Cthulhu.Science
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- Joined
- Jan 30, 2023
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- 660
The small print is much more important than the very misleading headline in giant letters.
There is rarely, if ever, a need to avoid "said" other than just relating dialogue without any added said-verb at all.
Marilla came briskly forward as Matthew opened the door. But when her eyes fell on the odd little figure in the stiff, ugly dress, with the long braids of red hair and the eager, luminous eyes, she stopped short in amazement.
“Matthew Cuthbert, who’s that?” she ejaculated. “Where is the boy?”
A good example of word-meaning subtly changing in common use over time...“Now, Watson,” said Holmes, rubbing his hands, “we have half an hour to ourselves. Let us make good use of it. My case is, as I have told you, almost complete; but we must not err on the side of over-confidence. Simple as the case seems now, there may be something deeper underlying it.”
“Simple!” I ejaculated.
He heard footsteps running to and fro in the rooms, and up and down stairs behind him. His landlady came to the door, loosely wrapped in dressing gown and shawl; her husband followed, ejaculating.
The small print is much more important than the very misleading headline in giant letters.
There is rarely, if ever, a need to avoid "said" other than just relating dialogue without any added said-verb at all.
I recall having an issue with both that and her excessive abuse of adverbs when I pushed myself to read through the first three books of Harry Potter. (Never got into them as a kid and was born too late for Potter-mania to really grab me.)Unless you are J K Rowling or really need to pad out the word count.
Is it safe to guess that you write somewhat um... specialised books? (nudge, nudge, , know what I mean, guv?)I use ejaculated a lot, but not in regard to speech.