The Journey to Writing a Successful Story: a tip book

How to Grammar - Pt. 2

Because there was so much in the last chapter, I decided to break it into two. So this chapter is about punctuation and how to get better with your grammar.

Punctuation is the key to having a good story. Sure, characters and plot-lines create it, but would anyone want to read a badly written story that makes their eyes bleed? Honestly? No.

So let me tell you a few good tips for punctuation.

In punctuation, you have a comma, semi-colon, colon, period, exclamation point, hyphens, parentheses, brackets, apostrophe, and a question mark. I'll give you tips on each one of these...

The comma:

Commas are used to separate thoughts within a sentence allowing the reader to mentally pause and assimilate the full meaning of the sentence. The misuse of commas can alter the entire meaning of sentences. For instance: "Can we eat grandma?" verses "Can we eat, grandma?" Or: "Help a thief!" verses "Help, a thief!"

As you can tell, the first example tells you that they're going to eat grandma, while the second example shows that they are asking grandma if they can eat. The third example tells you that a person is going to help a thief, while the fourth example shows that the victim needs help as a thief has stolen something from them.

One of the best ways to know where to put a comma is when you need to pause. When you're reading out loud, you're able to capture bits and pieces of parts where you do need a comma – usually within long sentences with no punctuation marks.

Other times, commas will be before the word "but," and sometimes after. For instance: "Nobody cares, but I do." Or: "But, you are beautiful." This will also be okay without the comma. "But you are beautiful." There are certain sentences that are suit without the comma. For example: "It's sad but it's true." Or: "It's sad, but it's true." It depends on how it is said.

Commas will also go before "and" sometimes, after. Such as the following: "I rode with Liam, and Sarah rode with Veronica." Or: "I rode with Liam, and according to Sarah, she rode with Veronica."

They will also appear in lists, usually with more than three items. You can get away without commas if it's shorter than three items. Consider the following: "Jane, Jasper, Kyle, and Alice sat in the back." Or: "Jane and Jasper and Alice sat in the back." It's not recommended though, as you may have many "ands" in the sentence, which can make it choppy. Using commas allow you to separate the items without using the same words, such as "and," a bunch of times.

Commas can go after periods, but in certain areas. For instance: "Mr. L., please tell me where to go." Or: "It's in Spain, America, Italy, etc., just please get there fast and save them."

They also come after "too," and before it; after certain answers such as "yes," "no," and "well;" before names; and after dates:

– "I am, too." And... "You too, right?"

– "Yes, it is true." And... "No, I don't." And... "Well, it all started..."

– "Thank you, Melody."

– "It was June 24th, 1992."

The semi-colon:

They are there to separate two independent thoughts in a sentence that otherwise would have been separated by using a conjunction such as and or but.

Consider the following: "It was the first of October; Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations were already on display in stores."

It's also used to precede the words "for instance," "for example," "as in," etc. in sentences. Take this into consideration: "The course will include role-playing which demonstrates the practical application for anger management skills learned; for example, a spousal argument and a situation of a misbehaved child with a parent."