I can just imagine what you're thinking right now. "We go to school to learn this crap!" Yeah, well, if you all paid attention, then I wouldn't be needing to make this section, now would I? Alright, well, if it's any consolation, this is just a brief section to review a few things that are often forgotten when writing. And think about it this way: we're getting the boring (but very important) stuff out of the way first!

Spelling:

I before E except after C. We all know that one... but there's a less known part that comes after it: Or when sounded as an A. Think about it: Weight, Freight, Neigh, Sleigh, Eight, are all words where the "ei" makes an A sound. So: I before E except after C, or when sounded as an A. There are a few exceptions to this rule, however; Rottweiler, efficient, and feisty.

When words end in soft "ce"(Sssss) or "ge,"(J-sound) keep the "e" before "able" and "ous." Examples: Advantageous, changeable, courageous, and peaceable. To put it simply, keep the root word (advantage, change, courage, and peace in the examples) the exact same and add either "able" or "ous" to the end.

When verbs (action words like die, lie, and tie) end in "ie", change the ending to "y" before adding "ing" Example: die becomes dying (but died), lie becomes lying (but lied), tie becomes tying (but tied).

Drop the final "e" before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, or u). Examples: Love + ing = loving. Move + ing = moving. Dare + ing = daring. Exceptions to this rule are Canoe + ing = canoeing, and hoe + ing = hoeing.

Keep the final "e" before a suffix beginning with a consonant. Examples: Care + ful = careful. Hope + ful = hopeful.

The Eight Parts of Speech:

1: Nouns are divided into two different types: Common nouns, and Proper nouns. Common nouns refer to any place, person, thing, or idea. Example: president, tower, mountain. Proper nouns refer to a specific person, place, thing, or idea. Example: President Taft, the Eiffel Tower, Broad Peak Mountain.

2: Pronouns take the place of a noun. Examples: he, she, his, him, her.

3: Verbs show an action. Present tense: runs, walks, jogs. Past tense: ran, walked, jogged. Future tense: will run, will walk, will jog.

4: Adjectives describe something. Examples: Red, blue, small, large, high, low, tall, short.

5: Adverbs describe verbs or other adverbs. Example sentence: He whimpered (verb) miserably (describes how he whimpered). Most adverbs have an ‘ly' at the end.

6: Prepositions tell when/where something takes place. Example: She hid under the desk (tells us where she hid). There was an attack two hours ago (tells us when the attack took place).

7: Conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses. Examples: Take the cookie and eat it (rather than... Take the cookie. Eat it.). The cookie is overdone because the timer was slow (rather than... The cookie is overdone. The timer was slow.).

8: Interjections are sudden, interrupting words, also known as exclamations. Examples: Aha! There you are. But then, alas, he tripped and fell.

Grammar:

If a singular noun starts with a vowel, put "an" in front of it. If a singular noun starts with a consonant, put "a" in front of it. Example: He ate an apple. There was a newspaper on the desk.

"Ain't" is NOT a word. ONLY use it if someone with a southern accent is speaking, for that's where "ain't" originated.

You don't "got" something, you "have" something. Avoid using "got" unless someone is speaking. ‘Cause we all know that no one speaks with grammatically perfect sentences. Avoid using dead words in general like "got" "things," "stuff," "very," and "pretty." For a more complete list of dead words, click here.

No Two Sentences Start With the Same Word (NTSSWTSW for short)! It's hard at times, but keep this in mind. It gets really repetitive when each sentence starts with the same word. It also makes the writing sound like a three-year old is writing it. It is being illustrated right now in this paragraph (and that's only four sentences!). If you're having troubles, try finding a synonym (a word that means the exact same thing) or rearranging the sentence so that a verb is first. Example: Instead of "She was frightened. She ran as fast as she could until she was safe," try "She was frightened. Running as fast as she could, she did not stop until she was safe." That way, you not only follow the rule, but your story is more interesting to read!

Do not start sentences with "and" or "because." These are words which connect two sentences together, and have no place at the beginning of a sentence!

