The Simple use of Grammar

Dialogue

Hey guys, just in case you didn't know, dialogue is important!

DO NOT:1. Say something is going to happen, and then talk about it in the dialogue. (Still confused, hold on.)

Example: Max didn't know that strange man across the courtyard. Him and Cate were worried by this. "Oh my gosh! Cate, I don't know that guy, what's he doing over there?"

"That is so creepy!" Said Cate.

-Now that you know what I'm talking about, don't do it.-

2. Don't bunch it together.

Example: "Hey Lacie what's with the meeting tomorrow?" Francis asked. "I don't know." She replied just as puzzled as he was. "That's really strange."

-Notice how I didn't say who said that last stretch of dialogue? Now we're all confused. Or at least we would if I had the patience to write out a super long dialogue. Once again don't do it-

"I'm not exactly sure what's going on." Andrew pointed out the obvious. "Really Drew, nobody cares." "Hey be nice!" A third voice interjected. "I just said I was confused." "Well if you're so confused, why don't you take a class in grammar." "Well because this is easier." "You're so lame!" "Grammar is awesome!" "Shut up random narrator, you don't know what you're talking about." "You guys sound like an individual with serious mental issues." "Well that would make sense because who knows who's talking." "I sure don't!" "SHUT UP ANDREW!"

-You're welcome-

3. If you wouldn't say it, don't make your characters say it.

(This is just a general rule, common sense if you will. Example below.)

Example: "So this morning at exactly 3:04 AM I started breathing with great difficulty."

"That's disappointing. Air is very important to me."

"I know, it is very important to me as well."

"You sound like a robot."

"You do it too."

-I really hope I don't have to explain this-

4. Text messaging within the text.

(Don't over use text-speak (LOL, TTYL, BRB, etc.)

Example: "omg im gna b l8 dud! u dnt evn no."

This as either a part of person to person dialogue or text message dialogue is worth trashing. I understand that people text that way. But not every word. If this were in a dialogue between two people you're offending the grammar gods. And the Grammar Nazis, you know what happened last time.

FIX IT. HOW? "Oh my god, I'm going to be late! You don't even know!" <<--- Dialogue person to person.

OPTION #2 "OMG Im gonna be late! You dont even kno!" <<--- I would advise against text messages in books, but at least make it readable. You could just compromise it into an actual sentence as long as it's not too unfeeling. MAKE SENSE?

5. RaNdoM cApitaLiZatiOn.(STOP IT, STOP IT NOW!)

Example: 1."Hey! How Are you?" OR 2."hey! how Are You?" Or 3."hey how are you?"

1. You only capitalize the first letter of a sentence. Or proper nouns (Sarah, Mark, Detroit... etc.).

2. You need to stop. Look at number 1.

3. CAPITALIZE! You look uneducated and it'll detract from your story. Trust me on this and look at 1 so you can fix this.

-I'm so proud of you guys! Learning grammar like awesome people-

6. DIALOGUE FORMAT

This is increasingly important. I plan on showing you how NOT to do it, before letting you know the rules of what to do.

Examples:

Ugh! You're so annoying! (NO QUOTATION MARKS!)

"I really wish I could learn how to use grammar properly it's not like I have an entire book dedicated to it on wattapd or even a whole bunch of books dedicated to teaching me stuff that will make me want to not only write better but also feel better about my grammar and arguments on the internet." (Quotation marks? YES! Punctuation within? NO! D: <--- This is how disappointed I am.)

"I'm so excited for this trip coming up in a week! I'm going to be learning grammar". <<--- LOOK AT IT! (Punctuation on the outside of the quotation marks... DON'T DO IT!)

-That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure there are more. -

How to write in dialogue format!

"..." <<--- these on the outside.

Complete sentences. <<--- Inside the " marks.

No stray punctuation outside the " marks. (-insert inappropriate comment here-)

-I hope this helps all of you! Let me know if you need any help! If you have a bit of dialogue you're not sure of feel free to post it or PM me if you want help! :) Good luck little Grammar Nazis!-