This part will focus on the top writing errors that I see most Wattpad writers struggle with. If you are struggling with another that was not listed here, request it to me either in a comment or a personal message. I'd be happy to write up a part dedicated to you.
Let's just jump into it then.
Parallel sentence structure:
The word parallel has multiple meanings, but in regards to sentence structure, it means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. For example:
He was fast and he was strong.
This sentence is parallel because it has "he was" in each part of the sentence, which is separated by the conjunction "and."
Another example could be:
Nick likes to ski, to swim, and to hike.
Now, this example shows parallelism through the word "to," and is separated by commas, as well as "and."
Properly formatting lists:
No matter how simple or complex the list, it needs to be parallel. What do I mean by this? A coordinating conjunction must properly join similar parts of a sentence.
For example:
A) Tenaya bought a dress, clutch, and pair of shoes for the house party.
Does this seem correct to you?
B) Tenaya bought a dress, a clutch, and a pair of shoes for the house party.
What about this one?
The correct example is B because it is parallel with a in front of every item in the list.
Let's try another:
A) Tenaya wished Kayla would notice her in their shared classes of philosophy, of economic principles, and of journalism ethics.
Is this the correct one?
B) Tenaya wished Kayla would notice her in their shared classes of philosophy, of economic principles, and journalism ethics.
Or is this the correct one?
For this one, A is actually correct, because of its parallelism with the word of before every item in the list.
Do you see where I am getting at here? Now, onto the numerous ways to format a list.
First off, there's vertical.
● You can use bullet points.
● Always make sure you end with a period,
● Unless stylistically on purpose.
1. You can use a sequence of numbers.
2. Just make sure you stay in order.
4. You don't want to confuse your readers and skip a step.
Then there's horizontal. This is when you list a number of items in paragraph form, and is the most commonly used in fiction writing.
Tenaya had never been quick on her feet around Kayla, she had always felt a blockage in her throat whenever speaking to her, and she had wondered if she'd ever get to admit her feelings to her.
This is a simple way of listing three or more items in paragraph form; all are separated by commas. Notice the parallelism?
However, what do you do when you have a list of three or more items with additional information? For example:
Tenaya had never been quick on her feet around Kayla, though she wished she was; she had always felt a blockage in her throat whenever speaking to her, as if a frog was napping inside; and she had wondered if she'd ever get to admit her feelings to her, despite the fact that Kayla didn't even notice she existed.
The correct way to list three or more items with additional information is to separate each item by a semicolon instead of a comma. Then, separate each item's additional bit of information by a comma.
Let's look at another example:
Mom and dad; Aurora and Aaron; Jenny's parents, Landon and MJ; Jenny and Brooklyn; Kyle and me; and, the one and only, Alex, of course.
- Excerpt from girl_whobreaths_fire's "The Good Girl Stole My Heart" - chapter 8.
Here you are listing a group of people that are coupled off in paragraph form. Each couple is separated by a semicolon. When introducing Jenny's parents, you add a comma, then continue on with the list with a semicolon.
That last part mentioning Alex as 'the one and only' is a stylistic choice for the author, but the correct way to punctuate is as shown. The phrases 'the one and only' and 'of course' are separated by commas because they can be taken out of the sentence without grammatically changing it.
Articles:
An author's retelling about their first time skydiving may leave a pit in the bottom of your stomach. You may feel nervous for them.
However, if I were to say this author's retelling about their first time skydiving may leave pit in bottom of your stomach, you may feel confused.
Articles are a very important part of writing. I know some languages may omit articles or say them every-so-often, but the English language loves to throw them everywhere.
An article (an, a, the) appears in front of nouns, letting the reader know if the noun is specific or nonspecific. Articles are also considered a type of adjective because they modify the noun.
A and an are indefinite articles.
The is a definite article.
The difference is that a and an don't say anything special about the word that follows. For example:
I read a book.
This means I could have read any book ever written. It is not specific.
I read the book.
This means I read a specific book. This sentence is taken out of context; however, you can understand that I am speaking about one book in particular. That is why the is called a definite article━you want something definite.
Whether you use a or an depends on the word that follows. You use a before words that start with a consonant sound and an before words that start with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) sound. Remember, it's not the first letter of the next word, which is what some Wattpad writers are mistaken in, but rather the sound it makes.
Let's try it out. Figure out whether or not you should put a or an in the following examples:
A) Franklin wanted to get _ excellent grade on his exam.
B) Franklin felt he did _ good job after taking his exam.
Remember, focus on the sound of the beginning of the next word that follows where the article would go.
The answers:
A)Franklin wanted to get an excellent grade on his exam.
(Excellent may start with a vowel, but you focus on the sound, which sounds like -eh.)
B)Franklin felt he did a good job after taking his exam.
(Good starts with a consonant and also sounds like -g.)
