Gunther's Grammar Guide

1. Each sentence is an independent thought. Read it again, sometimes, when you add more, it becomes a Run-on.

2. Each sentence contains a subject, verb and object.

3. Each paragraph is about one idea. If you change ideas mid-paragraph, you just started a second paragraph. Yes, it is possible for one sentence to be its own paragraph.

4. Each sentence should begin with a capital letter and end with what my children call a sentence ender. There are three sentence enders, a period, question mark and exclamation mark.

5. It is OK to employ up to three exclamation marks to display emphasis or priority. Any more than three is overkill, redundant.

6. It is inappropriate to employ more than three periods in character. It is accepted to use three periods in casual text-based communication to indicate there is more to the story, you just don't intend to include it here.

7. The letter I is always capitalized when used to represent the pronoun, I. There is never a reason to express the letter I in its lower case form, i, if used to represent the pronoun I. If you ever meet anyone who writes i when I should be used, beat them about the head for being lazy.

8. Avoid inserting an apostrophe when you intend to show plurality. "He has three car's" is never accepted. It should read, "He has three cars." The inverse is also true. When showing a contraction that ends in 's, please include the s. "Its going to be a long day" should read, "It's going to be a long day." In this example, It's is a contraction for It is. Also, when showing possession, please do not forget the apostrophe. "This car is hers" should read, "This car is her's."

9. Had and that are words often included in text when they should not. I do not know how to express this with a positive spin. If people did not insert the words, had and that, I would not have mentioned this here. There are situations when these words are used, when someone thinks they should be used, but the same idea is expressed with equal clarity without their use. Example: "I think that we should go" equals "I think we should go." The presence of the word, that adds nothing to the sentence. The second example makes a similar reference. "She had had a good time" equals "She had a good time. The best advice I can give you is to read the sentence over with and without the words had and that. If they don't contribute to the sentence, eliminate it for redundancy.

10. When writing a story, it is standard to speak in the 3rd person singular past tense voice. There are some exceptions. The novel, "Catcher in the Rye" was written by J.D. Salinger completely in the first person voice. If you intend to write a complete novel in this manner, good luck and have fun. If you intend to write a Collaborative work of fiction, or what most people call role play, writing in the first person voice creates confusion. The only time in a collaborative work of fiction you can write in the 1st person singular is when the text is included inside quotation marks; one of your characters is making a declaration.

11. Never write in the 3rd person plural unless your character is speaking about himself and one or more characters within your story. If you have a habit of writing in the 3rd person plural in OOC text, you may want to make an appointment to speak with a Psychologist.

12. Their shows possession for a group of people. Never use the word their when indicating a distant location or an action two or more people are about to take.

13. There is used to indicate a distant location. Never use the word, there when indicating possession for a group of people or an action two or more people are about to take.

14. They're is a contraction of they are, which is used in stating an action two or more people are about to take. Never use they're to show possession of two or more people or to indicate a distant location.

15. The comma is the most overused punctuation in the English language. Many people do not know how to use it properly. It is intended to break up a sentence at those points where the aspect of the sentence changes. This next portion is specifically on the comma:

When writing lists, commas are placed between items in the list. Here is an example: the Roberts family have a cat, a dog, two rabbits and six chickens. Some English style guides recommend that a comma be used before the final conjunction (and, or, nor) in a list of more than two elements. Such use of a comma sometimes prevents ambiguity, as in:
The sentence I spoke to the boys, Sam and Tom, could mean either I spoke to the boys and Sam and Tom (I spoke to more than three people) or I spoke to the boys, who are Sam and Tom (I spoke to two people); I spoke to the boys, Sam, and Tom. This version must be the boys and Sam and Tom (I spoke to more than three people).

The serial comma does not eliminate all confusion. Consider the following sentence:
I thank my mother, Anne Smith, and Thomas. This could mean either my mother and Anne Smith and Thomas (three people) or my mother, who is Anne Smith; and Thomas (two people). This sentence might be written as "my mother (Anne Smith) and Thomas" for clarity.
I thank my mother, Anne Smith and Thomas. Because the comma after "mother" is conventionally used to prepare the reader for an apposite phrase--that is, a renaming of or further information about a noun--this construction suggests that my mother's name is "Anne Smith and Thomas." Compare "I thank my friend, Smith and Wesson," in which the ambiguity is obvious.
As a rule of thumb suggests that straightforward lists (he ate ham, eggs and chips) do not need a comma before the final "and", but sometimes it can help the reader (he ate cereal, bacon, eggs, toast and marmalade, and tea).

If the individual items of a list are long, complex, affixed with description, or themselves contain commas, semicolons may be preferred as separators, and the list may be introduced with a colon.

Commas are often used to separate clauses. A comma is used to separate a dependent clause from the independent clause if the dependent clause comes first: "After I fed the cat, I brushed my clothes." Compare this with, "I brushed my clothes after I fed the cat." A relative clause takes commas if it is non-restrictive, as in, "I cut down all the trees, which were over six feet tall." Without the comma, this would mean that only those trees over six feet tall were cut down.
Some prescribe that two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) must be separated by a comma placed before the conjunction. In the following sentences, where the second clause is independent, because it can stand alone as a sentence, the comma is considered by some to be necessary: "Mary walked to the party, but was unable to walk home." "Designer clothes are silly, and I can't afford them anyway." "Don't push that button, or twelve tons of high explosives will go off right under our feet!"

