rapmike: Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!


I have learnt a lot from everyone that has presented so far, especially from Audrey Timms and Prettyspicey. Tho I missed asking Spicey some questions.

Divepen, when its my turn, give me a reminder through tagging my name.

Thanks rapmike... err... ask questions later? lol

Well done @everybody more ink to ya'll pen.



OPOLO GBOGBO YIN O NI'JObA "Ase n T'edmare"

#Canme4u CanmeBoss



Sent from Sagem X1-2

[in the tunnel awiting tensioj and pressured alacrity}
dave r u ready[exhales}

[size=16]Welcome To Day2[/size]
I want to thank God for the opportunity to start the day two of this E-Convention.
Yesterday, Princesa,Audreytimms, Sammyhoe, and Prettyspicey awed us with great teachings.
Marioking, Naijachild, Bevy12 etc. Gave us mindblowing stories and poem.
Today, we shall be looking @
DAY2
Introduction- 12:00-12:20
12:21-12:30- Poem/Short stories by Nkyotk
12:31- 1:30- PUNCTUATION AND ITS EFFECT- LARRYSUN: Followed by questions and answers
1:31-2:30- USING THE RIGHT VERBS - DAVEP..Followed by Q and A section.
2:31-2:40- Short story/Poem by Oma4U
2:41-3:40- -USING FAMILIAR TERMS AND WORDS IN WRITING- KAYEMJAY---followed by Q and A section
3:41-4:40 - HOW TO FLOW THROUGH A POEM- JIGSAWKILLAH-- followed by question and answer
4:41-4:50- Short story/Poem by Olusharp
4:51- 5:50--- -HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER-TIFFANYJ
5:51-6:00- short story/Poem by Naijachild

Please if you miss your time, you cannot use another person's time, I will have to help you fix another time


Nkyotk, we are waiting for you.

Good afternoon all.

I'm delighted @ this opportunity to share some of my knowledge and also to learn from others, including you. Yes you reading this.

Unfortunately, I would not be able to make the 2pm time as scheduled. Please I crave your indulgence to reschedule me.

I would have chosen 8pm but I do not know if it would be a good time taking into cognizance, the champions league matches, lol. If that's not feasible, I don't mind same time tomorrow, if that's okay.

Please accept my apologies.

Oga Divepen, pls revert.

Thank you.

kayemjay: Good afternoon all.

I'm delighted @ this opportunity to share some of my knowledge and also to learn from others, including you. Yes you reading this.

Unfortunately, I would not be able to make the 2pm time as scheduled. Please I crave your indulgence to reschedule me.

I would have chosen 8pm but I do not know if it would be a good time taking into cognizance, the champions league matches, lol. If that's not feasible, I don't mind same time tomorrow, if that's okay.

Please accept my apologies.

Oga Divepen, pls revert.

Thank you.

can you send whatever you want to post here by that time to my mail jakintayo565@stu.ui.edu.ng. Then, you can come back by 6 or anytime to answer your questions.

This is a very nice concept from Divepen here but there are some loopholes.
1. Timing: Everyone who posted a thing or two yesterday came behind schedule. I believe they have been informed before hand about this even two weeks ago. The best they could have done is to try and carve out time for posting their educative piece. I was even suprised to see that the speakers started typing yesterday, I believed your piece should have been saved somewhere, you just paste when its your time.
2. I will say no one on Nairaland knew about this event. There is no publicity about this particular event, mentions can only try. That's why there has been no questions since the even started.
The above should have been done before the start of the event but there is no point crying over a spilt milk. It can only get better. If we take the above into consideration I believe this will be a total success.
A big thank you to everyone who has been involved since yesterday. Its a sign that the literature section is on the verge of becoming the best.

rapmike: Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!


I have learnt a lot from everyone that has presented so far, especially from Audrey Timms and Prettyspicey. Tho I missed asking Spicey some questions.

Divepen, when its my turn, give me a reminder through tagging my name.

Thanks rapmike. I'm glad you learnt something

PrettySpicey: Well done, Audrey Timms. I completely enjoyed it and learned something too.

Way to go, girl

*dancing shoki* Thanks dear. I'm glad you enjoyed it and learnt something. Loved yours too! I'll ask questions in private.

Thanx @ D9ty7

Who have seen Larrysun ooo

I didn't post yesterday na. Divepen please give me a slot today.

princesa: I didn't post yesterday na. Divepen please give me a slot today.

Can you post it now, since we cant see Larrysun anywhere

AudreyTimms:
*dancing shoki* Thanks dear. I'm glad you enjoyed it and learnt something. Loved yours too! I'll ask questions in private.

you always dancing shoki. Longest tym audrey, hw have u been

Princesa

Larrysun u dey make shame catch me, my guy run abi?