Dialogue MUST be written correctly. It makes things easier to understand. Basic rules:
- If you put the "s/he said" BEFORE the dialogue, then it is written either as S/he said, "blah." OR S/he said: "blah."
- If you put the "s/he said" in the middle, then it is written as "These apples are delicious," s/he said; "and they're nutritious!" Notice how the "s/he" part came just before the conjunction, and the dialogue parts form a complete sentence. Because the "s/he said" part is interrupting a complete sentence, it has a comma at the beginning and a semi colon at the part where the dialogue continues.
- You can also put the "s/he" part in the middle if the first dialogue and second dialogue parts are complete sentences. "Mungojerrie, you should stop that," s/he said. "You'll get hurt." If this is the case, you need to put a period at the end of the "s/he said" part.
- When putting the "s/he said" part at the end, there are TWO ways to write it. 1: "I will not get hurt," he said. Notice how the "s/he said" part is not it's own complete sentence, so you put a comma at the end of the dialogue. 2: "I will not get hurt." He said as he climbed up the pole. These are two separate sentences, so there is a period at the end of the dialogue.

A Simile is a way to relate two separate things, and include the words "like" or "as." Examples: He was hungry like a bear after hibernation. The roller coaster was as frightening as the first day of school.

A Metaphor basically is the same thing as a simile, but without the words "like" or "as." It's a figurative way to say something. "John is a snake" doesn't literally mean that he's a snake (unless you just-so-happen to be writing about a snake named John); it means that something about his behavior can be compared to the behavior of a snake.

Homonyms are words that sound the same, but have different meanings. In writing, the two sets of homonyms that always seem to give writers trouble are two, to, and too, as well as their, there, and they're. Two is the number that comes after one. To is to go to somewhere, while too means that there are an excess of something (like there are too many homonyms). Their shows possession (it's their responsibility), there shows where something is (over there) and they're is a contraction between they and are. Other homonyms to watch out for are you, yours, you're, pair, pear, bored, board, deer, and dear.

Punctuation:

The period, as we all know, goes at the end of a sentence.

Commas separate seperate immediate, related thoughts or indicate a pause. They can also be used to form a list. Example: Let's go, we don't want to be late. Her hobbies were reading, watching old movies, driving, and running.

Semicolons connect two related sentences when the conjunction is omitted. Example: The statistical evidence is there; it cannot be denied. That is in place of, The statistical evidence is there and it cannot be denied.

Colons can be used to create a list or to formally introduce a statement. Example: He studied three subjects: Biology, Chemistry, and English. She stated: "I never saw the red cheetah." Also, they can be used to explain a quotation as long as it is not in the immediate character's dialogue. Example: "The coach urged his players on, quoting the famous Yogi Berra: "It ain't over 'itl it's over."

Quotation Marks go around what someone is saying, or has said. Example: The dog said, "woof."

An Apostrophe is used for contractions and the possessive case of a noun. Example: It's all right (contraction of It and Is). That is Bart's dog (shows that Bart possesses the dog). In the case of "It," the possessive form DOES NOT get an apostrophe. So It's will always be a contraction of "it is", and Its will be a possessive form of it.

Question Marks are used for questions. Who would have guessed?

Exclamation Points express strong feelings. That's neat!

Hyphens are pretty confusing. In most cases, you don't even need to use them! But you can use them to join a prefix to a proper noun (anti-Darwinian, pre-World War II). Also, you can use them for clarification. You can write "re-form", meaning to form again, rather than just "reform", like a reform of the Church. Another example of this is twenty-odd people instead of twenty odd people. Another reason to use hyphens is in a list of similar elements (two-, four-, and six-legged creatures.

Yay! You made it through the most boring section of this guide! Pat yourself on the back, bucko, and do a little dance of joy. Really, I don't mind that you're happy to have finished reading something I spent hours researching and summarizing. That's right. This could have been much longer. Now that you know the basic structures of writing, you can move onto the next section!