Basic English Grammar Tips - Using Onomatopoeia

 Basic English Grammar Tips - Using Onomatopoeia

 

Education I was busy writing a short story the other day and my writing was getting boring. It just didn't draw the reader in. All of a sudden it whapped me upside of the head -- I needed to integrate onomatopoeia if I was going to create a buzz. If I was just going to zip along and get the story written I'd have to make use of these words. Sorry about that but an example was the best way of illustrating why onomatopoeia works so well. Or maybe it was how to misuse it? Okay, so what the heck is onomatopoeia? The dictionary describes onomatopoeia as the use of words that imitate the related sounds of the objects they describe. Which is a really difficult concept to define. But it's really an

 easy concept. Words like buzz and zip and murmur sound like the sounds they describe. What sound does a bee make? It's a "bzzzz" sound that's called a buzz. That's onomatopoeia. So why should you use onomatopoeia? These sounds are a way to make your writing active. Unlike a description that just sits there and flavors your prose, onomatopoeia reach out and grab your reader. They allow the reader to actually hear the sound being produced. The buzz of the crowd is a much stronger way of saying the crowd was making a low angry sound. By now you've no doubt heard the advice to make your writing active. To use the active voice to give your writing simplicity and power. Think about writers like Hemingway. Spare, simple writing that sucks the reader in. That forces the reader to see and feel the emotions that Hemingway wanted you to. To hear the message behind his writing. Short simple

 sentences using the active voice is one way to do that. But that is a way to create speed and power which sucks your reader along. It doesn't necessarily suck your reader into the scene. Onomatopoeia sucks your reader in. So when should you use onomatopoeia? The simplistic answer is whenever you need to help the reader to experience the situation. But in fact, onomatopoeia helps to break up and speed up your writing as well. So you should incorporate these words to give your writing energy and to make the experience real. So what's the downside? And yes, there is a downside Robin. I'm 

old enough to remember a television show in the mid-sixties called "Batman". If you haven't seen it rent a DVD copy. At the time it was so campy that it attracted big name actors such as Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero, Frank Gorshin and Vincent Price. Why was it campy? Because it not only overused onomatopoeia, it also put the words up on the screen in bold letters. ZAP!! as a villain was thrown across the room. BAM!! as the heroes punched the villains. You get the idea. Onomatopoeia is like a spice. Just as habaneros chili in proper portions gives a dish a touch of heat but overused makes the meal inedible, overusing onomatopoeia can make reading impossible. buy thesis