grammar, Grammar Help, help, spelling, Uncategorized

Words That Don’t Follow Normal Plural Rules

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Today I’m going to discuss a few words that don’t form the plural by adding the letter ‘s’. These words come mainly from foreign ‘imports’, although a lot are very old. Some people are confused by these words and use the plural as a singular.
So here we go.

 Singular: Bacterium        Plural: Bacteria
 Singular: Phenomenon        Plural: Phenomena
 Singular: Medium            Plural: Media
 Singular: Datum            Plural: Data
 Singular: Criterion            Plural: Criteria
 Singular: Cactus            Plural: Cacti
 Singular: Fungus            Plural: Fungi
 Singular: Stadium            Plural: Stadia
 Singular: Nucleus            Plural: Nuclei
 Singular: Syllabus            Plural: Syllabi
 Singular: Focus            Plural: Foci
 Singular: Thesis            Plural: Theses
 Singular: Crisis            Plural: Crises
 Singular: Index            Plural: Indices
 Singular: Appendix        Plural: Appendices

It is becoming more acceptable to hear ‘stadiums’, ‘syllabuses’ and ‘indexes’, although they grate on me, personally, but my least favourites are when I hear ‘criteria’, ‘bacteria’, ‘fungi’ and ‘phenomena’ used as singular nouns. Grrrrr!

Now for some that don’t change for the plural.

 sheep
 deer
 fish (although the word ‘fishes’ can be used if referring to a number of different types of the creatures. e.g. There was a great variety of fishes swimming around on the reef.)
 aircraft
 moose
 offspring
 species
 salmon
 trout

Now what about those that are completely different in the plural? Here we have the following:

 Singular: Child            Plural: Children
 Singular: Man            Plural: Men
 Singular: Woman            Plural: Women
 Singular: Mouse            Plural: Mice
 Singular: Goose            Plural: Geese (N.B. The plural of ‘mongoose’ is not ‘mongeese’, but ‘mongooses’. Wierd, I know, but that’s the English language for you.)
 Singular: Die             Plural: Dice
 Singular: Foot             Plural: Feet
 Singular: Louse             Plural: Lice
 Singular: Ox             Plural: Oxen
 Singular: Person             Plural: People
 Singular: Tooth             Plural: Teeth

I hope this has helped some of you, at least. I would like to know if there are any I’ve forgotten, or about any that personally grate on you when you hear them misused.

 

Uncategorized

Amazon Notifications Regarding Copyright

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This is a very important post on Copyright and Amazon from Nicholas Rossis

Nicholas C. Rossis's avatarNicholas C. Rossis

Amazon | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's books Image: dailyfinance.com

Image this: You have the perfect campaign lined up, and are counting the days before you finally start paying off the cost of those ads.

Then, you receive an email from Amazon accusing you of copyright infringment. Your book has been taken down for now, until you prove it is, indeed, written by you.

This is what’s been happening to several authors, who have received the dreaded copyright notifications from Amazon. Specifically, they’ve received the following email:

Hello,

We are writing to you regarding the following book(s):

Title:[book title]

During a quality assurance review of your catalog, we found content (text and/or images) that is widely available on the web. You can do an online search for the content inside your books to discover which sites are offering the content for free. Copyright is important to us – we want to make sure that no author or other copyright…

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announcement, help, history, novel, Uncategorized

Help Requested

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I’ve written a book under the pen name of Emily Littler.

It’s a historical novel set in the time of Roman Britain. I decided to put it up on Kindle Scout. Kindle Scout is exactly what it says. Kindle scouting for authors who they then publish (rather than the author self-publishing.) They act just like the mainstream publishers in that they give an advance, (although small!) and do all the formatting and marketing as well as producing an audio version and foreign language translations.

In order to select the books, they hold a ballot. The book (s) with the most recommends will be accepted. All you need to do is click on the link below and then click on the button to nominate or recommend my book.

You can read extracts from it before you click, so you’re not nominating something you’ve not seen.

Please find a few seconds to help me. The link is below.

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/UZ8KQW66M6H8/

Thanks
Viv Sang

Uncategorized

Smorgasbord Health – Seasonal Affective Disorder – Part One – The way we were!

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On the off chance that some eminent scientist involved in the extensive research over many years into the cause of Seasonal Affective Disorder might stumble upon my blog……..you never know!!! I am n…

Source: Smorgasbord Health – Seasonal Affective Disorder – Part One – The way we were!

announcement, history, Recipe book, Uncategorized

Update on my writing

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Well, yesterday I heard that Viv’s Family Recipes is now available in a paperback edition. You can buy it from Amazon. http://www.amazo.com/ http://amazon.co.uk/ or your local amazon site.

 

I sent the manuscript of Elemental Worlds off to the editor, so things are beginning to move on that one. I think it’s the best one yet. No ideas as to when it will be availabe though. I’ll keep you in touch. We need to agree a cover, too. As soon as we pick one, I’ll reveal it to you all for comments.

On February 10th you can get The Wolf Pack free from Creativia, and on February 14th, Viv’s Family Recipes is also free. Take advantage of these offers and many more from 1st to 14th February. You can see the books at Sahara Foley’s website. http://saharafoley.com/creativia-publishing-free-books-from-february-1st-thru-the-14th-2017-creativia/

Uncategorized

You, Me, Us, Love…..

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I thought this was so beautiful.

