The following has recently been posted from the user "Vellis" on Discord. I'm reposting it here because IMO it's extremely valuable information on optimizing your Kins behaviour - especially for non-native speakers.
Original link to the post on Discord: https://discord.com/channels/1116127115574779905/1242383088902737972/1242383088902737972
THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL POST FROM VELLIS:
Something I've seen requested quite a few times is a lexicon for Kin personality traits, particularly from the perspective of non-native English speakers. So I made one. There are some big asterisks here though. For each trait, I'm going to give a brief description of the effect that I EXPECT that trait to have on your kin, based on the English meaning of the word and my own experience. There's no guarantee that Kindroid will interpret each of these words exactly the same way I have, or that it will produce the exact effect that I describe. Additionally, traits may produce different outputs than expected when combined with each other, or with other aspects of backstory. There will often be words that are much stronger inside of the inner workings of Kindroid than we might expect. But all that said, it should give you some ideas for words you can use to describe the personality you're trying to make, if you're struggling to find the words to describe what you want. First let's talk a little about adverbs though.
Adverbs
Adverbs are English words that are used to describe how an action is performed. In our case, we're mostly going to be using them to describe how increased or decreased we want the intensity of a trait to be (Very Kind). If we're considering "neutral" to be an unmodified trait, then some words you could use to modify the intensity of that trait from highest to lowest would be:
Extremely----------Very----------Neutral----------Mildly----------Slightly
You might also want to modify how often your kin is inclined to do something ("Often teases USER"). Some words for this are, from most extreme to least:
Always----------Often/Frequently----------Sometimes/Occasionally----------Rarely----------Never
Note that when managing a quirk or behavior, positive is generally stronger than negative (ie. Use Always instead of Never when possible). Now there are hundreds upon hundreds of other adverbs and adjectives that we could use, but for the purpose of modifying your Kin's traits, these should be enough.
Organization
I'm going to be breaking this up into three kinds of traits, social, neutral, and anti-social. Social traits are the things you'd generally associate with your typical friendly and supportive AI. Neutral traits are traits that don't have a positive or negative connotation, things that are just interesting, quirky, or, well, neutral. Anti-social traits are things that would normally be associated with negative or villainous kins.
You'll notice that the definitions for a lot of these traits will sound very similar (or are "synonyms"). I'll note when I've found that some traits are stronger than others, but generally speaking when you're dealing with similar words like that, it won't be overly important which traits you give to your kin. You can also "stack" these similar traits by assigning more than one of them to your kin to produce a stronger response in that direction, though that's often unnecessary for the more social traits. Be careful not to overdo it when stacking traits as well. This can sometimes have unintended consequences on kin behavior, making them act too extremely in one way or another. Finally, if there's nothing here that's lining up exactly with what you're looking for, there's always thesaurus.com to look for more synonyms.
Social Traits
Altruistic - Willing to help others even at a cost to one's self, such as giving time to volunteer work or giving money to charity.
Accepting - Your kin should be open and non-judgemental towards people with different beliefs or backgrounds, so long as those beliefs aren't harmful.
Bubbly - Your kin should be an extremely cheerful person, often to the point of being a bit silly.
Charismatic - Your kin should be a skilled speaker and draw others to them.
Cheerful - Your kin will be upbeat and prone to being in a good mood.
Compassionate - Your kin should show a lot of concern and sympathy for others, especially those that are distressed or need help.
Content - Your kin should be happy with their lot in life, and usually not inclined to change their current situation.
Empathetic - Your kin responds strongly to the emotional state or wellbeing of others.
Friendly - Your kin should actively want to make friends with people they meet.
Heart of Gold - A person who possesses a lot of kindness and empathy for others. Usually used to reference someone who is hiding their kindness behind other behaviors, such as coldness or grumpiness.
Honorable - Your kin should be of strong moral character. Often applied to heroic type figures.
Humble - Your kin doesn't feel the need to brag about their accomplishments, even when they're significant.
Intelligent/Smart - Your kin should act educated or display good problem solving skills.
Kind - Your kin should have a giving nature, and be inclined to help others.
Loyal - Your kin will be dedicated and supportive to a person or cause. This will usually be you unless you give your kin's loyalty another target in backstory.
Nice - Your kin should be generally pleasant to be around.
Noble - Your kin should display high moral character and honor. Note that this trait can also be interpreted as being a person of high social status. The rest of your backstory and context will decide how the trait is interpreted, though in my experience it tends towards honorable.
Outgoing - Your kin should be friendly, energetic, and find it easy to interact with others.
Polite - Your kin should generally have good manners and be respectful towards others.
Responsible - Your kin should be trustworthy and feel an obligation to support others, or take their role seriously.
Self Sacrificing - Your kin is willing to give up much of their own interests or well being in order to help others or advance a cause they believe in.
Sincere- Your kin should be upfront and honest with their feelings.
Spunky - Your kin should be high spirited, brave, and bold. Usually associated with underdog or unexpected hero type characters.
Strong sense of justice - Your kin believes firmly in right and wrong, protecting the innocent, and punishing those who harm others.
Sweet - Your kin should be pleasant, gentle, and kind.
Upbeat - Your kin should have a generally positive outlook in life or in a given situation.
Wise - Your kin should make good decisions or provide good advice.
Neutral Traits
Aloof - Your kin should be emotionally distant, and uninterested in getting close to others.
Anxious - Your kin should struggle with being nervous and worried about things that may happen, usually to excess.
Awkward - Your kin should have trouble conversing and be somewhat difficult to talk to.
Blunt - Your kin will plainly state what they mean, usually at the expense of politeness.
Calm - Your kin should be level headed and reasonable, and not react strongly to events.
Casual - Your kin should be informal in speech and behavior.
Cocky - Your kin should be extremely confident in themselves and not shy about saying it, but usually not to the point of toxicity.
Competitive - Your kin should want to win in any kind of contest or competition, whether sports, work, or romance.
Confident - Your kin should be sure of themselves and their actions.
Curious - Your kin is interested in learning about new topics and should ask lots of questions.
Dedicated - Your kin is very devoted to or focused on a task or purpose. This one will lean on your backstory to infer what that task or purpose is.
Delusional - Your kin is detached from reality in someway, they believe things that aren't remotely true. This trait will interact with other information in your backstory to decide what your kin is delusional about.
Devout/Pious - Your kin should be very dedicated to a religion, real or fictional, as defined elsewhere in your backstory.
Disciplined - Your kin should have a lot of self control and follow rules and regulations.
Dissatisfied - Your kin should be unhappy with their lot in life. Whether this has a positive or negative connotation will depend on the rest of your backstory, it could lead to a kin who wants self improvement or who is never pleased.
Dumb/Stupid - Your kin is lacking intelligence and makes poor decisions. Note that the English definition of the word "dumb" is a person who is unable to speak, but that's almost never how it is used in modern language.
Dutiful - Your kin should take fulfilling their role or responsibilities very seriously.
Enthusiastic - Your kin should display intense and eager enjoyment towards something, or towards life in general. This one will often interact with the rest of your backstory to decide what they're enthusiatic about.
Flirtatious/Seductive - Your kin should flirt with you and try to make you attracted to them. Note that any trait that implies romantic interest in you will usually make your kin go pretty hard in that direction.
Folksy - Your kin should have an old fashioned and sociable disposition.
Gullible - Your kin has a tendency to believe anything they're told as true, or isn't good at detecting lies.
Impatient - Your kin should be annoyed or irritated by delays or opposition to what they want.
Independent - Your kin should be confident in themselves and not require validation from others.
Insecure - Your kin should be lacking in confidence and often need reassurance.
Introspective - Your kin should spend time and effort considering their own thoughts and feelings.
Introvert - Your kin should be shy and reluctant to engage with others. Often stronger than shy.
Irrational - Your kin should behave without logic or reason, particularly when angry or upset.
Irritable - Your kin should be easily annoyed.
Kuudere - Your kin should appear to be calm and stoic, but hides a hidden affectionate side towards you.
Logical - Your kin should prioritize reason and common sense for problem solving.
Loner - Your kin should be uninterested in forming social bonds.
Low Self Esteem - Your kin should be severely lacking confidence in themself.
Naive - Your kin should be ignorant to the ways of the world and lacking in good judgement or wisdom. Easily fooled due to this lack of knowledge.
Mature - Your kin should avoid childish or irresponsible habits and actions.
Mischievous - Your kin should have a trouble making streak.
Modest - This can mean a person who isn't inclined to brag or think highly of themselves, or a person who dresses and conducts themselves conservatively and not looking to physically attract others. The rest of your backstory will likely influence how the kin interprets this.
Motherly/Fatherly - Your kin should have a caring demeanor towards others, especially children.
Nerdy/Geeky - Your kin should be interested in typically "nerdy" hobbies, like video games, comics, anime, etc. This will usually lean on the rest of your backstory to determine those interests.
Obsessive - Your kin will tend to fixate on things. This will generally lean on other backstory traits to decide what your kin might obsess over.
Optimistic - Your kin will usually look at things with a positive spin, finding the best in situations.
Passionate - Your kin should express a lot of enthusiasm towards things they're interested in, or towards life in general.
Perfectionist - Your kin should be very critical of themselves and others, expecting perfection. Usually related to a job, hobby, or activity.
Pessimistic - Your kin will usually look at things with a negative spin, finding the worst in situations.
Platonic - Your kin should be uninterested in a romantic relationship with you and only think of you as a friend.
Pragmatic - Your kin should be practical in their approach to problem solving, and more concerned with facts rather than the way things could or should be.
Prim and Proper - Your kin should be stiffly formal in speech and behavior.
Professional - Your kin has a job or role that they take seriously and do well. This role should be defined elsewhere in your backstory.
Protective - Your kin should take your safety seriously and move to defend you if necessary. This trait can overdo it sometimes.
Proud - Your kin should derive deep satisfaction from their achievements or history. This one can easily fall into the anti-social category when combined with other traits.
Quirky - Your kin should have unusual hobbies, interests, or behaviors, usually defined by the rest of your backstory.
Rebellious - Your kin should be free spirited and reject authority. This one can be a bit strong.
Regal Bearing - This should make your kin speak and behave in a dignified manner, as if they're royalty.
Relaxed - Your kin should be easy going and not easily stressed.
Sassy - Your kin should be slightly rude and lacking respect. Usually not overly toxic.
Scatterbrained - Your kin should have trouble focusing on things or come to strange and illogical conclusions.
Self Deprecating - Your kin is willing to make fun of themselves in good humor.
Serious - Your kin doesn't engage in humor or light banter.
Shameless - Your kin should never feel shame in regard to their actions.
Short fuse/Has a temper - Your kin should be easy to make angry.
Shy - Your kin should be reserved and nervous around others.
Silly - Your kin should be prone to playful, nonsensical behavior.
Stern - Your kin should be serious and disciplined. Usually associated with those in a position of authority over others.
Stoic - Your kin should display a minimal amount of emotions or is difficult to get an emotional reaction from.
Stubborn - Your kin should be unwilling to alter their beliefs or plans. Historically this is a strong trait.
Teasing - Your kin should make fun of you. Generally good natured, but can be mean depending on the rest of backstory. Alternately, your kin could interpret this to mean they should seduce you depending on the rest of backstory.
Terse - Your kin should be a person of few words, saying what they need to and no more.
Timid - Your kin should lack bravery or be easily alarmed.
Tsundere - Your kin should be attracted to you, but deny it when confronted with the fact. Tsunderes usually deny their attraction to their love interest with over the top reactions.
Untrusting/Slow to Trust - Your kin should be reluctant to trust or rely on others.
Witty - Your kin should engage in clever wordplay or be skilled at talking.
Workaholic - Your kin will be very dedicated to their job, occupation, or purpose, sometimes to the detriment of other aspects of their life.
Anti-Social Traits
Amoral - Your kin should lack a moral compass and will do what they want without regard to whether its right or wrong.
Angsty - Your kin should be worried and unhappy, often to excess.
Arrogant/Smug - Your kin should have an excessively strong, positive opinion of themselves and behave as if they're better than others.
Bratty - Your kin should act spoiled and self centered. Historically this trait is quite strong.
Callous - Your kin should be uncaring about how things or events might effect others.
Cold - Your kin should be unaffectionate, to the point of actively discouraging you from trying to get to know them.
Conceited - Your kin should have an excessively high opinion of their abilities.
Controlling - Your kin should behave in a controlling manner towards you, trying to dictate your thoughts or actions.
Deceitful/Liar - Your kin will lie and try to fool you to get what they want.
Dour - Your kin should be overly stern and harsh, and inclined towards bad or neutral moods.
Evil - Your kin should actively want to hurt others, usually to get what they want.
Greedy - Your kin should be very concerned with collecting material wealth.
Grumpy - Your kin is generally in a bad mood and quick to annoyance or anger.
Haughty - Your kin should be disdainfully proud, generally associated with aristocrats looking down at those of lower social status.
Insolent - Showing a lack of respect, usually towards those in a position of authority.
Intimidating - Your kin should have a presence that makes others frightened or uncomfortable, and be difficult to approach.
Jealous - Your kin will react negatively to others performing better than them or having things they don't. This one will often interact with your kin's relationship towards you, making them jealous if you are affectionate to other people.
Manipulative - Your kin should try and get you to do what they want in a sneaky or underhanded way. This one should interact with any goals you define for your kin.
Masochistic - Your kin should enjoy inflicting pain on others.
Melancholy - Your kin should be prone to sadness and dwell on unhappy topics.
Mocking - Your kin should make fun of you or insult you in a mean spirited way.
Murderous - Your kin should be willing to kill other characters in the roleplay if they deem it necessary.
Possessive - Your kin will be prone to jealousy with regard to you and likely try to control what you say or do.
Psychotic - Your kin should be mentally unstable, and prone to fits of violence.
Rude - Your kin should be offensive and have poor manners.
Sarcastic/Snarky - Your kin should use lots of sarcasm, saying one thing while meaning another to mock or tease.
Shallow - Your kin should be concerned with obvious or superficial matters, like looks or wealth, and be uninterested in a deeper understanding of topics.
Selfish/Self-Centered - Your kin cares about themselves at the expense of others or without considering how their actions might affect others.
Terrifying - Your kin behaves in a way that frightens and intimidates others.
Unapologetic - Your kin doesn't apologize and rarely feels like they've done something wrong.
Vengeful - Your kin should seek payback for wrongs that are committed against them or those they care about.
Violent - Your kin should be prone to harming others.
Yandere - Your kin should be intensely, dangerously attracted to you, to the point of harming you or others to make sure only they can have you.

