How to Write Young Adult (with Wattpad's Finest)

Winner - Venia

Hello, my name is Venia! I wasn't expecting to place in the top ten for this contest, but I'm so honored that I did. I really hope that you get a chance to read my story, "Silhouetted Sky," but that's all I'm going to say on that matter.

In award books, writers usually share tips on how to get more readers on Wattpad, but I'm not exactly qualified to do that. So instead, I'm going to write a short grammar lesson for anyone who's interested. I know there are books on grammar on other profiles, but this will just be a quick guide to help you navigate through common errors.

Note: I do write in American English, so some of these tips may not apply to British English, but I think most of them do.

One error I often see (and make if I'm not careful!) is called a run-on sentence. This occurs when you have two independent clauses that you don't separate correctly.

An independent clause has a subject and a verb. The subject is usually a noun. Let's take a look at the following sentence:

We went to the store.

The verb is usually easier to identify, so we'll start with that. In this sentence, the verb is "went." There are two nouns in this sentence, though, "we" and "store," so how do you know which is the subject?

The subject is what performs the action. Ask yourself: who or what went? In this case, the subject is "we." The other noun, "store" is part of a prepositional phrase in this sentence, but more on that later.

As I said before, a run-on sentence is when you have two of these sentences and you fail to separate them correctly. There are two main ways to make this error.

INCORRECT:

We went to the store I bought a cupcake.

We went to the store, I bought a cupcake.

Neither of the above is correct. The second is called a "comma splice," as the use of a comma by itself is not the right way to separate two independent clauses.

Before we correct it, let's check to make sure the second half of the sentence is an independent clause. In the second sentence, "I" is the subject, and "bought" is the verb. Yes, this is an independent clause.

There are three ways to correct this error. The first is simply to split it into two sentences:

We went to the store. I bought a cupcake.

The second way is less common, as it doesn't make sense in all situations. You can use a semicolon, but keep in mind that you're implying a certain connection between the two clauses when you do this. It's subtle, so proceed with caution. In this case, it would look like this:

We went to the store; I bought a cupcake.

The above is grammatically correct, but it doesn't make much sense. I would not choose to use a semicolon in this instance.

The third way is very important, so pay close attention. It involves the use of a comma AND a coordinating conjunction. You need both of these to make the sentence correct:

We went to the store, and I bought a cupcake.

So what are the coordinating conjunctions? There are seven of them. An easy way to remember them is through the acronym "FANBOYS."

This stands for: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

These words can be used with commas to separate independent clauses, but which one you choose is very important, as each of them has its own meaning. Here are some examples of how each of these words should be used: