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Who? What? Clearing up Ambiguity in Your Story

Most of the confusing or ambiguous parts of your plot should get cleared up during the story- and scene-level edit of your book. But ambiguity sneaks into stories on the sentence-level, too.

In your sentence-level edit, you’ll want to check for ambiguous words, pronouns, language, and/or phrasing—anything that creates unintentional confusion for your reader.

Ambiguous Pronouns

Anytime you use it, its, this, that, he, she, him, her, his, hers, they, theirs, etc. make sure it’s crystal clear who or what you’re referring to.

Karen took the garlic, carrots, and lemon juice out of the fridge, but according to the recipe it wasn’t enough.

What wasn’t enough? The garlic? Carrots? Lemon juice? All three? To clarify, keep in mind that a pronoun refers to the last named person (for he, she, they) or object (for it, this, that). So in the sentence:

Karen and Diane unpacked her groceries into the fridge.

“Her” would refer to Diane, the last named female person. If those are Karen’s groceries, you’d need to write:

Karen and Diane unpacked Karen’s groceries into the fridge.

It may seem like a minor concern, but ambiguous pronouns can cause serious confusion for the reader, especially if you’re trying to show an important event.

Before: Lars threw the vase at the window, and it broke.

After: The vase broke when Lars threw it at the window.

In the first example, we can’t tell what broke. Was it the vase? The window? The revision, though not exactly poetic, is more clear.

Keep in mind that you can rewrite or reorganize whole passages to remove ambiguity, reworking the problem area until it adheres to your unique style and purposes. These are just examples to guide you, not instructions on how exactly to reword your sentences.

Common Ambiguous Pronouns:

• It • Its • This • That • Those • These • He • She • Him • Her • His • Hers • They • Theirs

Ambiguous Words

Unless the character is truly uncertain, or you want the reader to be uncertain what you’re referring to, avoid using ambiguous words like “something,” “somewhere,” “thing,” “stuff,” etc.

Before: There was something about him she despised.

After: She despised his beached-blonde hair, and his arrogance.

Be specific! If your character really doesn’t know what she hates about this person, “something” could work. But make sure you’re not being vague out of habit or laziness. 

Before: She picked up her stuff from the dry cleaners.

After: She picked up her suit from the dry cleaners.

“Suit” is a better choice here because it’s specific, concrete, and visualize-able. We can’t really get a mental picture of “stuff.”

Common Ambiguous Words:

• Thing • Something • Anything • Somewhere • Stuff • Nothing

When Ambiguity Works

Ambiguity has its place if your character is truly uncertain or if you want the reader to be uncertain.

In Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body, the main character is never named or gendered. This was an intentional choice by the writer, who wanted the reader to be unclear about the narrator’s gender and sexual identity.

Similarly, writers of horror, mystery, or magical realism who are trying to create a mysterious mood will use words like “might,” “could,” and “possibly” to intentionally invoke ambiguity:

The fog drifted through the trees, almost corporeal in its movements. Could it be ghost? An apparition?

In this dream sequence from Little Kingdoms, Steven Millhauser uses ambiguous language to emphasize the main character’s uncanny experience:

“You see,” he said to Max, who for some reason had climbed the desk and then onto the top of the door frame, where he sat crouched like a gnome as dark wings grew from his shoulders; and opening his eyes Franklin could not understand the bright dawn light pouring through the window in his bedroom, while somewhere far away a cup was rattling on a dish.  

When used intentionally, ambiguity can enhance mood, raise questions, and contribute to suspense. Just make sure you’re doing it on purpose!

MAJOR NEWS FOR CROCODILE FANS In a newly published paper, Martin et al. describe a new genus of sebecid, Dentaneosuchus from the middle Eocene of France Whats cool about this animal is not just that its part of a group of terrestrial crocodylomorphs, i.e. croc relatives that lived and hunted on land But its also enormous The lower jaw was around 90cm long in the smaller specimen, which puts it in a similar size range as the enormous Barinasuchus from Miocene of South America pictured below (comparisson by Aledgn) this makes it perhaps the biggest land predator of Europe since the extinction of the dinosaurs.

