Hello everyone. Welcome to another #theorythursday. Last week I talked about the concept of suspending one’s disbelief because I was so inspired by seeing The Lion King in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. Check that out if you haven’t already. 

Today I am continuing on with my #backtobasics series. I’ve already talked about verbs and nouns, so be sure to read those discussions too if grammar is something that you want to brush up on. 

Today I am going to be talking about adjectives. So let’s dive in. 

What is an adjective? 

An adjective is a word that is used when an author wants to describe a noun. When I was talking about verbs, I said that the easiest way to explain what a verb is would be to say that a verb is a doing word. I would say that the easiest way to explain what an adjective is would be to say that an adjective is a describing word so in a sentence, the adjective would come before the noun. 

I’m going to make up an example. 

“The beautiful necklace sparkled in the case.” 

In this sentence, the necklace is the noun, because a noun is a person, place or a thing. A necklace is a thing, so the adjective in this sentence is the word “beautiful”, because this word is describing the necklace. 

Other examples of adjectives can be found in sentences such as: 

“The red door opened with a loud creak.” 

In this sentence, the word “red” is the adjective because this tells us that the door, the noun, is red. 

An adjective can also be used when an author is describing how many there are of something. 

An example of this can be found in a sentence such as “It looked like there were a thousand stars in the sky.”

In this sentence, the word “thousand” is the adjective because it is telling us how many stars there are, and stars are things, so the word “stars” is the noun. 

Why is it important to know what an adjective is? 

I say the same thing every time when I am talking about basic aspects of grammar such as nouns, verbs, and now adjectives too. It is important to understand these basics because they can be found so often in writing. When you are a student, it is important to know what these terms mean so that you can recognise nouns, verbs, and adjectives in passages of writing. I also think that refreshing one’s memory on certain terms can be really helpful in general, because when we learn the basics in school, it can often be assumed later that we remember everything perfectly, but sometimes that isn’t the case, which is why I’ve decided to break things down in a back to basics approach. 

This has been Theory Thursday. Happy Friday Eve.

Kate xo.

Hello everyone and welcome back to another #theorythursday. Last week I started a series that I am calling a #backtobasics series. I began by talking about verbs. Today I am continuing on with this #backtobasics series and I am going to talk about nouns.

Let’s dive into Theory Thursday.

What is a noun?

A noun is a word that is used when an author is referring to a person, a place, or a thing. This is the most straightforward explanation of what a noun is.

Let’s take a look at these two sentences that I am making up to use as an example, “The man walked into the house. He was carrying a heavy shopping bag.” The word “man” is a noun as this sentence is referring to a person. The word “house” is another noun as this is the place the man is going to, and the word “bag” is a noun as a shopping bag is a thing. The bag is the thing that the man is carrying.

A noun can also be a word that is used to refer to an idea and this can become slightly more complicated. The idea of justice, the idea of friendship, the idea of honesty etc., these are ideas that are described as being abstract nouns because these are things that cannot be physically held or seen. You can’t see love, you can’t hold love, you can’t physically touch love, but you feel it, and you can express it through actions and words, but love is a feeling, as is anger and fear etc.

Why is it important to understand what a noun is?

As I said in last week’s discussion when I was talking about verbs, I think it is always useful to have a refresher on what certain things mean. This #backtobasics series that I am exploring will be more useful if you are a student as it is simply covering basic ideas that can sometimes get forgotten over time. If you need to write an essay, or you are studying a lot, then it is important to understand what nouns are and what they mean, and so hopefully students may find these particular Theory Thursday discussions helpful.

I also think that sometimes explanations of what these terms mean can be more complicated than they need to be, which is why I explain everything in my own words and create my own examples so that anyone who is interested in literary theory can read about it in a way that I hope is accessible to everyone. You don’t need to have studied English Literature before in order to read my theory discussions which is sometimes the case. I start from scratch and I aim to explain everything in the most straightforward way possible because I believe that having an understanding of literary theory, even down to the basics, will enhance one’s reading experience.

This has been Theory Thursday. I hope you all enjoyed it. I hope you have a lovely weekend. If there is any aspect of literary theory that you find particularly confusing, then please do let me know because I may be able to help.

Kate xo.

Hello everyone. Welcome to another #theorythursday. Last week I talked about what the term juxtaposition means so check that out if you haven’t already. Today I am talking about punctuation again so let’s dive in.

What is an ellipsis?

An ellipsis mark is made up of three periods. It looks like this …

What does this mean?

An ellipsis mark is used when someone is quoting someone else but they do not want to use the entire quote. The ellipsis mark tells readers that there is an omission in this quote.

If I want to quote the beginning of a paragraph and the end of a paragraph then I would use an ellipsis mark to indicate that I have skipped over part of this quote.