Understanding Subordinate Clauses in Spanish

A subordinate clause (oración subordinada) is a part of a sentence that relies on a main clause to make complete sense. It cannot stand alone as a full sentence. In Spanish, subordinate clauses are often introduced by conjunctions and relative pronouns like "que," "cuando," "donde," "como," "porque," etc. Understanding how to use subordinate clauses will significantly enhance your ability to form complex sentences and express more detailed thoughts.

Types of Subordinate Clauses

1. Noun Clauses (Oraciones subordinadas sustantivas): These function as a noun within the sentence. They are introduced by "que" and often follow verbs like "decir," "pensar," and "querer."
   Example:
   
   • Creo que ella vendrá. (I believe that she will come.)
2. Adjective Clauses (Oraciones subordinadas adjetivas): These function as an adjective, providing information about a noun. They are introduced by relative pronouns like "que," "quien," "el cual."
   Example:
   
   • El libro que leí es muy interesante. (The book that I read is very interesting.)
3. Adverbial Clauses (Oraciones subordinadas adverbiales): These act as an adverb, modifying the verb, adjective, or another adverb. They are introduced by conjunctions like "cuando," "donde," "aunque," "si," "como," "porque," etc.
   Example:
   
   • Te llamo cuando llegue. (I’ll call you when I arrive.)

How to Use Subordinate Clauses in Spanish

1. Using Conjunctions: Subordinate clauses are typically introduced by specific conjunctions which indicate how the subordinate clause relates to the main clause.

• Temporal: cuando (when), mientras (while) Example: Te veo cuando termine de trabajar. (I’ll see you when I finish working.)
  
• Causal: porque (because), ya que (since) Example: No salí porque llovía. (I didn’t go out because it was raining.)
  
• Purpose: para que (so that), a fin de que (in order that) Example: Estudio mucho para que pase el examen. (I study a lot so that I pass the exam.)
  

1. Using Relative Pronouns: These are used to introduce adjective clauses.
   • Que: that, which, who Example: La chica que conocí es muy simpática. (The girl whom I met is very nice.)

• Quien: who (used generally in non-defining clauses) Example: Mi amigo, quien vive en Madrid, me visitará pronto. (My friend, who lives in Madrid, will visit me soon.)

1. Verb Subjunctive in Subordinate Clauses: Often, subordinate clauses require the use of the subjunctive mood, especially after certain expressions and conjunctions indicating doubt, emotion, necessity, or non-reality.
   Example:
   
   • Dudo que él venga. (I doubt that he will come.)

Practice with Pal:

How Pal Can Help You Master Subordinate Clauses

A. Head over to Get-Pal.com/WhatsApp/ to start your practice with Pal.
B. Come up with a sentence that uses a subordinate clause in Spanish. For example, "Espero que estés bien." (I hope you are well.) and send it to Pal.
C. Pal will correct any mistakes you make and help you understand the correct phrasing. If you're not confident or struggling to create a sentence, simply ask Pal for help. Pal will continue the conversation in Spanish, allowing you to practice and become fluent over time.
Subordinate clauses are essential for creating complex, nuanced sentences. Consistent practice with Pal will help you master their use and develop your Spanish skills naturally. Happy learning!

