Scribe's Realm

Hmm, is it dreamt or dreamed ? This is once again one of those cases where people can't help but get confused. My spellchecker for one, tells me that dreamt is a spelling mistake. Yet, many of you have heard of both these forms. Both are after all the past tense of dream.  Of Dreams I Dreamt Dreamt  is just as acceptable as dreamed . Merriam Webster has both these forms under dream.  This can be considered as a little strange, as few words have two past tenses. But, even when it is acceptable, dreamt isn't used as much as dreamed . Dreamt  is used about 7 times less in American English than dreamed , whereas dreamt  in British English is used only 2.5 times less than dreamed . See it  here  and  here  on an ngram graph. Still, the point stands that dreamt  drew the short end of the straw. It is clear that it is used more in British English than in American English. Does this make dreamt the British version? I Dreamed...

Hmm, is it awhile  or a while ? I can't remember now. Even the best language heroes get a little confused every once in a while. If you get stuck like that sometimes, this might help you remember which word to use in which situation. Is There Such a Thing as Awhile ? Awhile  is considered as old English. More often than not people write awhile  as a while , as is the more modern practice. Some people, who are comfortable with the correct usage of awhile , will use it as it should be. Using either awhile  or a while  is acceptable in certain situations, but it's not recommended.  Awhile is an adverb and therefore needs to take that role (and that role only) in a sentence. While , however, can take different forms. While on Its Own When while  stands alone, it can have a different meaning than when it stands in a cluster of words. Think about these two sentences: I will stand in the rain for a while . I will stand in the rain while I wait ...

Since last week's post was on believe or belief , I decided to ask whether it's believe in , believe on  or believe that . All of these are correct and do get used. The questions are when, where, why and how. Here it is in what I hope is the simplest way to explain it and the easiest way to remember it. Believe In and Believe That Correlation A certain professor, H. H. Price , came to the conclusion that there is a difference between believe in  and believe that . To him, it came down to this, “Surely belief-in is an attitude to a person, whether human or divine, while belief-that is just an attitude to a proposition?” This makes perfect sense considering the words in and that . Personally, in  sounds a lot more involved and personal, whereas that  seems distant. Get that  away from me. Come on in . That might just be me though. However, this view might make things easier. What if this thinking was indeed the correct manner? To believe in someone is ...

Should I use believe  or belief ? This question can keep you from writing that last sentence for the day. It can be so irritating when you're tired and almost done with your work, but that one word is making your head spin. From now on, you should never need to wonder whether you should use believe or belief ever again. To Believe I believe that at the end of this post, you will have a better understanding of the word believe . Look at the next sentence: I believe in aliens. If you believe in something, you are doing an action. When a word takes on the role of describing an action, that word is a verb . This means that believe  is a verb. Change believe in  in the above sentence to a different verb, such as chase. I chase aliens. All you need to do is substitute a verb in a sentence with believe  or belief. If the sentence sounds strange to you, you probably used the wrong one. For example: I belief in aliens. That hardly makes any sense, right...

Today's grammar-focused question is: Should I use further or farther ? As writers, we want people to enjoy our books. Even though readers would not necessarily care whether you use further  or farther , it might affect readability if used incorrectly. This is why I thought it is best to help you decide on which one to use. Does "further" or "farther" tell you about distance? There has been plenty of discussions about these two words. They are often regarded as equals, which can be used interchangeably. Yet there are a few posts I have come across in my research who can easily say how they differ. As always, it is best we know much before we come to a decision. Further and Farther in UK English It's well-known that US and UK English differs. There is no exception with the use of further  and farther . The Oxford Dictionary has this to say: Both words share the same roots. [T]here is no difference in meaning, and both are equally correct. Furth...

Should I use pled or pleaded as the past tense of plea? Neither of these two are necessarily wrong, which can make the decision harder to make. Here are a few technical aspects to help you make your decision. Pled, is it a Mistake? Every writing tool I have used since researching and writing this post told me that pled  is nothing but a spelling mistake. Even though this post would have been a lot shorter if I could just say "Don't use 'pled', as it's a spelling mistake", it's not necessarily true. Pled  is mentioned as a colloquial past tense form in the AP Stylebook, and in other modern books, pleaded is considered the better choice. Pled  is also used in some text, such as in the U.S Supreme court (you can read about the study here ). However, the amount it is used is considerably less than pleaded's usage. So, Should I Use Pled or Pleaded? Although certain parts of the world accepts  pled  with open arms, it is used in the minorit...

