# Posting Guidelines - revised



## AlastairSC (3 Mar 2009)

1. Always avoid alliteration.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid clichés like the plague - they're old hat.
4. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
5. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
6. All generalisations are wrong.
7. Foreign words are not a propos.
8. Comparisions are as bad as clichés.
9. Eschew circumlocatory methods of communicating the intended concept to the recipient.
10. Understatement is always best.
11. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
12. The passive voice is to be avoided.
13. If a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
14. Who needs rhetorical questions?
15. Exaggeration is a million times worse than understatement..
16. No redundancies; don't use more words than necessary; it's superfluous.


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## Caveat (3 Mar 2009)

Very good, however:



AlastairSC said:


> 1. Always avoid alliteration.


 
This is actually an example of _assonance_, not alliteration.

So do you have one for pedantry?


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## AlastairSC (3 Mar 2009)

> This is actually an example of _assonance_, not alliteration.



Alliteration: "having the same sound or letter at the beginning of several words" (Oxford)

So I guess it's both, Caveat!


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## Caveat (3 Mar 2009)

Hmmm...seems the jury is out these days for some reason.  

I was always led to believe that assonance=vowel sounds & alliteration = consonant sounds.

Anyway, what about:

17. I think you'll find generally that patronising posts are not too well received now are they? Good man.


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## AlastairSC (3 Mar 2009)

> So do you have one for pedantry?



“Pedantry is the showy display of knowledge which crams our heads with learned lumber and then takes out our brains to make room for it.”

 - Charles Caleb Colton (English sportsman and writer) 1780-1832

That do you, Pique318? Not aimed at Caveat, who makes a good point.


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## AgathaC (3 Mar 2009)

AlastairSC said:


> 1. Always avoid alliteration.
> 2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
> 3. Avoid clichés like the plague - they're old hat.
> 4. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
> ...


Excellent!


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## sandrat (3 Mar 2009)

i think you will find assonance is for vowels internal in the word often used in poetry for rhyming as in wood, stood and could below

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, 
And sorry I could not travel both 
And be one traveler, long I stood 
And looked down one as far as I could 
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Another example
"That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea" repeated use of o sounds


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## DrMoriarty (4 Mar 2009)

Assonance vs. alliteration?

*19 Rules for Writers*

1. Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read. 
2. Don't use no double negatives. 
3. Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it isn't.
4. Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when its not needed.
5. No sentence fragments. 
6. Avoid commas, that are unnecessary. 
7. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. 
8. Hyphenate between sy-llables and avoid un-necessary hyphens. 
9. Write all adverbial forms correct. 
10. Don't use contractions in formal writing.
11. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided. 
12. It is incumbent upon us to avoid archaisms. 
13. Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the language. 
14. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies. 
15. Resist hyperbole like the plague. 
*16. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.* *WRONG! *
17. Don't string too many prepositional phrases together unless you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. 
18. "Avoid overuse of 'quotation "marks."'". 
19. Finally, eschew obfuscation.


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## Caveat (4 Mar 2009)

sandrat said:


> TWO roads diverged in a yellow *wood,*
> And sorry I could not travel *both*
> And be one traveler, long I *stood *
> And looked down one as far as I *could *
> To where it bent in the under*growth*


 
Er...surely this is simply just an example of ABAAB rhyme rather than assonance?

But generally, it seems you are correct - assonance usually refers to internal vowel sounds and not those at the beginning of a word.

So what is that then I wonder since it's not alliteration either seemingly?


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## DrMoriarty (4 Mar 2009)

sandrat said:


> Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
> And sorry I could not travel both _[rhyming vowel internal to the line of verse = assonance, not end rhyme]_
> And be one traveler, *l*ong I stood
> And *l*ooked down one as far as I could _[rhyming initial consonants = alliteration]_
> To where it bent in the undergrowth


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## Caveat (4 Mar 2009)

Sure half of that is just an accident


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## PaddyW (4 Mar 2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assonance

*Assonance* is repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences, and together with alliteration and consonance serves as one of the building blocks of verse. For example, in the phrase "Do you like blue?", the "oo" (ou/ue) sound is repeated within the sentence and is assonant.

e.g. *O*r hear *o*ld Triton bl*o*w his wreathed h*o*rn


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## PaddyW (4 Mar 2009)

Alastair wins this round


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## Caveat (4 Mar 2009)

PaddyW said:


> Alastair wins this round


 
Eh...not so fast there Paddy.

Check out your own link for alliteration - does not correspond with Alastair's guideline No.1


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## PaddyW (4 Mar 2009)

Ok, after some more researching.. http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~felluga/eng241/guide241.html#alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of identical consonant or vowel sounds. Here's what C. Hugh Homan's _Handbook to Literature_ has to say about alliteration:
        A good example of consonantal alliteration is Coleridge's lines:
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
        The furrow followed free.​     Vowel alliteration is shown in the sentence: "Apt alliteration's artful aid is often an occasional ornament in prose." Alliteration of sounds within words appears in Tennyson's lines: 
The _m_oan of doves in i_mm_e_m_orial el_m_s,
        And _m_ur_m_uring of innu_m_erable bees.​     Old English versification rested in large measure on alliteration, as did much Middle English poetry

Wikipedia is obviously not as extensive as I thought. It also contradicts its self : 

So seems it can be both assonance and alliteration. So 50% right, my humble apologies Caveat


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## Chocks away (4 Mar 2009)

Everyone highly recommended. But the tin hat goes to AlastairSC - cardboard boxes are not sufficiently robust


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## Welfarite (6 Mar 2009)

Chocks away said:


> Everyone highly recommended.


 

20. Insure ( ) you use the right word.


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## Graham_07 (6 Mar 2009)

21. Seplling erors will not be tolarated.


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## callybags (6 Mar 2009)

22. Cnsrv vwls


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## Welfarite (10 Mar 2009)

callybags said:


> 22. Cnsrv vwls


 

23. Avd txt spk.


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## Dreamerb (10 Mar 2009)

24. use some punctuation so that your sentences are easier to read and dont give other aamers a headache trying to work out whatever it was you wanted to say in an interminable stream of consciousness post that only has one piece of puncutation at the end which makes it seem like youre asking a question even though you mightnt really be?


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## car (10 Mar 2009)

...oops, someone already posted..  I wasnt here, right.


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## Graham_07 (10 Mar 2009)

24. No Cork speak, like.


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## JJ1982 (10 Mar 2009)

Graham_07 said:


> 24. No Cork speak, like.



Go on away boy, write how i want to like


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## Lex Foutish (11 Mar 2009)

Graham_07 said:


> 24. No Cork speak, like.


 
I think ye're all flahing the whole thing to death.


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