Submitted by namzUd! Thanks loves!

I remember way back in around 2010 when I first stumbled upon Asianfanfics because of K-dramas (I was unhappy with the ending, can’t remember which drama though). I did stay on this site for a while but soon my interest in it faded away due to the prevalence of grammar errors here that prevented me from enjoying fics that were otherwise very well-structured/ paced. I eventually came back to AFF after I discovered my love for K-pop, only to find out that the problems that had previously riddled this site have not exactly been addressed. That being said, there are authors here who vehemently deny the need to have any sort of grammar revision done to their stories, saying the plot is more important or grammar revisions hinder creativity since it causes more time to be dedicated to making the story to correct their grammatical errors rather than focus on the characterization or plot. But think about it, fan-fiction is a form of modern literature (at least, to me) and any form of literature needs to have a certain “understand-ability” to it so that it can convey opinions and thoughts to its relevant audience in a way that is clear, smooth and doesn’t require one to read the sentence again and again to decipher its meaning. Grammar errors, even the ones that are more minor, also disrupt the flow of a piece of writing, since it requires the reader to go back and forth. This is just my opinion on the issue.

As such, here are some little tips that can help you with your grammar or writing, some of which I am guilty of as well:

Subject verb agreement

I’m sure you’ve all heard of this in your English class at some point of time. It’s something that we use on a day-to-day basis and it’s not as complicated as it sounds.

Verb: any member of a class of words that function as the main elements of predicates, that typically express action, state, or a relation between two things, and that may be inflected for tense, aspect, voice, mood,and to show agreement with their subject or object.

(Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/verb)

Subject: Mostly refers to a noun/pronoun (he,she, it etc) in a sentence that has a verb attached to it.

Subject verb agreement refers to whether the verb’s form (plural/singular) is consistent with the subject (noun/pronoun).

For example

Jake walk his dogs every day. (WRONG)

Jake walks his dogs every day. (CORRECT ^^)

This might seem simple, yet many authors tend to ignore this whenever they write long sentences (often in an attempt to add detail), where the verb is at the end of it and the noun is at the start and it’s hard to figure out which noun the verb is attached to. To prevent this, try to have a variety of both long and short sentences in your writing. Long sentences are good for describing things and keeping the flow of the story going but they can also confuse the reader (since he/she would need to go back to the starting of the sentence to figure out who or what you were referring to at the end) or bore the reader out. Short sentences are good to create impact (especially after long sentences) and they minimize grammatical errors. Thus, it’s good to have a variety of both in your writing.

Prepositions

I’ve noticed that there are many writers here whose first language is not English. Thus, they tend to misuse the words of, on, in, at, etc. Here’s a guide on some of them: http://www.talkenglish.com/Grammar/prepositions-on-at-in.aspx

Tenses

Some authors tend to switch tenses unnecessarily every few sentences or paragraphs, mostly because they haven’t proofread it enough or they simply can’t be bothered (saying it’s their first story, etc.). Please select one tense and stick with, for the love of god. Sometimes these mistakes are also committed by authors when they write about their authors reminiscing about an incident in the past, followed by the occurrence of something in the present after the character is done thinking or daydreaming.

Past tense – used to describe something that happened a while or a long time ago.

Example: John started to eat his lunch.

Present tense - used to describe something that is happening now.

Example: John starts to eat his lunch.

Present continuous tense - used to describe something that is ongoing in the present (now).

Example: John is starting to eat his lunch.

Past Perfect tense (e.g. has, had, have) - used for actions that happened before a past event.

Example: When I got home yesterday, my father had already cooked dinner.

It can also be used for flashbacks inserted between paragraphs in a chapter whereby everything else is in past tense.

Example: That one time when I had gotten my mother’s old cassette player and slowly danced with her at a street light near her house.

If you don’t know the past perfect tense /past tense for something, google it. It’s that simple.

Use of “a” and “the”

“a” is used when whatever that it is attached to is common or generic.

Example: a cup, a fish, etc.

“the” is used when whatever it is attached to is unique or specific (there is only one of it that exists).

Example: the corner of his eyes, the Eiffel tower, the way he looked at me, etc.

These are the only ones I can think of at the moment. But I guess the best advice would be to reread your fic several times before you post it. Putting it out on the internet means you are putting it out for the rest of the world to see. No matter how personal you say it is, or how much you convince yourself that you are writing for your own enjoyment, have some dignity and at least make it presentable. By that, I don’t mean make posters/layouts/backgrounds that are more elaborate and pretty, but that’s a topic for another day. Till then, ciao.

~NamzUd~