When to use who or whom can be either complicated or simplistic. It is always best to know the rules and thus the complicated version before you go for the easy, cheat version. This way, you will know you are right, every time. When to Use Who or Whom: Know your Grammar The complicated version calls for our memories of English grammar classes; those classes we slept through. To know who and whom , you need to know their place in the English language. Welcome back to your English class. Study hard! Who and Whoever: The Subjective Pronouns "Subjective pronouns" sounds more dramatic than it needs to. In a less wordy manner, who and whoever are subjects in a sentence. When I was in school, I was taught that the subject is the one doing the action. The verb of the sentence is this "action". Here are some examples: Who knows the answer? Who will go to class? The purple is the subject, as it is the one doing the action. The action (verb) is in gold. Sadly...

As a full-time employee, I hardly have time to handle Scribe's Realm and write my stories. But! My artistic wife has agreed to help me, which means from now on, you should see more posts and some writings (we hope). We are very excited about our plans with Scribe's Realm and we are busy implementing them already. Here is what is coming your way this month. New Logo Design This is Scribe's Realm logo. We believe it brings forth what we want for Scribe's Realm: fantasy with a little touch of olden times. As I mentioned before ( here ), I want a complete new look for Scribe's Realm. We (this term will be used from now on for my wife and I) decided on a colour theme and our new logo is finally done. Photo of the Week Posts Every week, on Thursday (if we can stick to it), we will put up a photo of the week. We love photography and we have been learning new skills to take better photos. We hope that you will enjoy these photos, as much as we...

Should I use which or that ? This is the focus of my grammar post (which I might make a series while I edit my work). I am currently focused on retraining my brain on correct grammar usage. This is something any writer should do. I am by no means perfect and I do make many mistakes. But, since I am learning the rules, I can share these with you.  At the moment, I am editing a short story to put on this blog for you to read. Practice makes perfect, or so I hope. If you would like to read more about how I start off editing my books, click here . For the "which-or-that" ponderers, read on. Which or That: Is There a Difference? The which that has many friends is happy. The which , which can easily go away, must be used correctly. These two might not make any sense to you now, but come back to this once you read through all of details.  The use of which and that is important if you want to sent a clear message to your readers. As writers, we must write a bar abo...

Let's face it, as a writer you will get to the point when it's time to edit your book. It's definitely not one of my favourite things in the world to do, but it feels so good when it's done (especially when it is done right). The story reads so much better. That being said, these are the first three things you can check before you completely reread your own book.   No need to fear when it's time to edit your book. It is possible to make the editing phase easier on yourself.  Wait Before You Edit Your Book This was mentioned before on another post. You should wait before you edit your book, as it will allow you to forget about the details. When you go back to your book, it should be as if you're a "almost" new reader. This way, you can spot when there is a loophole. This saved me from my current book in editing. I noticed that I have no idea what was going on in the beginning. After I added a chapter, the story was a lot better to understand....

I am a writer. I am also a human, a procrastinator and an experimenter. I will bring you stories and books, but for now blogs will suffice. My hobbies stretch further than blogging, so does my work, as sadly writing does not pay the bills. Neither does blogging, for that matter. So what does a writer do with his time? Blogging on Niume Currently, you can find me writing blogs on Niume ( click here to go see it). This is where I find myself most of the time, or was until recently. I realised rather quickly that all the time I spent writing on Niume could have been spent working on my goals for this blog. The goal is to have more than a blog. This blog will soon retire to make room for a website; a website with an atmosphere. There will be much to tell you soon, but for now let it rest as a mystery behind a veil. New Logo Not a bad logo to serve the emptiness temporarily, but it lacks in the atmosphere I hope to offer. The logo I'm using is temporary. It decorate...