PS: The paper doesn't go into it much, but among the lower estimates is a mere 3-4 meters. While the proportions are unknown, such a low body length seems rather unlikely given that this would mean the head was a whole third of the whole body. 5 to 6 meters seems a lot more reasonable.

I like the juxtaposition between the message of “the medic is beautiful” and just how ominous he looks in this image. (”You’re Beautiful” plays as he ominously walks towards you, syringe in one hand and snapping his fingers with the other)

Medic from TF2 is beautiful

Requested by @the-man-in-green 

i like seeing these on my dash. i think they're cool

Another USMLE Question

Answer and Explanation:

A young American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) rides on the back of its mother in Brazos Bend State Park, Texas, USA

by Rick Dunlap

Exploring the Marvels of Biological Macromolecules: The Molecular Machinery of Life (Part 3)

Proteins and Enzymes: Catalysts of Molecular Reactions

Proteins are the central players in macromolecular interactions. Enzymes, a specialized class of proteins, catalyze biochemical reactions with remarkable specificity. They bind to substrates, facilitate reactions, and release products, ensuring that cellular processes occur with precision.

Protein-Protein Interactions: Orchestrating Cellular Functions

Proteins often interact with other proteins to form dynamic complexes. These interactions are pivotal in processes such as signal transduction, where cascades of protein-protein interactions transmit signals within cells, regulating diverse functions such as growth, metabolism, and immune responses.

Protein-Ligand Interactions: Molecular Recognition

Proteins can also interact with small molecules called ligands. Receptor proteins, for instance, bind to ligands such as hormones, neurotransmitters, or drugs, initiating cellular responses. These interactions rely on specific binding sites and molecular recognition.

Protein-DNA Interactions: Controlling Genetic Information

Transcription factors, a class of proteins, interact with DNA to regulate gene expression. They bind to specific DNA sequences, promoting or inhibiting transcription, thereby controlling RNA and protein synthesis.

Membrane Proteins: Regulating Cellular Transport

Integral membrane proteins participate in macromolecular interactions by regulating the transport of ions and molecules across cell membranes. Transport proteins, ion channels, and pumps interact precisely to maintain cellular homeostasis.

Cooperativity and Allosteric Regulation: Fine-Tuning Cellular Processes

Cooperativity and allosteric regulation are mechanisms that modulate protein function. In cooperativity, binding one ligand to a protein influences the binding of subsequent ligands, often amplifying the response. Allosteric regulation occurs when a molecule binds to a site other than the active site, altering the protein's conformation and activity.

Interactions in Signaling Pathways: Cellular Communication

Signal transduction pathways rely on cascades of macromolecular interactions to transmit extracellular signals into cellular responses. Kinases and phosphatases, enzymes that add or remove phosphate groups, play pivotal roles in these pathways.

Protein Folding and Misfolding: Disease Implications

Proteins must fold into specific three-dimensional shapes to function correctly. Misfolded proteins can lead to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and prion diseases. Chaperone proteins assist in proper protein folding and prevent aggregation.

References

Voet, D., Voet, J. G., & Pratt, C. W. (2016). Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the Molecular Level. Wiley.

Lehninger, A. L., Nelson, D. L., & Cox, M. M. (2017). Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. W. H. Freeman.

Berg, J. M., Tymoczko, J. L., & Stryer, L. (2002). Biochemistry. W. H. Freeman

This skull looks friendly. It'd be a nice evening to sit by a fire with the skull, a cigar perched in the hole in the teeth, as they told me stories of times gone by in that soft, grandparently drawl one has when they've reached a long life and are content with where they are.

The Skull - Memento mori by Jean Morin

I find it rather charming, to be honest. This is one of those smooth rocks you find in a garden or by a riverbed, the ones that feel good when they're put in the palm of your hand. And its out there all by its lonesome, spinning like when you get into your parent's office chair and just make yourself go as fast as possible (possibly with a friend). Keep on spinning, you funky little dwarf planet you.

And according to NASA, Haumea has rings.

Ok so Haumea, a dwarf planet beyond Pluto, spins so fast it gets elongated like this. This is just what it looks like. Something deeply unsettles me looking at it. Terrifying.

Senpai says you’re welcome

If you can’t reblog this, unfollow me now.