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Wordcount · Tracking the Way We Use Language

Wordcount · Tracking the Way We Use Language

Welcome - Ommwriter American English Dialects North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns Small-Scale Dialect Map The small map below is the same as the Full-Scale Dialect Map that follows, but shows the entire width of the map (on most monitors). 24-Aug.-2010 Click on any part of this map to move to the equivalent part of the Full-Scale Dialect Map. Full-Scale Dialect Map Instructions For many of the cities or towns on this map, you can listen to an audio or video sample of speech of a native (more specifically, someone who was raised there, though not necessarily born there, and whose dialect clearly represents that place). The cities and towns with a large dot are those which are larger or more important in each state or province. Use the scroll bars to move around on this map, or, even simpler, start at the tiny map above and click the country (U.S. or Canada) that you want to look at. The entire map is clickable, taking you to the list of samples for that state or province. Help! Map Notes Other Sources 1. 2.

DRUDGE REPORT 2010® Taking A Chunk Out Of Vocabulary: Using Collocations - EFL Magazine Teaching vocabulary in the ESL/EFL classroom can sometimes excite or it can sometimes frustrate teachers. In the scope of vocabulary learning, are there ways to help our students acquire language efficiently and guide them toward the useful real-world language that we native-English speakers use so effortlessly? Let’s take a closer look. What is collocation? In English, there are words that co-occur frequently, for example, a ripe banana, a cute puppy, and a long road. Collocations are wonderful chunks of language that native speakers of English use naturally and frequently. Why are collocations important in language learning? Collocations are extremely useful for the language learner to be aware of and begin using when developing their second language. Types of collocations There are four types of collocations: Type 1: De-lexicalized verbs Type 2: Nouns Nouns are also important because they are usually the words that carry the most meaning within a sentence. Type 4: Idioms and Phrasal Verbs

Learn 40 Languages for Free: Spanish, English, Chinese & More How to learn lan­guages for free? This col­lec­tion fea­tures lessons in 48 lan­guages, includ­ing Span­ish, French, Eng­lish, Man­darin, Ital­ian, Russ­ian and more. Down­load audio lessons to your com­put­er or mp3 play­er and you’re good to go. Amhar­ic For­eign Ser­vice Insti­tute Basic Amhar­ic — Audio — Text­bookLessons with dia­logues, drills, exer­cis­es, and nar­ra­tives will teach you the basics of this lan­guage spo­ken in Ethiopia. Ancient Greek Ancient Greek Intro­duc­tion — Web SiteThe UT-Austin Lin­guis­tics Research Cen­ter pro­vides an overview of Ancient Greek and 10 lessons based on famous Greek texts. Ara­bic Book­mark our free Ara­bic lessons sec­tion. Amer­i­can Sign Lan­guage Intro­duc­to­ry Amer­i­can Sign Lan­guage Course — YouTubeBy the end of this course you should have a basic bank of ASL words that you are able to use to form sim­ple sen­tences. Bam­bara Bam­bara in Mali — Web SiteLessons from the Peace Corps. Bul­gar­i­an Cam­bo­di­an Cata­lan Chi­nese Czech Dan­ish Lao

English 50 Exercises for Story Writers English 50 – Intro to Creative Writing: Exercises for Story Writers Basic Theory: What is a short story? Short stories have a narrator; that is, someone tells the story; have at least one character in them; have some action occur (or perhaps fails to occur); take place somewhere; that is, there is a setting for the action; and someone either learns something or fails to learn something (theme).With these five characteristics in mind, we can create an almost endless supply of exercises to help sharpen our techniques of story telling. Narrative Voice Twenty or so years ago, voice was the "rite of passage" into a successful writing career. Nevertheless, a narrative voice that sounds like it could be anyone's voice or is bland and boring, or riddled with pointless clichés will fail to capture and hold the reader's attention. NOTE: It is quite common for writers in the early stages of their careers to imitate the writers they are reading or admire most. The T.S. Go back to the previous page?

Wrds WritingFix: prompts, lessons, and resources for writing classrooms Anki - friendly, intelligent flashcards Writing Challenge Generator Challenges The story must involve a crown in it. During the story, a character finds out a dark secret. During the story, there is a fight. A character becomes furious during the story. The story ends during a jailbreak. The story must have a rabbit at the beginning. A character will send a package. During the story, a relative shows up. A character steals something, and the action has far better results than expected. The story must have a navigator in it. During the story, a famous person goes missing. Writing Exercises and Prompts for Journaling, Prose, Poetry and Memoirs These Writing Exercises are a collection of prompts originally published in The Journal Newsletter. The prompts include journaling prompts, prose prompts, poetry prompts, free writing prompts, and memoir prompts. Jump to the exercises you would like to see: Prompts Copyright © by Susan Michael and David Michael. Journaling Prompts Journaling Prompt - Imagine yourself in a place you like to be (not necessarily someplace you like to *go*). Journaling Prompt - Pretend that you see yourself walking into a room. Journaling Prompt - Create a list of images that symbolize the following: toughness, cruelty toughness, strength Journaling Prompt - Close your eyes for a minute and imagine you are skydiving. Journaling Prompt - Sit yourself in a favorite spot, or imagine an ideal place and describe it as an expanding bubble or sphere. Journaling Prompt - Hold your hands out in front of you, palms down. Journaling Prompt - By what do you measure your value as a person? Free Writing Prompts Poetry Prompts

The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do. Writing is a muscle. Smaller than a hamstring and slightly bigger than a bicep, and it needs to be exercised to get stronger. Think of your words as reps, your paragraphs as sets, your pages as daily workouts. Think of your laptop as a machine like the one at the gym where you open and close your inner thighs in front of everyone, exposing both your insecurities and your genitals. Because that is what writing is all about. Procrastination is an alluring siren taunting you to google the country where Balki from Perfect Strangers was from, and to arrange sticky notes on your dog in the shape of hilarious dog shorts. The blank white page. Mark Twain once said, “Show, don’t tell.” Finding a really good muse these days isn’t easy, so plan on going through quite a few before landing on a winner. There are two things more difficult than writing. It’s no secret that great writers are great readers, and that if you can’t read, your writing will often suffer.

Best Creative Writing Exercises (PHOTOS) Writers block, oh, writers block ...please go away! Even though it's the bane of all writers' existence, there are a bevy of ways to bypass the darn thing. From writing prompts to writing exercises, there are thousands of ways to get the creative juices flowing. Here are just a few of our favorites. Trust us, they work! Loading Slideshow 7x7x7x7Grab the 7th book from your bookshelf. Best Creative Writing Exercises 1 of 10 Hide Thumbnails

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