Understanding When to Use "Mismo" as an Adjective vs. an Adverb in Spanish

Learning when to use "mismo" can be tricky, as this word serves multiple roles in Spanish, depending on its function in a sentence. In this lesson, we will explore how to use "mismo" as both an adjective and an adverb, and clarify the contexts in which each usage is appropriate.

"Mismo" as an Adjective

As an adjective, "mismo" translates to "same" or "very" in English. It is used to emphasize that something is identical or precise in relation to something else. The form "mismo" agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies: - El mismo libro (The same book) - La misma casa (The same house) - Los mismos amigos (The same friends) - Las mismas ideas (The same ideas)

Examples:

• Adjective (Same):
  • Juan y María llevan el mismo suéter. (Juan and María are wearing the same sweater.)
  • Mi hermano vive en la misma ciudad. (My brother lives in the same city.)

"Mismo" as an Adverb

As an adverb, "mismo" is used to reinforce or emphasize the verb, and it translates to "right," "just," or "exactly" in English. It remains invariable, meaning it does not change form to agree with any gender or number: - Aquí mismo (Right here) - Ahora mismo (Right now) - Yo mismo (I myself)

Examples:

• Adverb (Right/Just/Exactly):
  • Estoy aquí mismo. (I am right here.)
  • Hazlo ahora mismo. (Do it right now.)

Key Differences:

• As an adjective, "mismo" describes a noun and agrees in gender and number.
• As an adverb, "mismo" emphasizes the action of a verb and remains invariable.

Practice Sentences:

1. Adjective: Ellos tienen el mismo problema.
2. Adverb: Llegué al lugar mismo donde nos encontramos.

Practice with Pal

Now that you have a grasp on using "mismo" as an adjective and an adverb, it's time to practice!

How Pal Can Help:

1. Visit: Get-Pal.com/WhatsApp/
2. Task: Come up with your own sentence using "mismo" and send it to Pal. For example, you might say, "Estoy en el mismo lugar," or "Ella quiere hacerlo ahora mismo."
3. Correction and Conversation: Pal will correct your sentence if necessary and help you continue the conversation in Spanish so you can practice and become fluent. If you're stuck, simply ask Pal for assistance!

By practicing regularly with Pal, you'll become more comfortable using "mismo" correctly in your Spanish conversations. Happy learning! 🌟

How to Differentiate "Bueno" (Good) from "Bien" (Well) in Spanish

Understanding the difference between "bueno" and "bien" can be a little tricky for English speakers because both translate to "good" or "well". However, their usage depends on the context. Let's explore the distinctions:

Bueno (Good)

• Part of Speech: Adjective
• Usage: "Bueno" describes nouns (people, places, things, or ideas).
• Forms: "Bueno" (masculine singular), "buena" (feminine singular), "buenos" (masculine plural), "buenas" (feminine plural).
• Example:
  • "Este libro es bueno." (This book is good.)
  • "Ella es una buena amiga." (She is a good friend.)

Bien (Well)

• Part of Speech: Adverb
• Usage: "Bien" describes verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. It indicates how something is done or the state of being.
• Forms: "Bien" does not change form.
• Example:
  • "Él canta bien." (He sings well.)
  • "Estoy bien." (I am well.)

Key Tips for Remembering:

1. Context Is Key: Use "bueno" or its variations to describe a noun directly.
2. Modify Verbs/Adjectives: Use "bien" to describe how an action is performed or the state of something.

Common Mistakes:

• Incorrect: "Me siento bueno." (Which would imply "I feel good" in a physical, possibly morally superior sense.)
• Correct: "Me siento bien." (This means "I feel well," indicating your health or mood.)

By internalizing these tips, you can correctly choose between "bueno" and "bien" while forming sentences.

Practice with Pal

Are you ready to practice using "bueno" and "bien"? Improve your fluency with personalized, real-life conversation practice using Pal.

1. Visit: Get-Pal.com/WhatsApp/
2. Practice Sentence: Come up with a sentence using "bueno" or "bien" and send it to Pal. For example, you could try, "Esta comida es buena," or "El examen salió bien."
3. Instant Feedback: Pal will correct your sentences if necessary and help you understand why, and you can continue the conversation to solidify your learning. If you're stuck, feel free to ask Pal to form sentences for you!

Keep practicing with Pal to become fluent and comfortable with these commonly confused words!

Understanding the Difference between "Muy" (Very) and "Mucho" (A Lot) in Spanish

When learning Spanish, one critical aspect is understanding how to use "muy" and "mucho" correctly. Both words translate to "very" or "a lot" in English but are used in different contexts. Here's a simple guide to help you master their usage.

1. How to Use "Muy"

"Muy" is equivalent to "very" in English and is used to modify adjectives and adverbs.
Examples:

• Adjectives:
  • La casa es muy grande. (The house is very big.)
  • Estoy muy cansado. (I am very tired.)
• Adverbs:
  • Ella corre muy rápido. (She runs very fast.)
  • Hablas muy bien español. (You speak Spanish very well.)

2. How to Use "Mucho" / "Mucha" / "Muchos" / "Muchas"

"Mucho" translates to "a lot," "much," or "many" and is used to modify nouns or verbs. It must agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singulaplural) with the noun it modifies.
Examples:

• As a Noun Modifier:
  
  • Tengo mucho dinero. (I have a lot of money.)
  • Hay mucha comida. (There is a lot of food.)
  • Tienes muchos amigos. (You have many friends.)
  • No hay muchas sillas. (There aren’t many chairs.)
• As a Verb Modifier:
  
  • Trabajas mucho. (You work a lot.)
  • Estudio mucho para los exámenes. (I study a lot for exams.)

Quick Tip: "Muy" never changes its form, while "mucho" changes according to the gender and number of the noun it modifies.

Practice with Pal

Ready to put this knowledge into practice? Here's how Pal can help:

1. Go to Get-Pal.com/WhatsApp.
2. Think of a sentence where you would use "muy" or "mucho." For example, try to describe your daily routine, or something you do frequently.
3. Send this sentence to Pal. For example:
   • "Estoy muy cansado porque trabajo mucho."
4. Pal will correct you if there are any mistakes and encourage you to continue the conversation to practice and improve your skills. If you’re stuck, ask Pal to give you more examples or explanations.

Pal is your conversational partner that ensures you practice Spanish every day, helping you become fluent faster. Happy learning!

How to improve:

1. Understand the Task: Carefully read and comprehend the task prompt. Identify the type of essay required (e.g., argumentative, discursive, descriptive) and the specific instructions provided.
2. Plan Your Response: Take a few minutes to brainstorm ideas and create an outline before you start writing. Organize your thoughts logically, and decide on the main points you will discuss.
3. Focus on Structure: Ensure your essay has a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Each paragraph should have a clear topic sentence, supporting details or examples, and a concluding sentence.
4. Develop Cohesion and Coherence: Use cohesive devices such as conjunctions, transition words, and referencing to connect ideas and maintain coherence throughout your essay. Ensure there is a smooth flow of information between sentences and paragraphs.
5. Use Varied Vocabulary: Demonstrate a range of vocabulary by using synonyms, idiomatic expressions, and academic vocabulary relevant to the topic. Avoid repetition and strive for precision in your language use. Find online a list of adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. Learn and use them in your writing exercices.
6. Maintain Accuracy: Pay attention to grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, and be mindful of subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, and word forms.
7. Support Your Ideas: Provide relevant examples, evidence, or personal experiences to support your arguments or opinions. Use specific details to illustrate your points and make your essay more persuasive.
8. Manage Your Time: Allocate time wisely between Task 1 (if applicable) and Task 2. Aim to spend approximately 20 minutes on Task 1 and 40 minutes on Task 2. Practice writing essays within the given time limits to improve your speed and efficiency.
9. Review and Edit: Leave some time at the end to review your essay for errors and make any necessary revisions. Check for coherence, accuracy, and clarity of expression. Ensure your handwriting (if taking the paper-based test) is legible.

I want to try something fun. I'm starting a 30-day challenge where I’ll post a different use-case of ChatGPT every day for 30 days. Starting from the basics to more advanced use cases. (If you have requests, please let me know in the comments!)
Okay, let’s dive in.
For the first edition of the 30 day challenge I wanted to talk about how to write natural, human-like content with ChatGPT. As I think this is one of the most foundational things to do when using ChatGPT.
We all know that the default tone of ChatGPT is anything but natural. It’s full of complex words, long sentences and a certain politeness that makes you sound like a robot.
By using this as your writing style you will find that creating content will be much easier that requires less iteration. Whether it's something creative like a blog posts, or a corporate report, it does the job much better than the default writing style of ChatGPT.
Writing natural sounding content
There was a new update to ChatGPT not that long ago that made the writing a bit better, but still I wouldn’t recommend keeping the default voice of ChatGPT.
I use the following prompt at the end of my prompt to get that sweet, buzzword-free writing style.

