Grammar

GRAMMAR

Grammar. Yes, it is important! You can have the greatest plot in the world, have the most likable character and a fantastic world full of interesting creatures...but if your grammar sucks, so will your story. Now obviously there are exceptions to this, but for the most part, bad grammar takes a great deal away from a story. If a reader has to squint to make it through your misspelled words, he is going to get annoyed finally and stop reading. When you have to struggle to understand a story, it becomes a lot less fun.

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General Suggestions
Homophones
Punctuation
Capitalization
General Grammar

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General suggestions:
Use spell check! If you start your stories on the computer, or if they end up there eventually, use your word processor's spell check to catch your misspelled words. My suggestion is not to let the computer automatically use the first word suggestion; half the time it's not the right one.

Edit! Many writers write quickly, wanting to get what's in their head down on paper (so to speak), and so will very likely make more mistakes than usual. This is fine, so long as you go back over it and catch all the mistakes you made! You'd be amazed at how much you can catch and improve going over it once or twice.

Get a proofreader/beta. Ask someone to look over your work and tell you what he or she thinks. Aside from suggestions about plot and characters, they will very likely catch things that you and the spell check have missed. It is easy to miss a missing "e" in the word "beat" And spell check won't catch it, either.

Punctuation
These two things can break a story, in my opinion. Take this paragraph:

the small boy ran to his mother wanting to be picked up and comforted the woman laughed and swung him up speaking quietly to him to ease his fears and the little boy finally laughed his tears forgotten

I don't know about you, but this hurts my eyes. You need to make sure you understand what punctuation is used for. There are likely more ways to use each of these, not to mention far more types of punctuation, but here are the basics.

period .
This is used when a sentence ends. "The dog ran over the fence." It is also used after an abbreviation. "Mrs." or "a.k.a." It can also be used with two others to indicate a trailing off of dialogue, or to indicate that something is being left out. "If you don't want to come..." Jason said, voice trailing dejectedly. Or: Diane reported, "They went to the movies, he kissed her cheek, she turned and put her arms around his waist...etcetera, etcetera." Sometimes people use three of them in place of a comma. I'm not entirely sure this is grammatically correct, but it can work on occasion. Just don't overdo it.

comma ,
Commas indicate a pause. These are easy to overdo or underdo, and I've done both! Generally, if you would pause while speaking, a comma will go there. Commas are also used to separate words in a list, such as: "I got eggs, bread, milk, and plastic bags at the store." Commas are also used in dialogue, at the end of a statement, when there is a "he said" tag afterwards. Thus: "I already ate breakfast," said Darren.

exclamation point !
Exclamation points are used at the end of an imperative. If a person yells, the exclamation point sits at the end. "Stop!" If you narrate something you want to emphasize, use an exclamation point. Thus: Cody turned a corner, only to come face to face with a snarling lion, and he had no one there to help! You only need one of these at the end of a sentence. Two or more just gets awkward. Same with an exclamation point and a question mark. ?! or !? There are very rare instances when the same thing cannot be accomplished with just one or the other.

question mark ?
Question marks are for ending questions. (Obviously.) "What time is it?" gets one. Incidentally, the phrase "I wonder what time it is" gets a period at the end, not a question mark. The person is stating that he's wondering something. now, if you were to write, "I wonder, what time is it?" that would work okay. You're separating the wondering, and the question.

quotation marks ""
Quotes go at either end of dialogue, so the reader knows what the character is saying aloud. "Holy cow!" he said. Quotes can also indicate a word that is doubtful...such as: He displayed his "kindness" by only hitting his brother twice instead of five times. This indicates that while perhaps the older brother called it "kindness", it wasn't really.

apostrophe '
An apostrophe is used for contractions "can't, wouldn't, I've, isn't" and for possessives. "The boy's toy broke when he stepped on it."

parentheses ( )
Parentheses are not so common. They are used for interjections, such as, "Casey followed her mother (though she didn't really want to) her eyes downcast." Or, "He brought his unique (ugly) dog to the pet store." You see parentheses less in fiction stories than things like reports and the like, at least in my experience.

colon :
A colon has two dots. (If there is a dot and a comma, it is a semicolon.) Colons are used to draw attention to the text that follows it. Such as: (Hey, there's one!) "There were three things the woman wanted: a man, a car, and a new wardrobe." or, "Carrie felt one thing: fear." Colons are also used in indicating time. 1:15 in the afternoon.

semicolon ;
Semi-colons are not very common, though I like to use them. If you want to say two things but only want one sentence, a semicolon works well. It's sorta something between and comma and a period. "Jennifer didn't hate the new boy; he was nice enough, he just bugged her." The part of the sentence before and after the semicolon should be able to stand on their own as separate sentences.

