Writing
Thinking About Writing
When we think about what we are going to write about, we have to pick a topic, and if there is already a theme then you should use that theme. Keep in mind that some interests that you have, isn't really shared by everyone. There may be some that like it but not everyone. (We'll get to that later,) Moving on this here is about grammar, writing, and role playing.
Our first topic is Paragraphs and Sentences. The structure of a sentence is, something not really all that interesting but something that many people don't understand (Even though if you're on this site you should be at least thirteen, meaning you should of had some literature classes, and should know writing [even if your not from America, the structure of a sentence isn't all that hard.] so, this'll make it so you can't whine about not knowing the language. A sentence is a group of words that has at least one independent clause and expresses a relatively complete thought. There are four sentence structures: Simple sentences (Only one independent clause), Compound sentences, (has two or more independent clauses), Complex sentences (Have at least one independent clause and one dependent clause), and the compound-complex (Have at least two independents clauses and at least one dependent clause).
There is no certain order for any of them, and they can start with any words, have a pronoun as a subject, and they don't have to be any specific length they have to be. (They just have to complete a thought.)
Now then, for those of you that don't know what a clause is, a clause is a group of related words that has both a subject and a complete verb. Sentences can have more than one clause, and there are five clauses (That I know about); the Independent clause (Can stand alone as it is a complete thought), Dependent clause (which cannot stand alone because they help the complete thought), adjective clauses (those give additional information about a noun/pronoun in the sentence and starts with who/which/that/whose/or whom), essential clauses (also called restrictive or necessary clause or phrase; appears after a noun and is essential to complete the meaning behind the sentence. It cannot be moved to another sentence or omitted all together for it would change the meaning of the sentence), Nonessential clause (adds extra information that isn't really needed, it can be moved to another sentence and it will not disturb the meaning.)
Punctuation,
Something I see people miss A LOT here on this site, something I'm sure we all need to deal with, because I know a good amount of people that hate seeing such things. (For example me... I can deal with a little bit of it, but I swear to goddess I hate seeing a paragraph actually being just one sentence.)
-[Independent clause] .
-[Independent clause] , and [Independent clause] .
, but
, for
, nor
, or
, so
, yet
-[Independent clause] ; [independent clause] .
-[Independent clause] ; therefore, [independent clause] .
; moreover,
; consequently,
; nevertheless,
(and on... and on)
-[Dependent clause] , [independent clause] .
-[Independent clause] , [dependent clause] .
-[First part of an independent clause] , [nonessential] , [rest of clause]
-[First part of an independent clause] [essential] [rest of the clause] .
Commas fused/run on sentences and fragments
-Commas are used to join two independent clauses together along with the joining words, and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet, (and so on) they are also used in lists.
-Comma splices are an error that can occur, but is alright to an extent.
-Fused/Run on sentences are punctuation errors that occur when there is no punctuation between independent clauses.
-Fragments are incomplete sentences, you can see them because they are missing the basic requirements of a sentence. (there are unintentional fragments but they are only lacking a verb or subject, misplaced period. There are also intentional fragments though, those are placed purposefully by the writer for the reader to realize they wanted the fragment there.)
Titles and Company Names
-Books, Movies, and newspaper articles are italicized
-Companies are capitalized
Mechanics and Spelling
Capitals are very important, they go a space after an ending punctuation mark and start the name of a noun.
Nouns: Name one particular thing,
Numbers: We write out numbers that can be expressed in one or two words.
Paragraphs
A lot of people don't realize what a paragraph is; a paragraph is a group of sentences, (previously defined) that are similar and make up a complete thought. If you start on a new thought, you should start a new paragraph. The amount of sentences varies, the shortest paragraph would be three simple little sentences. A good paragraph would be five sentences, and a great paragraph would be eight sentences (possibly more) long. Some would also say that when you write with dialog you should start a new paragraph, but that is depending on your writing style.
Proofreading,
Something that a lot of us either don't have time for, or something we neglect for no reason at all, (I attempt to constantly read and re-read what I type and post no matter how annoying I find it. Being mildly dyslexic I tend to make mistakes and to be honest it's not an excuse for poor grammar, spelling, or anything else.) Proofreading is reading your final work once more, making sure that everything is at it's best so that your writing is readable and enjoyable to all.
When we think about what we are going to write about, we have to pick a topic, and if there is already a theme then you should use that theme. Keep in mind that some interests that you have, isn't really shared by everyone. There may be some that like it but not everyone. (We'll get to that later,) Moving on this here is about grammar, writing, and role playing.
Our first topic is Paragraphs and Sentences. The structure of a sentence is, something not really all that interesting but something that many people don't understand (Even though if you're on this site you should be at least thirteen, meaning you should of had some literature classes, and should know writing [even if your not from America, the structure of a sentence isn't all that hard.] so, this'll make it so you can't whine about not knowing the language. A sentence is a group of words that has at least one independent clause and expresses a relatively complete thought. There are four sentence structures: Simple sentences (Only one independent clause), Compound sentences, (has two or more independent clauses), Complex sentences (Have at least one independent clause and one dependent clause), and the compound-complex (Have at least two independents clauses and at least one dependent clause).
There is no certain order for any of them, and they can start with any words, have a pronoun as a subject, and they don't have to be any specific length they have to be. (They just have to complete a thought.)
Now then, for those of you that don't know what a clause is, a clause is a group of related words that has both a subject and a complete verb. Sentences can have more than one clause, and there are five clauses (That I know about); the Independent clause (Can stand alone as it is a complete thought), Dependent clause (which cannot stand alone because they help the complete thought), adjective clauses (those give additional information about a noun/pronoun in the sentence and starts with who/which/that/whose/or whom), essential clauses (also called restrictive or necessary clause or phrase; appears after a noun and is essential to complete the meaning behind the sentence. It cannot be moved to another sentence or omitted all together for it would change the meaning of the sentence), Nonessential clause (adds extra information that isn't really needed, it can be moved to another sentence and it will not disturb the meaning.)
Punctuation,
Something I see people miss A LOT here on this site, something I'm sure we all need to deal with, because I know a good amount of people that hate seeing such things. (For example me... I can deal with a little bit of it, but I swear to goddess I hate seeing a paragraph actually being just one sentence.)
-[Independent clause] .
-[Independent clause] , and [Independent clause] .
, but
, for
, nor
, or
, so
, yet
-[Independent clause] ; [independent clause] .
-[Independent clause] ; therefore, [independent clause] .
; moreover,
; consequently,
; nevertheless,
(and on... and on)
-[Dependent clause] , [independent clause] .
-[Independent clause] , [dependent clause] .
-[First part of an independent clause] , [nonessential] , [rest of clause]
-[First part of an independent clause] [essential] [rest of the clause] .
Commas fused/run on sentences and fragments
-Commas are used to join two independent clauses together along with the joining words, and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet, (and so on) they are also used in lists.
-Comma splices are an error that can occur, but is alright to an extent.
-Fused/Run on sentences are punctuation errors that occur when there is no punctuation between independent clauses.
-Fragments are incomplete sentences, you can see them because they are missing the basic requirements of a sentence. (there are unintentional fragments but they are only lacking a verb or subject, misplaced period. There are also intentional fragments though, those are placed purposefully by the writer for the reader to realize they wanted the fragment there.)
Titles and Company Names
-Books, Movies, and newspaper articles are italicized
-Companies are capitalized
Mechanics and Spelling
Capitals are very important, they go a space after an ending punctuation mark and start the name of a noun.
Nouns: Name one particular thing,
Numbers: We write out numbers that can be expressed in one or two words.
Paragraphs
A lot of people don't realize what a paragraph is; a paragraph is a group of sentences, (previously defined) that are similar and make up a complete thought. If you start on a new thought, you should start a new paragraph. The amount of sentences varies, the shortest paragraph would be three simple little sentences. A good paragraph would be five sentences, and a great paragraph would be eight sentences (possibly more) long. Some would also say that when you write with dialog you should start a new paragraph, but that is depending on your writing style.
Proofreading,
Something that a lot of us either don't have time for, or something we neglect for no reason at all, (I attempt to constantly read and re-read what I type and post no matter how annoying I find it. Being mildly dyslexic I tend to make mistakes and to be honest it's not an excuse for poor grammar, spelling, or anything else.) Proofreading is reading your final work once more, making sure that everything is at it's best so that your writing is readable and enjoyable to all.
- First, slow down, read it slowly and calmly so you can see each letter in each word. (Annoying I know but it helps, the human brain will decipher a misspelled word as long as it has the same amount of letters as well as the same letters of the word. [For example: yuo msut pay etxra attintoen ot omse rowds huh? Many people would read that just fine but some will not.]
- Second, zoom in and focus, you don't really have to do this, but if you set your screen to about 125 percent or more and can see the words clearly you can concentrate on one word at a time. Then, just focus, remember how the word is spelled, if you can't spell it sound it out or google it...
- Third, if you read it backwards you wont be listening but you'd be checking for just spelling, you can't always see grammatical correctness.
- Fourth, Cover up any distractions, if your easily distracted you can cover up the other words so that again you can focus.
- Fifth, watch for patterns of misspellings, this can happen frequently so be careful. (For example if you can't really spell hippopotamus you're going to always misspell it.
- Sixth, (Probably should be the first and only) Run a spell checker, paste what you've got to say in word and check everything. Some words however are said to be wrong when really they aren't, an example would be thrusted. Also, some web browsers have built in spell checkers which are helpful, google chrome and foxfire has them.