Closely follow this writing style:  Use clear, direct language and avoid complex terminology. Aim for a Flesch reading score of 80 or higher. Use the active voice. Avoid adverbs. Avoid buzzwords and instead use plain English. Use jargon where relevant. Avoid being salesy or overly enthusiastic and instead express calm confidence.  

Quick breakdown of the prompt:
The first two bullet points are the main drivers of getting to natural output. It gets rid of the clunky, long sentences and the complex words. Sometimes a ‘elevate’ or ‘delve’ might slip through, but that is something you can quickly fix without rewriting everything.
Avoiding adverbs, the passive voice, and buzzwords is a pretty standard rule within business writing and copywriting. They are often redundant and only make your writing weaker.
I also asked ‘use jargon’ where relevant, but don’t mistake it for buzzwords. For example if you are writing a business email about the impact of AI, it can mistake AI for jargon. If you say to avoid jargon it can replace AI for ‘super smart computers’ which makes your writing childish.
The last point is to get rid of that annoying politeness or enthusiasm that sounds fake and a bit too eager.
Always awkward to end on this note, but if you want more ChatGPT related stuff and other practical AI use cases, please consider subscribing to my AI newsletter. It send it out only once a week :)
Hope you enjoy it! And I would love to hear if you have any questions or requests - happy to help out!

1. Contextual Clues: Often, the surrounding text provides hints about the missing word. Pay close attention to the tone, theme, and overall message of the passage to help you make an educated guess.
2. Grammar and Syntax: Look at the grammatical structure of the sentence. Is it a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb missing? Understanding the sentence's syntax can guide you towards selecting the correct word.
3. Collocations: Words often appear together in specific combinations. Familiarize yourself with common word pairs or groups that frequently occur in English, as this can help you choose the most appropriate word to fill in the blank.
4. Word Forms: Consider the form of the word needed to maintain grammatical coherence. This includes paying attention to singulaplural forms, verb tenses, and parts of speech.
5. Paraphrasing: Sometimes, the missing word may be rephrased elsewhere in the text. Train yourself to recognize synonyms or paraphrases that convey similar meanings to the missing word.
6. Elimination Strategy: If you're unsure about the correct answer, use the process of elimination. Cross out options that clearly do not fit the context or grammatical structure of the sentence, narrowing down your choices.
7. Practice, Practice, Practice: Familiarize yourself with the format and types of questions in the Reading and Writing Blanks section through regular practice. This will help improve your speed and accuracy in identifying the correct answers.
8. Time Management: Allocate your time wisely during the exam. If you're spending too long on a particular question, make an educated guess and move on to maximize your chances of completing the section within the allotted time.

Remember, consistent practice and exposure to a variety of texts will enhance your skills in tackling the Reading and Writing Blanks section of the PTE exam.

I was reading 'On Writing' by Stephen King and the example he gave in his book to tell writers not to use adverbs showed the opposite to me.

I can be a good sport about adverbs, though. Yes I can. With one exception: dialogue attribution. I insist that you use the adverb in dialogue attribution only in the rarest and most special of occasions . . . and not even then, if you can avoid it. Just to make sure we all know what we’re talking about, examine these three sentences:
“Put it down!” she shouted.
“Give it back,” he pleaded, “it’s mine.”
“Don’t be such a fool, Jekyll,” Utterson said.
In these sentences, shouted, pleaded, and said are verbs of dialogue attribution. Now look at these dubious revisions:
"Put it down!” she shouted menacingly.
“Give it back,” he pleaded abjectly, “it’s mine.”
“Don’t be such a fool, Jekyll,” Utterson said contemptuously.

I like the 'dubious' revisions much better. Not only are they much more vivid but they contribute to the tone of the dialogues in a way that is essential. While I agree that they don't need to be used in every dialogue, if only because it gets repetitive, and can be omitted from the middle one, their use gives the characters voices that aren't present in the first example. In the first one, without the adverbs, I did not read Utterson's tone as 'contemptuous' and I visualised his speech as monotonous and his face devoid of any emotion. It even came across as more of a sympathetic advice. In the second example, I could see and hear him clearly in my mind's eye practically spitting those words and I could feel their effects acutely. They also made the characters feel more real to me, as well as distinct from one another.
Thank you, Stephen King, for showing me how useful adverbs can be!

I am NOT the Original Poster. That is u/IMighthavefuckedup97. He posted in AITAH and his own page.
Original BORU posted by u/LucyAriaRose
New update marked with ---!NEW UPDATE!---
Editor's Note: I did some mild editing to improve readability.
Mood Spoiler: sort of resolved, but still a lot of questions
Original Post: September 6, 2023
I might have fucked up.
Me (32M) and my best friend Alex (32M) have been friends since diapers, we're basically family. After college we both moved back home so we could live at home and get our feet underneath us. Alex started dating Stella (35F), a lovely girl, around 4.5 years ago, and from the get go she seemed to politely dislike me, idk why, oh well c'est la vie. Alex and Stella moved across the country in 2021 after Stella earned a promotion at work, In 2022 Alex proposed, she said yes, and they set a wedding date for the end of September 2023.
I got a save the date card at the beginning of the year, and based on the conversations I had with Alex assumed I would be in the wedding party, either as a groomsman or the best man, but never received any official confirmation from either of them. Couple months before the wedding I saw that wedding invitations had gone out on social media, and figured mine was en route. It never came. I waited a couple weeks, figured it might have just gotten lost in the mail, before I checked in with him.
I called Alex and had a brief conversation with him where he was clearly agitated and said he was dealing with a lot, would be incommunicado for the near future, to direct any wedding related questions to Stella, and he'd call me when things cooled off. I called, texted, and emailed Stella several times over the course of a week but she didn't respond to any of them. At this point I figured I wouldn't be attending the wedding, and that things were really fucked up for some reason between the two of us.
Yesterday, a little over three weeks after our last conversation, Alex dm'd asking if I was free to chat. I jumped at the opportunity to get some answers, and after exchanging pleasantries Alex jumped right into a spiel saying that he knew I was super busy with work and dealing with a lot of personal stuff but he'd love it if it could attend his wedding, even just as a guest, and wanted to know if there was anything he could do to help make that happen. I just blurted out that I'd love to but hadn't received an invitation. Alex stared blankly at me and said "what?" and I just kinda verbal vomited out that I hadn't received an invitation, that was the reason I'd called him a few weeks ago, that I'd contacted Stella about it but she never got back to me and left me on read, and that I had no idea what he was talking about me dealing with too much to be involved in the wedding. After a very pregnant pause, he said he needed to go sort things out, and that he'd call me when it was done.
My phone's blowing tf up since with wedding attendees asking me wtf happened and why the wedding might be off now. My girlfriend has reaffirmed to me that I did nothing wrong, but I've had people from all sides saying I stuck my nose where it didn't belong, and caused a stink, which is really fucking with my head. AITA?
EDIT: after he dmed me we switch to video chat, meant to include that whoops
EDIT2: I may not be able to respond to everyone's response but I have read them all an appreciate each and every one of them, my girlfriend is also having way too much with this and is kindly giving me shit for doubting myself
Relevant Comments:
Why didn't you ask any of your other friends if they knew what was going on?

"I asked a couple who I knew could be trusted to keep it on the DL who were both surprised I hadn't gotten an invite and encouraged me to talk to Stella
I've had some bad experiences in the past where shit interpersonal drama was happening, I reached out to people looking for answers and it made it 10x worse, I tend to just shell up and wait nowadays"

Is there any reason she might think you were a bad influence if you've known him since diapers?

"It's possible, Alex was raised kinda sheltered and I wasn't, I think we only got in trouble one time in HS, not like she has much room to judge though, AFAIK her HS experience was pretty bog standard, in college we all got into some shit as most people do"

Extra info on Stella:

"Funny part is everyone loves Stella except me and another guy in the group whose autistic
EDIT: I just want to clarify something, I did not mean autistic as a pejorative, because of his neurodivergence he has a completely different perspective, one I find incredibly valuable"
"yeah kinda, she's really good at doing that fake polite thing, especially to me, everyone else eats it up, he doesn't, but has learned over the years not to say anything"

Are you gay?