Capitalization
Capitalization can confuse things just as much as punctuation, if done wrong. Things that are always capitalized:

Proper names. (People's names, the names of cities or countries, or other specific places. Names of things like stores and schools.)

The first letter of each new sentence.

The first letter of the first word, and each major word in a title, such as a movie or a book title.

"God" is capitalized, when speaking of the Christian/Catholic/etc. version of it. (Since that's His name; incidentally, any pronouns used to refer to Him are generally capitalized as well. Same with Satan, and I believe other specific deities.) When speaking of a god or gods, then you don't capitalize it.

Same with "Earth". If you're saying "I live on Earth", it's capitalized, as you're using it as a proper name. If you say "I love on the earth", then it's lowercase.

If you're unsure as to whether it should be a capital or a lowercase, find out for sure.

Homophones:
A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another, but means something completely different. It is also spelled differently. And if you use the wrong one, it looks very awkward. Here are some mistakes I have seen here and there in stories. (Note: Some of these words have many more definitions than I have here, but I'm trying to keep it fairly simple. I'm just pointing out the differences, not thoroughly defining.)

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they're, their, there

I see this constantly, in writing and everyday Internet communication.

"They're" is a contraction for "they are". Correct usage: "They're standing on the dock." In other words, "They are standing on the dock."

"Their" is a possessive. It indicates that it belongs to them. Correct usage: "The students want their teacher fired."

"There" indicates location. Correct use: "My keys are over there."

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sic, sick

"Sick" is something that makes you throw up. It can also be a cold, a respiratory, flu, or any other various illness. Correct usage: "That food made me sick last time I tried it."

"Sic" is something that you command a dog to do, it means "to set upon". Correct usage: "If you don't leave, I'm going to sic my dog on you!"

Incidentally, in a quoted passage, the term "sic" means that the text it refers to is a direct quote, and was deliberately quoted word for word. It's used especially if there is a misspelling in the quoted text, or a unique spelling, "sic" indicated the misspelling is there on purpose as part of the original quote.

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two, too, to

"Two" is a number. Correct usage: "My brother is two years old."

"Too" means "also". Correct usage: "I want to have my cake and eat it, too."

"To" means several things. Here are a few common uses. Preposition: "I am going to England." It can be used with a verb. "I don't want to (the verb being implied as whatever it is he doesn't want to do.)." or "He is going to mow the lawn." In these cases, there is only one "o" in this word.

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faze, phase

A phase is a period of time, or part of a cycle. "He's going through a phase right now." or "I like to chart the phases of the moon." If this word is used as a verb, it means to do something in stages. "He's going to phase out the old ways."

"Faze" means to rattle, to break someone's composure. Correct usage: "Spiders do not faze me."

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your, you're, yore

Now granted, I've never seen someone use "yore" in place of either of the others, but I figured I would include it here, anyway. This is another mistake I see ALL the time.

"Your" is possessive. It means it belongs to you. Correct usage: "I ate your potato chips."

"You're" is a contraction for "You are". Correct usage: "You're late." In other words, "You are late."

"Yore" means times past. "I remember the days of yore."

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shutter, shudder

A "shutter" is something that normally covers a window. It can be used as a verb, referring to covering something with shutters. Correct usage: "I put shutters on the window today."

To "shudder" means to shiver, usually in revulsion or similar. Correct usage: "Spiders make my mom shudder."

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bear, bare

This one can end up interesting if you use it wrong!

"Bare" usually means naked. Or uncovered. As a verb it means to uncover. Correct usage: "To skinny dip means to swim bare."

"Bear" means to carry or endure. It can also be a big, shaggy animal who likes honey, if you believe the storybooks. Correct usage: "I cannot bear any more burdens." Or: "I met a huge bear in the woods."

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capital, capitol

"Capital" means several things, including "punishable by death". It also refers to the bigger form of the alphabet's letters. It can also mean "important." Correct: "A capital offense. Capital letters. The capital ship in the fleet." If your city is the "capital", it is also spelled this way.

