You’re jittery, sweaty, and unable to focus. What had seemed like the perfect dose of java to power all your feats of Monday superheroism has betrayed you.
In the throes of a caffeine come-down, as you blearily attempt to finish drafting your project update, you swear:
“I’m going to quit coffee.”
Though there are good reasons for healthy people to consume coffee in moderation, some individuals may find themselves overdoing it or may be simply too sensitive to the acidity or caffeine. If this sounds familiar, here is how you can quit coffee.
How to Quit Coffee
Assuming you really do want to quit drinking coffee—or at least limit your consumption—you are going to need another way to boost your energy and keep yourself at the top of your game. The number-one way to quit caffeine and boost your energy is to get your circadian rhythm on a regular, well-rested schedule. To do this, you need to:
Stay hydrated. The Institute of Medicine recommends men drink thirteen cups and women drink nine cups of beverages daily. Aim for mostly hydrating drinks like water, lemon water, and coconut water.
Eat Your Vitamins. Eating a balanced, colorful diet composed of whole foods, mostly vegetables, will ensure that you are getting the necessary amounts of vitamins and minerals to fuel your productive genius. Magnesium is a particularly vital mineral for energy. Eat plenty of nuts and fish to boost your levels naturally.
Avoid sugar. Sugars, whether in the form of sweeteners or the carbohydrates in processed foods, cause blood sugar spikes that might make you feel better in the short-term, but pack a nasty crash a couple of hours later. Blood sugar and insulin swings make it difficult for you to concentrate and weaken your willpower. Opt for healthy snacks with a balance of fat and protein that will keep you going strong.
Move more. Research shows that a ten-minute walk at a nice clip boosts energy more effectively than a candy bar and that regular walks improve overall energy levels.
Sleep. Insufficient sleep and sleep disorders are all too common in the U.S. Despite recommendations to get seven to eight hours of sleep nightly, 30 percent of adults get six or fewer hours. While the jury is still out on whether more sleep guarantees success, if you’re nodding off at your desk, it’s time to get some more regular shut-eye.
However, if your rebel heart simply refuses to abide by guidelines . . .
There are some non–Red Bull alternatives you can try.
Coffee Alternatives
Most people are simply looking for a replacement for their daily mug(s) of joe—something satisfying to fill the void during the morning routine. Luckily, there are many satisfying alternatives to coffee.
If you are looking to cut back on caffeine or the “crash” associated with coffee. . .
Make your life easy and switch to decaffeinated coffee. Voila, problem solved.
If you can’t tolerate the acidity of coffee. . .
Reach for some yerba mate or green tea. Both have caffeine, but yerba mate has a smoother come-down while green tea has a 75 percent lower dose of caffeine than coffee. Shorter brew times for both teas will weaken the stimulant concentration further.
If you want to get away from caffeine but still want some chemical energy. . .
Try ginkgo tea to boost circulation and energy levels. Siberian ginseng, not to be confused with American ginseng, contains compounds that may improve mental performance, not to mention boost your immune system.
If you want to try a whole new kick. . .
Spicy tea varieties pack an energizing punch. For no-caf, my go-to when I go sans coffee is lemon and ginger tea, fresh or in sachets. Personally, I love this as strong as I can make it with a cinnamon stick, honey, and coconut oil. If you’re comfortable with a bit of caffeine, try chai. This aromatic mix of black tea with warming spices and frothy milk contains between 25 and 50 percent the amount of caffeine found in coffee.
If you’re looking for zero-caf invigoration. . . Just can’t do caffeine? A number of herbal teas can be quite revitalizing. Lemongrass and citrus teas have a bite that perks you up, while mint teas are calming but refreshing. Stay away from lavender and camomile blends, which are soothing to the point of being downright restful.
If you’re looking for pure coziness in a cup. . . Carob powder drinks are your new go-to. This chocolate substitute gives you all the indulgence of hot cocoa and blends very well with all kinds of milk without any of the stimulant effects of coffee or chocolate.
