Writing Tips
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Index A
- a
- a- (1)
- a- (2)
- AB
- ab-
- abbreviations: acronyms and initialisms
- abbreviations: ampersand
- abbreviations: business terms and symbols
- abbreviations: capitals and hyphens
- abbreviations: corporate names
- abbreviations: days and months
- abbreviations: degrees and distinctions
- abbreviations: general guidelines
- abbreviations: geographical names
- abbreviations: imperial system
- abbreviations: International System of Units (SI)
- abbreviations: latitude and longitude
- abbreviations: military abbreviations
- abbreviations: monetary units
- abbreviations: netspeak
- abbreviations: number symbols
- abbreviations: parts of a book or document
- abbreviations: periods
- abbreviations: plurals
- abbreviations: scientific and technical terms
- abbreviations: time zones
- abbreviations: titles with personal names
- abeyance
- abide
- abide by
- about
- above-mentioned
- abreast
- absolutely essential
- absolute phrases
- abstain
- abstain from
- abstain in
- abstain on
- accede to
- accordance
- according to
- according to our records
- accord (of one’s own)
- accountable for
- accountable to
- accuracy
- accurate
- acquiesce in
- acquiesce to
- acquiesce with
- action verbs
- active voice
- act on
- act upon
- acu-
- addresses: official languages
- addresses on envelopes and parcels (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- adequate amount of
- adequate number of
- adjective
- adjective clause
- adjective comparison
- ADT
- adverb clause
- adverb comparison
- adverbs
- adverse
- adverse to
- advice
- advise
- aero-
- a few
- affect
- Afghan
- afghani
- aforementioned
- Afro-
- after
- again
- ageing
- agenda
- agendas
- aggravate
- aging
- agreeable
- agree on
- agree to
- agree with
- agro-
- Alberta
- Albertan
- alliteration
- allo-
- all over again
- allow for
- allow to
- all ready
- all right
- all-time record
- all together
- allude
- allusion
- almost without exception
- along these lines
- already
- alright
- Alta.
- alternate(ly)
- alternative(ly)
- altogether
- alumna
- alumnus
- a.m.
- a mari usque ad mare
- ambi-
- American dollar (symbol) (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- Americo-
- amount
- an-
- an
- an abundance of
- analyse
- analyze
- and
- and/or
- and so as a result
- Anglo-
- Anglophone
- anniversary
- answer for
- answer to
- ante-
- anti-
- anticipate
- anxious about
- anxious at
- anxious for
- anxious to
- any
- apostrophe: contractions
- apostrophe: plurals
- apostrophe: possession
- apparent
- appear
- appositives
- appraise
- apprise
- approval of
- approval to
- approve
- approve of
- approximately
- approximately about
- apt
- aqua-
- aqui-
- Arabo-
- arch-
- Armeno-
- Armistice Day
- around (1)
- around (2)
- as a consequence of
- as a matter of fact
- as a result of
- as a result of the fact that
- ascend
- ascent
- as far as
- aspire after
- aspire to
- as regards
- assent
- associate to
- associate with
- as soon as
- assume
- assure
- AST
- asterisk at end of sentence
- astro-
- as well as
- Atlantic Daylight Time
- Atlantic provinces
- Atlantic Standard Time
- attention
- attentive
- attentiveness
- at that point in time
- at the present time
- at this point in time
- at variance among
- at variance with
- audit and derived terms (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- Austro-
- authentic
- autumn
- auxiliary verbs
- avenge
- averse to
- avocation
- awards
- aware of
- Azerbaijani
- Azeri
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alliteration
Alliteration is a figure of speech involving the repetition of a sound (usually a consonant) at the beginning of two or more words placed next to (or close to) one another. This line from Byron’s famous poem “The Destruction of Sennacherib” uses alliteration by repeating the sound s:
- “And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea”
Alliteration is pleasing to the ear and is therefore a very effective device in both poetry and literary prose. Here are a few examples from Canadian literature.
Poems
- “And the woods hung hushed in their long white dream / By the ghostly, glimmering, ice-blue stream” (Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, “The Skater”)
- “Like sadness sweet of synagogal hum” (A. M. Klein, “Autobiographical”)
- “Then up he bobs, as easily / As any blown balloon / To greet the bosky, brooding sky / And hunger for the sun.” (Dorothy Livesay, “Fantasia”)
Prose
- “And on the mountain crest the Chief’s daughters can be seen wrapped in the suns, the snows, the stars of all seasons…” (E. Pauline Johnson, “The Two Sisters”)
- “The film momentarily cleared from his eyes and he saw bubbles of blood breaking and forming and breaking again.” (Hugh MacLennan, “The Halifax Explosion, 1917”)
- “Expertly, she…bound on a headscarf of green and glossy artificial silk” (Margaret Laurence, “A Gourdful of Glory”)
- “In the dim night-light of the ward their eyes focussed fearfully, drifted, then refocussed.” (Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey)
- “At the bottom of the stairs, there’s a hat and umbrella stand, the bentwood kind, long rounded rungs of wood curving gently up to hooks shaped like the opening fronds of a fern.” (Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale)
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