General Chat

Ithink that is very helpful to know Ann, and for myself what i once knew because of writing daily, I have now forgotten lol. Like this for example.....

"The semicolon (;) has only one major use. It is used to join two complete sentences into a single written sentence when all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The two sentences are felt to be too closely related to be separated by a full stop;
(2) There is no connecting word which would require a comma, such as and or but;
(3) The special conditions requiring a colon are absent.
Here is a famous example:
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
A semicolon can always, in principle, be replaced either by a full stop (yielding two separate sentences) or by the word and (possibly preceded by a joining comma). Thus Dickens might have written:

"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times."
or
"It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. "

Ah, that is better TW.

Can I say something without sounding like a school marm.
When I receive the individual pieces I copy and paste them into a word file. Word then highlights any spelling or grammatical mistakes. I guess that spellings are picked up and most of them will be typos anyway.
But, one thing that crops up is that when you put in punctuation such as a comma or inverted commas there should also be a space. (e.g. after a comma, there should be a space before the next word. Before inverted commas "there should be a space after the last word" and after the last inverted commas). Not drastic but if you were submitting it anywhere it may get rejected on that.

ok , i have descriptive words for all three elements..i now have to work out how they will fit together in a poem...

maybe tomorrow...lol

I didn't write that, I copied it, and that's what it said.

OK, your piece must include a horse, a canoe and a frozen lake. (each is an element, not elements OF them) *sigh*

It's a bit challenging this week isn't it LOL

I've written a poem, and it was the 'canoe' that prompted it :))

canoedling...?

or even bull****, Stella! pmsl

Canoe is the 'element' that gets me.

even horseflies...lol

Good tip, Ann....thanks:-) lol

And I am not sure either. Can we just use the words?

Erm, manure BC?????

TW (Dear Taskmaster:-), am having a dumb moment. Can you please explain what you mean by our new task......for instance elements of 'horse'? xx

we have to have a task master Teresa , or we would have nothing to focus our writing on...lol

xx

Taskmaster?

*sobs* lol

Ok had a bit of a break from reading...only Ann's 4th chapter to go, then I must start writing again....

Mmmmm...our task master has given me food for thought....

an awful lot of thought...lol

Thanks Teresa, definitely don't have anything in my life to base that little lot on so will have to have a real think about it.

I think I am up to date in my 'reviews'...lol...but am struggling over a little short story I have in my head. I keep changing their minds:-) XX

Thanks Teresa....

I've just sent out a 'comparison' piece as I said I would, to BCs... which I must remember to critique her on lol...I will try and catch up with everyone today, when I've got the washing on lol.

xx

...and for this week's set piece.

Today you must use the following vital elements in your piece of fiction or non-fiction. (or poetry) That’s the only rule. You don’t need to use the actual words, but all of the elements must be somewhere in your exercise:

1.Frozen lake
2.Canoe (or kayak)
3.Horse

No word limit on this one...wing it. lol