Make i type mine and save jare

What description does to your reader?


To describe means to give a detailed account in words about something, person or thing. The importance of description to any piece of writing is similar to the importance of blood and breath to a human. Thus, it is acceptable amongst all – both readers and writers alike – that a story without some level of description already possesses in itself a massive shortcoming. No wonder you are likened to hear readers say:

“Your story is nice but you have to do more in describing the scene and character so that that I can relate more to it”

Or

“You are a great writer! I just love the way you use words to describe your story. I t makes me feel like I’m part of the story”

Now, which writer wouldn’t love to hear a reader say something like the latter to them? It’s a summation of the feeling you get; a feeling of knowing that your efforts are being appreciated and you’re just not writing amidst. So, if that’s what description does to you as the writer, then how about your readers?

The simplest definition of description as it pertains to writing is the ability of a writer to SHOW and not TELL the reader about the events, scenes and characters in his work. Fortunately for us, we do not need the elaborate filming requirements of camera, screen, lightning, sound effects and stages to achieve this feat. We are blessed with the mastery of WORDS which gives us the power to create the proper atmosphere, inviting the readers’ minds to swim through our stories effortlessly.

With our written words we can teleport our readers to dinners with a make-believe character we’ve created; or inside the White House discussing matters of international repute with Obama; or take them right into the middle of World War II, inside enemy line with the Canon about to explode... That’s how much power we wield with our pen. But however, it might interest you to know these feats are not all there is to achieve! There are more…

*.Description also makes your story believable and creates a dream, fantasy or reality in the mind of your readers

*.It evokes emotional response from them. They are sure to feel Sophia’s grief when you describe how her heart constricted in intense pain; her feet buckled like jelly under the weight of the news and how her tears flowed like the River Nile over the death of her child.

*.Without description also, your writing will be ordinary and fail to stir the spirit or touch the soul of your readers.

*.It makes setting, character, incidence, conflict, obstacle; scenes come alive in your readers mind the way they are mirrored in yours.

*.It places you the writer at a favourable spot in your readers’ hearts and who knows, you might just be describing your way to the ‘Next Best Seller” in literature.

So far, the un-exhaustive list of what description can do to your readers have been narrowly discussed, it would be better to see how we as readers can improve our descriptive skills because sadly, having the passion for writing does not translate to a default ability to use words with dexterity and effectively communicate. How then can we improve our skills?

Of course there are no hard fast rules to it, but they are basics, some of which include:

*.Target the sensory details. [/b]using words that play with the sense organs like eyes, nose, ear, skin etc. makes for a good description. Hit your writing with some scent for the nose and make the reader feel as if he’s sniffing with your character(s); play with noise; play with feelings and sensations; paint a beautiful garden before their eyes, etc. all these will help transport your readers to the make-believe or non fictional world your story is painting.

*.[b]Use concrete details, specific details and active voice: using a passive voice, for example: “The crying child was picked up by the old woman” instead of its active counterpart “the old woman picked up the crying child”, for some reasons, is seen as drab and should be avoided in literary writings when possible.
Also, the use of specific and to-the-point details is also encouraged. Desist from boring the reader and even yourself with unnecessary ‘bush-beating’. No need to remind writers the popular saying that ‘too much of everything is bad’

*. Use Authentic Details. A writer should strive to be original in his descriptive details. Hackneyed, over-flogged and cliché phrases are boring, turn-offs and un-original. It is encouraged to think ‘outside the box’ by changing perspective, brainstorming and seeking alternative ways to describe things. While it is okay to learn from a writer whose work inspires you, it is not okay to aim at replicating their style totally in your own work.

*.Don’t always be literal, employ figurative devices. you don’t even have to be a literature student before you can be able to apply simple literary devices like simile, metaphor and personification. Instead of just saying “The wind was fast” you can add more colour by saying ”the wind surged past like a moving train” not only does it aim at describing the specific velocity of the said wind, it also helps to paint a clearer picture in the mind of the reader.

*.Learn new words, develop your vocabulary and register for certain events, phenomenal, profession etc. make the dictionary a companion, whether mobile or physical. And then a thesaurus is also a good book to own.

*.Be a reader yourself [/b]and read literary piece that will develop your writing skills: while reading, do not just read for pleasure, take pains to discover the forms, style, vocabulary, phrases etc that were applied in the text. Read to know and not just to entertain yourself, this is a very good way to grow.

*.[b]Make research on whatever theme, topic or story you’re writing on as this would open you up to registers, phrases, words, events etc that pertains to that topic. If for example, I wanted to write a detective story, it would be wise for me to make a research into the dynamics, hierarchy and workings of the police force, prison service, and maybe criminal activities. This would help in no small way to deliver an in-depth, well researched and descriptive piece.

