My Issues with Pokémon Fanfiction.

Issue #5, Bad Grammar.

OKOKOKOK, LET ME EXPLAIN.

If English isn't your first language, feel free to smile, as this doesn't apply to you. You are excused from making the odd typo or misplacing an apostrophe here and there. It's weird shit man, this language is weird, I'm just lucky to be able to speak it. It took me ages to learn French, I can't imagine going from a language with a completely different alphabet to this one.

However, if you are American, British, Canuck, Aussie, Kiwi (yes, they're actually called that) or any other nationality that has English as a first language that I can't think of, sit down, let's have a chat.

Your first language is English. If you are a new writer, you are likely about 13-15 years old, especially if you're using this website. I was 14 when I started TRR, it's fine, it's not a criticism.

So, if you believe this issue applies to you. May I kindly, and respectfully ask you, how so?

If you have something that hinders your ability to read, write or coherently understand or form sentences, that is fine. Dyslexia, for example, if this creates a major issue for you as a writer, that is not only understandable, but very much acknowledged and respected.

But, say you are a competent reader of the age bracket mentioned prior, English is your first language, and you have no hindrances such as Dyslexia, how is it that so many writers are incapable of writing basic, English, grammatically correct sentences?

I will be under the assumption that you are 5 when you began school, as that's how it works here in Britain, it might be different elsewhere, you're mad to think I'd do any real research for this.

In this instance, you've had almost a decade of learning how to read and write confidently, so by this point, you might not be able to write a novella, sure, most people can't. I'm not asking for Dickensian masterpieces, that's unreasonable.

Yet, there are lots of stories, none of which I shall personally point out, that seem to lack a good comprehension of sentence structure.

For example, people might misplace commas incredibly often, to the point where it forces me to take a breath when a comma appears, since that's what you're supposed to do, therefore resulting in the sentence sounding quite illogical, and perhaps emphasis may be put on the wrong words.

People also not using '"' or speech marks, is also a major red flag for me, personally. Remember, Wattpad is a website for publishing books, not scripts.

I jest, but I don't understand why people prefer to use the 'Colon Dialogue' over traditional speech marks. I'm a lot more lenient with the whole 'New Speaker, New Line' Rule, as it's something I didn't learn insanely long ago, and I was taught it very briefly, so I don't blame people for not remembering it.

I really didn't want to make this chapter, I admittedly felt a bit rubbish about criticising people for their grammar skills, given that some things they can't help, which is why I specified at the start that this was only addressed to a certain group of natively English speaking people without learning difficulties.

Hey, if English is not your first language, or you have a learning difficulty that makes things harder, well done. This language is already complex enough for someone like me, who's spent nearly 16 years of his life speaking it and learning it without learning difficulties in a country where it was all commonplace. I congratulate you for having to go through more challenges than me when it comes to this admittedly stupid language.

Cheers.