A Quick Grammar Lesson

by Anordir

This month’s article deals with the basics of punctuation. I’m not sure punctuation counts as grammar, but it’s important to know anyway.

Examples are in italics.

. Period

A period comes at the end of a declarative sentence (a statement). I ship Butler/Mulch.

A period also comes at the end of an imperative sentence (a command) which does not express strong emotion. Please write a Butler/Mulch fic for me.

There should always be two spaces between the period and the start of the next sentence. This is mostly irrelevant, however, as fanfiction.net will automatically change it to one space.

? Question mark

Obviously, questions end in question marks. Why do you like that pairing so much?

Question marks should only be used one at a time. “Why???” is annoying.

! Exclamation mark

Exclamation marks come at the end of statements or commands expressing strong emotion. There is no canon evidence for Butler/Mulch! Maybe not, but keep an open mind!

Don’t use exclamations all the time, or else it becomes hyper and/or melodramatic. “I love it! It’s so great! It’s amazing! Yay!” Like question marks, exclamations should be used one at a time. Most readers hate “Yay for shipping!!!!!!!!!!!”

Like periods and question marks, there should be two spaces between an exclamation mark and the start of the next sentence.

, Comma

There are a lot of rules regarding commas (which I’ll cover in a later issue), but in general: use it to separate things. My favourite characters to write are Butler, Sool, Artemis, and Root. (The comma after “Artemis” is not necessary according to some sources, but most people would use it to avoid possible ambiguity.)

When in doubt, think of how you would speak; commas should be used for short pauses. Some people use commas correctly by instinct. Others struggle to remember all the confusing rules and exceptions. If you’re one of the latter group, try finding someone from the first group to beta your (already otherwise finished) story for grammar/spelling/punctuation only.

; Semicolon

Semicolons join related clauses which could stand alone as separate sentences. You love to write Butler and I love to write Mulch. We should write a Butler&Mulch fic together. These two sentences can be joined. You love to write Butler and I love to write Mulch; we should write a Butler&Mulch fic together.

Note that the two examples are identical except for the difference in punctuation; there are no added words. It would be incorrect to write “You love to write Butler and I love to write Mulch; so we should write a Butler&Mulch fic together,” because now the two sections cannot stand alone as complete sentences (“So we should write a Butler&Mulch fic together” is not a complete sentence.) You can keep the “so” and change the semicolon in this example to a comma, or you can get rid of the “so” and just use a semicolon.

: Colon

Colons introduce lists in a sentence. (They have other uses, but let’s keep this simple.) I write the following genres: Romance, Humour, and Angst.

There should only be one space after a colon.

’ Apostrophe

Apostrophes are used in contractions (e.g. can’t, don’t, hadn’t, shan’t). Don’t you agree that Butler/Mulch is such a perfect pairing? You’re obsessed.

They’re also used to show possession. Butler’s and Mulch’s heights might make the physical part of their relationship a little difficult. Note that it should be “Butler’s and Mulch’s signatures on the marriage certificate” but “Butler and Mulch’s house.” If the object or concept belongs to both of them (e.g. “their house” or “their love for each other”), only the second name shows possession. If the objects belong to each of them separately (e.g. “their signatures” or “their families”), both names must show possession.

“ and ” Quotation marks

Quotation marks show quotations or dialogue. Butler tells Mulch, “I love you deeply.”

( and ) Parentheses

These go around a “side thought” in a sentence. Mulch was a bit embarrassed (who wouldn’t be?).

Parentheses are commonly called “brackets,” which technically is the name for [ and ].

— Dash (also known as em dash)

A dash can act like a pair of parentheses. Then—after a slight hesitation—Mulch confessed his own burning passion for Butler. Dashes do not always have to come in pairs—they can also be used like semicolons. This is some of the worst writing ever—my eyes are burning.

There should not be any spaces around dashes. To create a dash in Microsoft Word: type the first word, type two hyphens, type the second word, and type a space.

... Ellipsis (plural: ellipses)

An ellipsis is meant to show a pause in a sentence. That was not a very nice thing to say...even if it was true. It can also show that a sentence or thought trails off. I guess I have some editing to do...

Microsoft Word automatically changes three periods to a single character of three smaller dots. This is incorrect. An ellipsis looks exactly like three periods and should be typed that way.

As with almost all rules, there are exceptions. Also, don’t be afraid to break a rule or two for artistic licence.

See you next month.