Reviews+ Grammar Edits (just request!)

Hey! I started this forum in case you have any questions about grammar in your stories. I'll be happy to review your story if you ask, but I'm just warning you that I'll be very in-depth when it comes to improving your grammar issues. I'll also post different grammar issues I notice here.

By the way, I won't review any inappropriate content (vulgar language/ mature scenes. A.K.A. 18+ or something that should've been rated 18+)

Commas and Conjunctions

Commas are a pretty common issue here on YWS. There are a lot of ways to use them, but sometimes people use too many or too little. That's why I'm posting this (to explain commas to you). And remember to always reach out if you want me to review something!

First up, we have the FANBOYS:

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

Fanboys are conjunctions we use when fusing two independent clauses together, like this:

I would love to dance with an elf, but he is too dangerous to get close to.

Independent clauses can function as two separate sentences. To check if you need a FANBOY conjunction, simply replace your ', ____' with a period and see if it makes sense.

Maybe you don't need a FANBOY, though. If you replaced the conjunction with a period and it doesn't make sense, then you need a comma, but not a conjunction like listed above. Maybe it looks more like this:

“You know I can’t get mad at you, Valerie,” he sighed.

(Solstice- my book)

Whenever someone finishes up their speech in your writing and you end it with something like 's/he said' or 's/he groaned', don't end it with a period. Sure, 's/he sighed' can be its own sentence, but in this context, it's being used as a transition, not a separate element.

You also use commas in lists. Lists can be something like a grocery list, or if you're describing someone or something:

'The elf had soft, burgundy hair.'

If your character is rushing their speech or angry, you may be able to get away with not using commas in a situation like that.

Finally, whenever you use an adverb at the beginning of a sentence (like I did with finally), you will use a comma to separate it from the clause while it still being related to the clause. Adverbs are a word that describes adjectives or verbs. You can also use them like this in the middle of a sentence:

'He gently grabbed Alecia's hand and pulled her onto the dance floor.'

Adverbs can be used before a verb, but you can always move it to the beginning of a sentence, like this:

'Gently, he grabbed Alecia's hand and pulled her onto the dance floor.'

I'll discuss adverbs in a later post since this is getting long. I hope this helps, and ALWAYS feel free to request a review! Thanks for reading this, and I really hope it helped you in your writing journey!

-Serrurie

Hello Everyone! Have you ever noticed that when you try to describe your story, a lot of the sentences sound generic or repetitive? In this post, I'll explain the different sentence patterns so that you have more variations in your writing.

Sentence Patterns

There are 2 Main Sentence Patterns (not structures):

S-AV (Subject, Action Verb)
S-AV-DO (Subject, Action Verb, Direct Object)

A lot of times I notice that people rely too heavily on S-AV in their writing. This sentence will show what the character is doing, but it doesn't elaborate any further than that.

He cried.

She smiled.

Using this too much leaves your writing feeling bland and unimaginative. But, if you use S-AV-DO too much, it can make paragraphs feel oversaturated and not fast-paced. This is particularly emphasized when you go adjective (or adverb)-heavy and/or you use too many conjunctions:

He cried at the girl, but she simply stared at him blankly. She gave him a tired, hungry smile, and she leaned into his tender, warm embrace.

So, what do you do? The simple answer is to make sure you use all of the different sentence patterns in your writing. Everyone's writing has a different smile, but bad sentence structure and repetitiveness doesn't make it unique; it makes it look less professional. Here are all of the different sentence structures (not patterns):

Simple Sentence:

Jamie laughed.

Compound Sentence:

Jamie laughed and punched her brother.

Complex (which I will elaborate on): Complex sentences have not just an independent clause (something that could be its own sentence) but a dependent clause (something related to the independent clause but can't be a sentence on its own). These will use subordinators to connect the two pieces of the sentence together:

He cried at the girl, who laughed at him manically.

Subordinators can relate to the subject, the place or time, or other elements of the sentence.

He cried at the girl when the sun began to set.

A compound-complex sentence has more than one independent clause and one or more dependent ones. Be sure that if you use this pattern, you don't use it too much (or else the writing may become oversaturated):

He cried at the girl, who gave him a tired, hungry smile, and she watched as he began to break down.

Of course, all of this depends on the mood you want your writing to have. But, if you want to make sure you don't use the same sentence structure every time you write something out, I hope this helped you. Happy writing!

-Serrurie

Hello everyone! Today I'll be talking about the different types of verbs in case you ever get confused on them.

VERBS

There are four different types of verbs in English:

Action Verbs: (Fly, jump, etc.)

Linking Verbs: (Look, keep, grow)

Helping Verbs: (Shall, would)

Adverbs: (gently, angrily)

Anyone with a brain can figure out what an action verb is, but the other verbs can be tricky sometimes.

Linking Verbs don't show any action. Instead, they describe or explain the subject.

The wand looked like a broken pogo stick.

Helping Verbs are used in verb phrases to relate to the action verb.

She will be the greatest magician here.

Lastly, adverbs further describe an action the character is doing. They also describe adjectives (and they will always go BEFORE the adjective).

He gently carved into the wood.

It was a dangerously large sword.

Aaand that's it! I hope this helped you, and that your writing becomes better from it. Thanks for reading this!

-Serrurie