The Writing Process - Writing Articles - Grammar and Punctuation Basics Part I

Some aspiring writers erroneously think that if they can write engaging text on an enthralling subject that they can ignore the basic rules of grammar and punctuation. However, grammar and punctuation is a major part of a writer's craft and it is integral that they produce an article that is not only a pleasure to read, but is also easy to read and follow, free from grammatical and punctuation errors.

Now, these errors are not the same as typographical errors. Typos will happen, but a piece that is riddles with errors in punctuation and grammar indicate a writer who is lazy and has no regard for quality. Any article should be proofed and edited before it is uploaded or sent off to editors or publishers.

Your spell checker is a good tool, but it will not catch every error. No spell checker can do that. Words like whose and who's; lose and loose; quiet and quite; its and it's are legitimate words, but they have very different meanings. Your spell checker is not going to read your material and determine that you really meant to put dessert when you wrote desert. It just is not designed that way. It helps to have a dictionary nearby as well as a style guide like "The Little Brown Handbook."

There are some basic grammatical rules with which you should acquaint yourself.

The apostrophe can be used in three basic ways. If you use 's it usually shows possession. However, in some cases, such as with it's, it indicates a contraction, meaning that a letter is missing. It's means it is. If you place the apostrophe after the s, this indicates plural possession.

For example:

It's sunny outside. On the other hand. It is sunny outside. The second works so the first will work as well since it's is a contraction of it is.

However,

When you are using it as a pronoun, you do not use an apostrophe when indicating possession.

"The horse is in its stall." Even though you use an apostrophe when indicating possession, the word "it" is the exception to the rule.

You can say, "The horse's stall is in that barn." In this case, the apostrophe indicated possession for only one horse. It is not a contraction.

"The horses' stalls are in that barn." Indicate that there are several horses and the apostrophe placed after the s shows possession.

There are also several words that are close in spelling or pronunciation, thus making them confusing to use:

"Loose means not tight. " Lose" means to misplace something. "Who's" is the contraction for who is. "Whose" is the possessive form of who. "Quiet" means make no noise. "Quite" is an adverb that is generally used to place emphasis. "Dessert" is what you have at the end of dinner. "Desert" is a wasteland.

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Chipping Away Your Writer's Block

Writing Articles - Grammar and Punctuation Basics Part II

Troubleshooting the Writing Process

The components of the writing process, which are prewriting, writing, revising, editing and publishing might sound very logical and straightforward but all writers experience stumbling blocks at some time or other. Perhaps you are stuck at the very beginning and cannot think of anything to write about. Perhaps you have written something you are not completely happy with and do not know how to make it better. Maybe you are trying to write a book and have run out of steam way before the end.

Teaching the writing process is something, which can be done, but different writers work in different ways. Some might choose to skip the prewriting part of the writing process altogether and just write, before going back over what they have written and revising it. Other writers prefer to plan everything first and break their article, story or whatever they are writing into chunks, such as an introduction, a middle and a conclusion and then break it down further. Some people use a combination of these writing techniques.

There is no right or wrong way to write. It very much depends on the individual. However, if you are having trouble with one of the stages of the writing process, you might want to adapt your way of writing to make it easier for you.