If a law is put into effect today, you must obey it from this point on, or got to jail.

If the law is also “retroactive”, you can go to jail TODAY for breaking it in the past, BEFORE it was a law.

“Citibank has eliminated late charges for all Gold Card members. The policy change is retroactive for customers during the past year.”

Here, Gold members charged a late fee in the past year will have it refunded.

I don’t know if you are serious about this question because any person could look it up in a dictionary, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. It is going back to a certain date or time. Suppose you were given a raise in your salary and it didn’t show up in your paycheck right away. If you appealed your pay check because they forgot to include the raise (let’s say 25 cents per hour) your next pay check which included your raise for the last 4 weeks that were missed will be “retroactive” (back to the date that it should have been included). So here it is in a sentence: This week’s pay check is with your raise retroactive to July 6, 2007 (backed up from 4 weeks ago).

1) The lovely Bones, I love how she starts off so innocently and makes everything seem like from a child’s eye even-though we know that she is going to get murdered brutally. So I really was into it in the beginning and all, but at 3rd chapter, the writing changed and became a bit confusing. The sentences would not makes sense and I would have to read the freaking thing 5 times before it made teeny bit sense of what the author was trying to say. I don’t know whether it’s just me, but I just thought that the writer was trying too hard to build a writing style and it ended up being confusing. I do like the story, but I liked the way it was told in the beginning more than it did later on … huhh 2) Drunk / Abusive parent. Teenage pregnancy. High school crushes. Mary-sue Detective (except sherlock holmes) Love at first sight. Calling love lust, when you are too young to tell the difference. (Puts me off big time !!). I know that the things above happen in real life to real people, but I just think that it’s a safe choice that a lot of writers decide to take. The idea can be interesting and even amazing if it is done properly, but most of the time it is over-used because of the safe route it provides. 3) I would say Bella, but that book doesn’t come in Literature to begin with so I’d say Eragon. I am reading the book, but it’s kinda becoming obvious that an inexperienced young person wrote it. Eventhough it has it’s best parts and obviously must have taken hell of an imagination, but I just think that his character was a bit dragged out. I hope you get what I mean. 4)If they are trying to do this to P*** me off, I would say nothing but if they have good intentions than I would just laugh. I’ll be frustrated but I would try not to show it. 5) If you were at a book signing for your book and you heard someone compare you to your most disliked author in an unkind way, how would you react? I’ll Smile !!! Like this … >( 6)I actually like getting brutal criticism once in a while. Because when I am writing it, I do think that it needs a lot of improvement. I always believe there is room for more improvement so I am not offended at all and don’t find the need to defend the story. However if someone starts telling me ‘Maybe the place is this—‘ you know like start giving me Ideas, it pisses me off a bit. I would tell them that I know my own story and that I asked how my ‘writing’ could be improved. Not my idea. If I had asked for the latter, I would feel a cheater. *-_-* 7) Lack of information on how to build a hanging scene. I haven’t read many books with that, so it’s frustrating me what to put next, or where to position what etc. It’s freaking 17th century for God’s sake !!! How the hell am I suppose to know each and every perfectly accurate detail of how the task was done. (I know about a thing called Google, but I’ve been begging it for some help and it has for the first time mind you, failed to do that. However my lovely B&A group has helped HEAPS !!! *-_-* I got a couple of sites suggested, to help me get some info on hangings) 8) A Mary Sue. Someone who is a bit too self-absorbed. Theme: High school or Circuses. Subject: Crush, love at first sight. Well, a mary sue gives a book, a less challenging feeling. You know like when you are playing a game and you are killed atleast 10 times trying to finish the stage. Imagine playing a game where there are no opponents/hindrance … or you have a power that is 10 times better so that opponents are on your mercy always. Well yeah. That’s what it is like reading about a Mary-Sue. It is too kiddish and doesn’t give a challenge. High School crushes: Huhhh… reminds me of when I used to be a kid in high school. =/ . I used to think bullshit a loot !!! *-_-*

A two-part word, essentially. ‘Retro’ meaning ‘back’ or ‘going back’, using in a temporal (time) sense. ‘Active’ of course refers to some action. So ‘retroactive’ means that an action is effective as of some past date. “Retroactive to 9/1/05, all expenses incurred because of Hurrican Katrina are tax-deductible.” (I just made this up!). So whatever you spent repairing your home back to 9/1/05 qualifies on your tax return.

Retroactive means “having an effect which extends backward in time to before the event”.

ret·ro·ac·tive

Function: adjective

extending in scope or effect to a prior time or to conditions that existed or originated in the past; especially : made effective as of a date prior to enactment, promulgation, or imposition