Which drink will you try? Do you have any coffee alternatives that you swear by?
You can add -esque to almost any noun, including proper nouns.
Use restraint. Too many -esque words in the same passage may seem clumsy and repetitive.
Don’t pile on redundant suffixes that mean the same thing as -esque (e.g., “picturesque-like”).
If someone called you a statue, you might not find it so flattering. However, if someone called you statuesque, you would probably thank them for the compliment. What does the suffix -esque mean? Can you add -esque to any word? Here come the answers!
Meaning of -Esque Suffix
This suffix means “in the manner of, resembling.” So statuesque means suggestive of a statue in dignity, grace, or beauty. Is there another way to express the idea behind -esque? You could use an adjective. For instance, instead of saying that something is lionesque, you could use adjectives to describe the qualities that remind you of a lion: proud, majestic, fear-inspiring, feline, etc. You could also see if the similar suffix -like works: The man was lionlike.
How to Use -Esque
What do you do if you can’t find a preexisting -esque word that fits? It’s not very often that English allows you to invent a word on the spot, but in this case it’s acceptable. You can add -esque to almost any noun. For example, if you think that your neighbor resembles Abraham Lincoln, you can describe his face as Lincolnesque.
You can attach it to the names of people or groups of people (Namath-esque and Romanesque). You can also attach it to a regular old noun (lionesque).
Does -Esque Need a Hyphen?
Does -esque need a hyphen? No, the hyphen is optional. And don’t worry if your spelling checker puts a red squiggly line under your novel -esque words. The alert lets you know that the word isn’t in the spelling checker’s dictionary; that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. But if the hyphen is unnecessary, why ever would you add it?
Imagine you were reading an ESPN article and you find this quote:
On this night, he was Namath-esque, driving the ball downfield against a couple of very good cornerbacks.
ESPN.com
If you aren’t familiar with football, you might not know that Namath is the name of a former football player. So you look up Namathesque in a dictionary, but you won’t find it there. The hyphen alerts readers that the -esque word might be a unique one. If you see the hyphen, you would probably search for Namath on the Internet rather than in a dictionary.
In other cases, a hyphen can make an -esque word a little easier to read, especially if you’re adding -esque to a word that already ends in a vowel.
Words With -Esque
What are some other words ending in the suffix -esque? Here are five common examples from dictionaries—arabesque, burlesque, gigantesque, grotesque, picturesque. Let’s look at some examples of people creating their own -esque words.
Mel’s new Santa-esque look will likely be wasted on his unborn ninth child to new girlfriend Rosalind Ross, who is not expected to give birth until after the 2016 holiday season.
DailyMail.com
Details of the new series are being kept under wraps, but I hear it is a prequel, described as a Malcolm in the Middle-esque single-camera family comedy centered on the child prodigy Sheldon character at age 12.
Deadline.com
The importance of Rogue One, however, goes far beyond entertainment value and even profit margins, as the ultimate success or failure of this movie could have a major impact on the future of the Star Wars franchise and, more specifically, the potential for a Marvel-esque Star Wars Cinematic Universe.
Fansided.com
Can you add -esque to any word? Pretty much. What does the suffix -esque mean? It means “reminiscent of” or “in the style of.” What other questions do you have about -esque?
One of the most miraculous aspects of J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world is that it’s just so darn big. If you’re an aspiring author, you may wonder just how Rowling managed to crank out so many books, use so much imagination, and keep the ideas flowing.
Here’s a secret: she didn’t just wave a magic wand. She wrote every single one of the 1,084,170 words in the Harry Potter series (and lots more in her other books, plays, and movies). How does she keep churning them out? Will the wizarding world ever stop growing? And what’s the real trick to becoming a bestseller?
Before you stop reading and start googling “Hogwarts School of Writing and Wizardry,” here are eight steps for diving into your writing, creating a routine, and not giving up—even when it seems He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and all the forces of the Dark Arts are against you.
