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Units 12.3 and 12.4 Writers’ Workshop
Topic 3: English language
conventions – grammar
Topic 3 explores the rules of grammer. It covers:
• The word classes.
• Phrases.
• Verb tenses.
• Types of sentence.
Introduction
ES
Grammar is the study of the rules for writing and speaking correct English. This chapter
revises the key features of English grammar.
G
If you were a native speaker of English, you would already know the rules for spoken
English. If you didn’t, you would speak in muddled sentences and nobody would be
able to understand you. You might not know the names of the rules, but you would use
them automatically – like driving a car without knowing how a petrol engine works.
PA
If your first language is not English, the rules of your language and of English will be
different, and you will be learning the rules of spoken English too.
E
Some of the rules of written English are different from those of spoken English. You need to
understand those differences so that you can write correctly. For example, someone might
congratulate a group of people with the sentence:
‘Yous done real good!’ or ‘I have to go and buy more stationeries.’
PL
This is spoken following the rules of vernacular English, which many people speak.
According to the rules of standard English, the sentence must become:
‘You did really well!’ or ‘I have to go and buy more stationery.’
M
When this section describes sentences as ‘correct’ or ‘wrong’, it is referring to the rules of
standard English.
SA
You need to know the names of word classes (nouns, verbs, etc) and parts of sentences
(subject, object, etc).
The word classes
Each word has a different role in a sentence – to understand the way language has been
used to convey meaning, each word is given a category or class. The eight important word
classes are outlined with brief definitions below.
The eight important word classes
Open (lexical –
carry meaning)
Noun –
name of a place, thing,
person or idea
Abbreviation
N
Closed
Pronoun –
(functional –
substitute for proper
gives framework) name
Abbreviation
Pro
Verb –
a doing word
Adjective –
describes a
noun
V
Adj
Preposition –
Determiner –
position of object gives more
information
about noun
Pre
D
Adverb –
adds information
to verbs
Adv
Conjunction –
joining word(s)
Conj
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Units 12.3 and 12.4 Writers’ Workshop
Open word classes are words that carry the meaning of the sentence (lexical words). They are
‘open’ because new nouns, etc, are being created all the time. Closed word classes don’t often take
in new members. They are functional words, forming the framework to hang a sentence on.
Sue quickly left the car in the first garage before she went into the house.
N
Adv
V D N Pre D Adj
N
C
Pro V Pre D
N
Sense can be made from the lexical words alone:
Sue quickly left car first garage went house.
But there is no message at all in the functional words:
the in the before she in the
Words are put into classes according to the job they do in the sentence. A word can
belong to different classes (usually open classes) at different times.
ES
book is a noun in ‘Open your books’ but a verb in ‘Can I book my ticket?’
A word’s class can be changed by adding a suffix.
showed anger (noun), to anger (verb), angry (adjective), and angrily (adverb).
G
Choose the correct form to suit the job of the word in the sentence.
Units 12.3 and 12.4 Activity 3A: Recognising word classes
PA
1.Copy the following sentence then write the word class underneath each word. If you’re
not sure, leave it blank.
Sir Edmund Hillary was the first person to climb Mount Everest.
Note: Sir is a noun and to is an article.
2. Do the same with this sentence:
PL
E
The series follows the adventures of the Sydney water police as they combat polluters
and drug dealers, and recover the bodies of murder victims and suicides.
Units 12.3 and 12.4 Activity 3B: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
a.
b.
c.
d.
a.
b.
c.
d.
a.
b.
c.
d.
a.
b.
c.
d.
SA
1. (record)
2. (square)
3. (fool)
4. (savage)
M
For each question, look at the word in brackets. Then write down how this word has
been used in each of the following sentences as noun, verb, adjective or adverb. Any class
may be used more than once per question.
He has made a new world record.
They are recording in the next room.
The program was recorded last week.
The job was done in record time.
She landed squarely on her feet.
He had a heavy, square face.
I’ll square it up with you tomorrow.
Please draw a square.
That was rather foolish.
I think he’s a fool.
She looked round foolishly.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
It was a savage attack.
I’m afraid his play was savaged by the critics.
The dog bit savagely.
The people were thought of as savages.
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Topic 3: English language conventions – grammar
5. (reason)
a.
b.
c.
d.
129
I don’t have to give you any reason.
Do you think he has behaved reasonably?
You can’t reason with them.
Humans have highly developed powers of reason.
Word classes – Some rules of standard English
Adverbs normally end in ly, and they modify verbs and adjectives by stating how or where
or when something happens. Adjectives cannot do the job of adverbs.