*.Have a mentor or mentors: , someone’s whose work you think appeals and inspires you. But it is important that you will to write like them and not to replicate their style, sentence for sentence word for word etc in your own work. Originality is the watch word.

*Importantly, as a writer, you need to open yourself to emotions whether soft or hard. To paint a criminal who would be believable to your readers, you just have to become one. To paint the feeling of love about your characters, then you have to know what Love is about. The best way to write about anything is by using your innate ability to walk in their shoes.

And so Finally, like I previously noted, there are no hard and fast rules to being a descriptive master, it takes determination, patience and practice to pull this very important writing stunt. At the end of the day, both you and your readers come out better off.

Thanks for reading.

References:
www.writerstreasure.com
http://davehood59.wordpress. com

USING THE RIGHT VERBS


What a great platform to encourage those who someday would become the Cyprian Ekwensis, Alukos, Buchi Echemetas, etc, of tomorrow.



Now to VERBS (picks marker)
*************************************

Verbs are doing words. A verb can express a physical action, a mental action, or a state of being.

**Physical- to swim, to write, to climb, to ride.

**Mental- to think, to guess, to consider, to reason.

**State of being- to be, to exist, to appear.



Since our day-day living involves expressing actions, no one would be able to communicate without verbs.


Imagine a conversation without using verb


Like a Chinese trying hard to communicate with a Zulu lord!!!



We have three forms that verbs comes in:


The present-now


The Past- expresses past actions


The Future-preceding the word 'will' e.g I will take the blame.


Now if the time an action occurred is in the past, the verb must be in the past form.

I VOTE last week- Incorrect (vote is present, last week is past.)

I Voted last week-Correct. (voted is past, so is time-last week)


So always check out for such when writing a setence to avoid mistakes that seem right if we say them. Linear agreement is key with verbs.


A lil test just for fun- http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/choose-correct-forms-verb.


(wipes off sweat)



THE RIGHT CHOICE

Enforcing consistent verb tense in your writing is crucial. Nothing makes an editor’s brain hurt more than trying to read through distracting or confusing verb tenses. If one sentence has so many varying tenses that readers don’t know if you’re coming or going, you can be sure your work is going to end up in the editor’s reject pile.


But choosing the right verb tense isn’t always easy. Let’s start with the basics:


The Simple form :

Past: I drew.
Present: I draw.
Future: I will draw.
--James drew a picture of Idowu.

So simple and easy, you’re probably thinking: Thanks, Captain Obvious. So let’s take it up a notch.

What if you want to imply action that ends in a specific time frame? Then, you would use the Perfect form:

The Perfect form:

Past perfect: I had drawn.
Present perfect: I have drawn.
Future perfect: I will have drawn.
--Yesterday, James had drawn a picture of Idowu that accentuated her crow’s-feet.


Perfect! You created art and used the verb tense correctly. What more could a writer want?
To keep the action ongoing within each time frame, you say?
Then you want the Progressive form:


The Progressive form:

Past progressive: I was drawing.
Present progressive: I am drawing.
Future progressive: I will be drawing.
--As James was drawing a picture of Idowu, she noticed it was unflattering.

But what if you want to be perfect and progressive—impossible? Not so! Just because you’re creating art doesn’t mean you’re not going to (or haven’t already) run out of ink.

Use the Perfect Progressive tense, and Gbam!!


The Perfect Progressive form:

Past perfect progressive: I had been drawing.
Present perfect progressive: I have been drawing.
Future perfect progressive: I will have been drawing.
--James had been drawing a picture of Idowu, until she broke all of his charcoal pencils.


Choosing the proper verb tense can be tricky, but easier than the tough time James will have getting Idowu to forgive him.


Using these handy examples, you’ll be an expert on verb tense in no time. (rubs neck)



Correct Use of Verbs

A verb must agree with its subject in number, person and gender.

--Our followers are but a handful. (Here the plural verb are agrees with the plural subject followers.)

--One of the boys was selected. (Here the singular verb was agrees with the singular subject one.)

--He is an old friend of mine.
The subject must have a verb.


The subject of the sentence should be followed by a verb. Note that a sentence must have at least one verb. The following sentence is incorrect


--He who has won the prize, let him speak.

This sentence should be re-written as follows:

--Let him who has won the prize speak.

OR

--He who has won the prize should speak.


Infinitives



An infinitive should be in the present tense unless it represents an action prior to that mentioned by the principal verb.

--I should have liked to win. (NOT I should have liked to have won.)
But it is correct to say:

--He seems to have enjoyed his stay at the ranch. (Here the stay at the ranch took place earlier than the action mentioned by the main verb.)


The participle should not be left without proper agreement.

Consider the sentence given below:

--Having bitten the driver, the farmer killed the dog.

