Val Dumond

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Articles on Writing, Grammar, and Publishing
by Val Dumond

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Val writes articles on grammar, the art and science of writing, and publishing, for budding writers and seasoned authors alike. These articles are not only informative and educational, they're entertaining - written as only Val can. Enjoy this latest of her articles:

Why "Travel is Broadening"
For the Writer
by Val Dumond
© Copyright 2010

This summer, as I have for several other summers, I headed for Europe to join colleagues who form the European Lexicographers association (EuraLex2010). These are people involved in the production of dictionaries, monolingual and bilingual.

For me, it means rubbing shoulders with friends from the Oxford English Dictionary, numerous translation organizations, and producers of Czech-Russian, German-Dutch, French-Spanish, (and all languages-English) dictionaries. It means lunching with other word people from exotic countries, sightseeing with friends, getting to know new friends, their countries, and their words.

Most important to me as a writer is the opportunity to interact with other word people - those who look at words under microscopes, who dissect them, scrutinize them, and reconnect them, who fret over spellings and origins, and develop precise definitions. Focus of many papers this year was the use of idioms and how they translate from one language to another.

What I have learned from these sojourns into global language is the way people learning a new language (usually adults) pick up the nuances of grammar more precisely than people who have used the language all their lives. To hear a speaker from Slovenia choose words in English is to understand fully the importance of verbs and nouns.

Why do Americans find the British accent so enhancing? At one time, maybe even today, businesses prefer to hire people with British accents to represent the company (as receptionists, public relations people, spokespersons). Why? They sound intelligent! The British love their language. Beyond the sometimes-strange-sounding pronunciations are the choices of precise words. They speak slowly and consider their word choices.

Listen closely to first- or second-generation newcomers to the U.S. Hear how they sometimes insert an unusual synonym for a word. Notice their precise use of verbs and nouns, often coming up with alternative meanings. But know that this exercise of stretching language is to learn how to improve it. Did you start talking in idioms? Or even understand when adults used them? Children (and second-language learners) tend to use words literally - according to the obvious meaning.

Have you ever tried to learn a second language? What words did you want to know first in order to "get by"? Usually verbs and nouns. The little connecting words seem almost useless to someone trying their wings with a new language, as in these examples:

• "Come eat."
• "Go train station."
• "Find taxi."
• "Bring sandwich."
• "Where hotel?"

Linguists believe there are hundreds of thousands of English words. They claim that the average educated American has a vocabulary of about 2000 words (add more if you practice a profession with its own vocabulary). Of those couple thousand, we tend to use (or overuse) about 500. And these few words have more than 14,000 meanings.

All of this says that we depend on what I call the wimpy verbs: do, go, take, make, put, have, and especially all forms of "to be". Take a look at any dictionary and count the definitions for these words - some of them number more than 100. Just what is the meaning of "is"?

Writers of English (or American English at least) need to examine early drafts of their work and pay attention to those wimpy verbs. Be precise. Instead of "she put the book on the table," be specific: Did she "throw" it, "drop" it, "slam" it, "place" it, "settle" it, "arrange" it...?

About the nouns. This is a matter of increasing your vocabulary. Acquaint yourself with a good thesaurus and consider alternatives to "book", for instance: volume, manuscript, paperback, hard cover, tome, mystery, record book, diary, journal, memoir, log, account... One bit of warning: when "book" is the word you want, use it, rather than forcing other words - just to be different.

Happy (precise) writing.

Val has three soon-to-be-published books: The JOY of Grammar, The Creative Instinct, and Ahlam, Story of an Iraqi Life.

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