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"Grammar is the logic of speech , even as logic is the grammar of reason." - Richard Chenevix Trench
A guide on all those grammar rules they didn't teach you in school including how to use semicolons right, which to use for dramatic pauses, "...." or "-", how to express thoughts, when to use commas before quotation marks, and all the other "grammar-y" stuff you didn't know.
"And you certainly," She said, crossing her legs and taking a sip of her tea, "Don't know whether to use commas or periods in quotation marks." e flowy descriptions ready to go. But what's this?...Uh-oh. You don't know how to write them down. You don't know how to show a character is thinking something-Wonder why? You don't know how to add a sudden thought-and you really should know this- into a sentence. You don't know whether to use dashes or "..." for a dramatic pause. You don't know how to add information to the end of the sentence (Really, dear, I would expect you to know that). And wait! Should you put that adjective before the other?
"And you certainly," She said, crossing her legs and taking a sip of her tea, "Don't know whether to use commas or periods in quotation marks."
But fear no more! The grammar police shall arrest you no more!
There's no shame in not knowing how to write down a sentence that you have in your head. There are a lot of over-looked grammar rules out there! And as writers, it is natural for us to sometimes struggle with the layout of our sentences, like when we are trying to figure out when to use commas or semicolons, colons or dashes or what to when you want your character to point out how dorky the sword strapped around the waist of the kakis their brother is wearing look in the same sentence as their brother's description.
We as humans have a natural way of speaking, and we want that to carry out into our characters so they are natural as well.
That's great!
We're writers. We are artists! What is a brush stroke to a painters portrait is a sentence to our novel!
So without further ado, here is the list of Forgettable Grammar Rules Every Writer Must Know.
1. RULES EVERYONE FORGETS ABOUT COMMAS
Let's get down to the basics first. We use commas daily; we should know how to use them, right? Well, surprisingly, there are a few rules people tend to overlook, or are never taught. So let's review those:
. Commas can be used to separate ideas in a sentence. Like this:
" Jack, my older brother, hit me in the head with a baseball bat."
. You don't use a comma before and unless the sentences you are connecting are independent sentences.
"Jane, and Austin went to the mall to fight off the zombie outbreak." WRONG!
"Jane and Austin went to the mall to fight off the zombie outbreak." RIGHT!
"I went to the mall with Austin and we fought off the zombie outbreak." WRONG!
"I went to the mall with Austin ,and we fought off the zombie outbreak." RIGHT!
. Also when listing items (We will cover listing semicolons in a minute).
"I went to the store and bought eggs, milk, cheese, and a battle axe for fighting off the zombie outbreak with Austin at the mall later."
"Zombies are the worst. All they do is grunt, bite people, and eat brains."
. Use commas when you want readers to take a brief pause in a sentence.
"Even though Austin doesn't have very good past times besides preventing the zombie apocalypse from happening, I still like to hang out with him."
. Do NOT use commas to separate the subject from the predicate unless the sentence would not make sense without it.
"Auditioning for a play when Oscar knows full well that he suffers from stage fright is without a doubt the stupidest decision he ever made. "
Even though when you first look it over the sentence looks like it needs a comma between the words fright and is, it does not, because "Auditioning for the play when Oscar knows full well that he suffers from stage fright" is the complete subject, and therefore should not be separated from the predicate with a comma.
It would, however in a sentence like this, a comma would be necessary:
"Because Oscar knows he suffers from stage fright, he should not have auditioned for the play."
. When the sentence has several parts (nouns) in it, it is correct to separate them with commas, but NOT if the last noun summarizes the sentence.
"A sword, a shield, and an axe, is all you need to survive the zombie outbreak at the mall."
Notice that this is different from the "listing items rule" as this sentence could start with either a sword, a shield, or an axe and then continue with "is all you need..."
. It is appropriate to use a comma after a phrase with three words that begins a sentence.
"At the end of the day, it is your decision whether or not to fight the Dark Lord."
"This time tomorrow, I will be on a plane to Las Vegas to go fight the Dark Lord. "
. Use a comma to separate a statement from a question. (Not always applicable. It really only works if the entire sentence becomes a question)
"It's fair that I might die at the hand of the Dark Lord to save humanity, isn't it?"
