Single inverted commas

Although it is usual to enclose a word under discussion in single inverted commas, I have chosen instead to emphasise it in red to prevent confusion with apostrophes.
These posts are always short and clear so that they can be read easily on a mobile if you follow by email (the red may not show, however!) This is completely free.



Monday, 21 September 2026

The Great Chain of Being

The concept of a chain of all creation, firmly in place and indisputable was widely upheld in the Middle Ages and through to Shakespeare.

It maintained that there is a rightful hierarchy which must not be broken and it is the exact opposite of our modern egalitarian view of life.

At the top was God and below Him came the angels. Man was next and was considered less spiritual than those above but with a capacity for reason which kept him above the category below him, animals. Plants followed and at the bottom were minerals. 

Within these groups there was also a ladder which makes quite comical reading nowadays when we do not pay attention to the exact position of prawns in a paradigm of life.



Sunday, 20 September 2026

Kennings and Homeric epithets

An Anglo-Saxon kenning is a descriptive pfrase which replaces the noun: 

The ship sailed over the whale-road.


A Homeric epithet is an adjectival phrase which adds to the noun:

The ship sailed over the wine-dark sea. It usually has two words: bright-eyed; rosy fingered.

Saturday, 19 September 2026

Two words you must not use in a literary essay.

 Upset and incredibly are inappropriate in formal writing. Upset is too colloquial and bland and incredibly means the opposite of what it says. 

Thursday, 25 June 2015

Verbal, oral and aural

Strictly, verbal means "in words" and refers to something written whereas oral means spoken. Aural refers to the sense of hearing.

Thursday, 11 June 2015

Practical Criticism

This is a method of approaching a text, often a poem, where the reader or student is given no background information about authorship, date or background. The analysis must therefore concentrate on the words on the page and devices used. It has fallen out of fashion recently since its promotion by I. A. Richards in the 1920's but it can be a useful method of ensuring a fresh response to a work.

Monday, 25 May 2015

Tautology and pleonasm

These two terms are similar in meaning as both refer to unnecessary words. Some critics regard them as interchangeable but there is a useful difference.

Tautology refers to the repetition of words with the same meaning: big, huge, large man
Pleonasm occurs when the idea contained in one word is repeated by another: huge giant.
Pleonasm could be seen as a sub-type of tautology. The adjectives are: tautologous and pleonastic
Repetition can be used effectively for emphasis.

Monday, 4 May 2015

Principal and principle

These two words sound alike and so it is only in writing that their endings are confused.
Principal means head or chief and you can see the a in both. You could also think that the Principal of your school will never be your pal.
Principle means a belief and a way of remembering it is to think of asking someone to follow it please where you can see the ple in both.