Julie Frayn

The writing's the thing

sentence structure

Dirty, sexy, grammar – conjugation

September 7, 2012

So if prisoners are allowed conjugal visits, when you conjugate a verb are you screwing? Or screwed? Or just plain stupid for sleeping with a hardened criminal? Something like that. One definition of conjugation is “to become joined together; to pair and fuse in conjugation.” Well I’ll be damned. You are screwed. When you conjugate […]

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Dirty, sexy, grammar – bare infinitives

May 22, 2012

It’s time to share a little grammar for the nudists among us. A full (or to-) infinitive is a verb that follows “to.” A bare infinitive is the base form of a verb. It is ‘to’ bare. As opposed to too bare. It is infinitely naked, so inherently sexy. You know, because it never ages, […]

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Dirty, sexy, grammar – mood

May 4, 2012

Candles. Wine. Soft music. I bet you know what I’m in the mood for. Grammar! I mean, who isn’t? It’s such a sexy thing, good grammar. Even sexier when you break the ‘rules’ and rebel. That’s right, baby – end my sentence with a preposition. Come on, split my infinitive. Oh, yes…. Mood is a […]

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Dirty, sexy, grammar – head

March 29, 2012

Well, let’s see – how to tiptoe around what’s sexy about head? There’s that big round thing that sits atop your shoulders. That head can be sexy, if it’s filled with humorous, intelligent, humble brains. Head can also be, well, something else entirely. An act of sorts. Is it sexy? Just plain dirty? Maybe it’s […]

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Dirty, sexy, grammar – subordinate clause

February 20, 2012

A subordinate clause is to a main clause as Leopold von Sacher-Masoch is to the Marquis de Sade. You can’t have the masochist without the sadist – although the sadist can stand alone. Or maybe that’s the cheese. Yes, the cheese stands alone. A subordinate clause has a subject and a verb, but cannot stand […]

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