Imitation vs. Plagiarism

Hi Jerry,

I am finding phrases and ways to frame ideas which I would like to borrow. What is the boundary between learning through imitation and plagiarism? For example, from King’s “On Writing” I assume it is okay to borrow generic phrases such as, “my earliest memory is of, on one occasion I heard, my clearest memory of those days,” or “ten years or so later.”

I feel doubts about writing specific phrases in my husband's story, for instance, “once summer vacation came,” or “my wife made a crucial difference,” even though my husband says “crucial” a lot. I love, “As the fifties gave way to the sixties.” Could I replace “gave way” with a synonym?

I like, “In my character, a kind of wildness and a deep conservatism are wound together like a hair in a braid” (p.53) and am using it as a model for a (draft) sentence: In my personality, (scientific) logic intertwines with (spiritual) faith like two unlike materials woven into a cotton-polyester blend.

Any thoughts?

TU 🙂