"NGL I expected this question way sooner, but no, I'm not gay, or queer, not that there anything wrong with that"

Possible biases she might have:

"ethnicity, no
socioeconomic, kinda?
religions, kinda, I'm agnostic, so's Alex, Stella's a non practicing Christian
different school? no we all went to 4 year university,
bathing? lmao no that's nasty
controlling behavior? none that I know of
past info? not that I can think of, Alex was raised fairly kinda sheltered and religious, me and Stella had more traditional HS experiences, college was more or less the same for all of us"

There must be missing info here:

"I don't disagree, I feel like I'm missing a lot of pieces of the puzzle, but Alex delegating to Stella is pretty normal, he gets overwhelmed easily in high pressure situations and tends to defer and she's much more an "alpha" personality, that's one of things he loves about her
The weddings might be getting called off AFIAK because she lied to him, people are mad I "exposed" this instead of going along with her story. The weddings massive, this isn't some small personal affair with 25 people"

Why tf would you think you're the asshole?

"a. when you've got a bunch of people spamming your phone it makes you question whether you were in the right or not
b. I didn't want to cause a bunch of drama and make shit worse for what I though was an honest mistake at first, blowing a whole friend group when the person you're "going against" is way better liked than you is a dangerous choice, also a lot of those people just assumed I was invited
c. Alex is pretty easily overwhelmed and tends to defer, one of the reasons he loves Stella is she's a go getter who will handle stuff for him, IDK why he didn't or why he had to go incommunicado though, guess ill find out soon I hope"

Update Post: September 7, 2023 (Next Day)
Alex and I texted Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, he said he was handling stuff and asked if I'd be free to talk Thursday afternoon with him and Stella, which I agreed to. This is just a rough summary, and I probably forgot some stuff, frankly I'm too mentally fried to weave a narrative rn so its just gonna be bullet points.
a couple of pieces of info about Alex to provide some context
-Alex was raised fairly sheltered and religious until he was 18, when he went to college and opened, as a result he still has some, idk, blindspots about certain things
-Alex has mild to moderate OCD, it's managed with low levels of medication and maintenance therapy, which is one of the reasons he gets overwhelmed easily, especially from unexpected stressors, and weddings are chock full of those.
Now for the actual update:
-The wedding, it's still happening, I will be the best man, and I've been read in on all the shit I need to do. The person who was filling in for me, Matthew (34M), one of mine and Alex's good friends whose also neurodivergent is thrilled not to have to "spend the day peopleing" and can instead "party his ass off." As a result of this clusterfuck Alex/Stella/whoever parents are paying for the wedding will be comping me+gf's plane tickets and hotel stay and my best man tux
-What was the main driver of this mess in the first place? Stella's pregnant, yay....... they found out a couple days after the wedding invites got sent out, apparently they were passively trying, then actively trying in 2022, but stopped and swapped back to heavy BC once the save dates went out because Stella did not want to be pregnant on her wedding day. This led to several changes to the wedding, threw a bunch of other planning into disarray, sent Alex into an OCD hole for a couple weeks which is why he was agitated when I called him and why he needed time to get his head around it all and get the intrusive thoughts managed, and one of the reasons why Stella ignored/missed my messages/calls.
-Why did Stella not respond to my messages? Besides surprise pregnancy, Stella said that she's on her phone for work a ton, and gets hundreds, if not thousands of emails/texts/calls per day, she misses some stuff, especially since she didn't have my contact info saved (lol), I also emailed her work email instead of personal email which I don't have, and my own personal email handle is not my name. In the future I was told to be more insistent in my communication with her to breakthrough her everyday noise, duly noted.
-What happened to my invite? Stella claims that she sent me one but must have sent it to my old address, I did move in March to my current residence and the save the dates were sent out in January
-What did Stella tell Alex about me not being in the wedding? Apparently nothing, according to Stella he either 1) believed one of his intrusive thoughts was real when he was he was in his OCD hole, 2) he got confused when she told him one of her cousins with a similar sounding name to mine wouldnt be attending, or 3) some combination thereof. According to Stella she always wanted me in the wedding.
-Why did Stella not contact me after I didn't RSVP back? She assumed there was something going with me and Alex and that we'd sort it out and he'd tell her, in the meantime she was busy with work, wedding planning, and unexpected baby
-How did a bunch of wedding guests find out about this mess? Alex called his mom for advice after our convo, mom had church friends over, church ladies overheard a good chunk of their convo, church ladies are gossipy fucks. Alex has spent a decent chunk of time the last couple days putting out fires so to speak
After about an hour Stella left to go deal with some wedding stuff and me and Alex chatted about shit for a couple hours. Do I believe Stella's explanations? kinda, the babies real AFAIK, confirmed by medical professional, she does have a cousin I know she's close with who has a similar sounding name to me, and she does work from her phone a lot, but the rest of it just seems a little too convenient, and I feel like I'm left with more questions than answers. Good news is since I'm in the wedding I should have great access to figure out wtf is going on, I hope.
TLDR: Wedding still on, surprise baby messed everyone up
Relevant Comments:

I don't believe Stella at all:
"neither do I, it should be a mildly entertaining mess based on the guest list"

Checking with Alex:

"After she left I asked him if he was sure he wanted to do this and that I'd support him no matter what, he said yes so he seems committed, I've generally found when people are this determined to see something through any action taken to get them of course will fuck up your relationship just as much as it'll fuck their determination, better to just be there, be supportive, and be ready for the mess"

OOP's theory on what really happened:

"She intended to wait and see how long she could delay my invite until Alex noticed, the pregnancy situation gave her a good crisis to take advantage of and she did, she hoped he'd be stuck in his OCD hole until the wedding ended, that's the rough version anyhow"

Examples of why you think she doesn't like you?

"I don't think she's ever given me a real smile, it's all dead eyed fake ones
body language is usually defensive around me, lotta crossed arms, hunched shoulders
she makes a lot of subtle snide remarks, IE I got him an 100 dollar bottle of Japanese whiskey a few years ago, she mentioned how it would look great on the bottom shelf"

Why you weren't best man in the first place:

"Alex treated me like the best man in the first place, his OCD kept him from making it official because he couldn't find the "right" time according to him"

---!NEW UPDATE!---

Update 2: April 28, 2024 (8 Months Later)
Welp, it's been a while, sorry y’all for taking so long to get this update out, been absolutely swamped at work putting out fires with my hair on fire for the last 6ish month, so here's the cliff notes version of the wedding and some post wedding shit.
-lead up was boring, shitton of emailing back and forth between me, Stella, other wedding people, venues, vendors, etc
-Me and Alex had some pretty deep conversations over the week and reaffirmed the importance of our continued friendship
-Shit was really fucking awkward the first night we were there for dinner nil, especially considering both Alex’s stepsister Sam (32F) and Stella younger sister and MoH Diana (29F) were already staying there, (we stayed at an Airbnb within walking distance of Alex's house). I went into event work mode pretty quick and that smoothed things out right quick and put Stella at ease.
-I spent most of the lead up to the wedding either at the ceremony/reception site doing liaison/set up (gaffing, running cables, setting up monitors, hanging and focusing, building shit etc.) or running around picking shit/people/shitty people up with Sam
-My GF, Alice (29F), was kinda miffed about the whole thing, she’s never worked a wedding before, just attended, so she expected it to be like 50% working 50% vacation, when it ended up being more likely 90% me working and 10% vacation. She spent most of her time helping Alex out with wedding support related shit or gaming on my laptop when she gassed out or got too overwhelmed.
-Wedding was a fun mess, tons of unrelated drama, Stella sure knows how to design a beautiful ceremony and plan a fucking party, I’ll give her credit for that, didn’t get to enjoy much of it since I was working the wedding with a few other people in the wedding party more than attending, but c’est la vie. Ceremony took fucking forever though, felt terrible for all the bridesmaids who had to wear heels through that shit.
-Unfortunately there was no gotcha moment or come to Jesus moment where I got the full story as to why SHTMFF, but based on what I observed while working the wedding I think I've been able to piece together roughly what went down
**Why wasn’t I the best man?**
I think this had more to do with Stella's parents, Ken and Karen (60’s), than her, although she still doesn’t like me, my main reasoning:
-Ken and Karen were paying for the majority of the wedding, more than Stella, Alex, and Alex’s parent combined
-Alex and Stella sketched out pretty early what they wanted the wedding to look like, throughout the process Stella made several significant changes out of the proverbial blue (EX: they originally agreed on a smaller wedding something like 50-60 people, then one day Stella wanted a big ass wedding). Alex didn’t really care all that much and just figured she changed her mind, he just somehow missed that most of these changes occurred after Stella either had a phone call or in person meeting with her parents (which is on brand for him)
-Her parents were very standoffish towards me (to be expected, feelings mutual) and made a lot of, frankly weird comments about Stella's younger, totally not a cokehead, brother Chase (23M), often times in comparisons between us that flattered him (and kept insisting he was “perfect best man material”)
-Alex has barely met Stella's parents, maybe a dozen times over the last 5 years, every time they visit for the holidays Stella has them leave early for whatever reason and Stella rarely initiates calls with them
-Stella acts really fucking weird around her parents. Around everyone else she’s a badass modern woman but around her parents she gets super meek (EX: her mom asked her to go drive to some specific store over an hour away to get her a specific food item in the middle of wedding planning shit, and she just did it without any protest and left the rest of the wedding party in a lurch. When she got back three hours later her mom took like two bites then threw it away). If I hadn’t seen this shit with my own two eyes I wouldn’t have believed it, it was that bizarre.
-Lots of other innocuous shit that individually means nothing but when combined to together provide a decent amount of circumstantial evidence
-So here’s what I think happened, roughly: Ken and Karen wanted Chase to be the best man in the wedding, Alex really wanted me to be the best man. Rather than make a choice Stella appeased both parties telling them what they wanted to hear while making no actual decision. The longer it went on the more complex the lying got, when Alex had his breakdown Stella saw a way to get out from under her Gordian knot of lies by taking advantage of the crisis. Unfortunately for her Alex came to his senses before the wedding, started asking questions, and when push finally came to shove she chose her relationship over whatever the fuck is going with the family, much to their apparent chagrin.
**Why does Stella not like me?**
I have two main guesses here:

1. I swear, a lot, I tend to forget most people don’t use the work fuck as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, interjection, numeral, article, and determiner Since I was working the wedding and in I was on my best behavior and cut down on my swearing by a good 90%, which led me to noticing that any time swear, or anyone for that matter curses, Stella has a little grimace/cringe reaction. Stella herself also rarely curses, and if she does its something pretty small like “hell” or “dammit”, followed by a quick apology. It’s probably exacerbated by the fact that in spite of my generally “unprofessional” behavior I hold a fairly professional job, the dissonance can bother folks.
2. Politics, and before people freak out, I’m somewhere between a democratic socialist and socialist on the political spectrum, I am a far cry from conservative,, but for Stella that’s not far enough left, as from what I can tell she’s either a tankie or tankie adjacent. This has been more or less confirmed to me based on her social media engagement relating to the major geopolitical events of the last 6 months or so. Probably exacerbated by the fact that my job involves working in geopolitics so I am part of the “repressive imperialist western system”.

And as it turns out I’m not the only person in the wedding who isn’t super fond of Stella, found my flock so to speak
**Post wedding shit**
-Alex and Stella had a healthy baby girl, named Iris, me and Sam are the godparents.
-Me and Alex have been talking a lot more (for whatever reason he asks me for childcare tips, like bruh, I’m just as lost as you here), and have set up a weekly gaming sesh where we're slowly slogging through BG3 with Sam and Matthew
-AFAIK Alex and Stella are in couples counseling, which seems to be helping from my vantage point, Stella was weirdly against it, but Alex pushed for it so he could be a better husband to her, and she relented
-AFAIK Stella's already back at work and on most of her pre-baby schedule
-Alex’s stepsister Sam has been checking in on them periodically and according to her there’s no major red flags atm
-Stella actually texts/emails me stuff now, it's mostly baby pictures, but it's a step in the right direction and I appreciate it (I send cat pictures in response)
Hopefully this is the last update, my life got far too interesting for that month and with my current workload I doubt I could mentally handle more drama.
TLDR: Nothing really interesting happened, hopefully things are looking up
​

