![]() ![]() I would’ve never been this brave in real life. ‘Of course’, he murmured, ‘I can’t be alive anymore. This time the only answer he receives is the faint sound of jingling bells. I’ve been waiting for you.’Įven though Jack is still convinced that no one is really talking to him, he can’t resist asking the voice a question, although he really doesn’t expect an answer. After a while the same voice speaks again, but more distant, like it’s traveling with the wind now. Enjoy! Written by Diandra ter Haar (Short Story Writing for Magazines Course)Īll around him, lonely crickets are calling for company and in his chest, his heartbeat is slow and steady, even though his mind is working overtime. There were thousands of great pieces to choose from, so we randomly selected excerpts from our list of favourites. E.The following unedited snippets of creative writing come from students’ assignments on our Short Story Writing Courses, Novel Courses, Scriptwriting and the Basics of Creative Writing Courses.Am I a Grammar Snob? - Write with Jean on Parallel Construction.Crafting Better Sentences: Use “That” Carefully.Crafting Better Sentences: Use “It” Carefully.Crafting Better Sentences: Use “However” Carefully.Crafting Better Sentences: Use “And” Carefully.Crafting Better Sentences: Use “Although” Carefully.Sample Essay: The Magic of Ballroom Dancing.Quiz ANSWERS: Do You Know How to Write an Essay?.Quiz: Do You Know How to Write an Essay?.Business Writing Tip #3: Be Professional.What Your English Teacher Didn’t Tell You.You can purchase Jean's book in paperback and Kindle editions from (paid link). Perhaps it happens more to others than would normally be brought up in conversation. ![]() One can glance dubiously at various dictionary pages, for what they include or for the lack of what is expected to be on those pages. I recall when I do get a sense of being convinced that certain forms don’t sound right, it can be a real challenge to adapt. Unfortunately many have not been retained by my memory, with my mind possibly deciding they do not sound correct now.Īt least I have been through the mind opening process before, when young. Then it takes some time to recall that I hunted down the various usages as a teen and discussed them with others. I actually find this happens more and more as I age, a surety over the use of language forms until I hunt further. In my case it was a case of a bad memory and the mind then choosing one or two forms instead, because it has been a long time since hearing the third form, spit. We agreed that spit in the past tense didn’t ring well. Your conception of the use of spit in the past was spat, whilst mine was either spat or spitted. It took me a while and a couple of web pages to remember that the same form as the present tense, spit, can also be used for the past with this verb. I imagined there was just a lapse with the writer forming the phrasal verb from the basic verb. My only thought was that if the past tense of spit is spitted or spat then any phrasal verb would follow the same form. For some reason, not long awakened this morning, it sounded off. I found this page because I was watching a documentary on Modigliani, who “spit up blood”, the narrator said. Past tense of spit – three possibilities: spit, spat and spitted, all of those. Of course that’s a very subjective approach – but sometimes it’s the only choice we have.Įnglish is always changing, and words are always sliding in and out of our language. My policy is to stick with whatever sounds right to me. It didn’t even mention spitted or spit for the past tense. The other two said that both spit or spat could be used in the past tense.Ī grammar website agreed with me that spat is the correct choice for the past tense. Really? I’ve never heard anyone say “spitted.” One gave the preferred past tense and past participle as… spitted. “using a sample of saliva that is spat into a vial….” “Other methods, using a sample of saliva that is spit into a vial, are being introduced in a small number of states but are not widely available yet.” In a paragraph about COV-19 tests performed at the convent, I found this sentence: Last week’s Times included a sad story about five retired nuns who died of COV-19. ![]() “ Spat on, Yelled at, Attacked: Chinese in U.S. Fear for Safety.” Here’s how I would have written it: Twice recently the New York Times has made mistakes with the word “spit.” Or maybe they haven’t made mistakes with “spit.”Ī few weeks ago I wrote a post about this headline from the March 23 Times: “Spit on, Yelled at, Attacked: Chinese in U.S. ![]()
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