The "capitol" is a building where the government meets.

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compliment, complement

A "compliment" is something nice you say to someone. "I paid my girlfriend a compliment about her dress." If something is "complimentary", it is free of cost.

If something "complements" another, it makes it complete, or fits well with it.

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principle, principal

Your "principal" is the guy (or gal) you don't want to get sent to by your teacher. It also means very important. "My school's principal is a jerk."

A "principle" is a law or concept. "It's the principle of the thing."

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vial, vile

A "vial" is a little glass container. "I gave my friend a vial of liquid."

"Vile" is nasty, evil, horrible, gross. "That man is vile, you should hear what he does in his spare time."

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whether, weather

"Whether" is a word used between two different choices. "I had to decide whether to clean my room or go out with my friends."

"Weather" is that stuff that's outside and decides if it rains, snows, or hails. "The weather was warm yesterday."

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vain, vane, vein

Here's one I see every now and again. "Vain" is a word that means "stuck up". "She's so vain, she spends all of her time in front of a mirror." A vain person is often overly concerned with his or her looks. Vain can also mean "unimportant." Like a "vain display of strength" would be a display of strength that accomplished nothing whatsoever. A third meaning is used in the phrase "in vain". If you try something, and it doesn't work, you've done it in vain. A fourth meaning of this spelling is to use a word without respect or improperly, such as taking God's name in vain.

A "vein" is what you have in your skin that blood rushes through. Of great interest to vampires. You use this spelling when referring to the lines...veins...in a leaf, or the veins of color in marble, or veins of ore within stone.

A "vane" usually refers to a weather vane. The sails or plates on a windmill can also be called vanes.

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whelp, welt

This is obviously not really a homophone, but something I have seen and heard.

A "welt" is a line left on a person's skin after being struck with something. "I have a welt where that branch hit me."

A "whelp" is a baby canine. It can also be used as a verb, meaning, "give birth to a pup." "My dog just whelped the other day, she had nine puppies." Or: "My dog just gave birth to nine whelps." Incidentally, it can be used to refer to a child, though that's usually considered less than polite.

Incidentally, a "weal" is an alternative word for "welt".

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These are only a few things that can be easily confused in your writing, make sure that when you're using a word, that you double-check what it means, else your sentence may end up with a totally different meaning!

General Grammar
(Lieutenant Grammar got promoted...I know, I know, horrible pun alert! My cousin is rubbing off on me.)

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Basic parts of speech are: nouns, pronouns, verbs, objects, subjects, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions...there are more, of course, but these are good enough for a basic overview.

Nouns are a person place or thing. The following are nouns: table, man, person, city, bathroom, toilet, dog, teacher.

Verbs describe action. The following are verbs: run, vomit, torture, leap, crouch, sleep, hate, wonder, write.

Objects are the recipient of a verb. If you hate you teacher, the teacher is the object. If you eat an apple, the apple is the object.

Subjects perform a verb. If Barry eats the apple, Barry is the subject. If a child makes a mud pie, the child is the subject. If you jump off a cliff, you are the subject.

Adjectives describe nouns. Ugly, stupid, weird (that's me!), grim, silly, big, small, fat, and boring are all adjectives.

Adverbs describe verbs. Stupidly, crazily, awkwardly, and recklessly are all adverbs.

Conjunctions connection two parts of a sentence. "And" and "but" are the two most common that I have seen. "I told my mother I loved her, and gave her a big hug." "For", "either", "however", "although"...those are also conjunctions.

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Sentence fragments. (That was one, by the way.) Sentence fragments are parts of sentences masquerading as a full one. Sentences need to have a subject, and verb, for the most part. "Sentence fragments" has no verb. When writing a story, those are usually not a good idea. Every once in a while, a sentence fragment will convey the mood or style of the scene that the author wants to get across, but for the most part they're a bad idea.

Beginning a sentence with "but" or "and" isn't a fantastic idea. And they can get out of hand, too! I do that a lot. But then I wouldn't know of all these mistakes if I haven't seen or done them before myself. :grin: Okay, okay, that was a bad way to illustrate that, but hey.

Try not to make your sentences too long or too short. A page full of three-word sentences will be very choppy and disjointed, where as a page consisting of one run-on sentence is going to be very awkward and cumbersome. A nice blend of short and complex makes for smooth reading.

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