E.g.

“The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses…or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.” (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Illustrated by Henry Keen, from The Oscar Wilde Collection: A Selection Of His Greatest Works, Chapter 1, pg.13).

I have used a quote from The Picture of Dorian Gray as an example, you can see that I have started to quote this book, but I did not want to use the entire quote. I have used the beginning and the end of the first sentence in chapter one and I have used the ellipsis mark … to indicate that there are lines missing from this quote.

Why is this important?

I think that understanding what an ellipsis mark means is very important for writers and for students especially. If you are writing an essay and you want to use a quote but not an entire paragraph then it is important to know that you can break up a quote without misquoting or improperly quoting. The ellipsis mark … allows students to use the key parts of the quote that they need without having extra information that they may not need because when writing essays, it is especially important to make sure that any quotes you use make sense. A quote should back up what you are saying, you should not just throw in quotes because you think it shows off that you know this quote, a quote should serve the rest of your writing.

It is also important to understand what an ellipsis mark is and what it means from a reader’s perspective too because if you see this mark … and you don’t know what it means then you will be confused.

This has been Theory Thursday. Is there any punctuation mark that you find really confusing? Let me know.

Kate xo.

Hello everyone and welcome back to another #theorythursday. Last week I talked about punctuation, I specifically talked about how to use a semicolon. Check it out if you haven’t already.

Today I am talking about terminology again and I am talking about the term juxtaposition.

What does the term juxtaposition mean?

In literary terms, the term juxtaposition refers to when an author or a director places two different concepts directly beside each other. Doing this has two purposes, it highlights the stark difference between the two things and sometimes it can highlight surprising similarities between the two things.

I think that the theatre is a brilliant place for a writer to use juxtaposition because it can be such a visual thing. A really good example of juxtaposition onstage is in the musical version of Les Misérables.

In the stage show there is a scene where young Cosette and young Eponine are onstage together. Cosette is treated very badly by Eponine’s family. She is beaten and dressed in rags and forced to work. In the scene, young Cosette is scrubbing the floors while being berated but then young Eponine enters, dressed beautifully, and she is doted on by her parents.

The juxtaposition of Cosette’s ragged state directly beside Eponine’s beautiful clothes shows the audience straight away that there is a stark difference in how these two little girls are treated.

Why is it important to know the term juxtaposition?

Understanding what the term juxtaposition means will allow you to recognise it in books, movies, and tv shows. When you can see something happening and understand why an author made that choice, it allows you to understand the piece on a deeper level.

This has been Theory Thursday, I hope you enjoyed it. Happy New Year’s Eve Eve.

Kate xo.

Hello everyone and welcome back to another #theorythursday. Last week I discussed what the term ‘arc’ means so check that out of you haven’t already. Today I am talking about punctuation again so let’s dive in.

What is a semicolon?

A semicolon is a punctuation mark, it looks like this ;.

A semicolon is used when a writer wants to link two separate ideas or ‘clauses’ in a sentence that are different but closely related.

A clause is a group of words that have a subject and a verb. The subject and the verb will have a relationship.

A subject is a thing, and a verb is a doing action. So if I say something like “Mam was polishing the silverware.”, this is an example of a clause, and in this clause, the silverware is the subject and the verb is polishing.

A semicolon is used when a writer wants to link two clauses that are closely connected. An author could write two different sentences but by choosing not to and using a semicolon, it gives the two sentences equal importance.

An example of this can be seen in a sentence such as “I have work tomorrow; I can’t go out tonight.”

Here are a few more examples of a semicolon being used:

“John loves school; Sarah hates it.”

“Sarah hid under her bed until the storm passed; she’s always been afraid of thunder.”

I could write “Sarah hid under her bed until the storm passed. She’s always been afraid of thunder.”

In this clause, the subject is the storm and the action of hiding is the verb.

I could use a full stop instead of a semicolon, making them two separate sentences, but using the semicolon connects the two ideas and it also removes the pause one would take when reading that sentence aloud.

When using a semicolon, it is important to remember that when a writer is linking clauses with the use of a semicolon, the independent clause must come before the dependant clause.

An independent clause is a complete sentence that can stand alone, a dependent clause cannot stand alone because it is not a complete sentence that expresses a complete thought.

If one looks at a sentence such as “I cannot run in the race because I sprained my ankle.”

The subject is the race, to run is the verb, and the second half of that sentence “because I sprained my ankle” is the dependant clause.

You can’t say “because I sprained my ankle.”, without saying anything else because that is not a complete sentence so therefore it does not make sense.

“I cannot run in the race.”, is a complete sentence that makes sense by itself, making it the independent clause.

I could say “I cannot run in the race.” “I sprained my ankle.”