Abbreviations:
Periods, unlike other final punctuation marks, can do more than just mark the end of a sentence.
Any shortened form of a word is an abbreviation. For example B.Y.O.B. for bring your own beer and Dec. for December. Some abbreviations are more commonly used than the actual words, such as Mr. for mister, Mrs. for mistress, and etc. for et cetera.
When you have an abbreviation at the end of a sentence, don't use a second period:
Andrew couldn't wrap his mind around how someone is so ignorant, so closed-minded, so bigoted, etc..
The correct way is to just end the sentence with one period as part of the abbreviation:
Andrew couldn't wrap his mind around how someone could be so ignorant, so closed-minded, so bigoted, etc.
If you think ending a sentence with an abbreviation might confuse your readers to think the following sentence is actually continuing from the previous sentence, simply rewrite the sentence so that the abbreviation doesn't come at the end, or write out the full word instead of using the abbreviation:
Andrew couldn't wrap his mind around how someone could be so ignorant, so closed-minded, so bigoted, et cetera.
When you are ending a sentence with a question mark or an exclamation point with an abbreviation, you should include both the period for the abbreviation and the final question mark or exclamation point:
Andrew couldn't wrap his mind around it. How could someone be so ignorant, so closed-minded, so bigoted, etc.?
Ellipses:
Onto ellipses... Have you ever seen this... before? Writers sometimes... use this to... portray a character taking a long... pause in thought or dialogue... Sometimes even to... um... well... stutter.
The correct way to form ellipses is with always having three... dots (periods). They are connected... to the last word and there is a... space after before the next word... Do you understand?
I really didn't want a girl as my friend who is ugly and... fat.
- Excerpt from kainatrupanzel's Gains and Losses - chapter 8.
Also when you end a sentence with ellipses, you don't add the period, just like you don't with abbreviations...
Misplaced modifiers:
You might have noticed me throw around the word modifiers in the writing section of this book. Well, what are they? Modifiers are just that--words or phrases that modify or specify or describe something else.
Misplaced modifiers attach themselves to something you didn't intend for them to describe.
Even one simple word in the wrong place can be confusing.
The biggest misplaced modifier is the word only. These two sentences mean two different things:
Patty ate only the chips.
Patty only ate the chips.
The first sentences means Patty ate nothing but chips--no dip, no popcorn, no pretzels. The second sentence means all Patty did with the chips was eat it. She didn't buy it or make it into nachos or sell it. She only ate it.
When you use one-word modifiers, like only, they usually go right before the word they modify.
Another misplaced modifier is the word almost.
Patty almost failed every writing class she took.
Patty failed almost every writing class she took.
These two sentences are very different. The first sentence means that Patty was close to failing every writing class she ever took. The second sentence means that Patty failed many of the writing classes she took, but not all.
Pay attention to the modifier; almost acts on what directly follows it: almost failed versus almost every writing class.
There, their and they're:
A common mistake not only for those learning English but also for native speakers is the difference between there, their, and they're. This happens because the words sound the same when spoken.
So what is the difference between there, their, and they're?
There is the opposite of here. It means in that place, not here.
Q: Where is my teddy bear?
A: It is over there.
There is/There are means to show that something exists.
There is my teddy bear on the table.
Their is a possessive adjective which is used before a noun. It shows possession, that something belongs to someone.
Their kid was being too rowdy.
They're is a contraction of they are. They're is usually before an adjective or a verb ending in -ing.
They're very happy to have found the teddy bear.
Writing-out ages:
If you are writing out the age of a character hyphens may be needed.
When the age is an adjective that comes before the noun and modifies the noun, or when the age is a noun, hyphenate.
For example:
Thirty-year-old Andy was unemployed.
The lazy thirty-year-old was unemployed.
Andy is a thirty-year-old, who is unemployed.
When the age is part of an adjectival phrase after the noun, don't hyphenate:
Andy is thirty years old and unemployed.
Sucks for Andy. Let's hope he gets his act together.
Who or Whom?
I won't go too into the grammar behind who vs. whom, but the main thing to know is that they are both pronouns, which means you can also ask yourself this: Can you substitute it with the word s/he or her/him?
For example:
Andy wanted to know who would follow up with his resume.
So, can you replace who with her/him? No, but you can with s/he, so the correct pronoun to substitute would be s/he.
Let's try another:
Whom did the resume belong to?
The resume belonged to her/him, so it would be correct to say whom here.
Another way to look at it is that whom ends in an -m. So does him. If you can replace it with him, it should be whom. And the same goes for if you can replace it with her, it should be whom.
Look at Andy trying to improve his situation. Good for him. Now the question is, can you?
Give this part a vote if you believe in yourself!
A/N: As of right now, this section is complete. If I get any more ideas or requests, I'll continue adding more parts.