Quite happy to read a first paragraph or even a couple of para's and pass comment. Feedback will be constructive and honest, and brutal when it needs to be. cj.osborne@live.co.uk
Does feedback ever need to be brutal? Brutality is in my mind closely aligned to aggression, and there is certainly never any need to be aggressive. Even if someone's writing is very poor, it's always possible to explain politely and constructively why you think it poor and where and how it might be improved. The other thing to remember is - it's only your opinion. It behoves us all to be modest about our opinions and to realise that a piece we think is poor, someone else may see promise in. Finally - you've on'y just joined here. Isn't it a tad arrogant to post saying you're willing to read "a couple of para's" of someone else's work and be brutally honest about it? Why not settle down a bit, read what other people are contributing, do some constructive critiques of other people's work, and then see where that takes you? By the way, is that the greengrocers' apostrophe you used? para's as in courgette's and parsnip's?
i'm afraid i have to ditto mq's post, cj... it's way too early for you to be asking for private access to members' work... besides which, the misplaced apostrophe aside, your flawed grammar ['pass comment' ] doesn't instill confidence in your ability to critique anyone else's writing...
I must be out of the loop these days... what is the poster referring to in the first place??? Members' work? Hey mammamaia, if you look very closely at my picture you can see the asteroid that is colliding with earth in your picture... haha j/k!
yes, he's presenting himself as a 'qualified' [to some extent] critic and asking members to send him their work so he can show off his rather dubious skills... and i guess the avatar thing means we're meant for each other, bg!
The apostrophe looks fine to me: "para's" is a contraction of "paragraphs" and denoting missing letters in a contraction is a standard use of an apostrophe. "Pass comment" is unremarkable in British English too.
para's looks plain lazy to me. If you want to say paragraphs, then say paragraphs. Para is not a recognised abbreviation.
To be fair, I have heard that the OED is regarded as the dictionary for people who need mnemonic devices to help them remember that shoes go on AFTER the pants.
It's the most comprehensive and definitive dictionary of British English, with about 600,000 words. Whoever was bad-mouthing it probably worked for a rival. But in case you believe the smear, 'para' as a contraction of 'paragraph' is also in the Collins English dictionary, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and, for the sake of those using US English, Merriam-Webster.
It's the most comprehensive and definitive dictionary of British English, with about 600,000 words. Whoever was bad-mouthing it probably worked for a rival. But in case you believe the smear, 'para' as a contraction of 'paragraph' is also in the Collins English dictionary, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and, for the sake of those using US English, Merriam-Webster.