1. Believe in Magic.
Okay, not literally (at least, unless you do). But this tip is just about believing in yourself as a writer, the content you create, and your ability to keep going. Take it from J.K.: she had always wanted to be a writer, and she kept inventing stories until people read them (and boy, did they read them). To make it as a writer, you have to believe you’ve got the magic it takes to make words come alive on the page.
It all started out as a dream for J.K. Rowling, too. Hear the world-renowned author talk about her pie-in-the-sky idea of becoming a writer.
2. Treat writing like it’s your job.
This is true whether writing is, in fact, your job, or whether you just want it to be. Treating it like a job means setting aside time to finish what you need to do. Some authors give themselves strict daily word limits (Mark Twain averaged right around 1,800).
J.K. hasn’t talked about giving herself a word limit, but she has made it clear that she puts in her time. Since she hit the big time with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s Stone, in the American edition) and managed to make it her full-time gig, she’s careful to put in her eight hours a day—even if that sometimes means working through the night. But before that, when she was a single mom on social assistance, sometimes it was all she could do to snatch a spare moment to scribble a stray idea.
In her words:
You’ve got to work. It’s about structure. It’s about discipline. It’s all these deadly things that your school teacher told you you needed…You need it.
3. Treat writing like it’s not your job.
Yes, that’s the opposite of Step 2 and no, you’re not reading it wrong. It’s important to set a routine, make yourself fill quotas, and be serious about this gig, but if it’s too much of a job, you risk losing the magic (remember Step 1?).
That said, don’t over-stress about things like words per day if it’s not your style. For some writers, tallying up those numbers is a big motivator. But for other writers—and also for certain projects or stages in creating a new project—it’s not all about hitting a word quota. It’s about brainstorming, coming up with lists of names and ideas, making a chart of how your story will unfold, or doing research about the history of wizards in Europe. That sort of work feels a lot more like a game.
4. Inspiration can strike at surprising times. Be ready.
If you chain yourself to your desk and stare at a piece of paper hoping for words to appear on it, they’re probably less likely to materialize than if you mix in a little bit of Step 3. But sometimes a lightning bolt strikes—and you’re suddenly imagining a kid with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead.
For J.K. Rowling, the idea for that kid “fell into” her head while she was staring off into space waiting for a train from Manchester to London. No, she didn’t happen to be on Platform 9 ¾; she just happened to have an idea. But unfortunately, she didn’t have a pen.
This might sound like a cautionary tale against not being ready for inspiration striking. But being ready isn’t just about carrying a pen, post-its, or an iPad: it’s about being prepared to let the ideas flow. Rowling says of the experience:
I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, while all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn’t know he was a wizard became more and more real to me […]Perhaps, if I had slowed down the ideas to capture them on paper, I might have stifled some of them.
There you have it: a delayed train and lack of writing utensil were all it took to conceive of one of the greatest literary franchises in recent history.
And it wasn’t the only time she found herself short of materials, either: another famous anecdote tells of Rowling scribbling down the names of the characters on a barf bag on an airplane. Luckily, it was unused. That’s why Rowling says:
I can write anywhere.
It doesn’t mean you should deliberately forget to bring stuff to write on or with when you’re traveling from point A to point B. The lesson here is to keep your mind open to ideas that drop into it.
5. Plan ahead. Way ahead.
The idea for Harry Potter may have fallen into J.K. Rowling’s head in that train station in 1990, but actually writing the story took a lot longer. Over five years, Rowling mapped out the entire series, book by book. She had the plot developments, characters, names, and rules that governed the wizarding world all figured out before she so much as considered the words “Chapter One.”
That shows the importance of planning. Readers learn the word “Horcrux” for the first time in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince—six whole books into the series—but by the time they’re fully explained, you realize that they’ve been showing up ever since the very beginning. (Note: that wasn’t a spoiler, in case you haven’t read the books. Maybe you know to look out for Horcruxes, but just try figuring out what you’re looking for.)
Anyway, by planting a seed early in her series that would become central to the plots of the later books, J.K. shows the vital importance of planning before you write.
