This chapter will cover basic grammar tips.

There's an intro breaking down bad grammar, but there are sections as well.

1) English Is Not Your Native Language

2) How I Judge Grammar

3) Their There + They're

4) General Tips + Common Errors I See

5) How To Use Resources To Improve

I'm gonna say something that will make people mad. I'm sorry in advance, it's a hard pill to swallow.

There are no excuses for terrible grammar in 2023.

Before you boo me, I want you to take a close look at all the hundreds of free grammar software available for you to use, then tell me why you don't use them.

I'm the last person to advocate for Grammarly, I think it's terrible for creative writing, but it does help with grammar.

Along with that, there are countless resources you can use. There are thousands of editing shops on Wattpad where someone can help you edit, or a co-author to help you if you struggle with word order and vocabulary, or review shops to help point you in the right direction, etc. You can also study in a fun way by watching YouTube videos. I'll explain more in the fifth section of this chapter.

Another thing is I know so many authors who don't proofread or edit their work. At least give it a read over if you're not going to edit it, it'll cut out so many grammar and spelling mistakes.

For terrible grammar, the only excuse I somewhat accept is age. If someone is young, they may not know as much about the grammar editing software available as other people do.

Whether you're a native English speaker or not, it doesn't matter. You can use grammar editing software and other resources to at least make your grammar readable.

When I say terrible grammar, I mean unreadable stories. I mean stories that have no punctuation, don't have any sense of capitalization, mess up word order, constant misspellings, etc. I mean all of these issues combined, not just one or two of them, but stories with countless grammar errors at the same time.

It's one thing to have a lot of grammar errors and another thing entirely to have an unreadable story. For example, if an author has capitalization issues, dialogue tag issues, tense issues, and messes up some words like then and than and their/they're/there, I still consider the story readable because, even when combined, those issues are still readable. They're more minor issues when it comes to determining if a story is readable or not.

But when someone has word order issues, tense issues, no punctuation, consistent misspellings, capitalization issues, and more, that's what I consider unreadable. Heavy on punctuation and word order issues because if you get those wrong, there's a high chance the reader will have no clue what the sentence is saying.

I judge for many award contests. There have been times I've felt bad for scoring authors lowly in categories such as emotion, characters, and pacing because there wasn't anything necessarily wrong with those categories: the issue was the grammar.

When you can't read the story, you can't figure out if the emotions, characters, and pacing is good or not. That's why I suggest using grammar software, that way the execution of the story is stronger.

Whether or not you use grammar software doesn't change that misspellings and grammar errors will, of course, slip through.

Hell, my entire job is technical writing, which means I have to have near-perfect grammar and spelling if I want to keep my job. Still, for my fanfics especially, I make mistakes that make me facepalm when I reread my works.

So to those who feel their grammar isn't great, or those who have good grammar but know they make mistakes, I hope you know this chapter isn't about you. Even authors who think they have bad grammar, this chapter isn't about you.

It's about the authors who have genuinely unreadable stories due to the grammar.

English Is Not Your Native Language

I sympathize with people unfamiliar with English who are writing stories to improve their ability to use the language. I think that's very admirable. 

There's no "but" coming. I truly admire people unfamiliar with English writing stories in English. It's already brave as hell to post books to the internet, let alone a book written in a language you aren't fully comfortable in. I have so much respect for you if your native language isn't English but you still post stories in English online. Pardon me for being vulgar, but that takes balls to do. You're doing great, really.

What I recommend is using the resources I mentioned to help move you along faster. You have an advantage: English is one of the most-spoken languages in the world, so you have significantly more resources than others learning different languages.

I would not suggest submitting to awards contests if you know you have bad grammar. I would suggest submitting to review books instead because you are far more likely to get a fair review, and you can request feedback specifically for your grammar. Preferably, try submitting to a review shop hosted by a native-English speaker.

Maybe that sounds harsh to say "don't submit to contests," but I'm only saying that because I know how terrible judges are. Of course there are fantastic judges, but a majority are vague, harsh, and/or inexperienced with grammar and storytelling. That's why I say it's more beneficial for you in the long run to go to review shops instead. If you like the judges in a contest, go for it and submit! I'm not trying to dissuade you but rather warn you of how many contests have bad judges that won't help you.

Also, read the reviews in the shop to see if the style is satisfactory for what you're looking for. I have a review book myself, but I understand my style isn't for everyone. My wait list is like 30-40 people, so if you are interested in getting a review from me, sign up ASAP to reserve a slot, just in case I close applications.

If you want to submit to award contests, I'd suggest doing research on the host and the judges and see if they are a good fit for your tastes.

How I Judge Grammar

I judge a lot. If you're in the BTS Awards community, then you've probably seen my name around a few of the awards books, Paradise in particular.

I enjoy judging even though it gets stressful at times. Sometimes I feel I put so much effort into something the author won't even glance at, which is the case a majority of the time.

Either way, grammar is an extremely important part of storytelling. However, I do have my hot takes that any of my awards participants know about.

My hot take: I don't put grammar above all else.

For example, if a story has meh grammar but an incredible idea with interesting characters, that story is going to be high on my list. If a story has flawless grammar but a meh idea with meh characters, I won't even consider it for the top three.

A story is more than how it is written. It's why people enjoy the Star Wars prequels so much. I am of the opinion all three of the movies (including ROTS) suck, but there's no denying how incredibly interesting the concepts in those movies are.

It's similar here. Even if the grammar isn't the best, as long as it's readable, I'm willing to consider it as an honorable mention. I think the winners should have at least competent grammar, but I'll take a great story over great grammar any day of the week. Especially on Wattpad. This is supposed to be a fun website where you can do whatever you want. I don't want to hold authors to unrealistic standards. I've always, and I mean always, judged based on concept more than grammar.

Grammar is important, but on a site like Wattpad that's overrun with the same four tropes and terrible Y/ns, I think it's even more important to have creativity.

But again, that's just my opinion, and I completely understand others needing a story to have great grammar in order for them to enjoy it.

Another "hot take" I have (although I don't think it's actually that hot) is that it's far easier to fix technical writing than it is to fix creative writing. It's easier to learn grammar than it is to learn the complexities that go into character writing, or creating fluent dialogue, or making coherent themes, etc.

That's why I'm not super strict about grammar unless the contest specifically asks me to be. At that point, I'm just following the rules, y'know?

I figured if I'm going to make an entire chapter about grammar, you might as well know how I view grammar and how it impacts stories. I hope that makes sense.

Their They're + There

Ah, the dreaded three.

I know quite a few people who don't know the difference between their they're and there. It's actually much simpler than you think once you break it down. I'm a visual learner, so let's look at this picture:

This picture is what I think of whenever I try to explain their there and they're to someone.

"Their" refers to a person, so think of the "i" like a little person. Their means belonging to "them," whoever them is in context of the situation. It is the possessive form of "they."

For example: Their textbooks cost fifty dollars.

"There" refers to a location, so think of the "r" like an arrow.

For example: The theatre is over there.

"They're" is the contraction form of "they are." Think of the ' like an a.

For example: They're going to the movies today.

OR: They are going to the movies today.

It's the same sentence, only the first one is the contracted form.

It's pretty simple when you break it down, but the problem is that since they sound the same, they're hard to tell apart. Notice how I used "they're" in that sentence because I meant "they are," not "there" or "their."

My brain is hurting saying their there and they're over and over again, so I hope that section explained them well.

General Tips + Common Errors I see

Let's break this down to the basics. I'm going to give some tips, then explain them in detail later. That way you can skip to what you don't know, or skip around at your leisure.

Let's go:

1. Commas and semicolons are not interchangeable

2. Toke is not the past tense of take

3. Native-English speakers very rarely say "I am sorry" instead of "I'm sorry"

4. Too many words

5. Comma Splices

1 - Commas + Semicolons

A comma is this: ,

A semicolon is this: ;

They are not interchangeable. You cannot put a semicolon in place a comma. Semicolons have a very specific purpose.

Semicolons are meant to join two independent clauses when they are related to one another. Semicolons separate different sentences while commas separate the same sentence.

For example: We should go to the grocery store; weekdays aren't as busy.

For a comma: I miss my home, but it's in France.

It's a bit hard for me to explain punctuation. It's something that I can't put into words but understand nonetheless, so I'm sorry if I'm not making any sense. I'll provide some visual aids below to get my point across more clearly.

Commas are insane, so they might take time to master.

2 - Toke is not the past tense of take

I cannot tell you how many times I've seen someone use toke as the past tense of take. I was so confused by the popularity of this term that I researched it. It's a common misspelling of took.

Took is the past tense of take.

This one is pretty self-explanatory so I won't dwell on it. Toke is not took, toke is something completely different.

3 - Native-English speakers very rarely say "I am sorry" instead of "I'm sorry"

One of the things I notice most in stories written by English learners is a lack of contractions, which is totally understandable. I learned Korean contractions recently and want to pretend they don't exist. I know they're intimidating, but they help make conversations sound more natural.

I'll cover contractions at a later time. So as to not overwhelm you, let's talk strictly about I am sorry versus I'm sorry.

I can't recall a time someone has seriously said "I am sorry" to me. It's very unnatural to native-English speakers (at least, native-English speakers in America).

"I'm sorry" or "I am so sorry" are the more natural substitutes.

I'm not saying no one ever says "I am sorry." For example, in formal situations, I can see people saying "I am sorry," but I feel they'd say something more polite like "I deeply apologize," or "I apologize" instead of "I am sorry."

Remember this is based on someone who lives in America, so maybe it's different in other English dialects, but in my experience, saying "I am sorry" instead of the alternatives I provided sounds off.