The above sentence means that it was the farmer who bit the driver.


This sentence should be re-written as follows:

--Having bitten the driver, the dog was killed by the farmer.

OR

--The dog having bitten the driver, the farmer killed it.

Nice one DaveP

but where you said that a sentence like : ''He who has won the prize, let him speak'' is incorrect because there's no verb, don't you think 'won' is a verb and therefore the word is actually correct?

PART 2
******


Using may and might

May and might are modal auxiliary verbs. We use them to talk about possibility.

Grammar
After may and mightwe use infinitives without to.
He may accept the offer. (NOT He may to accept the offer.)


May and might do not take the–smarking when the subject is a singular pronoun.

She may come.(NOT She mays come.)

He might recognize you. (NOT He mights recognize you.)

I may accept the offer.

Questions and negatives are made without do.

May I help you? (NOT Do I may help you?)

He may not come. (NOT He doesn’t may come.)


May and might do not have infinitive or participle forms. For example, forms like maying, mighting, to may etc. do not exist.


**Uses

May and might are mainly used to talk about possibility – the chances of something happening. In a formal style, we also use them to ask for and give permission.

Possibility

We often use mayand might to say that there is a possibility of something happening.

--He may pass the test.

--It may rain in the evening.

--He may come.

--We may take a vacation at the end of this month.

--I may visit my grandparents next week.

--Lolade might phone.

--They might accept the invitation.

--She might get the job.

--You may be right.


N:B (gestures with warning finger)- Might does not normally have a past meaning. The difference between may and might is that might shows less possibility than may.

--Our team may win. (Perhaps a 50% chance)

--Our team might win. (Perhaps a 20% chance)

Questions:

We do not normally use may in direct questions about probability.Can is possible in this case.

Where is Princesa? Can she have gone shopping? OR Do you think Princesa has gone shopping? (BUT NOT May she have gone shopping? )

DaveP awesome. I'm with Princesa on her question.

D9ty7: This is a very nice concept from Divepen here but there are some loopholes.
1. Timing: Everyone who posted a thing or two yesterday came behind schedule. I believe they have been informed before hand about this even two weeks ago. The best they could have done is to try and carve out time for posting their educative piece. I was even suprised to see that the speakers started typing yesterday, I believed your piece should have been saved somewhere, you just paste when its your time.
2. I will say no one on Nairaland knew about this event. There is no publicity about this particular event, mentions can only try. That's why there has been no questions since the even started.
The above should have been done before the start of the event but there is no point crying over a spilt milk. It can only get better. If we take the above into consideration I believe this will be a total success.
A big thank you to everyone who has been involved since yesterday. Its a sign that the literature section is on the verge of becoming the best.

This is a very valid point.

We aren't displaying the discipline we ought to. In case there's a next time.

@ princesa:That would be with the way the sentence was written and not the verb part. It sure has a verb 'won' but the way it was written....

Dygeasy: DaveP awesome. I'm with Princesa on her question.

princesa: Nice one DavP

but where you said that a sentence like : ''He who has won the prize, let him speak'' is incorrect because there's no verb, don't you think 'won' is a verb and therefore the word is actually correct?

The sentence is incorrect and the verb is actually there (takes duster and wipes it off. Uses marker to correct it) thank you princesa!

daveP:
@ princesa:That would be with the way the sentence was written and not the verb part. It sure has a verb 'won' but the way it was written....

hmm, if you say so. Even though I don't have a problem with the way it was written.

Divepen and all, I've posted my own piece above. If I knew about this way, I wouldn't have delayed. Apologies please and yeah, I'm open to questions

daveP:


The sentence is incorrect and the verb is actually there (takes duster and wipes it off. Uses marker to correct it) thank you princesa!

you're welcome. When you can, go through mine and do tell me what you think.

Dygeasy, you too.

princesa:
hmm, if you say so. Even though I don't have a problem with the way it was written.

Divepen and all, I've posted my own piece above. If I knew about this way, I wouldn't have delayed. Apologies please and yeah, I'm open to questions

thus that brings an end to my clas (packs text book-brighter grammer and english made easy. Pulls up sleeves) erm i need water. Oh ive forgotten i used a marker!

I'm grateful for this opportunity. Wouldnt mind having such an opportunity next time even if (touches heart) was beating!

Thank you!!

Lol! DaveP is soo dramatic.

OMA4U: Texnomaly, I don't fully agree with this. It seems you're mincing spoken word poetry/slam with rap music. Though spoken word poetry can be recited slowly or fast, it's still not the same as rap.

I've attended few spoken word poetry events and I've watched many of it's videos. Spoken word poetry, whether fast or slow, still evokes emotions rap music may likely not.

rap is under poetry imo!

Divepen, is it high time I posted my poem?