I feel as if this is the one subject that's not taught thoroughly enough in school. From my constant reading and obsession with sentence formations and word spellings, I'm better at it than most. I think spelling has to come naturally, for the most part. Ever since I was little, I could spell words out of thin air. It just came to me naturally.But grammar. Oh grammar. Teachers didn't teach us squat about it, not one bit. I understand the basics, but when I'm thrown a hard question, I get stumped. Sentence formations come naturally to me also, so when I see horrible sentence formations in books, I cringe.But I think everyone struggles at this. Suzanne Collins is one of those authors who butchers sentences to the point where I cringe, but people absolutely adore The Hunger Games(including me).Sorry for the long comment! I was just very intrigued by your post!My final thoughts: If a story is good enough, it'll cover up the smaller problems such as those suggested in your post. All that matters is the story itself.
Thanks for your comment Kai, I agree, I wish I'd been taught more about the basics at school. Now twenty years later what I did learn has faded and I rely more on my natural instinct with words! It helps to brush up, but, like you, I still get stumped when someone starts getting technical!I loved the links…as they would have helped me so much at school!
We had a lot of basics at school. Unfortunately, most of the information faded over the years, not only in English. (You should see my terrible geometry skills!) But I've noticed that many writers have this problem – even those with a major in English. I've especially noticed this with comma usage. But practice makes perfect, right?
I'll check out her site, it all helps doesn't it! I follwed Siragirl on twitter too, her blog is brilliant for writing and technical tips!
My maths is terrible! It does fade…the only maths I remember these days is what I use in everyday life, so I guess it's the same with grammar!
That's @sirra_girl on twitter or Sirra on my blog list…she's good!
Thanks. I'll check her blog out soon!