In the following sentences, where the second half of the sentence is not an independent clause, because it does not contain an explicit subject, some prescribe that the comma be omitted: "Mary walked to the party but was unable to walk home." "I think designer clothes are silly and can't afford them anyway."

However, it is permissible the comma be omitted if the second independent clause is very short, typically when the second independent clause is an imperative, as in: "Sit down and shut up."

The above guidance is not universally accepted or applied. Long coordinating clauses are nonetheless usually separated by commas: "She had very little to live on, but she would never have dreamed of taking what was not hers."

The joining of two independent sentences with a comma and no conjunction, as in "It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark," is known as a comma splice and is usually considered an error in English; in most cases a semicolon should be used instead. A comma splice should not be confused, though, with asyndeton, a literary device used for a specific effect in which coordinating conjunctions are purposely omitted.

Commas are always used to set off certain adverbs at the beginning of a sentence, including however, in fact, therefore, nevertheless, moreover, furthermore, and still. Therefore, a comma would be appropriate in this sentence. "Nevertheless, I will not use one." If these adverbs appear in the middle of a sentence, they are followed and preceded by a comma. As in the second of the two below examples, if the two sentences are separated by a semicolon and the second sentence starts with an adverb, then it is preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma.

In this sentence, furthermore, commas would also be called for. This sentence is similar; however, a semicolon is necessary as well. Using commas to offset certain adverbs is optional, including then, so, yet, instead, and too, when the latter means also.

16. Quotations are another punctuation with which several people have confusion. If the quoted text is supported by the other sentences in a paragraph, by all means include it in the paragraph. There is no reason to separate them. If one person is making a statement, regardless of its length, it should be all in one paragraph, unless of course the character/speaker is talking about different ideas. If two or more characters are having a conversation, the quoted text for each character should be treated as a separate paragraph. Two characters' quotations should never be in the same paragraph.

When you begin writing a conversation, it is imperative you indicate who is saying what. If you eliminate the speaker's name the reader will have confusion over who said what.

When writing quoted text, use a comma after the unquoted text as in, she said, "something." The first word inside the quotes does not require capitalization unless it is the first word of a sentence. Here are a few examples of using quotations in conversation, in declarative statements and in monologues.

Conversation amongst a Sci-Fi bridge crew:
“Captain, contact to Starboard!” Lieutenant Sanders shouted.

The crew remained at Battle Stations following the Executive Officer's call for the drill. Captain Mekal asked for more details from his Wizzo, “what do we have Lieutenant?”

“I have three Omega sized vessels at 100 miles and closing. They are coming on line abreast. They will be in range in about two minutes.”

“Notify the Clover Hill.” The captain ordered. “Helmsmen bring her about ninety degrees to starboard. Wizzo ready Harpoons, tubes one through four.”

“Aye Captain coming about ninety degrees to starboard.” Replied the Helmsman.

“Clover Hill has been notified, they are at battle stations,” responded the Communications officer, Lieutenant Robinson.

“Harpoons ready, tubes one through four, aye, aye, sir,” yelled Lieutenant Sanders.

“COB, check the batteries. Make sure they hold their range to 10,000 meters.”

“Aye sir, 10,000 meters on the two sixties!” The Chief of the Boat responded to the Captain.

Declarative Statement:
"You know, there's a diner just down the street. I was planning to take Shadow there after I left the vet. We haven't eaten yet either," Adrien blurted out. Adrien thought that would help glaze over Jakob's faux pas. He knelt down to pet Shadow and re-attach his leash. The dog probably needed to get outside anyway.

Monologue:
"Your brothers were here. I know. I could feel them around. How can the sparks of Michael's adoration of me even go unnoticed, let alone his superiority complex?" Asmodeus paused, "But as much as I hate to say it, Raphael, you've proven to be different." Raphael listened with idle curiosity. "This is not a declaration of love, I promise."

In this paragraph, Asmodeus is speaking and Raphael is described as listening with only idle curiosity. It would have been acceptable to state, 'he listened.'

17. Yore is defined, of long ago or former times (used in nostalgic or mock-nostalgic recollection). Not to be confused with you're or your.

18. You're is a contraction of the words you are as in, "you're going to the dance, right?" or "you're the one I've been looking for!" This is not be confused with yore or your.

19. Your shows personal possession as in your house, your car, your wife. Your should never be confused with you're or yore.

20. As an author, you do have some creative freedom with how you construct your prose.These rules above are generally accepted by most in the business of writing stories. You will find some authors using one word as a sentence and even as a paragraph. That is perfectly acceptable. It is often used to help isolate the word, thus providing emphasis.

Have fun!

Long ago, I was a grammar nazi. I stopped that destructive behavior, relenting to providing a simple grammar guide for those who actually cared what their writing looked like. Since we all share a common hobby; writing, it is applicable here. Consider this post simply a means to place this post near the top of a sub-forum.

Nice guide, just one small issue with your eighth point.

Also, when showing possession, please do not forget the apostrophe. "This car is hers" should read, "This car is her's."

The example used here is actually grammatically incorrect. Hers is the possessive of her as opposed to her's, this is because of how pronouns function differently when it comes to possession and never use apostrophes. Same is true for its, ours, yours and theirs.