"You're not going to stare dramatically and victoriously into the distance with me, are you?"
2. RULES EVERYONE FORGETS ABOUT SEMICOLONS
Here's a little trick someone once taught me: a semicolon( ; ) looks like a comma with a period on top, which is basically what it means. A semicolon connects two complete thoughts into one sentence.
EXAMPLE: Never go to the grocery store around the corner;all of their food is moldy.
But of course, it's always a little difficult to tell if one of the sentences in your manuscript requires a period, a dash, a comma, or a semicolon.
So in order to avoid staring at your computer screen for five solid minutes with your eyebrow arched over one sentence, let's review some rules about semicolons that everyone tends to forget.
.A semicolon can replace a period if the writer wishes to close the gap between two sentences and make them flow together. Like so:
"Going to the mall with Austin is a bad idea; he'll make you fight off zombies with him."
.Never use a semicolon when a dependent clause comes before an independent clause:
"Although I got all the work done; I was still too late to turn it in." WRONG!
Here, a comma would be appropriate.
. Use a semicolon before terms like however, therefore, that is, e.g, for instance, ect.,when they introduce a complete sentence. You should also put a comma after these terms.
"You may write your essay on any subject we have studied in class;however,
please do not write about lunch."
"There are many current events to write about; for instance, you can write about those two kids who slayed all those zombies at the mall."
. Use a semicolon to separate words in a sentence that have commas in their name.
"Micheal has lived in Las Vegas, Nevada; Abbotsford, Wisconsin; New Port, Rhode Island; and many other places, too."
. A semicolon can be used between two independent clauses joined by a helping verb, like but, and, or, norwhen one or more commas appear in the first clause.
"When I vanquish the Dark Lord, and I will soon, I plan to enjoy a relaxing evening at home;and maybe I can save mankind again in a few years."
3. HOW TO WRITE DRAMATIC PAUSES
In many different books you have read, you've probably noticed how different authors use different forms of dramatic pauses:dashes (—), dots (...), commas (,). But the question is: which one do we use and when?
Well, before we dig into that, we should review some vocabulary.
Those three little dots you sometimes see written at the end of a dramatic sentence, or when a character's voice is drifting away actually have a name — ellipses.
And those dashes you sometimes see are called em dashes. The em dash is slightly wider than the hyphen(-). Most keyboards don't have a key for the em dash, but if you look on the provider you are typing your manuscript on, it usually has a way to insert it into your document. Now the question still remains —which one do you use when writing a dramatic pause? We definitely want our characters and narrations to seem as natural as possible and add dialect and suspense, so the best rule of thumb here is: how do I envision the pause? Short, long, or fading away.....
. If you want the pause to be brief and nonessential, us a comma.
"A bird, beautiful and sweet, sings outside the window."
. En-dashes can be used to convey longer pauses, or seclude information.
"When I die — and you know one day I will — do not forget me."
.Use ellipses (...) to indicate even longer pauses, possibly ones containing questions, thoughts, or deep, unspoken revelations, or to create a "drifting off" effect at the end of a sentence.
"I will not let you defeat me..."
"If that's the case...then maybe. I should just...I should just leave!"
4. EM DASHES VS. HYPHENS
So you've probably noticed how similar the en dash (—)looks to the hyphen (-). Well, as mentioned above the en dash is longer than the hyphen, and usually, on most keyboards, doesn't have it's own key.
.But one more important thing to note about the en dash and the hyphen is that en dashes are used for dramatic pauses as well as to write years:
"John worked at Zombie Apocalypse Supplies R' Us from 2006-2013."
. Hyphens can be used to write stuttering.
"I sh-sh-shouldn't have j-jumped in the lake. It's c-cold."
.You should also use a hyphen to join two or more words together that are part of the same adjective before a noun. Like this:
"Glow-in-the-dark star stickers stuck to the plaster on her ceiling and glowed, transforming her ceiling into a galaxy."
. A surprisingly forgotten one, but remember to add a hyphen when writing compound numbers.
