There are definitely rules we are taught in school about writing. We are taught the parts of speech, the proper punctuation and of course the correct spelling. Before you can start breaking the rules, you need to know them first. Here are a few of the basics.
Nouns, pronouns and proper nouns are the things and people we talk about. These are the subjects and objects of sentences. Nouns can be a desk, a book, a cat, a man, a room… Pronouns refer to people, places and things and can be used as subjects, objects or possessive pronouns – some subjects are: I, you, he, they; some objects are: me, him, it, them; and some possessive pronouns are: mine, yours, his, ours.
Verbs mean action or a state of being. The basic verb can change based on tense, number and whether the verb is transitive or intransitive. A sentence is usually formed with a Subject+Verb+Object ( I shook him; He loves me.) Some sentences do not need an object to complete the sentence, these are called intransitive verbs ((I laughed; The baby cried.)
Adverbs and adjectives change the way nouns or verbs are used. Adjectives refer to nouns, adverbs can apply to verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. One example is: truth (noun), truthful (adjective), and truthfully (adjective). If you say He runs, you are giving the subject and the verb but you are not giving a description of the verb; if you say he runs quickly (adjective) then we have given a clearer definition fo what he is doing by adding speed.
Prepositions are connecting words like by, at, behind, over (He hid the remote behind the sofa). These are used to combine more than one thought in a sentence (compound sentence), otherwise these thoughts can stand as independent clauses. A conjunction is also a connecting verb, they connect words, phrases or clauses (Raymond or Mike).
A homonym is a word that shares the same spelling and the same pronunciation as another but has different meanings. Be careful that you are using the word that you intend to use; this is the time I suggest you use a thesaurus to check the word you are using: It was all new, he knew that they were hiding. Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings: I am going to buy the dishes; I am going to purchase the dishes. Antonyms are opposites in meaning: The stairs go down; The stairs go up.
Writing exercise: Write three separate paragraphs and be sure to use each set of three words in your paragraph:
1) soap – fan – carpet
2) busy – newspaper – woman
3) medication – book – keychain
1) soap – fan – carpet
2) busy – newspaper – woman
3) medication – book – keychain
Writing prompt: Write a list of ten interview questions that you would use to question a commercial actor about the product the commercial is about – make sure you are asking questions of the character (For instance, you might ask Flo, the Progressive girl what insurance she has for her car?)