Especially when you're writing dialogue between people who are close enough to speak informally. 

4 - Too Many Words

A lot of times, writers will get too ambitious and use too many words to describe one thing. They'll pull out an entire thesaurus to describe a cup of coffee.

While I have nothing but respect for authors with a passion for description, I do caution them to tone it down, especially during important moments.

Remember that the longer you spend on a scene, the slower your pacing will be. If you spend half a page describing one thing, it can become distracting and hard to read. That's why I always encourage authors to find a balance between style and substance.

I will talk about style over substance in an upcoming chapter, but for now, I'll limit it to just this: make sure every word you write contributes to your story. It can be a long description, but make sure it's contributing instead of sounding pretty for the sake of sounding pretty.

That's more of a creative thing than a grammar thing, but many times I see authors get too ambitious and it ends up messing up their word order and punctuation, which are grammar issues.

Obviously, write however you want, all I'm saying is try to make sure it contributes to the story.

5 - Comma Splices

I've covered these in the past (I think), but comma splices are the devil. Essentially, comma splices are incorrect commas. Like when you put a comma, in the wrong, place.

See what I did there?

It's a common error. The easiest way to remedy this is by using grammar checkers and learning more about comma placement. I'd also suggest reading out loud and seeing if the pauses sound natural in the sentence. You can use TTS if you don't feel like reading.

Make sure you are reading out loud, not in your head. You won't get the same effect if you read it in your head. It's more impactful to read it verbally than in your head; it's easier to spot errors that way.

These are, again, self-explanatory. Bad commas, pretty much.

Comma splice bad. No slay :(

How to use resources to improve

If you look at my works, you'll see a massive difference between a work like Heartbeat and one like Like Crazy. The first paragraph of Like Crazy makes Heartbeat look like it was written by a twelve-year-old who has never written before.

I made my writing go from Heartbeat to Like Crazy in two years. Most of that is thanks to watching YouTube videos and getting reviews. I watched a lot of video essays detailing the ins and outs of storytelling. That's how I tweaked my dialogue and scenes to include little to no fluff (in fanfic, I try to have some fluff since I still want my readers to have some feel-good, cute moments).

MauLer is a great channel for fun mixed with genuine education. His Unbridled Rage series is hilarious but also makes good points. If you want something more critical, he also has his critique series where he's much calmer and points out both the things he liked and disliked in a story.

I've mentioned The Closer Look in this book before, but he's another great YouTuber for learning how to structure a scene. I personally recommend his Wonder Woman 1984 video since it does a great job explaining consistency in dialogue and how to structure a scene to make it impactful instead of fluffy.

Friendly Space Ninja is a great YouTuber who does some long-format and some short-format videos talking about media, a lot of which is pop culture media, which may appeal to more people.

I'll give some general recommendations, but keep in mind I'm a film major, so all of these people are film reviewers, not book reviewers.

YouTubers I recommend:

- MauLer (Longman)

- The Closer Look

- Friendly Space Ninja

- Jay Exci

- Pyrocynical (yes I know he's more commentary, but his deep dive on Utopia is genuinely the best video essay I've ever seen—it's hard to miss, it's his almost eight hour video)

- Critical Drinker (I like him because he actually practices what he preaches; he's a novelist as well as a YouTuber, and he's pretty funny)

Since I gave recommendations, here are some film reviewers I don't recommend:

- Cosmonaut Variety Hour (probably the worst reviewer on the platform)

- Chris Stuckmann (I like him, I don't like his reviews; he's a good guy, from what I can tell)

- E;R (he's fine, just a bit too negative for my liking; I much prefer reviewers who point out both positives and negatives in media, not just negatives)

- Disparu (his takes are either really good or really bad, there's no in between; he's a good one to watch for entertainment because he's funny, but not for learning. I like him, but only for the entertainment value)

Now, what does this have to do with grammar? When you have a better grasp on storytelling, you have a better grasp on grammar. That may sound confusing, but when you're learning the ins and outs of dialogue, or scene building, or character creation, you're naturally learning how to phrase these things in a more effective manner.

Straying away from YouTube, you can improve grammar in other ways as well, such as review shops and editors.

Now, it's Wattpad, so there are plenty of editors out there who are young and don't understand the little things in English and grammar. I'd suggest looking for a more experienced editor who has samples of work they've edited.

Review shops are good resources as well since you can ask the reviewers to focus specifically on grammar. I'd suggest looking for native-English speakers to review your grammar.

Lastly, co-authors can be good if you have someone who is dedicated and willing to help with the grammar. It can be nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of. I haven't done any co-authoring in a long time, but from what I remember, it was fun to write with someone else.

This chapter is obnoxiously long, so I'm going to end it here. I hope it was helpful. The next two chapters are requests, so I'll try my best to have them out soon!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

~End~

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