Words that work

A short history of the English language

karenjamal — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 06:54:10 +0000

Here’s a very interesting short history of the origins and development of English, which covers the beginnings of English with the arrival of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in the 5th Century AD, right through to the influence of American English on the language we speak today.

Appealing to all types of readers

karenjamal — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 06:57:05 +0000

Here’s a tip to engage all your readers – use words that tie in with your particular reader’s way of looking at the world. Ask yourself:

Have your words painted the picture clearly enough for the visual reader? Are your pages set out attractively, with headings and subheadings to help guide both visual and tactile readers?
Aural readers understand more when you write as though you were talking to them. Do your words have this face-to-face sound?
Relationships are critical for the tactile reader. Have you referred positively to the two-way relationship between the two of you? Tactile (or kinaesthetic) readers react favourably to writing that mentions getting things done. Does your action ending reflect this?

When you need to cater for a number of different readers, include a mixture of visual, aural and tactile appeals. Watch for a tendency to overuse your own style, which naturally you prefer, but which – just as naturally – your readers may not.

A capital offence

karenjamal — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:13:09 +0000

To capitalise or not to capitalise? That is the question.

In the sixteenth century, grammarians decided that capital letters should be used not only at the beginning of every sentence and for proper nouns and names (as done since Roman times), but also for other ‘important’ common nouns.

By the late 1600s, some writers were capitalising all nouns, a practice that continued through the following century. Since then, grammarians have rejected the over-capitalisation of nouns – reserving capitals for the beginning of sentences and for proper nouns and names only.

In English, we only capitalise proper nouns (within sentences). Germans, on the other hand, capitalise all nouns (proper and common) – for example, Essen is both the city in Rhine-Westphalia and the common word for ‘food’.

If you find yourself wondering whether to use upper or lower case on a common noun, ask yourself the question: “am I German?” If the answer is no, then a lower case applies.

In English, we do not use capitals letters very much. Capital letters should be used:

At the start of sentences, or to begin speech
For the personal pronoun (‘I’)
For acronyms, and
For proper nouns (names of people, places, organisations), such as:
- names and titles of people (Karl Marx, Dr Livingstone)
- days of the week, months of the year, holidays (Christmas, Easter)
- trade-marks and names of companies and other organisations (Coca Cola, Microsoft Corporation)
- places and monuments (London, Buckingham Palace)
- names of vehicles like ships, trains and spacecraft (the Titanic, the Orient Express) and
- titles of books, poems, songs, plays, films (War and Peace, The Lion King).

A final comment: “I am the Roman Emperor, and am above grammar,” said Emperor Sigismund. For everyone else, grammar rules!