And here’s the kicker: this doesn’t apply only when you’re writing a multi-book series. One book, one story, an article, a blog post, you name it: create an outline, determine when you’re going to incorporate key details, and don’t start at the beginning without knowing the ending.
6. Kill your darlings.
This quote isn’t from J.K. Rowling; in fact, it’s most often attributed to William Faulkner.
In writing, you must kill all your darlings.
The gist: be willing to leave stuff out, even if you think it’s good. In other words: edit, edit, edit.
This is an important one after Step 5: you may have made a thorough plan that looks really solid in bullet-point form, but once you start turning it into prose you might find out that some details don’t work as well as you thought they would, or a scene leads somewhere unexpected, or maybe doesn’t lead anywhere at all. It can be agonizing, but willingness to adjust your plan and edit your writing is key to success.
Our author of the hour, J.K. Rowling, is no exception. She wrote, re-wrote, and re-worked the opening chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone not one, not two, but fifteen times. Here’s what she has to say about those early drafts:
You have to resign yourself to the fact that you waste a lot of trees before you write anything you really like, and that’s just the way it is […] It’s like learning an instrument, you’ve got to be prepared for hitting wrong notes occasionally, or quite a lot, cause I wrote an awful lot before I wrote anything I was really happy with.
Be willing to make changes, and know that you might end up cutting out words, sentences, and entire sections you thought belonged. The reason? You might love those little darlings, but to a reader they might just be unnecessary details. Which leads us to…
7. Write like a reader.
J.K. Rowling says she didn’t have a particular target audience in mind while writing Harry Potter; she just thought of what she would want to read.
Ask yourself questions like these: Are you giving away a juicy detail that could come later? Including a “darling” idea that you’re proud of, but doesn’t really advance the plot? Telling what happens, instead of ending the chapter (or book) on a cliffhanger?
This ties in with planning: keep the excitement and the mystery by not giving away your secrets too early. J.K. Rowling says she had finished her first draft of the first Harry Potter book before realizing she’d included some key plot elements that shouldn’t show up until much later in the series. So it was back to the drawing board.
Plot and pacing are the meat and potatoes of writing for your readers, but it’s also important to work in time for some sweet, sticky candy to keep your readers addicted. Rowling does this with things like fun-to-say names (Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans), out-of-this-world concepts (earwax flavor), and characters that real-live humans can truly empathize with (no, not Bertie Bott—Harry and his friends). Her ability to capture readers’ imaginations and hearts is as much about the details of the wizarding world as the sequence of events in the series.
Hear Rowling talk about where some of her ideas come from—the blend of influences from her life, pure invention, and human motivation is exactly the reader-focused recipe we’re talking about.
8. Read inspiring quotes about writing.
The overarching tip here: love what you write and don’t give up. But we’re going to give the last word (or words) to J.K. Rowling. Sometimes all it takes is a push from a role model to get you rolling in the right direction, so keep these mood boosters nearby if you’re feeling down on yourself or writing. Believe us: J.K. knows what she’s talking about.
Can you make that kind of transformation with Polyjuice potion?
Failure is inevitable—make it a strength.
A step up from writing for your reader: being your reader.
I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It’s totally for myself.
Maybe you thought you are what you eat. Not according to J.K. Rowling.
What you write becomes who you are…So make sure you love what you write.
If you’re waiting on publishers, agents, or other forces beyond your control, you just have to let those forces do their thing. It’ll work out in the end.
Wait. Pray. This is the way Harry Potter got published.
How could you not feel inspired?
We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already.
In the end, we can’t promise that these tips will snag you a Pulitzer Prize, but setting a writing schedule and letting your imagination run free are important first steps.
You’ve likely read sentences in which there was a comma before too, but is this correct usage? Well, it depends on the intention of the writer. When using the word too, you only need to use a comma before it for emphasis. According to The Chicago Manual of Style, a comma before too should be used only to note an abrupt shift in thought. When the too comes in the middle of a sentence, emphasis is almost always intended since it interrupts the natural flow of the sentence. Consider the example below:
I, too, like bananas.