Sakhi's avatarQuill & Parchment

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Love is trying not to Disturb but ending up by spending all day with him/her
It is Childish

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Love is not wanting to hang up the Phone
It is Random

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Love is the kiss before you sleep and after you wake up
It is Excitement

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Love is the Sweet Nothings never told or said
It is Stupid

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Love is Perfection in Imperfection
It is Acknowledgement

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Love is missing him/her as soon as he/she leaves
It is Nostalgic

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Love is passing by that open door because it’s not Time yet
It is Tolerance

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Love is touching him/her from the top of head to tip of toe
It is Not having Inhibition

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Love is never having to say “let’s make love” as you already know what he/she wants
It is Awareness

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Love is chucking things at him/her when you are angry on Self
It is Venting

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Love is knowing just what to say to turn a ordinary moment…

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Photography, Uncategorized

Some of my photographs

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Today is the 5th Tuesday in the month, so I’m doing something different. I’m posting some photographs I’ve take.

As you can see, they are rather old ones. they are all of places in Brittany.

I hope you enjoy looking at these photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them.

 

Please leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

 

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Important Announcement

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Viv’s Family recipes is now available for Kindle on

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Viv%27s+Family+Recipes/

and

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Viv%27s+Family+Recipes&rh=n%3A341677031%2Ck%3AViv%27s+Family+Recipes?

Here is a bit about it.

This recipe book is the culmination of many years of cooking and baking by the author. She is passionate about food quality and believes that home cooked is best.

She has inherited a recipe book from her mother’s eldest sister and a small one from her grandmother that contains recipes from the turn of the 19th century. She has also included many recipes from other family and friends from many places and times.

It is an interesting look at how our diets have changed over the years as well as our cooking methods. Many of the older recipes are done by long steaming. There are also some interesting ‘Hints and Tips’ from long ago.

If you are interested in cooking, and how our ancestors cooked and ate, you will enjoy this little book.The recipes date back as far as 1909, from my Grandmother. She was an excellent cook and always cooked the Christmas dinner well into her old age. Someone once said she could make a good meal out of an old boot. (Except the time she nearly poisoned the family when her eyes were beginning to fail, and she used daffodil bulbs instead of onions. Fortunately, apart from being sick, there were no ill effects. Although it wasn’t funny at the time, we laughed about it later and teased her about it.)

The book will be on sale in paperback format very soon. I’ll let you know when.

book reviews, fantasy, novel, stories, Uncategorized

The Revenge of Excalibur by Sahara Foley. My Review.

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Today I’m reviewing a book I recently read, It’s the second book in the Excalibur series and it fuly lives up to the first one.

Blurb

After Pamela’s father vanished twenty-seven years ago, her life has been content. That is, until she is visited by disturbing dreams, telling that her father is in danger.

She also receives a mysterious message, telling her that Arthur has been imprisoned on a distant planet, and only she can rescue him. To do so, she must release the evil entity trapped within the famous sword, Excalibur. If she trusts this strange messenger and releases the terrifying Shalit from its confinement, Pamela could be endangering Earth and all the other planets in the universe.

Will she be strong enough to control the Shalit, save her father, and protect everyone she loves? And can she risk destroying all life if she’s not?

 

My Review
This book is the second in the Excalibur series and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first one. This time, instead of following Arthur and Daisy on their adventures out in the Universe, we concentrate on Arthur’s daughter, Pamela. Arthur does not know of the birth of his daughter, nor that she has inherited his gifts.

Pamela feels something of a misfit on Earth as she has to hide her powers from others. If they know what she is capable of, they would fear her. One day she is whisked off to space by mysterious forces that turn out to be intelligences contained in a living spaceship. These two women, granddaughter and grandmother, tell her that her father is in danger and that he and his wife, the alien Daisy, whom he met in The Secret of Excalibur, are imprisoned.

The rescue of Arthur and Daisy involves the releasing of the Shalit from Excalibur, one of the entities known as Planet Eaters.

Pamela has to use her powers and faces great danger. She finds her true love in a most unusal person, and the twist at the end caught me by surprise.

Ms Foley has built complex worlds with strange alien creatures and a politics we can all recognise. Pamela’s change from a timid, self-conscious girl to a confident woman is believable, after what she goes through.

The writing is excellent and I have no hesitation in giving this book 4 stars.

The book is available as both an ebook and in paperback from Amazon.

If you have any comments on this post, or any others, please add them to the comments box. I’d love to hear from you.

 

Poetry, Uncategorized

I Am Earth. A Poem

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I am Earth.
I am your mother.
I gave you birth.

I gave you a nest.
A wonderful home
On which you can rest.

I gave you food .
Plenty to eat.
You waste all that’s good.

I gave you the seas
And forests and hills,
But you chop down the trees.

You think you’re so cool,
But you pollute the air
By the burning of fuel.

You heat up the air
And care not a jot
For the poor polar bear.

Animals die
Because of your greed.
You hear not their cry.

I teemed with life,
Both great and small.
Yet extinction is rife

Like a cancer you spread
Throughout the whole world.
It won’t end till you’re dead.

But I’ll make you pay
For all you have done.
You’ll be sorry one day.

I’ll shiver my skin.
Your buildings will fall
And bury your kin.

The land I will flood
By raising the seas
And drown all in mud.

My mountains so high
Will belch forth their flames
And you will all die.

I am Earth.
I am your mother.
I gave you birth.

BUT I WILL DESTROY YOU.

There are dragons and magic in the world if only you look for them… V.M. Sang