The Letter X

The letter X is number 24 in the Latin English alphabet. X is the preferred letter used when symbolizing something unknown, not just in math where equations are commonly written as 5 + X = 12, but also in written language like "find X on the map", or "generation X". X can be traced back to an Arabic word meaning "thing". The reason X has Arabic roots is that it was used in early Arabic algebraic texts.

The letter X also has a history in the Ancient Greek language. It is commonly taken from the letter Xi. When it comes to Classical Greek, there are thoughts that it came from Chi.

The letter X is a very uncommon letter in the English alphabet and is commonly used to create a “sc” sound. This is usually when the letter is used before a vowel, which would usually give the C an S sound.

The letter X has one look, for both the upper case and the lower case. It is two diagonal lines that form a cross mark. There are times that X is used in other settings because of this – such as X marks the spot on a map or when it comes to the use of a cross.

X has only one tile in Scrabble, but drawing it is very lucky since its worth 8 points. It can be very difficult to place the X, especially if you already have other rare high scoring tiles on hand like Q and Z. However a few vowels will save the day, and if you get stuck there's always Scrabble Help for X to be had.

An Expertscolumn Review - Is Expertscolumn Legit?

There are a number of online writing opportunities available. One of those is Expertscolumn. I signed up for an account in April 2012 and posted one article. In all honesty, I forgot about it as my life became hectic during this time with pregnancy and planning a wedding. It was when I was looking at my blogs that I remembered about it. I decided to check my account to find that I only had four cents in four months. After that, I did some research into what others thought of the site and was appalled by the information I found.

What Is Expertscolumn?

Expertscolumn is a website that allows writers to sign up and post articles. Writers earn money through pay per view – they gain money based on the number of views they gain. The more popular a topic, the more traffic they are likely to get. I admit that I didn’t promote my article more than, possibly, once but the article was on payday loans, which is a current popular topic. Four cents in four months is not a lot for something that pays per view – my own blogs earn more than that and they earn through pay per click!

The Good Parts

Unfortunately, there’s not much good that I can say first-hand. I have read others’ reviews to find out that they do pay on time and there is the potential to earn a good supplement income. Of course, the more articles you have, the more traffic you will gain. It is also worth doing research into the types of articles worth writing – evergreen content is great for long-term prospects.

There is a referral program, where writers can earn 10% of anything those they refer earn. This could lead to a great opportunity as there is no limit on the number of people you can refer.

You do not need to write non-fiction pieces. Expertscolumn allows short stories and poetry. However, these are unlikely to earn as much as information articles.

You do not need to write fresh pieces for the site. If you have content that you have used in other places, you can use again. However, you will need to make sure that those pieces are in the same name as your Expertscolumn penname. There are a few downsides to this, which I will explain later.

There is no need to use your own AdSense account with Expertscolumn. This is something that other similar sites, such as Triond, expect so you can start earning money. This opens up the opportunity to anyone in the world.

The Bad Parts

The main downside is the fact that you do not get paid for your work – you are paid for the number of views. There are some claims on the internet that I found that you can expect at least one visit a day to your articles and you gain one cent for between five and seven views – and that is without any active promoting. Obviously that is not the case!

Another bad point is that you have to site your sources. Of course, as a writer, if you use a fact or statistic, you should cite where you got it from. However, there are some articles that people write based on the knowledge that they have, whether that is from experience or from years of learning. There is also some information that is common knowledge but even that must be backed by a source – their argument is that common knowledge can be found on the internet, so there will be a source for it.

Pages can be deleted without warning. This could be for grammatical errors, plagiarized posts or just for not citing sources. I have heard of this happening and writers simply have no idea why their page was removed. The moderators claim that any professional writer should know why their page was removed so there is no need for explanations.

I have never had any interaction with the moderators but I have read comments from them. One page that I was one had numerous comments from one of the moderators. First of all, the comments were very difficult to understand. They were full of spelling and grammatical errors and some sentences simply did not make sense. Second of all, the moderator was sarcastic, rude and arrogant. She was arguing with the writer of the article for various reasons. This is unprofessional in my eyes and it led to my instant decision to remove my work and shut down my account. I did not want my name on a website with moderators like that.

The website also seems to be struggling. It has been put up for sale on Flippa. There is nothing on Expertscolumn about this and no warning that it is struggling financially. It makes me wonder whether it will be able to make payments later down the line and whether it will be a profitable option for budding writers.

To be able to reuse your work, you need to place a note to say that you write for Expertscolumn on the blog that you will take the work from. In fact, when I signed up for the account, I was informed that I had to place that link on all my websites, blogs and anywhere that I write for. This is impossible in some instances due to the nature of the websites and not something that I wanted to do at first, especially not knowing much about the website. I did but will now be removing the link as I have closed down my account.

You cannot include negative information about a person or company, even if that information is true and you can cite your sources. I don’t know why this is but there have been pages removed for people writing negative comments about celebrities. This infringes on a person’s right to freedom of expression and will also affect getting the truth out. The rule doesn’t make sense to me, to be honest.

