The Most Commonly Seen Grammar Mistakes In Story Submissions

Listed below are the reasons why I will reject an Application. I may forgive a minor instance, but if they are repeatedly seen in your Short Story, then I will not accept you into the Tales of Midgar. Proofread your stories at least once to be sure that they are error-free.

I will *not* reject an application because the writer spelled "defense" as "defence", nor will I reject it if the writer mistypes "the" as "hte". However, there is a point when I start to become annoyed at the poor quality of spelling.

When simple, commonly-used words are misspelled consistently, then I will consider booting your application. Preventing most of these errors is as easy as running your story through a spell-checker, then giving it a quick once-over to be sure everything is in place.

Please avoid mixing up "your" and "you're", and "their", "they're", and "their".

Anything inside quotation marks is part of a sentence and has to be punctuated correctly. I've seen punctuation outside of the quotation marks, periods instead of commas, and worst of all, no periods at all.

WRONG

"This isn't good." said Cloud.

RIGHT

"This isn't good," said Cloud.

Notice that there should be a comma after "good" instead of a period.

WRONG

Tifa shouted "That is insane"

RIGHT

Tifa shouted, "That is insane."

There is a comma after "shouted" and a period after "insane".

A sentence fragment is a clause that is not a complete sentence. A sentence must consist of a subject (who or what is doing the action) and a predicate (the action and what the action is being performed on).

WRONG

Looked into the building.

There is no subject performing the action.

RIGHT

He looked into the building.

WRONG

By the grace of her movement. The dancer tells a story using her actions.

There is neither a subject nor a verb in the clause.

RIGHT

By the grace of her movement, the dancer tells a story using her actions.

The fragment has been merged with a clause that contains a sentence and a verb.

There is one thing worse than a sentence fragment, and that is a run-on sentence. A run-on sentence is a sentence that is not punctuated properly, and, as a result, is awkward. They are filled with many words and are difficult to read and understand. Often, run-on sentences have more than one main clause or use multiple subordinate clauses.

One way to prevent run-on sentences is to recite your sentences aloud. If you find that the sentence starts to sound like a long, undignified ramble, you have likely written a run-on sentence.

WRONG (this is an example of a comma splice)

Cloud slashed his sword wildly at his opponent, he jumped as the monster tried to take a swing at his legs.

Note that two independent sentences are being joined by only a comma.

RIGHT

Cloud slashed his sword wildly at his opponent. He jumped as the monster tried to take a swing at his legs.

OR:

Cloud slashd his sword wildly at his opponent; he jumped as the monster tried to take a swing at his legs.

The use of either a period or a semi-colon can be used to join two main clauses. There are also two other ways: you can join the two main clauses with a semicolon and a coordinating conjunction, or you can turn one into a subordinate clause.

WRONG

Vincent looked behind him and saw two men giving chase he shouted defiantly and dove off of the pier but they dove down after him because they were ordered to capture him.

RIGHT

Vincent looked behind him and saw two men giving chase. He shouted defiantly and dove off of the pier, but they dove down after him because they were ordered to capture him.

Note the period between "chase" and "he", and the comma between "pier" and "but".

This is the most common and most irritating mistake that I see in new user applications. If you cannot use paragraphs properly, then I will certainly reject your application.

The most common mistake in this category is not starting a new paragraph when introducing a new speaker. Whenever a new person speaks, a paragraph must be started.

WRONG

"Hello," said Cloud to Tifa as she walked through the door. "Oh, hi Cloud!" Tifa replied. "How are you?" Cloud winked at her and gave her a thumbs-up sign. "I'm great!"

"That's good!" Tifa said. "Hey, do you want anything to drink?" "Sure," Cloud said, pulling up a stool.

RIGHT

"Hello," said Cloud to Tifa as she walked through the door.

"Oh, hi Cloud!" Tifa replied. "How are you?"

Cloud winked at her and gave her a thumbs-up sign. "I'm great!"

"That's good!" Tifa said. "Hey, do you want anything to drink?"

"Sure," Cloud said, pulling up a stool.

Here are some style problems that I often see. When you get to this area, you start to tread on personal preference, but many readers will agree with the following points. I will not reject your application based on these stylistic problems, nor will you be forced to edit them.

When I critique a story, I will first go through for grammar and spelling, then I will read through, pointing out style problems and sentences that are gramatically correct, but difficult to read.

Many people think that the more words you use, the more intelligent or scientific you sound. This is not true. Although you may think you sound intelligent, your reader will just end up confused and unwilling to read your work.

For example, is it easier to read:

"The large, vicious, violent, blue-collared, brown pit-bull with a spot on his eye, a wet nose, and mattled fur tried very desperately to execute a well-timed lethal pounce attack at my unprotected, weak, vulnerable chest."

OR:

"The large vicious pit-bull with brown mattled fur tried desperately to pounce at my unprotected chest."

The latter sentence uses less modifiers. A problem that many writers have is using too many modifiers.

Another problem that some people have is using redundant phrases such as many in number, brown in colour, a dead corpse or eliminate completely.

Short, choppy sentences have their place, but excessive use of them can become irritating to the reader.

Weak

Barret is a man. He has a gun. It is grafted onto his right hand. He is also very big.

Improved

Barret is a big man with a gun grafted onto his right hand.

I hope these tips help you become a better writer.