Have you ever noticed how poor the quality of advertisements catered to the elderly are? Case in point, the Rascal commercial, that one for Life Alert, AARP Supplemental Medical Insurance, the list goes on and on. It’s like the companies are saying, “We realize there’s a market for this, we’re just not willing to invest a lot of time or money into a dying demographic when the retention rate is so low.” Sorry, but it’s true. They’re offensive. I pay all this money for HDTV and have to suffer through ten minutes of low quality, poorly targeted commercials an hour.
Writing Tip: How To Detect And Correct Nominalizations
A nominalization is a noun you’ve created from a verb or adjective.
Nominalization: The screeching unnerved the rookie.
Screeching is a noun form of the verb to screech. This sentence is weak because readers don’t know who is screeching. When you use the verb to screech you giver yourself room to identify the noisemaker.
Better: The uncooperative suspect screeched, unnerving the rookie.
Nominalizations contain up to three elements. Sometimes you see only one or two of them; other times, all three appear.
- A word such as a, an, the, his, her, these, or several.
- A noun such as utilization, sadness or taking. This is the only element that always appears in nominalizations.
- The word of.
Nominalization: The last step was the collection of the victim’s dust bunnies.
Here the verb to collect has become the noun collection. This sentence is vague because it doesn’t specify who is collecting the evidence. All becomes clear when you use the verb to collect as well as a specific subject.
Better: The forensics team collected the victim’s dust bunnies just before leaving the scene.
Now let’s do an examination of–oops, I mean let’s examine–a nominalization with two elements.
Nominalization: The senior citizen responded to the would-be robber with an exclamation: “Get your hands off my dentures!”
Here the verb to exclaim has become the noun exclamation. Let’s improve the sentence.
Better: The senior citizen exclaimed to the would-be robber, “Get your hands off my dentures!”
Finally, here’s a nominalization with just one element.
Nominalization: Happiness was evident after the clown was arrested.
The sentence is poor because it fails to mention who is happy.
Better: The detective was happy after she arrested the clown.
Nouns that end in -tion and -ing are often nominalizations. Even the word nominalization is a nominalization (it comes from the verb to nominalize).
WHY SHOULD YOU AVOID NOMINALIZATIONS
- Nominalizations allow you to omit the subject. When you don’t say who is doing the action, your sentences become vague.
- Nominalizations often force you to use weak verbs. Vague subjects go hand in hand with weak verbs such as to be and to do. Although these verbs are integral parts of English, your writing can get rather monotonous if every sentence contains a was or were.
- Nominalizations are often wordy. When you reword nominalizations, your sentences usually become more concise.
WHEN IT’S OKAY TO USE NOMINALIZATIONS
You should use a specific subject in most cases. However, a nominalization is acceptable if you don’t know who is doing the action, or if the subject is unimportant.
The disappearance of every rat in town puzzled the police.
Paraphrased from The Curious Case Of The Misplaced Modifier by Bonnie Trenga ISBN: 978-1-58297-561-2
Quote
I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter. –James Michener
Writing Tip: Write Short Paragraphs
Your writing will be faster, livelier, and clearer if you write short paragraphs. The reader will welcome the break and the white space. You will be less likely to get tied up in verbal knots. Your thoughts will be better organized and more succinctly expressed. You and the reader will find it easier to locate specific statements.
Taken from “100 Ways To Improve Your Writing” by Gary Provost ISBN 978-0-451-62721-6
Writing Tip: When To Use Passive Voice
There is plenty to draw from when it comes to using Active Voice (i.e. AV). It’s use is preferred over its evil step brother, Passive Voice, and therefore affords plenty of instruction on when and how to use it. Whether we like it or not, once in a while the Passive Voice (i.e. PV) enters our writing in such a way that it seems appropriate. Almost as if it belongs there. Sometimes it does! Now, before the rule writers roll over in their graves and begin clawing at coffin lids to escape and haunt me, let me explain:
In most cases, it would be better to write in the AV. Why? Because with AV, the subject rather than the object is the focus of the sentence. In fact, in many cases, PV allows you to omit the subject all together. And because AV is almost always more concise, vigorous, and authoritative which is generally the aim of all good writing: To say the most with the fewest number of words in the clearest possible way. There ARE times, however, when PV is not only acceptable, but preferred over AV–the Golden Child of the English language. Here are a few examples:
- When the focus is being done to something rather than by something.
The wedding cake had to be carried by by eight strong waiters rather than Eight strong waiters had to carry the wedding cake. In this example the wedding cake, not the waiters, is the focus of this sentence. - When the doer can be inferred or is not of interest.
It would be better to say The cake wasn’t served until two in the morning rather than The waiters didn’t serve the cake until two in the morning. - To avoid using first-person singular pronouns.
For example, instead of I randomly assigned the subjects to each group, saying Subjects were randomly assigned to each group. Here again, the focus of the writing is on what is being done, not on who is doing it. - To avoid all-male pronouns.
Instead of saying The average driver trades in HIS car every four years, you could say The average car is traded in every four years. - To deliberately deflect responsibility or conceal information.
Saying It has been alleged that Mr. Brandon knew about the takeover for months in advance is not the same as saying Mrs. Reisman has alleged that Mr. Brandon knew about the takeover for months in advance. That is, ambiguity in writing is not always the result of carelessness or inattention; sometimes it is quite deliberate. - To vary sentence structure.
Use it simply to avoid monotony. Wording every sentence the same way makes for tedious reading.
Paraphrased from Grammatically Correct by Anne Stilman ISBN 0-89879-776-4
Writing Tip: Omit Needless Words
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
–William Strunk and E.B. White, The Elements of Style
Writing Tip: Use Active Verbs
Active verbs DO something. Inactive verbs ARE something.
Bad: The grandfather clock was in one corner, and three books were on top of it.
Better: The grandfather clock towered in one corner, and three books lay on top of it.
Taken from “100 Ways To Improve Your Writing” by Gary Provost ISBN 978-0-451-62721-6
Romantic Comedy
Recently my Fiance’, whom I had been with for the past five years, dumped me. Not only did the initial sting intensify with the settling in of separate lives, but the endless string of payments on a pricey engagement ring are little monthly reminders all screaming, “You giant tool.”
Truth is, I was miserable, too. She wanted me to be someone I’m not (Jake Gyllenhaal I think). And I wanted her to be someone she isn’t (A wife and the mother of my unborn children). I’m still looking for a wife and want children more and more each day. Really, I think I want a reason to wake up everyday that involves more than just me doing “X” (read: work, reading, writing, viewing virus riddled videos filled with poor acting and great lighting, etc). So, in my desperate attempt at uncovering the hidden qualities that make men desirable mates for suitable wives and future mothers I turned to the Dalai Lama of modern romantics, Matthew McConaughey.
Why him? Because he’s been in more of those types of movies than Bradley Cooper. Because, in his worst day, he is everything that men strive to be (to women), and because, if given the opportunity, I would sleep with Matthew McConaughey–just kidding. But all kidding aside, he’s been in plenty of movie depicting the “sail away into the sunset” endings we have all been fed since birth. Problem is–it’s bullsh**!
Okay, in all fairness, I should offer myself for rebuke from the masses (which, btw, is who I hope finds this blog). So, if you have a “sailed into the sunset” type of relationship, now is your chance to rebut me. I’ll be back momentarily.
Okay, looking here while swallowing the last bite of a turkey on rye and–damn. Just as I thought. No rebuts. Why? Because as human beings we are all wired to have flaws and see the flaws in everyone else and everything else. But we are all secretly hopeless romantics who filter our world views through Matthew McConaughey’s eyes. We weigh our realities against the illusion that everything will eventually work out in the end, and you know what–sometimes it does.
So, because this isn’t a therapy session or the sequel to “Eat, Pray, Love” I will make my point and conclude. In addition to being hopeless romantics, we are also a species that believes in fairy tales to the point that we judge reality against a weighted scale of fantasy endings. It sounds sad, but in truth, these stories exemplify that which is at the depth of our cores: The desire to love and to be loved; the need for companionship; to care for someone and be cared for in return. Or, in my case, to not die alone, wallowing in a pool of self loathing, Bourbon soaked depression believing that the only suitable mate was there and I lost her. She was beautiful, funny, thin, shallow, and unwilling to put anyone else (especially children) before her own desires. In short, the wrong one who I still desperately miss.
In the end, it’s time. Time to start fresh and let the painful lessons that life throws our way sink in. It’s time to move on. So, here’s to moving on, and the start of a new adventure. I believe it’s called, “Failure To Launch” or “Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past”. Not sure. ‘Til next time.
Why I Hate Pop Culture
This morning, while enjoying the popular pass-time of internet exploration, I found that the number one trending article on Yahoo was “Beyonce’s Daring Dress”. Now, I hate Beyonce’. Not on a personal level or because she is currently trending above politics and economics and certainly not because her dress is, so called, daring. No, I hate Beyonce’ because, in addition to being responsible for the lyrics: “Boy I’m just playing, come here baby. Hope you still like me, If you hate me. My persuasion can build a nation. Endless power, our love we can devour. You’ll do anything for me” —Beyonce’ epitomizes the same narcissism that IS pop culture.
But Beyonce’ is not alone. Nicki Minaj, for instance, sang, “It’s my empire, I get what I desire.” Which is what? Money? Fame? The expectation of being featured on celebrity rehab? They have everything they could want; yet, pop culture produces some of the shallowest, most ego centric, narcissistic waste of all of the influences featured in the media today. People who truly believe the world revolves around them and sing and dance about it while the rest of America loses their homes and struggle to find jobs. Everywhere you go; featured in storefronts, record stores, clothing ads, TV commercials and on billboards. Some celebrity spraying themselves down with forty dollar perfume that smells like a used car delivering floral arrangements to a Justin Bieber concert on Valentine’s Day. As if watching J Lo dancing on the hood of a Fiat is going to make that clown car any less impractical. We all know she doesn’t drive a Fiat. She drives (or uses) the newest free thing her agent pimps her out for. These infamous court jesters are even featured on popular opinion shows for their input into things that actually matter. “Well, he played lawyer in a movie a couple times, let’s see what Matthew McConaughey thinks about the incident at Penn State.”
So what is the point? The point is this: Who cares? Why even try to “keep up” with a couple rich snobs being exploited by their delusional mother? Maybe if people spent that same amount of energy taking an interest in their own lives rather than being glued to whatever pointless argument the Kardashian’s are having, or witnessing the hazards of brain damage as it relates to spray tanning on the Jersey shore, than maybe the rest of the world would have some reason to respect us that doesn’t involve fearing our arsenal of nuclear warheads. And maybe, just maybe, if we focused a little of the time and money we spend trying to model our lives after the income and image of some of the shallowest people on the planet, many of whom are @twitter for your following pleasure, and spent a little of both helping our neighbors and focusing our attention outward, our communities wouldn’t be such depressing, dog-eat-dog places.
Just a thought. Now back to MTV cribs.
Elijah Cain 