New Year's Resolutions (Part 2)

So now that you have a better idea about what a resolution is, let's visit a site that discusses the top ten new year's resolution.

http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/holidays/tp/resolutions.htm

Do you see any one that that you would like to make your own resolution for 2010? If so, tell us! If not, that's ok too. What would your preferred resolution be?

New Year's Resolutions (Part 1)

With 2009 coming to an end and 2010 about to begin, let's think about new year's resolutions. But let's start with something basic. What is a resolution? For more information, visit this link to Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_resolution

Once you've read through what's there, come back to this blog & write about one fact that you found to be most interesting. Remember to focus on good writing, including correct capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure.

Writing - Using a Thesaurus

Have you ever used a thesaurus to find a similar word? Imagine that you're writing a paragraph (or more) about a specific topic, such as "running." However, you feel that you've used the term "running" too much and want to vary your terms. If you'd like some suggestions, a thesaurus is the perfect place to go!

Here's a link to an online thesaurus.
http://thesaurus.reference.com/

Visit that site, type in a word up top, and click "search." The thesaurus will do the word and give you a list of synonyms (similar words). Then, come back here, tell us what word you picked and what results the thesaurus gave.

I'll start!

My word was "run." The thesaurus gave me the following similar terms: abscond, amble, barrel, beat it, bolt, bound. (There were more words listed, but for the purposes of this blog post, you don't need to list them all.)

Now you try!

Word of the Day

I love the Merriam Webster website & its "word of the day" archives. Check out this link (below).

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/wodcalendar.pl

Once there, scroll through what you see listed as words of the day for November and December (up through today). Pick any 1 word that you don't recognize and click on it. You'll see the word and its definition. (If you want to hear the word pronounced, click the red speaker icon (which looks like this: ). Once you've done that, come back to this blog, post the date that your word was the "word of the day," the word you selected, and its meaning. Here's an example.

Date: November 3, 2009
Word: Regimen
Meaning: a systematic course of treatment or training

Tell me a story - December's edition

Let's have some fun with creative writing! Practice good writing skills and pay close attention to your spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and sentence structure. Tell a short story (4-7 sentences) that use the following items: sunshine, a single yellow daisy, laptop computer, baseball, and chocolate cake. Your story can be serious, funny, mysterious, or just plain silly! I look forward to seeing what you write!

AskOxford.com (Part 2)

If you're a regular blog reader, you probably already know that one of the best ways to improve your writing is not to try too hard to use big, fancy words! Almost always, simpler is better! In fact, this is another tip for better writing that is on the Oxford website!

Visit the site shown below and review what you see there, especially the 17 items at the bottom about how to keep your writing user friendly. Then, come back here & tell me the one or two tips that you found to be the most important!!!

http://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/plainenglish/?view=uk