This works because these are two complete sentences, but I could also connect these ideas with a semicolon by writing “Sarah couldn’t run in the race; she sprained her ankle.”

This works because the dependent clause is following the independent clause, and this would not work the other way around.

Why is it important to know how to use a semicolon?

Understanding punctuation will always be useful. The semicolon is used very often and some people see it without knowing why it is there, and some people use a semicolon without understanding what it is or what it does, and if you don’t know how to use it then you could use it incorrectly. If you are studying English in school or college and you have essays to write then having a broad understanding of punctuation will be really helpful, but even if you are not a student, I still think it is nice to have an understanding of punctuation because it will simply enhance your reading experience.

This has been Theory Thursday. I hope you enjoyed it. Happy Christmas Eve Eve.

Kate xo.

Hello everyone and welcome back to another #theorythursday. Last week I talked about the concept of the anti-hero so you should check that out if you haven’t already. 

Lately I’ve been thinking about how I use terminology and phrases that I am very familiar with such as ‘the character’s arc’ etc., very casually in my discussions on Katelovesliterature.com. I use terms and phrases like this very often because I study literature in great detail and I have become really comfortable using terms that are often found in literary theory discussions but, I have been thinking about it and not everyone is so comfortable using literary terminology so I have decided to break down some of the things that I talk about the most, starting with the term ‘arc’. 

What is a character arc? What does this mean? 

In most narratives, the main protagonist will have a story arc. This means that they will develop throughout the story and by the end of the story, the character should be a changed person somehow compared to the character we met at the beginning of the story. 

This transformation and development is what I am referring to when I say something like “Will’s character arc is very satisfying to watch.” Since it is December, and this month’s #bookofthemonth is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, I will use the character Scrooge as an example. 

Scrooge has a very touching arc and I will of course elaborate more on this point in my Book Of The Month discussion at the end of December, but when we meet Scrooge he is a cold, cruel, selfish man who does not care about others and by the novel’s end, he is transformed, he repents, he is more empathetic, and he is determined to make up for his cruel behaviour in the past. 

Scrooge becomes a changed person because of his experiences in the novel which I won’t talk about anymore because I want to discuss it properly in my Book Of The Month discussion but he is a great character to turn to when trying to explain the term “arc” because he famously becomes a changed person after his experiences in the novel. 

If a character does not have an arc then they will not change at all throughout the novel. They will not grow, they will not evolve, and I think if a character does not have any kind of growth or development then they can be a bit one dimensional. The arc is very often the most important part of a character’s journey because if Scrooge for example did not have a change of heart, then the entire journey he went on in the novel would have been for nothing because the whole point of the arc is that the character is supposed to learn and evolve. 

I talk about Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean a lot, but that is because he is a great character in so many ways and his arc is equally as important because on his journey he learned about himself, and his father, he became more confident, he polished up his natural skills and became more trained, and he was able to stand up for himself and what he believed in at the end of the movie. If he did not stand up to Norrington at the end of the movie then audiences would wonder did he learn anything on his journey at sea at all? 

Scrooge’s change of heart, and Will’s moments of bravery are just two examples of characters who have really satisfying arcs that we can see so clearly because when we read or watch these stories, we root for these characters in these moments. I could list examples all day, but the point is that the arc, and the evolution of a character is what is satisfying. Without an arc, the character is dull.Without an arc, the journey will have been for nothing, and that is not a satisfying narrative. 

So the growth and evolution of a character is what I am referring to when I am talking about a character’s arc. Why is this important? 

It is important to understand terminology because if I am talking about how touching a character’s arc is and you don’t know what that means, then the discussion is pointless. If you don’t understand something then it is not enjoyable, and like every aspect of literary theory that I talk about, I think having an understanding of the term “arc” will allow you to understand literature on a deeper level and when you understand what an arc is, you will begin to see arcs in literature, you will be able to appreciate character arcs because you know what that means, and when you can spot a really satisfying arc, I think you will enjoy that story and like that character so much more. 

This has been Theory Thursday. I hope you enjoyed it. 

Who is your favourite character in any book/show/movie? I’d love to know. Happy Friday Eve. 

Kate xo.  

Hello everyone and welcome back to another #theorythursday.

Last week I started talking about punctuation and I concentrated on the importance of quotation marks so check that out if you haven’t already. I will continue talking about punctuation on different weeks going forward but today I am talking about the idea of an anti-hero as I have mentioned this concept frequently lately.

So let’s dive into #theorythursday.

What is an anti-hero?

An anti-hero is a protagonist in a story who embarks on the hero’s journey but does not have the archetypal heroic qualities that we might expect them too.

