a specific object, person, place or action that can be directly perceived by the senses. e.g. bread, building, book, Abraham Lincoln, Toronto, hiking. An abstract word, in contrast, refers to general qualities, conditions, ideas, actions or relationships which cannot be directly perceived by the senses e.g. stress, bravery, dedication, hunger, hatred, love

Connotation/Denotation - both refer to the meaning of a word. Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word/literal meaning. Connotation is the implied or suggested meaning of a word. The denotation of a lamb is "a young sheep" but its connotations are many: gentle, weak, docile, pure, peaceful, sacrificial, blood, spring, frisky

Contrast - also known as oppositions. help writers to expand on their ideas by showing both what something is and what it is not.

APLANG Vocab Packet: A

Ad Hominem Argument _ comes from the Latin phrase meaning “to the Man”. It refers to an argument that attacks the opposing speaker or another person rather than addressing the issues at hand.

Allegory – an allegory is a fictional work in which the characters represent ideas or concepts. In Paul Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, for example, the characters named Faithful, Mercy and Mr. Worldly Wiseman are clearly meant to represent types of people rather than to be characters in their own rights.

Alliteration – repetition of consonant sounds usually at the beginning of words

Allusion – a passing reference to a familiar person, place or thing drawn from history, the bible, mythology or literature. It is an economical way for a writer to capture the essence of an idea, atmosphere, emotion or historical era e.g. “The scandal was his Watergate” “He saw himself as a modern Job” “Everyone there held those truths to be self-evident.” Allusions should be familiar to the reader or else it will add nothing to the meaning.

Ambiguity – When something is ambiguous, it is uncertain or indefinite; it is subject to more than one interpretation.

Analogy - asks a reader to think about the correspondence or resemblance between two things that are essentially different; a form of comparison in which the writer explains something unfamiliar by comparing it to something familiar e.g. The pond was as smooth as a mirror

Analytical Reading - same thing as active reading.

Anteceedent - every pronoun refers back to a previous noun or pronoun - the anteceedent. e.g. the car he wanted to buy was a green one. one = car

Antithesis - opposition or contrast of ideas that is often expressed in balanced phrases or clauses. e.g. Whereas he was boisterous, I was reserved.

Apostrophe - figure of speech in which an absent person or personified object is addressed by a speaker. e.g. Oh love, where have you gone? love = apostrophe

Apotheosis - derived from greek word meaning to deify. Occurs in literature when a character or thing is elevated to such a high status that it appears godlike.

Attitude - the feelings of a particular speaker or piece of writing towards a subject, person, or idea. same thing as tone.

Audience - the intended readership for a piece of writing.

Appositive - word or phrase that follows a noun or pronoun for emphasis or clarity. usually set off by commas. e.g. The luxury train, the Orient Express, crosses Europe... Orient Express = appositive

Argument - one of the four basic types of prose. To argue is to attempt to convince the reader to agree with a point of view, to make a given decision or to pursue a particular course of action. Logical argument is based on reasonable explanations and appeals to the reader's intelligence.

Assertion - the thesis or proposition that a writer puts forth in an argument

Assonance - basically the same thing as an alliteration, but vowel sounds instead of consonants.

Assumption - a belief or principle, stated or implied, that is taken for granted.

Asyndeton - when conjunctions that would normally connect a string of words/phrases/clauses are omitted from a sentence. e.g. I came, I saw, I conquered.

Atmosphere - same thing as mood.