Nouns

Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

1663

Abstract

d, yes.Constance Hale gave nouns a little more thought, “Choosing the right noun means exploring the layers of a word. First, it must be precise, conveying the exact image you are rendering… Second, your noun must be rich, its connotations conjuring a realm of emotion and sensation… Finally, your noun must be apt — its associations, its link to other words and ideas, must complement your meaning.”William Zinsser agrees, and advises us that, “After verbs, plain nouns are your strongest tools; they resonate with emotion.”C.S Lewis, in a letter to children said, “Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean ‘More people died’ don’t say ‘Mortality rose.’”E.B. White, too, weighs in on nouns, “Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs. The adjective hasn’t been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place.”In other words, the very right noun, in the very right context, always brings the sentence (and with it the story) alive. I believe Flaubert said as much with his bon mot (right or good word) view on writing.I guess this is my long way of saying that we should take our time to make sure that we land on the right noun (the one that rarely requires an adjective to leap off the page), including consulting a good Thesaurus as needed.Rodale’s The Synonym Finder is a treasure of good alternate words, many of them nouns. Check it out.© Wolfstuff<div id="a57a" class="link-block"> <a href="http://wolfstuff.com"> <div>

Options

     <div>
            <h2>Wolfstuff</h2>
            <div><h3>So, who am I? Really really. I could tell you that I was born in northern Sweden during a snow storm, and subsequently…</h3></div>
            <div><p>wolfstuff.com</p></div>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*1zZ6i9pe_EnIB9Xn)"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div><p id="7057">More Elements of Fiction here:</p><div id="54b2" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/elements-of-fiction-82c23d4b847a">
        <div>
          <div>
            <h2>Elements of Fiction</h2>
            <div><h3>Table of Contents</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*l4SyLpw4iOlp85BIHxRSNw.jpeg)"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div><p id="0d0f">More Wolf Stuff here:</p><div id="adb2" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/wolf-story-index-8120099ee54f">
        <div>
          <div>
            <h2>Wolf Story Index</h2>
            <div><h3>A Table of Contents</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*V6BAaommh8BhJo8bFh6wgw.jpeg)"></div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div></article></body>

An Element of Fiction

(Image by Author)

Some years ago, I came to the conclusion that The Dictionary must be one of the most amazing documents we humans ever devised/created. I realized then that the dictionary is nothing but a short (or not so short, depending on the dictionary edition, I guess) précis of all human knowledge; for we do have a tendency (and didn’t God enjoin Adam to do just this) to name every little thing we come across to then know. And these names that we give to these things, small (say atom) or large (say universe) are called nouns (which of course means name) — and later we put them all in a big book we then “nouned” dictionary (which of course contains more than just nouns, but the rest are mainly words that tell things about nouns or things we do with nouns).

Yes, I have to admit, writers, by and large, have not dwelled on nouns in particular all that much — although I don’t see why not, really — and when (or if) they do (or did) they don’t seem to formulate their thoughts into quotable quotes resulting in a nouns-quotes dearth.

A few did though, and I’m grateful for that. The brilliant Jorge Luis Borges among them when he wrote, “All nouns are abbreviations. Instead of saying cold, sharp, burning, unbreakable, shining, pointy, we utter ‘dagger’; for the receding sun and oncoming darkness, we say ‘twilight.’”

Shorthand, yes.

Constance Hale gave nouns a little more thought, “Choosing the right noun means exploring the layers of a word. First, it must be precise, conveying the exact image you are rendering… Second, your noun must be rich, its connotations conjuring a realm of emotion and sensation… Finally, your noun must be apt — its associations, its link to other words and ideas, must complement your meaning.”

William Zinsser agrees, and advises us that, “After verbs, plain nouns are your strongest tools; they resonate with emotion.”

C.S Lewis, in a letter to children said, “Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean ‘More people died’ don’t say ‘Mortality rose.’”

E.B. White, too, weighs in on nouns, “Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs. The adjective hasn’t been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place.”

In other words, the very right noun, in the very right context, always brings the sentence (and with it the story) alive. I believe Flaubert said as much with his bon mot (right or good word) view on writing.

I guess this is my long way of saying that we should take our time to make sure that we land on the right noun (the one that rarely requires an adjective to leap off the page), including consulting a good Thesaurus as needed.

Rodale’s The Synonym Finder is a treasure of good alternate words, many of them nouns. Check it out.

More Elements of Fiction here:

More Wolf Stuff here: