Hey, everyone!

Today I am bringing you a post on basic grammar rules and some important ones that are forgotten a lot. I learned all of these in my Writing Fundamentals class at uni, and I felt like they would be very helpful to everyone now since it’s NanoWriMo! Let me know down below what your stories for Nano are about because I love hearing about everyone’s writing journeys.

Also, the book I had to buy for the class is called Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark that you can purchase here. It is unbelievably informative and helpful, so I highly suggest reading it!

 

 

So, here are some important grammar rules:

1. Punctuation

   • Dash

     • A dash separates, a hyphen joins
     • Dashes have spaces on either side

   • Ellipses

     • “…” indicates that part of a quote or citation has been removed
     • If it follows the end of a sentence, use four periods
     • NOT used to create a pause

   • Quotation marks

     • Periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks
     • Question marks and exclamation points go inside if they are part of the quote

2. Apostrophe

   • If compound subjects are shared, only the second item has the possessive

     • Ex: “We ate dinner at Harry and Ginny’s house.”

   • If the singular word ends in “s” or an “s” sound, add “es”
   • For proper nouns:

     • Singular word not ending in “s” or “s” sound, add apostrophe “s”
     • Singular word ending in “s” sound, use apostrophe “s”
     • Singular word ending in “s,” use apostrophe “s” (for journalism, use only the apostrophe)
     • Plural words require only an apostrophe

   • If the word is possessive, use an apostrophe; if the word is descriptive, do not use an apostrophe

     • Ex: The farmers market vendor, Scarlet, sold the farmer’s tomatoes.

3. Comma

   • The comma is NOT for a pause
   • Do not use between a subject and a verb
   • Do not use between a title and a name
   • Use a comma after a conjunction only if what follows has a subject and a verb
   • Place commas on both sides of appositives

     • The Night Court, Prythian, is ruled by Rhysand.

   • Use commas around years if it follows an exact date
   • Use a comma to shift from a quotation to an attribution
   • Insert a comma between equal adjectives

4. That, Which, Who

   • “That” is used with essential clauses and never has a comma
   • “Which” is used with nonessential clauses and always has a comma
   • “Who” has a comma if the clause is nonessential

5. Hyphens

   • A hyphen joins, a dash separates
   • Compound modifiers are joined by a hyphen if both are true:

     1. Each word is an adjective, is not an -ly adverb, or “very”
     2. Words appear before a noun or after a linking verb

        • Ex: The chest was dust-covered.

   • Suspensive hyphens involve an implicit word in a compound modifier

     • Ex: It was a ten- or eleven-month trek across the continent.

6. Agreement

   • To choose the correct verb:

     • If singular, replace the word with “he” or “she” and see which word fits
     • If plural, replace with “they” and see which word fits

   • Compound subjects joined by “and” are plural except for single units

     • Single unit example: Macaroni and cheese

   • Subject agreement for words joined by “or” or “nor” depends on the last subject
   • “none” is usually singular
   • The word “team” is always singular, but team names are always plural
   • Cities, states, and nations are always singular

7. Pronouns

   • For compound subjects and objects, get rid of the second person/object then evaluate the pronoun

8. Who and Whom

   • If the word is used as a subject, use who

     • If you would use “he,” use who

   • If it is used as an object, use whom.

     • If you would use “him,” use whom

   • If it can go either way, use it as a subject

9. Lay and Lie

   • Lay means to place
   • Lie means to recline

10. Affect and Effect

    • If the word is a noun, use effect
    • If the word is a verb, usually use affect

      • To influence = affect; to cause or produce = effect

 

I hope this was helpful, and thank you for reading!

Taylor