Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

66%
+2 −0
Q&A Is there any popular wisdom on the word "seem"?

I've just started noticing this word a lot in books. Something about it rubs me the wrong way. For example, I read a book where the following happened I stumbled to the ground and hit my head. ...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by klippy‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T12:50:55Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/47664
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar klippy‭ · 2019-12-08T12:50:55Z (over 4 years ago)
I've just started noticing this word a lot in books. Something about it rubs me the wrong way. For example, I read a book where the following happened

> I stumbled to the ground and hit my head. I got back up. The walls and floors **seem** ed to be moving

That struck me as wrong; because since the character is experiencing it, for them the walls don't **seem** to be moving, they **are** moving.

I feel like that passage above would be much better if it was rewrote as

> I stumbled to the ground and hit my head. I got back up. The walls and floors **started** to move

It feels more active and definite, and I don't think anyones going to think that the walls and floors are literally moving

There's been many more times when an author has used the word "seem" and it's irked me. The word just feels kind of vague

I'm just wondering if this is just personal preference, or if there is some popular wisdom regarding the word. A quick google didn't bring up anything

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-08-29T09:10:43Z (over 4 years ago)
Original score: 2