In my opinion, the ideal example of an archetypal hero is Will Turner from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. He is kind, he is the underdog, he is brave, he is earnest, he is bursting with potential but he is still naive and he has a lot to learn. I have spoken about this in more detail in my Movie Monday discussion about the first movie in this franchise so check that out of you are interested.

An anti-hero is someone who is the exact opposite of Will. They are not wide-eyed and naive, the anti-hero is usually a jaded, cynical individual who has experienced some trials in life already. The anti-hero may have a backstory that makes them hesitate to embark on another journey because perhaps they have lost something or someone already. The anti-hero is usually a kind person but they are not bursting with the same obvious goodness as the archetypal hero would be. They will help others but they know there will be consequences for getting involved and the anti-hero will consider these consequences in more detail than the archetypal hero might. The archetypal hero tends to dive right in if they wish to help someone and they don’t always think their actions through.

The anti-hero is sometimes gruff and annoyed by the archetypal hero because they know that the rose-tinted view the hero has will soon wear off, but, the key thing to note is that in the end, the anti-hero will ultimately do the right thing because they simply cannot sit by and do nothing. The anti-hero is usually always happy that they did do something though and often the archetypal hero’s optimistic outlook will rub off on the anti-hero just a little bit. The anti-hero’s arc usually ends with them being less cynical, but they never revert to a wide-eyed state.

I would actually consider Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to be a good example of an anti-hero. He ends up a pirate because he went against the Royal Navy and because of this he was branded a pirate. The brand is what isolated him from the society he lived in and forced him to act as a pirate to get by, so ironically, it is the Navy’s fault that he has to act outside the law, and his actions make him the pirate that he was branded as. When he meets Will, he has carried around that pirate brand for many years and his name has become one of myth and legend. He agrees to help Will, but only when he learns that helping Will can also help him – despite this though, he does teach Will many things and Captain Jack Sparrow plays a big part in Will’s heroic journey as it is Jack who helps Will develop as a character so that is why I would class him as an anti-hero.

I’ve just discussed Die Hard and I would also class John McClane as an anti-hero because he is not wide-eyed or naive. He did not run into that building wanting to save everyone. He did what he had to do, on the spot, acting on instinct, because he got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. He did not want this, but he cannot just sit idle, so he acts. It’s courage, but it’s begrudged courage, which is why anti-heroes can be really fun characters because they usually have quite a dry, sarcastic sense of humour.

Why is knowing about the anti-hero important?

It is important to understand what the term anti-hero means because otherwise reading this term could be very confusing. I also think it is important to understand this concept because if you are talking about a text that has an anti-hero narrative then you will need to understand this concept in order to appreciate the text and the character fully.

This has been Theory Thursday. I hope you enjoyed it. Happy Friday Eve.

Kate xo.

Hello everyone. Welcome to another #theorythursday. Last week I talked about Tone so check that out if you haven’t already. Today I am talking about punctuation so let’s dive in. 

What is punctuation? 

Punctuation refers to symbols used in sentences that are used to create meaning, or to break up the sentence. There are many punctuation marks used in English such as semicolons, quotation marks, apostrophes, and many more. 

These symbols all have different functions. Punctuation is so important so I am going to break down punctuation marks and what they mean over a series of Theory Thursdays and today I am starting with quotation marks. 

What are quotation marks? 

Quotation marks are used at the start and at the end of a quote. A quote is a sentence, phrase, or piece of information that is not our own. When I use quotation marks, I am illustrating that the sentence written is not my own, I am quoting someone else. 

Quotation marks look like this – “ ”. 

If I am going to quote a line from a book, poem, play, or movie, I will use these quotation marks. 

“Two days later, the weather cleared. For the first time, Mary could see the moor in full sunlight.” – This is a quote from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The quotation marks “-” indicate that this line is from a book and whenever I quote a book, it is crucial that I use quotation marks. 

Why are quotation marks important? 

Quotation marks are important because when you are quoting someone else’s work, it is very important that you make it clear that you are quoting someone else and not stealing their thoughts and passing them off as your own. Quotation marks are also important because they separate your work from someone else’s and they make it clear when the quote is over so the reader knows when they are reading your work that you have put time and effort into, and they also are aware of when you are quoting someone else. 

This leads me to the question why is punctuation important? 

Punctuation is important because it can change the entire meaning of a sentence. If I don’t use a full stop then my sentence is incomplete. If I don’t use a question mark then it is not clear that I am asking a question. If I don’t use quotation marks when I quote someone else or a text, then it appears that I am stealing someone else’s work as my own, so it is very important that punctuation marks are used as they provide meaning and clarity. They can sometimes be confusing, but like all aspects of literary theory, practise makes perfect and the more familiar you become with punctuation, the more you understand it, and the easier it becomes to use. 

This has been Theory Thursday. I hope you enjoyed it. Happy Friday Eve. 

Kate xo.