Grammar Guides Series

The second section of Stephen King's On Writing is titled "Toolbox." In it, he describes all the things a writer should know making them analogous to tools in a toolbox that you a writer should take everywhere you go. The toolbox should have multiple layers and the commonest tools go in to the lop layer.

This guide is starting with definitions (just to make sure we're talking about the same things) and punctuation because while most of us use the same symbols, we don't always use them the same way.

DEFINITIONS

1. noun - the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. A common noun refers to any person, place, thing, idea, etc. while a proper noun refers to a specific person, place, thing, idea, etc.


2. pronoun - a word that takes the place of a noun.

Okay, there's no such thing as a "bad" sentence. Fragments are not sentences by definition, and run-on sentences are easy to fix. But a writer should be aware that depending too heavily on one type of sentence construction bores the reader. They'll call it bad writing, and that is what we don't want. Don't worry excessively about it, though. Revising sentences is an editing concern, but you should train yourself to recognize what you are using and how often you use it. It makes editing easier.

There are three different ways to classify sentences: 1) by pattern, 2) by intention, and 3) by the number and types of clauses used. In the last tutorial, we covered the first four sentence patterns:

1. Subject - Verb
   
2. Subject - Verb - Object
   
3. Subject - Link Verb - Complement
   
4. Subject - Compound Predicate
   

This is the comment that sparked this Grammar Guide:

Yeah gotta say that's true. I mean recently I had a review for a story that said it had run on sentences.

What the hell is a run on sentence? I couldn't even begin to tell you exactly which sentences are running and which are standing still in my fics Unless they were physically pointed out to me, but then who's got the time to do that. We've all got busy lives to lead.

Busy lives, true, but asking for a definition gets an answer.

This is another comment sparked Grammar Guide:

Ok, whilst going through some writing of mine. I came up against this.
Negation Use What the hell is Negation use. :\

To make it easier, here is the sentence.

Never one for backing down, it wasn’t until the second film had been in the cinema and a friend had lent us the DVD of the Fellowship of the Ring that I succumbed to my curiosity.

Please help. I've no idea what's negative about this sentence?

INTRODUCTION

Verbs That Aren't Verbs

Welcome back to the discussion of verb forms. Only verbals, which are formed like verbs, are not used as verbs in the sentence. They are nouns, adjectives, or adverbs, and are commonly found starting a phrase.

They are three types of verbals: participle, gerund, and infinitive. What this tutorial will do is define each type, give examples of their phrases, and let you test yourself on them.

Most English teachers concentrate on the nonfiction approach to a paragraph. You have a topic sentence with three or four supporting sentences, and wallah you're on to the bigger structure of the paper.

Fiction is different.

A new speaker always begins a new paragraph. A new speakers means someone different starts talking. It can be someone present in the scene, someone who just walked in, or someone who has never spoken before.

I considered starting off this tutorial with all the grand oldies of cliché-dom. What better way to show you want something is than by using them? But then it doesn't make sense when the whole tutorial is about not using them.

In Writing Tutorial #14, the third strong prose tip was "No clichés."