I too like bananas.
When a too comes at the end of a sentence, however, a comma is almost never needed:
I like bananas too.
Since it really depends on the writer’s intent, there is no hard-and-fast rule when it comes to using a comma before too. Remember that commas often denote a pause, especially when emphasis is intended, so reading the sentence aloud and listening for a pause may be helpful.
A house needs a good foundation. Likewise, to speak a language, you need a firm understanding of grammar. Here are some basic rules you will need to know if you want to speak and write English well.
Nouns
Nouns denote animate and inanimate things, ideas, places, or people. They compose about half of the English language. There are many types of nouns, and each type has its own usage rules. However, here are two rules that are relatively universal for nouns:
Pluralization
To make regular nouns plural, add an -s to the end of the word. Of course, there are exceptions. If a word ends with the letter y, you change the y to i, and add -es.
Regular nouns
house➝houses tool➝tools
Nouns that end in Y
balcony➝balconies
Remember, however, that even exceptions have exceptions! For a more detailed explanation, check the Grammarly Handbook.
Capitalization
Capitalize nouns if they are at the beginning of a sentence, or if they are proper nouns. Proper nouns refer to specific people or places.
George obtained his degree from McGill University.
Note that some nouns can be proper nouns or common nouns.
Will Dad allow me to go to the park? My dad allowed me to go to the park.
Pronouns
After mentioning a noun once, it’s tedious to repeat it again and again. Pronouns replace nouns. There are also different types of pronouns. Pronouns must agree in number and gender with the noun they replace.
The nails (plural) are too flimsy for the job.➝They are too flimsy for the job. Yolanda (feminine, singular) finished her drink.➝She finished her drink. Bobby (masculine, singular) doesn’t like coconut.➝He doesn’t like coconut.
Articles
The three articles a, an, and the distinguish between specific and nonspecific nouns. A and an are indefinite articles, whereas the is a definite article. If you want to refer to a specific thing, use the. If not, use a before a noun beginning with a consonant and an before a noun beginning with a vowel or a voiceless H.
A book is on the table. (a nonspecific book) An almanac is on the table. (a nonspecific almanac) An hourglass is on the table. (a nonspecific hourglass) The book is on the table. (a particular book)
Adjectives
Adjectives describe nouns. In most cases, adjectives appear before the noun they modify. If more than one adjective modifies the same noun, separate the adjectives with a comma if they are coordinate; that is, if they modify the noun equally. Don’t add a comma if one of the adjectives forms a unit of meaning with the noun (as is often the case with words describing color).
The mail carrier wore a bright blue bowtie with his uniform. The mail carrier fed the dogs some pungent, crumbly biscuits.
Adverbs
While adjectives describe nouns, adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Most of them end in -ly, but you can also identify them by asking the questions how, where, or when. For instance: How did Sally sing? Sally sang well. Because it answers the question how, well is an adverb.
The Rule: Never place an adverb between the verb it modifies and the direct object of the verb.
The car turned quickly the corner.
The correct word order is “The car turned the corner quickly.” Or “The car quickly turned the corner.”
Verbs
Verbs make it possible to describe an action, state, or occurrence. In other words, verbs let us know what’s happening. Hundreds of rules govern the use of verbs. The standout rule has to do with consistency. In a sentence, you have to pay attention to the tenses of the verbs. Let’s look at an example.
Betsy arrived home from school, eats a snack, and watched her favorite cartoon.
In the example, “eats a snack” is in the present tense, but the other verbs are in the past tense. This is a no-no. You can’t describe the same period in two different tenses in the same sentence. To achieve verb tense consistency, you must maintain the same tense throughout the sentence. And if you want to refer to multiple time periods, you will want to separate them into a new clause or start a new sentence.
