Got a question. I want to do a Assembly in my book. Where everyone dresses in fancy clothing, but it's all political. It's where everyone, the headmasters and headmistresses of the other bases, the Magic directorate and the committee gets together every year at the end of the year to celebrate new students that's going to join the bases, and for them to get together to discuss things. And of course, the other students from the other bases has to attend. But my question is, since I came up with this idea when the first book is done and edited, the second book is half done with the editing, I want to do this in the third book, but I never mentioned it before. So should I go back and mention it a few times and the other books, or because it's a yearly thing the other characters that is used to the Assembly think nothing of it? But now that Ris is learning about this new world that she learns about it and I don't really need to mention it and the other books? And yes, it's very important to the plot because of what happens at the Assembly. I hope that made sense

Huh. Now I went to go back and see If I made these mistakes in one of my chapters where there is three characters talking. XD.

This did give me some ideas. But sadly I don't have anyone to read my books, so I try doing it myself. And with my reading disability, it's not easy. But this has giving me some ideas. Thanks! And thank you again for letting me know about the errors in my first chapter. I fixed it. I can't believe I missed them. But thanks to you, I managed to fix it! XD.

The problem arises when one has read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and resolved to use "defect" instead of "effect" at any opportunity. Because, let's face it, Nick Bottom the weaver is funny in his seriousness.

Which is to say, or to defect: words are weird. (Bad grammar, I know- but the correct way to write someone like Bottom or Dogsberry.)

Some people...I think apostrophes are one of the most misused punctuation marks out there (apostrophe's, anyone?). If I got a penny every time I saw an apostrophe used to create a plural, I could probably buy a house. (Okay, I'm exaggerating. If I had a dollar for every time I saw an apostrophe used to create a plural.)

People need this essay. Even the people who know grammar.

I've actually seen someone use "they're's". I really have. It was so bad (but it was a really good joke!).

Perhaps some people make these mistakes due to thinking the greats did it, so it's okay. A.A. Milne, for instance, often says "he said" "said he" "Eeyore sighed" multiple times in the same paragraph. I can recall several times off the top of my head.

Though A.A. Milne also wrote in both first and second person simultaneously, which isn't something many people copy. His Winnie-the-Pooh books often feel like a conversation.

The thing is, the great rule-breakers didn't start out like that. They learned and mastered the rules before they broke them. (I recommend the Query Shark blog. A commenter on there taught me the "learn the rules, master the rules, break the rules" mantra. Also, it's hard to believe people actually ask agents to consider representing them when their writing looks like...)

Thanks for this! Personally, I always use "said" or "asked" unless there's a better word to describe what the character is doing. It can really annoy me when a character doesn't have any reason to be "booming", "querying", "wishing", "uttering", "hypothesizing", etc. instead of "saying". (I read a story where the author seemed to be allergic to "said". They had a character "booming shyly". They were also allergic to not overly describing speech, for example "sternly but politely" where just one adjective would do.)

Wow! I never knew that semi colons could be used to seperate phrases in a list, that clears up so much. Thanks a bunch!

I found this chapter to be most helpful since I don't remember running across it in any of my English classes ever. All the examples were great and understandable except for the last example of number five, "Sylvia, Ben's, his and my movie was a real bore." I think it's avoidable if it's rephrased, but if a writer insists on a sentence similar as that, can you expand on it? I feel like I'm half way understanding it.

A suggestion from someone who's still a little confused with writing and English, a section explaining 'Was vs. Were', when to end a paragraph, and run on sentences would be amazing. It's something that I've always struggled with.

Really enjoyed this so far! I love dialogue and still figuring out my style in terms of writing dialogue. Reviewing rules for dialogue is helpful because sometimes I forget. I like the idea of writing down "said" and "ask" words and think I am going to do that. You got an entertaining writing style. I read this in the voice of a sarcastic young grandmother funny enough.

I am so happy I stumbled upon your page.
This was a much-needed refresher on semicolons, so thank you!

Finally! Found something that gives sense to writing. It's like a grammar for dummies. Thanks!

Ch 5:
"English" is a proper noun and should be capitalized. (ie. [E]nglish teacher).

"In fact, she admitted to me that even SHE, the teacher, wasn't exactly comfortable with semicolons and thus tends to avoid them." I think "tends" might need to become "tended," due to parallelism.

Ch 4:
"You're just lucky the Bad Pun Police don't read your site!" I think it should be "doesn't" instead of "don't." Unless that was a stylistic choice.

The "you're" vs. "your" is at the top of my pet peeve list, haha.