"Austin and I killed forty-two zombies at the mall last Saturday."
.Use a hyphen to avoid confusion and awkward combination of letters:
"Can you please re-sign the document?"
In this case, re-sign is hyphenated because resign means to voluntarily leave or quit a job. Re-sign means to sign a document or contract again.
.Use hyphens after prefixes such as ex-, self-, all-, mid-, before the suffix -elect and between a prefix that has a capitalized letter after it.
"ex-coworker"
"self-absorbed"
"all-knowing"
"self-elected"
"all-Father"
"mid-term"
5. QUOTATION MARKS
I think we are all familiar with quotation marks, but do we ever use them...incorrectly?
. Always capitalizes the first letter after quotations, even if it is mid-sentence.
"I went to go stop the zombie outbreak at the mall with Sarah last Saturday!"
Lance said happily, "It was my best date yet!"
. Do not capitalize the first letter in a quote that is in the middle of a sentence. (Also, use "single quotation" marks
"Austin said we would 'have a fun date' at the mall, but it ended up to being
utter disaster!”
. Use commas when breaking a sentence to interject an action.
"So," Tianna said, crossing her legs and lounging back in the chair, "You stopped the zombie outbreak from spreading?"
.The "use commas when breaking a sentence" rule is optional when the quotation only has one word in it and the dialogue does not continue afterward.
"Stop." Tiana said.
. If the quotation comes before an action, such ashe said, she said, they did, she asked, he asked, they reported,or something similar, put a comma after the quotations regardless of how many letters there are.
"Don't do that," She said.
"I will not," He said firmly.
"Can you?" He asked.
. It may not be necessary to use a comma if the quotation is the subject or object of the sentence
"Is that all you can say to me?" She asked fiercely, "I'm sorry?"
"So you think you can dance, huh?" He said, rising from his chair. "Then show me."
Notice:
"So you think you can dance, huh?" (Question/full sentence) He said, rising from his chair. "Then show me." (Statement/full sentence)
. If the quotation is a question (?) or an exclamation (!), then question marks and exclamation marks should be included in the sentence:
"What if I'm not ready?" She asked, trembling, "What if I'm not strong enough?"
. When a quotation appears inside of a quotation, use single quotation marks.
"Charlotte said William Prescott once said 'don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes', however my teacher said 'that may be just a legend'."
6. THINKING VS. SPEAKING
Thinking and speaking are a little different from each other. For one, we certainly don't speak our thoughts out loud (or rather, most of the time we shouldn't. Hehe.) But how do we write....silence?
There's actually a very simple solution.
Rather than using quotation marks to express a thought, use italics.
. Speaking
"Ronald, I wish you would stop talking with your mouth full."
. Thought
I wish Ronald would stop talking with his mouth full.
7. PARENTHESES, BRACKETS, AND EM DASHES
Parentheses are all very unique tools that every writer should possess. They each had the potential to add to dialogue and create some very unique narrative.
. Use parentheses to enclose additional information, or a personal statement the character might wish to include if they are narrating the story:
"My brother was wearing a gray blazer over his button-down , collared shirt tucked into his beige dress pants, with his heavy broadsword strapped around his waist like a belt, which meant he had to keep holding it in place (which, yes, did make him look like an enormous dork)."
"Lithium(which is the third element on the periodic table) has an atomic mass of 6.941."
.Brackets indicate interruptions, such as when someone has added a thought or statement. This is ideal for writer's writing stories with the first-person perspective, or where their characters are narrating the story.
"So, as I was saying [No, Gregory it's my turn! Give me back the microphone!] Ahem. So as I was saying, Gregory is a complete lunatic! [Stop giving me that look, Greg; you area lunatic]. "
Well, there you go, writers......
I hope this list really helped you. I understand that grammar is very introductory and rudimentary, but it's never a bad idea to revisit it as a more skilled writer. After all, I tried to list grammar rules that people admit they commonly forget—hence, Forgettable Grammar Rules Every Writer Should Know. Since it's always nice to brush up on your grammar rules and, as a writer, become your own "grammar police", I hope this list serves you well.