Writing

In linguistics, grammar is the system of rules that governs how a natural language is structured and used, as evidenced by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rules, a subject that includes phonology, morphology, and syntax, together with phonetics, semantics, and pragmatics. There are in effect two different ways to study grammar: traditional grammar and theoretical grammar.

alt=Woman writer|thumb|Selma Lagerlöf, the first woman to win the [[Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was awarded in 1909.]] A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres, and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short stories, monographs, travelogues, plays, screenplays, teleplays, songs, and essays as well as reports, educational material, and news articles that may be of interest to the general public. Writers' works are nowadays published across

thumb|upright=1.3|The Rosetta Stone (196 BC) bears writing in three different scripts. [[Hieroglyphs (top) and Demotic (middle) record the same text in the Egyptian language, while an equivalent passage in Greek uses the Greek alphabet (bottom). These correspondences were key to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs in the early 19th century.]]

any conventional method of visually representing verbal or signed communication

thumb|upright=1.35|Adult literacy rates, 2023 Literacy is the ability to read and write, and illiteracy is the inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of literacy as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was understood solely as alphabetical literacy (understanding the meanings of words without necessarily being able to use words); and the period after 1950, when literacy slowly began to be considered as a wider concept and process, including the social and cultural aspects of reading, writing, and functional literacy.

thumb|Essays of Michel de Montaigne

Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of literary texts and oral and written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning. A person who pursues this kind of study is known as a philologist. In older usage, especially British, philology is more general, covering comparative and historical linguistics.

Graffiti (singular graffiti, or graffito only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.

A quotation or quote is the repetition of a sentence, phrase, or passage from speech or text that someone has said or written. In oral speech, it is the representation of an utterance (i.e. of something that a speaker actually said) that is introduced by a quotative marker, such as a verb of saying. For example: John said: "I saw Mary today". Quotations in oral speech are also signaled by special prosody in addition to quotative markers. In written text, quotations are signaled by quotation marks. Quotations are also used to present well-known statement parts that are explicitly attributed by

thumb|300px| John Hancock's signature is the most prominent on the [[United States Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. The name "John Hancock" or just "Hancock" has become a synonym for "signature" in the United States.]]

thumb|Visual abstraction of several documents being connected by hyperlinks

A paragraph (from Ancient Greek παράγραφος (parágraphos) 'to write beside') is a self-contained unit of discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea. Though not required by the orthographic conventions of any language with a writing system, paragraphs are a conventional means of organizing extended segments of prose.

text that forms an independent part of a publication

representing spoken language in written form

thumb|Page from Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta memorabilia, printed in red and black by [[Peter Schöffer (Mainz, 1471). The page exhibits a rubricated initial letter "U" and decorations, marginalia, and ownership stamps of the "Bibliotheca Gymnasii Altonani" (Hamburg).]] thumb|Illumination with doodles and drawings (marginalia), including an open-mouthed human profile, with multiple tongues sticking out. Copulata, "De Anima", f. 2a. HMD Collection, WZ 230 M772c 1485 thumb|Image of two facing pages from "Phisicorum", fols. 57b and 58a, with doodles and drawings. HMD Collection, WZ 230 M772c 1

thumb|260x260px|A piece of handwriting used in graphological analysis, supposedly showing traits of "frivolity" and "triviality" in the writer

Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents, especially historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, protocols and formulae that have been used by document creators, and uses these to increase understanding of the processes of document creation, of information transmission, and of the relationships between the facts which the documents purport to record and reality.

blank area that separates words, sentences, syllables, or other written or printed glyphs; precise typographical rules differ according to language and context

thumb|xkcd webcomic titled "[[Wikipedian Protester". The sign says: "".]] A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work, for the purpose of acknowledging the relevance of the works of others to the topic of discussion at the spot where the citation appears.

Seshat (, under various spellings) was the ancient Egyptian goddess of writing, wisdom, and knowledge. She was seen as a scribe and record keeper. She was also credited with inventing writing. She became identified as the goddess of measurement, accounting, architecture, science, astronomy, mathematics, geometry, history and surveying. She was variously depicted as the wife, daughter, or feminine counterpart of Thoth, who was also associated with knowledge, astronomy, measurement, and writing.''''''

writing system for Greek and Latin

Pathos is a Greek term referring to appeal to the emotions and ideals of the audience, eliciting feelings that already reside in them. Pathos is most often used in rhetoric, in which it is considered one of the three modes of persuasion, alongside ethos and logos. It is also used as in literature, film and other narrative art.

academic discipline concerned with creating literature

A postscript (P.S., PS., or PS) may be a sentence, a paragraph, or occasionally many paragraphs added, often hastily and incidentally, after the signature of a letter or (sometimes) the main body of an essay or book. For such longer works it may also be known as an afterword or subscription. The term comes from the Latin "post scriptum", an expression meaning "written after" (which may be interpreted in the sense of "that which comes after the writing").

condition in which an author loses the ability to produce or experiences creative slowdown