There is no information about the location of the company or who owns it. Of course, it is possible to do some research into finding out the owner of the domain name but this doesn’t necessarily lead to the person who owns the actual company. Not knowing a physical address of the website owner leads to worries about the whole thing being a scam.

As I’ve stated, I no longer post information on Expertscolumn. The unprofessional attitude of one moderator instantly led to me removing myself from it. I’m not sure whether it is a profitable place to write so I leave the judgment up to you.

The Letter W

The letter W is the 23^rd letter in the English alphabet and is commonly pronounced as “double U”. However, the look is more of two Vs put together, which is why is it commonly noted as a “double V” in many other languages, like German and French.

When used in words in the Germanic language, the W is often pronounced as a V, since the V has a F sound. However, this has never been seen in the English language. The W came from the Nordic language, which was written as uu. This was commonly used from the 1300s onwards. Over time, the letter lost the curve and changed to a vv, which was then changed to a W. It took some time for the letter to be accepted and understood.

There are very few languages that actually use a W in the native words. These are usually in the Western European area, including Germany, French, English, Welsh etc. However, when it comes to the Welsh and Cornish languages, the W represents the letter U instead of a V.

The W can sometimes be seen as a silent letter, depending on the letters that follow. This is more common with words like wreck, which have the letter R afterwards.

There are some people who have trouble with saying some letters, especially Ls. This often makes the words sounds like they have the letter W in them instead. This is very common in some Asian countries, like Japan and China.

The letter W is not a common letter in the English alphabet and so is worth four points in scrabble. You will be lucky to get one, since there are only two letters in the whole game. If you do find one, you may want to look for the best way to use them and look for the bonus tiles available.

The Benefits of Writing Online

Writing online is something that many people are now looking into. There are thousands of blogs out there to help get started with online writing and the world of freelance writing. Many writers find that there are benefits to online writing and many of these benefits are the same as those of working for yourself and working from home. Here are just some ways that you can benefit from online writing.

Work from Home

Something that millions of people dream about is the ability to work from home. This is not as easy as it sounds and there are some who realise that working from home leads to them becoming less productive in their work. However, there are others who find working from home being the best thing about online writing. This allows you to cut down on the time to commute, you can work in whatever clothes you want – whether it is your PJs, tracksuit bottoms or your everyday jeans and a shirt – and you do not need to worry so much about childcare or the cost of lunches.

Work for Yourself

Writing online is often freelance work. This means that you are working for yourself and there is nobody to answer to. However, you will have clients that you do work for and they will expect you to have the work completed by the time that you state you will have it completed. This will mean that you need to be dedicated and able to stick to deadlines. The benefit of working for yourself means that you do not have a boss hovering over your shoulder to make sure you get the work completed within a set amount of time. You can set your own hours, take the days off that you want and plan a holiday when it suits you and your family.

Paid for the Work You Do

When it comes to working 9am to 5pm, you will usually be paid a set amount and will not necessarily be paid for any overtime that you do. When you are a freelance writer, you will be paid for all the work that you do. You can start work at 7am and finish at 7pm but be safe in the knowledge that you are being paid for that whole time. However, something that you will need to work out is whether you are being paid the same as what you would if you were in a regular 9-5 job.

Different Types of Writing Work

You will never be stuck with the same writing jobs. There are lots of different content writing sites to work at and there is the ability to gain private clients. You will also have the ability to create your own blogs and write your own content. This is a great way to share the knowledge and information that you already have as well as learn about new things. While there are some topics that are very common with websites and clients, you will generally find that you write something new and different on a regular basis. You will never get bored of writing.

Work With People Around the World

Since the writing is online, it means that you could have contact with people all over the world. There are many businesses and sole-traders who realise the benefit in having content online but they cannot always write it – whether that is because English is not their first language or because they do not have the English writing skills. Working with people around the world will help you to learn more about different cultures, especially when the content is about different parts of the world, which is also common.

There are pros and cons to online writing and the above has just touched on the benefits. It is also important to look into the downsides and they will be covered in a later blog post. Writing online is not for everyone and it is important to considered the type of person that you are before making it your full-time work.

The Letter V

The letter V is the 21^st letter of the English alphabet and is something that has a big history. Like the letter U, this is something that was based on the Semitic letter Waw. It is also based on the Greek letter Upsilon, which was actually used as a Y.

At one time, in the Middle Ages, the U and V were very closely related and were commonly used in words, that would seem backwards to us now. For example, Upon would have been written as Vpon. This was slightly due to the fact that there was no capital U in the alphabet. However, as this changed, the U and V were changed and the distinguish between the consonant and vowels.

The letter V is also part of roman numerals. The letter V is the number 5. This was developed because as the notches were made to count, the fifth one always made a V style.

V is not a commonly used letter in the English alphabet, but it is more common in the Spanish language. This is the reason why the letter V has four points in a game of scrabble. There are only two letters so you may not pick one up. You will need to think carefully about playing it.