Wow. EE. Thankyou for this vast amount of insight. This is the critique I have been waiting for. I honestly forgot the ''ed'' on the word ''look''. ^^
Let's try this once more. If you don't mind of course.
In a snowbound field; lies an ancient artifact. It is said, that this artifact could possibly hold the answer to everything we need to know about our subconscious. Nobody dares to seek out this artifact knowing the treacherous horrors that plague this land. Even if you could manage to brave this labyrinthine tundra. A monster still guards this artifact. It's massive claws will tear you into pieces, and if you decide to run away; it will tear your spine out and strangle you with it.
I am trying. Really, I am. The ending made me lawl. I seem to be able to discuss things at a very high level. Yet, when it comes to making up a story out of my imagination. I completely lose control. I guess you could say. I have the ideas, and the ability to manifest them. I don't have the blueprints that shows me how to put everything together.
Again, read what EE said. The semicolon is
not used to break up a sentence, it is used to express two complete, related thoughts (ie, whatever you write before the semicolon must be a complete sentence by itself, and whatever you write after the semicolon must be a complete sentence by itself).
Often, using a semicolon is a stylistic choice, but it can really help with expressing certain complex/compound sentences. The ideas expressed must be closely related. For example:
Right:
"GoldShadow is an awful poster; his posts reek of nonsense."
Both parts of the sentence are complete thoughts, and the second part is related to/expands upon the first part. You would not use a semicolon to join these two thoughts, however:
Wrong:
"GoldShadow is an awful poster; he drinks milk daily."
Unless you're trying to argue that GoldShadow's awful posts and his dairy habits are somehow related, these are unrelated thoughts and would not be joined by a semicolon.
Note that the first letter of the second part of the sentence (the part after the semicolon) is not capitalized, unless it's a proper noun, of course.
Wrong:
"GoldShadow is an; awful poster."
You cannot use the semicolon to break up a full sentence. Remember that both parts of a sentence with a semicolon must be full sentences themselves.
Right:
Also, you could express the original sentence with two separate sentences if you wanted to:
"GoldShadow is an awful poster. His posts reek of nonsense."
Right:
And you can express it using a single compound sentence without a semicolon, if you want to:
"GoldShadow is an awful poster because his posts reek of nonsense."
Wrong:
You cannot use a comma to join both clauses in the sentence without something to join them (like the word "because") or without breaking them up using a semicolon or period.
"GoldShadow is an awful poster, his posts reek of nonsense."
This is known as a comma splice, and while it's fine in dialogue, it should not be used in narrative.
You can also use the semicolon to break up items in a list to avoid confusion, but that's another lesson for another day, and I'm sure EE's links cover that.
2) Colloquial contractions like "must've" should be kept to dialogue only. I know that's what you did here, but I'm just warning you ahead of time. Technically you should only use contractions in dialogue period but ehhh nobody bothers with that.
EE's post is a treasure trove. Read it well, and read the links he posted too; I don't think you read the links or, if you did, you didn't internalize them (see how I used that semicolon in this sentence?).
However, I disagree with what EE says about contractions. When writing fiction, contractions in your narrative are just fine (no need for them to be confined to dialogue). Whether you use them or not will depend on the narrative voice. If you're trying to achieve a more formal tone of voice in your narration, then don't use contractions. If you're aiming for a more familiar tone of voice, contractions are okay (and you'll be using more if you want a very familiar/colloquial voice). Alternatively, if you're writing from the first person perspective, and your narrator uses a lot of contractions, it's fine as well.
How do you properly use the '';''s or the ''-''s?
Regarding dashes, there are three most commonly used types. The hyphen, which is used to join words together (eg, "get-together," "fifty-four") or separate syllables in words.
There's the en dash, or – (CTRL + hyphen, using the CTRL button on the num pad of your keyboard). I'm pressed for time and will refer you to Wikipedia for its use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_dash#En_dash
Same with the em dash, or —. The em dash is used to separate thoughts from the rest of a sentence, usually to put emphasis on them. It is also used for interruptions in dialogue, such as:
Colin said, "I'm just about to[FONT="]
—"
"Be quiet!" Janie said.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Em_dash#Em_dash for more.
Also read EE's link. I didn't check it myself, but I'm sure it's more informative and thorough.
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