Betsy arrives home from school, eats a snack, and watches her favorite cartoon. (All present tense) Betsy arrived home from school, ate a snack, and watched her favorite cartoon. (All past tense) Betsy arrived home from school and watched her favorite cartoon. Now, she is eating a snack. (The tense changes in the new sentence)
Prepositions
Prepositions situate nouns in time or place. You have probably heard one “rule” of preposition use: never end a sentence with a preposition! In reality, this advice only applies to very formal writing, and even there it is somewhat dated. In casual speech and writing, dangling prepositions are generally acceptable.
Here is a bag you can keep your things in. (casual) Here is a bag in which you can keep our things. (formal)
Conjunctions
Conjunctions link ideas, clauses, and parts of sentences. Notice how the coordinating conjunction and can be used to combine two related sentences.
Hugh loves coffee. Hugh has always wanted to own a cafe. Hugh loves coffee and has always wanted to own a cafe.
When you use conjunctions, be sure that the two components have parallel structure. To illustrate, consider the verbs in these two linked phrases:
To lose weight, Jack diets, ran marathons, and drinks lots of water.
Here, two verbs are in the present tense, and one verb is in the past tense. Remember your verb rule! You can’t mix the tenses. With conjunctions, make sure that all the elements in a list match. If you are listing nouns, for example, you cannot insert a verb into the same list.
Interjections
Interjections are words we use to express extreme emotions or to emphasize a point. They are often followed by an exclamation point if they stand alone. In a sentence, they are often set off by commas.
The Rule: Don’t use interjections without context.
Holy smokes!
The above interjection doesn’t give away any information. The reader would not be able to discern what is happening from the interjection alone. When you write, describe the context that merits the interjection.
Holy smokes! I have never seen a pumpkin that color!
Nouns, verbs, and the other parts of speech you examined today are the building blocks of the English language. By mastering a few rules for each part of speech, you are laying a firm foundation for writing and communication. There are hundreds more rules to consider, but don’t be overwhelmed. Bricks used to build a house are laid one at a time.
Writing is a creative and magical process. There’s no telling when inspiration will strike—or what unique conditions will help us access our creativity.
Over the centuries, writers have discovered what worked best for them—no matter how unusual. Agatha Christie penned her murder mysteries in the bathtub while eating apples and drinking tea. Gertrude Stein was known for writing on the go, sitting in her Model T with a pencil and notepad while her wife drove her around running errands.
As writers we’re always hunting for better ways to bust through writer’s block and channel our inner muse. So today we’re highlighting some of the wonderful ways modern technology can make your unique writing process quicker, easier, and more productive.
Capturing Ideas
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Do your best ideas come to you far from your computer—like in the shower, walking the dog, or driving to work? With a voice dictation app on your smartphone you’ll have an easy, hands-free way to record your ideas no matter where you get them. Simply speak into your phone and watch your words instantly appear as text. Check out Dragon Dictation for iPhone or Android.
Dictating your words, instead of typing them, can also be a great way to speed up your writing process and turn off your inner critic. Writing through dictation allows you to keep flowing with an idea and not overthink or fixate on specific words. If you’re ready to finally make it through your first draft, check out Dragon Naturally Speaking or the accurate (and free!) Google Docs Voice Recognition.
Conquering the Blank Page
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Still waiting for your next brilliant idea? Staring down a blank page can induce terror and despair in the heart of any writer. Sometimes you need a little kickstart to get your words and inspiration flowing again.
Through the miracle of technology, you can now spark your creativity with writing prompts delivered straight to your smartphone or browser. Download Writing Prompts (Android) or Prompts – Beat Writers Block (iPhone) and get unstuck from the mire of the blank page!
And if you’re a creative writer feeling stuck in your short story or novel? Check out The Brainstormer—an interactive wheel for generating themes and plot lines. You’ll have your heroine back on her journey in no time. (Click here for Android or iPhone).
Staying Focused
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Once you finally sit down to write, why is it so difficult to stay writing? Distractions abound, especially when your writing device is also connected to the Internet.
