Wattpad 101: Your guide to the world of Wattpad

Editing 201 - The First Things to Fix

A. Present Tense

arise, awake, be, bear, beat, become, begin, bend, bet, bite, bleed, blow, break, bring, build, burn, burst, buy, catch, choose, cling, come, cost, creep, cut, deal, dig, dive, do, draw, dream, drink, drive, eat, fall, feed, feel, fight, find, fit, flee, fling, fly, forbid, forget, forgive, forgo, freeze, get, give, go, grind, grow, hang, have, hear, hide, hit, hold, hurt, keep, kneel, knit, know, lay, lead, leap, leave, lend, let, lie (down), light, lose, make, mean, meet, pay, prove, put, quit, read, ride, ring, rise, run, saw, say, see, seek, sell, send, set, sew, shake, shave, shear, shine, shoot, show, shrink, shut, sing, sink, sit, slay, sleep, slide, sneak, speak, speed, spend, spill, spin, spit, split, spread, spring, stand, steal, stick, sting, stink, strew, strike, strive, swear, sweep, swim, swing, take, teach, tear, tell, think, thrive, throw, undergo, understand, upset, wake, wear, weave, weep, win, wind, withdraw, wring, write

B. Past Tense

arose, awoke, was, were, bore, beat, became, began, bent, bet, bit, bled, blew, broke, brought, built, burned or burnt, burst, bought, caught, chose, clung, came, cost, crept, cut, dealt, dug, dived or dove, did, drew, dreamed or dreamt, drank, drove, ate, fell, fed, felt, fought, found, fit, fitted, fled, flung, flew, forbade or forbad, forgot, forgave, forwent, froze, got, gave, went, ground, grew, hung or hanged, had, heard, hid, hit, held, hurt, kept, knelt or kneeled, knitted or knit, knew, laid, led, leapt or leaped, left, lent, let, lay, lit or lighted, lost, made, meant, met, paid, proved, put, quit, read, rode, rang, rose, ran, sawed, said, saw, sought, sold, sent, set, sewed, shook, shaved, sheared, shone or shined, shot, showed, shrank or shrunk, shut, sang, sank, sat, slew, slept, slid, sneaked or snuck, spoke, sped, spent, spilled or spilt, spun, spat or spit, split, spread, sprang, stood, stole, stuck, stung, stank or stunk, strewed, struck, strove or strived, swore, swept, swam, swung, took, taught, tore, told, thought, thrived or throve, threw, underwent, understood, upset, woke or waked, wore, wove, wept, won, wound, withdrew, wrung, wrote

6. Comma or Semi-colon

A comma "," is used when you are uniting a dependent phrase/clause/sentence with an independent phrase/clause/sentence. A semi-colon ";" is used when you are uniting two independent phrases. What is a dependent clause? A dependent clause is not a sentence by itself.

"When Joe petted the dog."

That's not a sentence, that's a sentence fragment. That's dependent on what comes after.

"When Joe petted the dog, the dog growled."

"The Dog growled." Is a full sentence by itself, and is thus independent.

"He petted the dog; the dog growled."

That is two independent sentences, "He petted the dog." And "The dog growled." both worked without each other, thus semi-colon.

Putting and into a sentence turns an independent into a dependent.

"He petted the dog, and the dog growled."

It's a comma, because the sentences are "He petted the dog." (independent) and "and the dog growled." (dependent).

The words for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so (FANBOYS for short) all turn an independent phrase into a dependent one.

It's not difficult to search for commas and semi-colons using the find feature in Microsoft word (or open office), so good luck!

7. It's and Its

Like your and you're and their and there, here's one more common mistake. However, the reality isn't as intuitive as you might think. Since English uses apostrophes for both possessive and contractions, it's really misleading, which might mean a quick search with the find button might be the best way to fix this one too.