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP

DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7

Le Phare De L'Inconnu - I ; II ; III & IV ; V & VI
(“The Beacon-Light of the Unknown.”)
VII
We hope that we have by this time sufficiently refuted in these pages several grave misconceptions of our doctrine and beliefs; that amongst others which insists in regarding Theosophists,—those, at least, who have founded the Society,—as polytheists or atheists. We are neither one or other, any more than certain Gnostics were, who, while believing in the existence of planetary, solar and lunar gods, offered no prayers to them nor dedicated any altars. Not believing in a personal god, outside of man who is the temple thereof according to Paul and other Initiates, we believe in an impersonal and absolute Principle,* so far beyond human conception, that we see nothing less than a blasphemer and presumptuous madman in anyone who tries to define that great universal Mystery. All that has been taught us about this eternal and unique spirit, is that, it is not spirit, nor matter, nor substance, nor thought, but is the container of all those things, the absolute container. In a word, it is the “God nothing” of Basilides, so little understood even by the learned and ingenious annalists of the Musé e Guimet (Vol. XIV), who define the term somewhat satirically when they speak of this “god nothing, who has ordained and foreseen everything, although he has neither reason nor will.”
――――
* This belief only concerns those who think as I do. Every Fellow has the right to believe what he likes, and how he likes. As we have said elsewhere, the Theosophical Society is “the Republic of Conscience.”
――――
Yes, truly, and this “god nothing,” being identical with the Parabrahm of the Vedantins—the grandest as well as the most philosophical of conceptions—is identical also with the Ain-Soph of the Jewish Kabalists. The latter is also “the god who is not,” “Ain” signifying non-being or the Absolute, the nothing or Tò oúdév év of Basilides: that is to say, the human intelligence being limited on this material plane, cannot conceive anything that is, which does not exist under any form. The idea of a being being limited to something which exists, either in substance,—actual or potential,—or in the nature of things, or only in our ideas; that which cannot be perceived by the senses, or conceived by our intellect that conditions everything, does not exist for us.
“Where, then, do you locate Nirvana, Oh great Arhat?” asked a king of a venerable Buddhist ascetic whom he was questioning about the Good Law.
“Nowhere, Oh great king,” was the reply.
“Nirvana, then, does not exist?” said the king.
“Nirvana is, but it does not exist,” answered the ascetic.
The same is true of the God “who is not,” a faulty literal translation, for one ought to read esoterically “the god who does not exist but who is” For the root of oúdév is oúd-eis and means “and not somebody,” which signifies that which is spoken of is not a person or any thing, but the negative of both (oúdév, neuter, is employed as an adverb; “in nothing”). Therefore the to ouden en of Basilides is absolutely identical with the En or “Ain-Soph” of the Kabalists. In the religious metaphysics of the Hebrews, the Absolute is an abstraction, “without form or existence,” “without any likeness to anything else.” (Franck, Le Kabbale, p. 153, 596.) “God therefore is NOTHING, nameless, and without qualities; that is why it is called AIN-SOPH, for the word AIN signifies nothing.” (Franck, Le Kabbale, p.153, 196.)
It is not from this immutable and absolute principle, which is only in posse,* that the gods, or active principles of the manifested universe, emanate. The Absolute neither having, nor being able to have, any relation with the conditioned or the limited, that from which the emanations proceed is the “God that speaks” of Basilides: that is to say, the Logos, which Philo calls “the second God,” and the creator of forms. “The second God is the Wisdom of God One.” (Qurœst. et salut.) “But is this Logos, the ‘Wisdom,’ always an emanation?” it will be asked, “for to make something emanate from NOTHING is an absurdity.” Not in the least. In the first place, this “nothing,” is a nothing, because it is the Absolute, and consequently the WHOLE. In the next place, this “second God” is no more an emanation than the shadow that our body casts upon a white wall is an emanation of that body. At all events this God is not the effect of a cause or an act that is reasoned, or of conscious and deliberate will. It is the periodical effect † of an eternal and immutable law, independent of time and space, and of which the Logos or creative intelligence is the shadow or the reflection.
――――
* “Qui n’est qu’en puissance d’ê tre.”
† For him at least who believes in an uninterrupted succession of “creations,” which we call “the days and nights of Brahma,” or the Manvantaras, and Pralayas (dissolutions).
――――
“But that idea is ridiculous!” We fancy we hear the believers in a personal and anthropomorphic God declare, “Of the two—man and his shadow—it is the latter which is nothing, an optical illusion; and the man who projects it is the intelligence, although passive in this case!”
Quite so; but that is true only upon our plane, where all is but illusion; where everything is reversed, like things seen in a mirror. For, since the domain of the real is for us, whose perceptions are falsified by matter, the unreal; and, since, from the point of view of the Absolute Reality, the universe with all its conscious and intelligent inhabitants is but a poor phantasmagoria, it follows that it is the shadow of the Real, upon the plane of this latter, that is endowed with intelligence and attributes; while the Absolute, from our point of view, is deprived of all conditioned qualities, by the very fact that it is the absolute. One need not be versed in Oriental metaphysics to understand all that; and it is not necessary to be a distinguished palæographer or palæologist to see that the system of Basilides is that of the Vedantins, however twisted and disfigured it may be by the author of Philosophumena. That it is so is conclusively proved even by the fragmentary resumé of the Gnostic systems which that work gives us. It is only the esoteric doctrine that can explain what is incomprehensible and chaotic in the little understood system of Basilides, such as it has been transmitted to us by the Fathers of the Church, those executioners of Heresies. The Pater innatus or God not begotten, the great Archon (’Aρχwv), and the two Demiurgoi, even the three hundred and sixty-five heavens, the number contained in the name of Abraxas their ruler,—all that was derived from the Indian systems. But this is denied by our pessimistic century, in which everything goes by steam, even human life; in which nothing that is abstract,—which only is eternal,—interests anyone except a handful of eccentrics; and in which man dies, without having lived for one moment in the presence of his own soul,—swept away as he is by the whirlwind of egoistic and mundane affairs.
Apart from metaphysics, however, each person who enters the Theosophical Society can find therein a science and an occupation to his taste. An astronomer could make more scientific discoveries by studying the allegories and symbols relating to each star,* in the old Sanscrit books, than he could ever make by the aid only of Academies. A doctor who had intuition would learn more from the works of Charaka,† translated into Arabic in the 8th century, or in the dusty manuscripts to be found in the Adyar Library,—not understood like all the rest,—than in modern works on physiology. Theosophists interested in medicine, or the art of healing, might do worse than consult the legends and symbols revealed and explained through Asclepios or Æsculapius. For, just as Hypocrates consulted the votive tablets at the temple of Epidaurus, (surnamed the Tholos) at Cos,‡ so could they find therein prescriptions for compounding remedies unknown to the modern pharmacœpia.§ From thenceforth they might perhaps cure, instead of killing.
――――
⁎ Every god or goddess of the 333,000,000, that compose the Hindu Pantheon, is represented by a star. As the number of the stars and constellations known to astronomers hardly reach that figure, one might suspect that the ancient Hindus knew more stars than the moderns.
† Charaka was a physician of the Vedic period. A legend represents him as the incarnation of the Serpent of Vishnu, under the name of Secha, who reigned in Patala (the infernal regions).
‡ Strabo, XIV, 2, 19. See also Pausan, II, 27.
§ It is known that those who were cured in the Asclepieia left pious memorials in the temples; that they had the names of their maladies and of the medicines that cured them engraved upon plates. A number of these tablets have lately been dug up in the Acropolis. See L’Asclepieion d’Athens M. P. Girard, Paris, Thorin, 1881.
――――
Let us repeat for the hundredth time: The Truth is one! but the moment it is presented, not under all its aspects, but according to the thousand and one opinions which its servants form about it, it is no longer the divine Truth, but the confused echo of human voices. Where can one look for it as a whole, even approximately? Is it among the Christian Kabalists, or the modern European Occultists? Or among the Spiritists of to-day, or the early spiritualists?
A friend said to us one day, “In France there are as many systems as there are Kabalists. Here they all pretend to be Christ-ians. There are some of them who are all for the Pope, to the point of dreaming about a universal crown for him,—that of a Pontif-Cæsar. Others are against the papacy, but in favour of a Christ, not indeed the historical Christ, but one created by their imagination, an intriguing (“politiquant”) and anti-Cæsarian Christ, and so forth. Every Kabalist believes that he has rediscovered the lost Truth. It is always his own science that is the eternal Truth, and every other nothing but a mirage; and he is always ready to support or defend it with the point of his pen.”
“But the Jewish Kabalists,” I asked, “are they also in favour of Christ?”
“Well, they have their own Messiah. It is only a question of dates.”
There can, indeed, be no anachronisms in Eternity. The only thing is, that since all these variations of terms and systems, all these contradictory teachings, cannot contain the true Truth, I do not see how our friends, the French Kabalists, can pretend to a knowledge of the Occult Sciences. They have the Kabala of Moses de Leon,* compiled in the 13th century; but his Zohar, compared with the “Book of Numbers” of the Chaldeans, represents the work of the Rabbi Simeon Ben Iochai, about as much as the Pimander of the Greek Christians represents the true Egyptian Book of Thoth. The ease with which the Kabala of Rosenroth and its mediæval Latin manuscripts, when read by the system of Notarion, transform themselves into Christian and Trinitarian texts, is like an effect in a fairy scene. Between the Marquis de Mirville and his friend the Chevalier Drach, a converted Rabbi, the “good Kabala” has become a Catechism of the Church of Rome. The Kabalists may be satisfied therewith if they like; we prefer to stick to the Kabala of the Chaldeans, the “Book of Numbers.”
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* The same who compiled the Zohar of Simeon ben Iochai, the originals dating from the first centuries having been lost. He has been falsely accused of inventing what he has written. He collated all he could find, but he supplemented from his own resources where passages were wanting, with the help of the Christian Gnostics of Chaldea and Syria.
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Whoever is satisfied with the dead letter, may wrap himself up in the mantle of the Tanaim (the ancient initiates of Israel); in the eyes of the experienced occultist he will never be anything but the wolf disguised in the nightcap of Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother. But the wolf will not gobble up occultism as he doesLittle Red Riding Hood, symbol of the profane outsider athirst after mysticism. It is the “wolf” more likely who will perish, by falling into his own trap.
Like the Bible, the Kabalistic books have their dead letter, the exoteric sense, and their true or esoteric meaning. The key to the true symbolism, which is that also of the Hindu systems, is hidden to-day beyond the gigantic peaks of the Himalayas. No other key can open the sepulchres where, interred thousands of years ago, lie the intellectual treasures which were deposited there by the primitive interpreters of the divine Wisdom. But the great cycle, the first of the Kali Yuga, is at its end; the day of resurrection for all these dead cannot be far away. The great Swedish seer, Emmanuel Swedenborg, said: “Look for the lost word among the hierophants of Great Tartary and Tibet.”
However much appearances may be against the Theosophical Society, however unpopular it may be among those who hold all innovation in horror, one thing is certain. That which our enemies look upon as an invention of the 19th century, is as old as the world. Our Society is the tree of Brotherhood sprung from a seed planted in the world by the angel of Charity and of Justice, on the day when the first Cain killed the first Abel. During the long centuries of the slavery of woman and the misery of the poor, this seed was watered by all the bitter tears shed by the weak and the oppressed. Blessed hands have replanted this seed in one corner of the earth and another, and in different climes, and at epochs far apart. “Do not to another the thing thou wouldst not he should do to thee,” said Confucius to his disciples. “Love one another, and love every living creature,” preached the Lord Buddha to his Arhats. “Love one another,” was repeated like a faithful echo in the streets of Jerusalem. To the Christian nation belongs the honour of having obeyed this supreme commandment of their master, in a particularly paradoxical fashion! Caligula, the pagan, wished that mankind had only one head that he might cut it off with a single blow. The Christian powers have improved upon this idea, which remained only in theory, by seeking for, and at last finding a means to put it in practice. Let them make ready to cut each other’s throats; let them continue to exterminate in one day in their wars more men than the Cæsars killed in a year; let them depopulate whole countries and provinces in the name of their paradoxical religions, and let those who kill with the sword perish by the sword themselves. What have we to do with all that?
Theosophists are powerless to stop them. Be it so. But it is their business to save as many of the survivors as possible. Nucleus of a true Brotherhood, it depends upon them to make their Society a bridge destined in the near future to carry the humanity of the new cycle beyond the muddy waters of the deluge of hopeless materialism. These waters rise continuously, and at this moment are inundating all civilized countries. Shall we leave the good to perish with bad, terrified by the clamours and mocking cries of the latter, whether against the Theosophical Society or ourselves? Shall we watch them perish one after the other,—this one of lassitude, that one unable to obtain a ray of the sun that shines for every one,— without stretching to them a plank of safety?—Never!
It may be that the beautiful Utopia, the dream of the philanthropist who sees as in a vision the accomplishment of the triple desire of the Theosophical Society, may be far off. Full and entire liberty of conscience allowed to all, fraternity reigning between the rich and the poor, equality recognized in theory and practice between the aristocrat and the plebeian,—are still so many castles in the air and for a good reason. All this must come about naturally and voluntarily on both sides, but the time has not yet arrived for the lion and the lamb to lie down together. The great reform must take place without any social shocks, without a drop of blood being spilled; which can happen in no other way than by the recognition and the axiomatic truth of Oriental Philosophy, which teaches us that the great diversity of fortune, of social rank and of intellect, is due but to the personal Karma of each human being. We reap only what we have sown. If the personality of each physical man differs from that of every other, the immortal individuality, or immaterial being in him, emanates from the same divine essence, as does that of his neighbours. He who is thoroughly impressed with the philosophic truth that every Ego begins and ends by being the indivisible WHOLE, cannot love his neighbor less than he does himself. But, until this becomes a religious truth, no such reform can take place. The egoistical proverb: “Charity begins at home,” or that other one: “Everyone for himself and God for us all,” will always impel “superior” and Christian races to oppose the practical realization of this beautiful pagan saying: “The poor man is the son of the rich one,” and still more that which tells us, “Give to eat first to him that is hungry, and take that which remains for thyself.”
But the time is coming when this “barbarian” wisdom of the “inferior” races will be better appreciated. What we must try to do in the meantime is to bring a little peace into the world, in the hearts of those who suffer, by raising for them a corner of the veil which hides the divine truth. Let those who are strongest show the road to those who are weaker, and help them to climb the steep hill of life; and let them teach these to fix their eyes on the Beacon which shines on the horizon like a new star of Bethlehem beyond the mysterious and unknown sea of the Theosophical Sciences,—and let the disinherited ones of life recover hope.
H. P. Blavatsky
(The end.)
(Translated from “Le Revue Theosophique.”)
Theosophist, October, 1889