The struggle is real. Lucky for you there’s a whole arsenal of distraction-fighting apps right at your fingertips.
Need a writing interface that’s free of distractions? Calmly gives you a blank canvas to pour out your thoughts.
Want to stay on task with the Pomodoro Technique? Check out Tomato Timer, a simple Pomodoro timer you can pause and reset, with preset timers for your “short” and “long” breaks.
For those of us who need more extreme motivation, there’s the writing interface Write or Die, whose infamous “Consequence Mode” triggers spine-chilling noises and a blood red screen whenever you stop typing. (You’ll get back to work just to make it stop!)
And if you need to escape the plague of app and Internet notifications . . . there’s an app for that too. Sign up for Freedom and block the Internet while you work.
Staying Ergonomic
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Maybe your best work happens while sitting in a chair, or perhaps it’s while you’re standing (like Virginia Woolf), or lying down (like Truman Capote).
Whatever your peak position is, it’s important to make sure you’re comfortable. (If your chair is causing you crazy back pain, you won’t be writing for very long!) Fortunately, with the rise of office workers there’s been much advancement in ergonomic technology.
Ready to hop on the standing desk bandwagon? Here’s a roundup from inexpensive to fancy, or you can always DIY it with a stack of books or the latest IKEA hack.
For writing in bed or on your chaise lounge, stop trying to balance your laptop or notebook on a pillow and just get a lap desk.
And for those who love to sit: you can browse options for (affordable) ergonomic chairs here.
Organizing Your Writing
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J.K. Rowling mapped out the plots of the Harry Potter books with elaborate diagrams. William Faulkner outlined the plot of The Fable directly on his office walls (don’t try this at home, kids).
Whether you’re weaving together the plot lines of your new novel, or sorting through ideas for your next blog post, your writing could probably benefit from some organization.
Organize your writing (and possibly your life) with Evernote, the ultimate app for organizing, well, everything. Or if you want templates and proven formulas for your next Facebook post or sales page, be sure to check out Airstory.
Getting Your Grammar in Tip-Top Shape
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Okay, real talk: how could we write about tech to improve your writing and not mention Grammarly?!
With Grammarly as your editor, you can go with the flow of your creativity and let your inner muse run free. Let go of the paranoia that your writing will be littered with errors. Grammarly catches the errors and makes great suggestions for improving your writing.
And have you upgraded to Grammarly Premium yet? It includes vocabulary enhancement suggestions, genre-specific writing style checks, even more grammar and spelling checks, and a plagiarism detector that checks more than 8 billion web pages. Click here to supercharge your writing process.
We want to know: what are your favorite tech gadgets that make the writing process easier? Share in the comments section below!
Emigrate means to leave one location, such as one’s native country or region, to live in another.
Immigrate means to move into a non-native country or region to live.
Associate the I of immigrate with “in” to remember that the word means moving into a new country.
Is emigrate an alternative spelling of immigrate? If not, what’s the difference between immigrate and emigrate?
The Meaning of Emigrate
Emigrate is not an alternative spelling of immigrate. Emigrate means to leave a place, such as a country of origin, to settle in another location. Here are some examples. To best understand them, remember that Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Austria.
Arnold Schwarzenegger emigrated from Austria to the United States.
The Meaning of Immigrate
To immigrate is to settle in a country where you were not born. Here is an example of the verb immigrate using actress Natalie Portman, who was born in Israel.
Natalie Portman immigrated to the United States at a young age.
How to Remember the Difference Between Immigrate and Emigrate
Immigrate begins with the letter I. If you associate I with “in,” you can easily remember that immigrate means to move into a different country. Emigrate begins with an E, so if you associate it with exit, you’ll remember that it means to leave your home country.
Examples
“Canadians who marry someone from abroad shouldn’t have to wait for years to have them immigrate or be left with uncertainty in terms of their ability to stay,” says John McCallum, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.
Canadian Immigrant
Former Deal or No Deal star, Noel Edmonds is planning to leave Bristol and emigrate, according to reports.
