English Language, Literature and Creative Writing Blog

  One evening, the calm breeze made the air more gentle. The birds were joyfully chirping, adding to the music of Nature. Shreya was rejuvenated to feel such soothing natural coolness in the horrid summer. She planned to go for an evening stroll. Engrossed in her thoughts, she walked on the road all alone enjoying the company of Nature. She was looking at the sideway buildings and trees. The air touching her body gave her respite of worldly affairs too. She heard the noise of vehicles crossing by. Suddenly a car stopped after crossing her closely. A man came out of it; highly drunk who tried to make a balance while standing on his own. He said," I will drop you wherever you want." Before she could understand, he shouted at the top of his voice. Shreya, awakened by the threat of a pervert mind, became numb by her own dormat fear and insecurity. Some unknown impulse alarmed her mind abruptly. She ran as fast as she could. Her mind was too terrified to have any thoughts. She fel...

 A semicolon is used to indicate the connectedness of two independent clauses. We can go to library to write a research paper; the reading section is very quiet there. Garima has gone to market; Ankit has gone to play cricket. I work very hard for exams; studies have no short cut. Remember, semicolons are not interchangeable with commas or periods. Instead, they’re somewhere in between: stronger than a comma but not quite as divisive as a period.  You shouldn’t use a semicolon and a conjunction. That means when you use a semicolon, you use it instead of the ands, buts, and ors; you don’t need both. Garima has gone to market, and Ankit has gone to play cricket. You can use semicolons to divide the items of a list if the items are long or contain internal punctuation.  I need the weather statistics for the following cities:  Punjab, Patiala;  Haryana, Karnal; Rajashthan, Churu My plan included making footnotes of my research paper—though not necessarily comprehens...

 The term ‘Renaissance,’ sometimes ‘Renascence,’ is derived from a French / Latin word meaning ‘rebirth’. It refers to an experience of the European world that began from the 14th century and was characterised by a rebirth of learning, arts and culture. The Renaissance began in Italy. It lasted from around 1300 to 1600. Historically, it followed the Mediaeval period and led into the Modern period which began with the Enlightenment. Politically, Mediaeval Europe was dominated by the Feudal Hierarchy. This meant that the peasants were subject to a landowner, who in turn would be subject to a higher lord and so on, all the way up to the King. In the field of learning, the Catholic Church was dominant, and all arts, sciences and philosophical learning were regarded as servants of Christian theology. Hence, mediaeval architecture expressed itself in Cathedrals, while mediaeval art expressed itself in the form of religious paintings. Even the ancient authors were read principally from th...

'Hope’ is the thing with feathers EMILY DICKINSON ~ 'Hope’ is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all – And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard – And sore must be the storm – That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm – I’ve heard it in the chilliest land – And on the strangest Sea – Yet, never, in Extremity, It asked a crumb – of Me. ******   Like Air BY LAURA HERSHEY ~ Like air we float kite words fragile signals and hearts flap purple wings Like air my struggling lungs seize you gasp relief release long-held breaths desire expanding capacity unknown welcoming gulps of future Like air I need clarity shot through with sunlight invisibly to buoy me towards an idea called u s My dreams are mostly silent Does something besides distance obscure us? Like air intimacy should be a right for now it is only a promise Like air you travel my blood's hungry stream to every limb this is...

 Sentences are classified according to clause structure. If it is single clause, it is a simple sentence e.g.  I read the book.  If there are 2 or more clauses, it is complex e.g. I read the book which I borrowed from the library.  Note: a single clause will have ONE verb, 2 clauses 2 verbs - in the example of complex sentence,  two verbs: read, borrowed. Both sentences are declarative i.e. a statement is being made. The predicate is known. Take: Who read the book? It is 1 verb, one clause, hence simple and interrogative.  But: I would have read the book if I had been able to borrow it.  This has 2 clauses, main clause, and subordinate clause ('if' type clause is called a conditional clause and it is always a subordinate clause, never a main clause).  It can also be transformed into an interrogative: would I have read the book...? Thus this is  a two fold label for sentences: simple, declarative, complex declarative, simple interrogative, com...

    The term “Indo-Anglian” is used to denote original literary creation is the English language written by Indians. Early Poets: Henry Derozio’s volume of poems published in 1823 Kashiprasad Ghose published his volume of poetry entitled The Shair and the Other Poems in 1830. Early Novelists : Bankim Chandra Chatterjee became the first Indian writer of Indian English novel. He wrote Rajmohan’s Wife (1864) S.K.Ghosh’s One Thousand and One Nights S.B. Banerjee’s Indian Detective Stories Toru Dutt’s  Bianca or The Young Sapnish Maiden Ramesh Chandra Dutt wrote novels in Bengali. Two of them were translated into English; The Slave Girl of Agra The Lake of Palms Early Playwrights 1 st Indian play in English:  The Persecuted (1832) Rabindranath Tagore and Shri Aurobindo Ghosh were the pioneers of Indian English Drama     The early phase of Indian English Literature (1830-1880) was called The Phase of Imitation    ...

 In a famous soliloquy in Shakespeare's Hamlet , Hamlet speaks of the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns. A place is a particular portion of space, or space in general; a time and place. The setting of In Custody is in Mirpore and Delhi, the two cities contrast the narrative with their strange contradiction. One is famous, the other is anonymous. Delhi has identity of its own. It has a culture and identity. Unlike Mirpore, Delhi has a history attached to it. It is associated with a glorious past. It is the capital city. It is a city that is along the river Yamuna. It is related with the prime characters in the novel and is also associated with the identity of characters living in it like Nur or Deven’s practical and cunning friend, Murad, who is the publisher or Noor’s second wife who is smart enough to understand the importance of her husband’s past and wants to make money out of it. Nur has memories attached to old Delhi. A  place is clearly charged w...