Cyrillic letter

transcription of spoken text

thumb|Example of classic American business cursive handwriting known as Spencerian script, from 1884

thumb|A sculpture representing Ethos outside the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly in Canberra, Australia Ethos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology; and the balance between caution and passion. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence emotions, behaviors, and even morals. Early Greek stories of Orpheus exhibit this idea in a compelling way. The word's use in rhetoric is closely based on the Greek terminology used by Aristotle in his concept

thumb|upright=1.5|Reims gospel codex (book)

statement that reflects the main idea of a thesis

Copying is the duplication of information or an artifact based on an instance of that information or artifact, and not using the process that originally generated it. With analog forms of information, copying is only possible to a limited degree of accuracy, which depends on the quality of the equipment used and the skill of the operator. There is some inevitable generation loss, deterioration and accumulation of "noise" (random small changes) from original to copy when copies are made. This deterioration accumulates with each generation. With digital forms of information, copying is perfect.

An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented in the margin of book pages. For annotations of different digital media, see web annotation and text annotation.

thumb|right|U.S. President Jimmy Carter|Jimmy Carter's notes from his private meeting with [[Pope John Paul II, October 6, 1979.]]

writing performed by more than one person

thumb|upright=1.35|This piece of Wahrheit und Dichtung by Melchior Kirchhofer has pencil notes that might have been written by [[Josef Eiselein.]] thumb|The Glosas Emilianenses are glosses added to this Latin codex that are considered the oldest surviving phrases written in the [[Castilian language.]] thumb|A page from an illuminated Armenian language|Armenian manuscript with painted marginalia

Readability is the ease with which a reader can understand a written text. The concept exists in both natural language and programming languages, though in different forms. In natural language, the readability of text depends on its content (the complexity of its vocabulary and syntax) and its presentation (such as typographic aspects that affect legibility, like font size, line height, character spacing, and line length). In programming, things such as programmer comments, choice of loop structure, and choice of names can determine the ease with which humans can read computer program code.

Graphomania (from , , ; and , , ), also known as scribomania, is an obsessive impulse to write. When used in a specific psychiatric context, it labels a morbid mental condition which results in writing rambling and confused statements, often degenerating into a meaningless succession of words or even nonsense then called graphorrhea (see hypergraphia). The term "graphomania" was used in the early 19th century by Esquirol and later by Eugen Bleuler, becoming more or less common. Graphomania is related to typomania, which is obsessiveness with seeing one's name in publication or with writing for

Verbosity, or verboseness, is speech or writing that uses more words than necessary. The opposite of verbosity is succinctness.

beginning section of a written work which states the purpose and goals of the following writing

academic discipline

An addendum or appendix, in general, is an addition required to be made to a document by its author subsequent to its printing or publication. It comes from the gerundive , plural , "that which is to be added", from (, compare with memorandum, agenda, corrigenda).

subdivision of a chapter in a book

historical administrative unit responsible for writing and notarizing official documents

measure of words processed in a minute, e.g. speed of typing, reading or Morse code sending and receiving

Text composition-based technique for self-guided improvement of affective state

majuscule Latin book hand with prominent serifs

thumb|right|300px|Example of a page from a screenplay formatted for a feature-length film. Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession.

writing technique

narrative technique

Dysorthography is a disorder of spelling which accompanies dyslexia by a direct consequence of the phonological disorder. In the American classification from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the classification from the World Health Organization (WHO), it is a subtype of specific learning disorder with impairment in written expression.

writing system specifically created by an individual or group

thumb|Example of classic American business cursive handwriting known as [[Spencerian script from 1884]] thumb|A thin object (pen), held with three fingers, allows one to draw thin lines. Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. Today, this is most commonly done with a pen, or pencil, but throughout history has included many different implements. The various generic and formal historical styles of writing are called "hands" while an individual's style of penmanship is referred to as "handwriting".

Description is any type of communication that aims to make vivid a place, object, person, group, or other physical entity. It is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as modes of discourse), along with exposition, argumentation, and narration.

genre or piece of a larger work

list arranged to show hierarchical relationships

thumb|Example of multimodality: A televised weather forecast (medium) involves understanding spoken language, written language, weather specific language (such as temperature scales), geography, and symbols (clouds, sun, rain, etc.).

In scientific writing, IMRAD or IMRaD () (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) is a common organizational structure for the format of a document. IMRaD is the most prominent norm for the structure of a scientific journal article of the original research type.

Progymnasmata (Greek προγυμνάσματα "fore-exercises"; Latin praeexercitamina) are a series of preliminary rhetorical exercises that began in ancient Greece and continued during the Roman Empire. These exercises were implemented by students of rhetoric, who began their schooling between ages twelve and fifteen. The purpose of these exercises was to prepare students for writing declamations after they had completed their education with the grammarians. There are only four surviving handbooks of progymnasmata, attributed to Aelius Theon, Hermogenes of Tarsus, Aphthonius of Antioch, and Nicolaus th