Hemingway

I've read both 1984 and Animal Form, and whilst I agree that they are excellent pieces of propaganda, I feel that in terms of literary value they're rather lacking. Winston Smith is character with many obvious flaws and insecurities, but Orwell's emotionless writing makes it next to impossible for me to feel sorry for him. Furthermore, the man is a blundering idiot who gets himself into trouble that could have easily been avoided. It makes the plot feel forced and completely unnatural.

There is an example for onomatopoeia in English for virtually any kinetic action when two objects meet. It's quite an extensive language in this area. Here are the ones I can think of off the top of my head: Crash, smash, bang, drip, drip-drop, screech, rip.

Thank you for your quick and timely reply, Laura. My tutor is now telling me that what he said only applies to essays. Is he telling the truth, or is he just trying to save face at the expense of my education?

I always understood antonyms to a certain extent. Of course I knew the antonym for hot was cold, and for high is low. I always wondered though about the correctness of certain words and their respective antonyms. For example, if the antonym for hot is cold, what about scorching? Would it be cold, or freezing? What about words like disgusted and scornful, static, hazardous etc. I guess what I would like to know is do all words have a single correct antonym?

There are many words that have more than one antonym. You can find examples of this on any page of a thesaurus. Be careful, though. Some of the words listed may only become antonyms in specific situations and/or contexts.

Shakespeare lived in a time when world was beginning to reinvent itself, and you could argue that he was even partially responsible for that. These days people seem to think they know everything, that they've already discovered everything there is to be discovered. The only words that get added to the dictionary are ones that have no right existing (e.g. irregardless). I think someone like Shakespeare only comes along once every few centuries, and I would argue that the last person to even start to come close to his greatness was James Joyce.

I remember using this when I was in school. That was almost a decade ago now. Anyway, I highly recommend it to anyone about to undertake their exams.

What does everyone think of the ending? I think it's pretty empty for modern audiences, but it makes for an excellent Greek tragedy.

A friend of mine has recommended I try living in Hong Kong with him for a month. However, every time I hear him speaking to someone from there it's usually in Cantonese. What's the best place in China (or Chinese territory) to visit and practice Mandarin.

My favourite American author is Hemingway. Generally speaking, I'm a fan of the entire Modernist movement in literature. A couple of the more contemporary authors I enjoy are Stephen King and George R.R. Martin. Oddly, I think one of the best examples of American is Gaiman's "American Gods", though as far as I know he's British.

I've recently been told by my tutor that I shouldn't begin a sentence with however. However, I think that I can. Who is right?