Matthew Ward Writes

Short story author, Novelist in the making & Grammar enthusiast

Could I help you write? My Big Blog Directory

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Ever lost time humming and hawing over a comma?

Or simply wished ‘further’ and ‘farther’ were more straightforward?

Or wanted to investigate how a truly great novel describes its setting?

Since July last year, I’ve indulged my inner writing geek and tackled these issues—and many more—across 32 blog posts.

And I want to make it as easy as possible to find exactly the blog that will help you.

So, welcome to my Big Blog Directory!

Choose a topic:

Commas
Hyphens, Colons, Semicolons, and Dashes
All Things Grammar—especially the nasty pitfalls—from confusing words to troublesome phrases
Dialogue for Storytelling—how to paragraph, capitalise, and punctuate it
Writing Stories—the lessons that have transformed my stories

Commas

To Comma or Not to Comma?
When to put commas before “and”, “but”, “or”, “nor”, and “yet” made simple
How to Put Commas Between Descriptors
What’s an Oxford comma? How do I use it correctly? And do I need one at all?
A tiny comma edit guaranteed to make a massive improvement
Can a single comma change the meaning of a whole sentence? A simple guide to placing commas before ‘which’ and ‘that’
‘However’ and commas
MicroBlog 1: Commas, Names, and not eating Grandma

Hyphens, Colons, Semicolons, and Dashes

Hyphens? When to use them made simple
Colons—How in the world do you use those?
Semicolons—What in the world do they do?
Oh, Dash!
Hyphens, EN dashes, and EM dashes. What’s the difference? And how do you type each of them?
Dashes, Colons, Semicolons—which is right for my sentence?

All Things Grammar

A Simple Guide to Fixing Run-On Sentences
What makes a complete sentence?
How to avoid talking elephants. Fixing faulty introductory phrases
Everyday or Every day? How to choose between words like these with ease
Taking the Complex out of Complex Sentences … and taking on one of their greatest complexities
“If I was” or “if I were”? Simple methods for choosing the right one every time
‘Further’ vs ‘farther’ as simply as possible
MicroBlog 2: When to capitalise words like mum and dad?
MicroBlog 3: If your sentence starts with an ‘-ing’ word, don’t make this mistake!
MicroBlog 4: ‘You and I’ or ‘you and me’? A simple way to know

Dialogue for Storytelling

How to paragraph dialogue
How to capitalise dialogue
How to punctuate dialogue

Writing Stories

How to write Riveting Description with “The Pillars of the Earth”
Sentence cadence. Uncovering this secret of great prose in “The Pillars of the Earth”
“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” teaches story structure
3 Awesome Writing Lessons I Learned in 2020
From tighter prose to cooler novel openings: More Awesome Writing Lessons I Learned in 2020

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