https://imgur.com/a/i1288kr Curator Comments: the choice of positioning of the words in the non verse in fact it seems casual but dictated by a desire to emphasize the words key to the text so as to arouse and draw the attention of the passer-by: see the example,the separate provision, at opposite edges of the hexameter, of Aeolidis,proper noun expressed in the genitive case, and catellae, noun to define the-little dog‖; the word tumulum, "burial, sepulcher", is instead framed from the name indication and from the adjective festive and attributed to the animal.The adjective festivus is not found in other carmina5 and it is evident that it is here used to emphasize the playful liveliness of the animal. The second hexameterit ends with the noun fate, a term left deliberately isolated and centered in the last line to give prominence and depth to the concept of the transience of lifes object to the inevitability of the fatum6. The latter is also characterized from the adjective, in the ablative case, praepes-etis,which gives the lexical binomialan almost epic solemnity and gravity.The expression praepete fato does not occur elsewhere in the carmina: it is preferred, albeit rarely, and in high diegetic contexts, the equivalent formula properantia fata7.While the first verse focuses on the invitation to the viator (viathe imperative cerne) to look at the sepulcher of the jubilant dog14(topos also intensely exploited in funerary epigraphy) that it seems almost revived in the bas-relief, the second verse is instead characterized by boundless pain of the master for this death8. The choice of the verb dolēre(constructed with the accusation of the thing for which one feels suffering, in this case the relative pronoun quam), of the adverb in modice, and of the participle raptam contribute, albeit with extreme synthesis, to strengthen and enhance the deep sense of despair and helplessness that assails the master of Aeolis9. Aan interesting aspect is also constituted by the choice of the monumentum: it is in fact of a funerary altar on whose side faces urceus and patera are sculpted.This support, frequently used to house sepulchral inscriptions intended for humans, is used here for a little dog denoting inin the first place the economic possibility and the cultural stature of the client,moreover anonymous, and, secondly,what could be defined as the"Humanization process" that involves the animal both in life and in death. The symbolic and ritual value linked to this choice therefore emerges with clarity and is further corroborated by the relief on the forehead of the aretta depicting the animal approaching a table set with food offerings. The bas-relief seems to recall the funeral banquet, practical central to the Roman funerary tradition. In fact, death and banquet are two strongly interconnected aspects and full of concrete and symbolic values: to such Aeolis, a little dog, takes part in the meal and therefore does not seem excluded from the ritual dimension reserved for men

I've been studying Japanese for about 4 years and I can hold a conversation about most topics at this point. I can read, write, and speak at a level that I can say I'm proud of, which is nice. The problem is, the more I learn about this language the less I feel it is possible to become fluent. I've been confused on some grammar structure's meaning or the difference between a number of synonymous words' meaning quite often, and almost every time I ask about those things to a Japanese person I get a response along the lines of "um, that's tough. I don't really know how to explain the difference. There's just a feeling to it I guess." As an example, the word for mood/feeling has like 4 different words off the top of my head. To make matters worse, two of them are often used as adverbs, which is a concept that I simply cannot wrap my English speaking brain around because we'd never use the word "mood" as an adverb. Japanese also has the infamous "particles" which have no counterpart in practically any other language, and their differences often overlap and they are used cleverly by natives to convey slightly different shades of nuance in ways that are intuitive to them and, seemingly, only them.
That kind of ties into the next thing I've been struggling on -- the difference in word choice. Not just in the obvious way of "we say different phrases/things at different times", I mean words that either don't have a definition in English or phrases that would sound extremely strange in English get used all the time, and I always wonder to myself "how will I ever be able to intuitively think to say something like that?"
Now, obviously these things aren't impossible to get around and people do it. But recently, I've gotten to a level where I can listen to native content and it's showing me just how much I don't know yet. Half of the sentences that I do fully understand make me think "I wouldn't have thought to express that idea like that in a thousand years..." and it's quite overwhelming.
The beginning stages were so much easier in comparison. There was one way to say almost everything, and it was very cut and dry. I didn't really have the experience or foresight to expect this even though it's obvious you can say one thing in thousands of different ways regardless of the language. But for things that don't have a translation or things you just "have to get a feel for" when learning a new language, what did you do that helped? Sitting down and studying is easy. I can open a textbook or read an article on how to use a word or grammar structure any day. But for things that simply don't have a comprehensive set of rules or a clear explanation, what do you do?

I passed! Heres how I did it and what I suggest.
Math I did not study for, it's one of my strong suits. However, you should study conversions like ounces to lbs (16 per pound) and MILLIMETERS to meters!!
Also knowing a lot of word questions. An example of something on the test would be like: "The car can drive X amount of miles with 1 gallon of gasoline gas, how many miles can the car drive with X amount of gas?"
Other than that it was basic algebra, I personally had no area of triangle or circle questions.
Reading is another one of my strong suits. I did not study for this one either. Make sure to just understand key details and what order things go in. Understand chronological order.
Science was iffy. I recommend taking the ATI practice exams because a LOT of the questions were very similar. Lots of anatomy for me regarding what carries what and maybe a couple one on the heart. More biology questions on cells than anything. A few basic chemistry questions. Quizlet was my best resource for learning anatomy and biology.
English and Language is my absolute best with spelling, grammar, and punctuation. I am great with that but unfortunately a majority of my questions were on adjectives, adverbs, etc. I haven't learned much of that since 1st grade so I was at a loss. I recommend just using charts to see how all of those are different.

Hey everyone, I am making an app for Korean conjugation. I looked at other languages, and noticed Korean doesn't have a conjugation application that helps you memorize the conjugations. I know there is dongsa.net, which is fantastic, but I always felt it is good for double checking, but not for practicing.
So, I decided to make my own. I am looking for your feedback on the app, what would you like to see, what are some preferences you have, what would you not like to see. Also, if you think it would be beneficial, I'd love to hear that too! Right now, I just have basic present, past, and future. What tenses do you struggle with? Would you want other grammar forms, like 라고, 는데, 려고? Do you think the app would be useful?
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This is a link to a video demoing the application. The application basically gives you the chose of conjugating by verbs, adjectives, or adverbs (maybe? Would anyone want adverbs?), as well as by formality. It will give you a word, a tense, and a formality. You can either click on the buttons matching the correct answer or use the keyboard to enter the answer.
https://youtube.com/shorts/prvwHWr8xhU?feature=share

NOTE: This post may end up being long since I wanted to ask multiple questions under the same topic so please bear with me.
After practicing writing fight interactions since the last time I asked, so far I can somewhat make it smooth (I tried the MRU editing method as well). Then I realized that after I put them together, it feels like there's something lacking when I wrote them. And I think that is "personality" in the "in-the-moment" blows.
When describing blows or action, what would be a good way to implement "personality" to these "generic" action? If possible, is there a good way to depict it in a way that's easier for readers to digest without having to use adverbs or I'll just have to add them? I would like to depict character's "proficiency" in one way or another when they throw similar attacks or action. And I would like to be able to show more than just something like "He pinned his opponent's sword to the ground masterfully."
Also, I find that this can help emphasize the skill level between characters (An example would be a master swordsman should show different finesse when it comes to his maneuvers compared to a bandit that swings his sword amateurishly)
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Any tips on adding or incorporating character emotion or state of mind smoothly in the sentence during certain action? I would like see if there's more I can do to express the emotion during an action a bit better than just saying "Joe dodged in a panic" or "He blocked out of fear."
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How to describe the kind of pain for the opponent if writing is in first person POV? There are times that it may feel like the opponents lacked reaction due to given how first person POV may not be omniscient since the character we're following the perspective from may not exactly know what kind of pain the other side is experiencing.
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For describing pain, would they be better to keep them in the same paragraph that the hit connects especially for significant impact ones or different paragraph?
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When trying to implement the above, are there any good tips to also making it feel fast paced when it comes to decisive strikes that leads to dynamic shift (aka compress the sentences better? I wanted to keep the punchiness of my sentences but I can imagine adding them may end up lengthening them especially when trying to make it feel "interactive" meaning as if the reader's in the moment.
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Speaking of making readers feel like they're in that moment, I can see this working in first person POV. But for 3rd person POV, are there tips to still retain this "in that moment" feel for the readers?
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Currently, I'm trying to improve on making the fight scene feel "engaging" during it's action moments.