One for Glenny

[Terry]

Or anyone else for that matter

The word BELOVED a two syllable word according to most places I've looked

Yet how many of us have heard a priest say 'Dearly Be-lov-ed we are gathered here' etc. making it a three syllable word?
Mind you I haven't been to church for awhile.

I'm always intrigued by these things.

Cheers Terry

[Maureen K Clifford]

interesting point - loved is only 1 syllable but confess I would have said beloved was 3 because of the way we say it - Wonder why that is -Maybe it has something to do with the pommie dialect and a Sunday School childhood perhaps.

[Glenny Palmer]

...
G'day Terry. I would say...

''croc was my be-love- ed. I was be-loved by him.''

For all of eternity the war re syllable count will rage...especially re 'fire'. Aussies are notorious for dropping syllables in our everyday speech, so that has developed into a valid and unique vernacular that should be accommodated by critique. Personally, I very much prefer to see the entire word on paper rather than a butchered punctuated contraction. Aaaargh! (scratch scratch) When judging, if I can see that the writer has a modicum of talent and therefore probably knows what he/she is doing, I allow the pronunciation demanded by the meter....never the butchered version. (scratch) One must surely assume that a qualified and accredited judge has enough intelligence to differentiate between the two, and so to abbreviate the word seems just a tad sceptical of the judge's ability.

My advice, in all cases of pronunciation duality, is to use the entire word (within the metrical demand) and trust that the judge will identfy and allow same. Warning. Be sure to only do this with the more commonly evident words eg 'history' and not words like 'involuntary' ('involunt'ry'...aaargh!)

It is a tricky business, as I recently crafted a piece with the word 'solitary' in it. My bro read it and suggested that I needed another syllable in there to maintain meter. He was reading it as 'solit'ry' which is a common enough pronunciation, but I have the quirky gene that pronounces all syllables...despite being born in the Outback . I pronounce that word as 'sol-it-ar-y, which was fitting my chosen meter. Hopefully this demonstrates why I advise as I do in the above.

Mind you, I can't be sure all judges see it this way...more's the pity. Any other judges care to comment?........David?

Hope this helps.
Cheeers
Glenny

[David Campbell]

Agree completely, Glenny...don't like the butchered versions at all. Although "beloved" is interesting as it can be legitimately used as 2 or 3 syllables. Two syllables is probably more common as the alternative has a more formal (archaic?) ring to it. But I'd accept "I was be-lov-ed" if the metre required it.

Other words with similar split personalities are "aged" (as in the "Aged P" from Great Expectations - 2 syllables) and "blessed" (as in "blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"- also 2 syllables).

Cheers
David

[Heather]

cursed and curs-ed

[manfredvijars]

The Sergeant formed up a firing squad
to dispatch the treacherous sod.
His instructions, succinct and clearly they came
“Port arms, Ready - Aim - ”
A poet turned soldier interrupted, "Please Sir,
do I shoot on the 'FI' or the 'ERR'?"

[Neville Briggs]

You'll get the firing squad Manfred

[Terry]

Thanks Glenny & the rest of the crew.

Pretty much what I thought myself.

There are quite a few words like that, guess we can only hope most judges do as you suggest when they come across them.

Be-lov-ed can be such special word when used in the right way.

Terry

[warooa]

One I got picked up on was "rattling". Okay rattle is two, and the 'ing' on the end = three which is how I used it. But the judge obviously read it as a two syllable word 'rat-ling' and said it threw the metre out.

I think I used "rumble-ing" as well - I'm sure there are other similar examples.

Is one right or wrong?

It's an example (I would have thought) where the judge would read the word within the context of the metre used. I wrote that poem in anapest - the line was:

For it’s more than an old wooden bridge with it’s rattling
bolts and its Stringybark beams.

Cheers, Marty

[Glenny Palmer]

Stone the crows! Now we've got an Aussie adding syllables!

Hey Marty,
I thank you for raising this as I didn't cover it in my prior post. This is a sort of reverse situation to that one.

'ratt-le' is 2 sylls but the 'ratt' (as in 'rattling'...'ratt-ling') is only 1 syll. I think your trouble comes from dividing the sylls as....''ratt-l-ing''. It is often pronounced as 'ratt-l-ing' but when you correctly divide the sylls for this word it goes ... 'ratt-ling.' Otherwise you are spelling the original 'rattle' as 'rattl'...which is obviously incorrect. In correct spelling, when the 'ing' is added the 'e' is dropped.

''It's an example (I would have thought) where the judge would read the word within the context of the metre used.''

The judge has read the word within the metrical context love. Same as for ''rumbling'...'rumb-ling' not 'rumb-l-ing'. (In correct spelling, when the 'ing' is added the 'e' is dropped.) In a word like 'following'...'foll-ow-ing' you don't have the 'e' to contend with. It is 'foll-ow'...2 sylls...and then ''foll-ow-ing'' 3 sylls.

I am not the the fully fledged English teacher that David Campbell is, but this is how I understand it from my studies. David undoubtedly could throw further light upon this (which would sett-le my nerves some... )

I am about to update/improve my Tutorial for free use on this site, so this is a bonza issue that I can include. Many thanks Marty.

Cheeers
Glenny