Just Like The spell check function, most word processing programs also have a grammar check function. They're far from being perfect, but they do help with some the little things that many of us will miss, simply because of colloquialisms in the way we talk. The way we speak often carries over to the way we write, and while sometimes that's what we want, there are times when it's just grossly wrong in a grammatical sense.
However, There Are times when we actually want to break those strict rules of grammar. I very frequently like to use what's commonly called a fragmented sentence. Like this. Or this. My word processor has underlined both of those, indicating that they're errors in grammar. But they work for me, in certain contexts.
Something That My grammar check constantly rings the alarm bells about is forgetting to use the word "and" in certain places. For example: "I opened the door to her bedroom, then softly approached her bedside."
My Grammar Check tells me that I should put the word "and" immediately after the comma in that sentence. Frankly, I follow the advice of the program about half of the time. Sometimes, it just doesn't sound right to me to follow what the program wants.
Something That I just cannot stress enough is to remember that you need to break your story into paragraphs. I recently read a story that was 1,844 words in length - I copied and pasted it into my word processor, and did a word count. It opened with a paragraph that was one sentence long, followed by the rest of the story being written as one long, continuous paragraph. I'm sorry, but to me that's just poor, sloppy, careless writing.
Proofreading Can Help you with many common errors. I strongly suggest that if you're able to, print your story out, and read it aloud, with a pencil in hand. You'll be surprised how many errors you miss when just reading on your computer monitor. As you find mistakes, or even just possible mistakes, mark them with your pencil, and then track down what you need to do to correct things. Often, reading something aloud will make errors more obvious to you.
While I'm Talking about proofreading, I'd like to mention something else here. It's nothing to do with Grammar, really. But, for God's sake, please be careful with names!! Don't say, "Jane looked at Jane, and Jane touched Jane's cheek as she leaned in to kiss Jane." If you have more than one character, use enough care to keep them straight. Speaking as a female, I can assure you that it's no easy thing for a girl to gently kiss her own labia, especially when she's stretched out full length on the bed with her arms behind her head. Again, some good proofreading can catch this kind of error.
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