The verb in ‘The cat bounded in’ can be modified with gracefully, eagerly, fiercely, and so on.
In the same way, the verb in ‘He did it’ can be modified with slowly, angrily, quickly, well.
For this reason, ‘Do it quick!’ is wrong because quick is an adjective. You must change the
adjective to the adverb, ‘Do it quickly!’
ES
This also applies after ‘more’ and ‘most’.
Don’t write ‘You can do it more easy now’ because an adverb is needed – ‘You can do it more
easily now’.
G
After ‘more’ and ‘most’, a regular adjective is used.
Write ‘She’s the cleverest’ or ‘She’s the most clever’, not ‘She’s the most cleverest’.
‘A banana’ but ‘an apple’.
PA
There are two forms of the determiner a. It becomes an before a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) except
when u is pronounced y as in ‘union’. It is a everywhere else.
There is only one form of ‘you’ for singular or plural. Do not write ‘yous’.
E
Units 12.3 and 12.4 Activity 3C: Word classes
PL
Read the following letter from a manager to their employees. The purpose of the letter
is to make the employees feel valued. Copy and complete the chart, writing the word in
brackets with the correct change and word class where appropriate. The first three have
been done for you.
SA
M
Word in brackets
1. [a]
2. [difficult]
3. [deal]
4. [rise]
5. [difficult]
6. [the]
7. [disastrous]
8. [a]
9. [head]
10. [splendid]
11. [rapid]
12. [you]
13. [extreme]
14. [good]
Change required
a (no change)
difficulties
to deal
Word class
determiner
adjective
verb
This has been [1. a] year full of [2. difficult]. We have had [3. deal] with [4. rise] import
prices, transport has become more [5. difficult], and it has been [6. the] most [7. disastrous]
growing season for many years. However, for many staff, it has been [8. a] opportunity
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Units 12.3 and 12.4 Writers’ Workshop
to show their qualities. The four department [9. head] in particular have responded [10.
splendid] to the challenge and our turnover has been more [11. rapid] than ever. But [12.
you] have all done [13. extreme] [14. good].
Determiners and nouns
Determiners appear before nouns to add information, such as which one we are talking
about or how many there are. We don’t usually begin a sentence with a word like ‘truck’;
we put a determiner before it, writing a truck, some trucks, many trucks, these trucks, all the
trucks, and so on. If there is an adjective, it goes between the determiner and the noun,
eg a heavy truck, some new trucks.
Nouns are either countable or uncountable.
ES
Example
Sugar is uncountable, while shoe is countable.
Example
Quantity:
1
2
PA
G
Often the determiners many and much are confused, which affects the determiners you can
use with them.
• Many is used with countable nouns.
• Much is used with uncountable nouns.
small
decrease
large
increase
less sugar
fewer shoes
much sugar
many shoes
more sugar
more shoes
E
sugar (uncountable) n/a
n/a
a little sugar
shoes (countable)
a shoe two shoes a few shoes
Some words can be used both countably and uncountably.
PL
Example
M
‘Cheese’ is normally uncountable (‘I’m trying to eat less cheese’) but it is countable when it
means a type of cheese (‘There used to be fewer cheeses on the market than there are now.’)
Similarly, ‘two sugars’ really means ‘two teaspoons of sugar’.
SA
When ‘more’ or ‘less’ are used alone, as in ‘I’ll work less’, they are not determiners but adverbs.
In informal speech and writing, the word fewer is often replaced by less.
Units 12.3 and 12.4 Activity 3D: Determiners and nouns
1.Classify each of the following nouns as countable or uncountable. For each, choose an
appropriate determiner:
information, furniture, wood, thought, chair, work, stick, game, time, job.
2.Read the following passage and choose the correct determiner to match the noun. The
first is done for you (in italics).
This year I aim to do [(1) much fewer / much less] work than last year. Firstly, I’m
taking [(2) a more / more] holidays, which would cost [(3) more / many] money, but
I’ll do [(4) much / more] camping this time and stay in [(5) less / fewer] motels, so it
will actually cost [(6) less / fewer]. If I don’t do so [(7) many / much] driving I’ll use
[(8) fewer / less] petrol, and I’ll have [(9) fewer / less] meals in expensive restaurants.
Hopefully I can have [(10) a / some] great time with [(11) a little / a few] money. That
way I can work [(12) less / fewer] and enjoy myself [(13) more / a more].
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Topic 3: English language conventions – grammar
131
Pronouns, verbs, person and number
A pronoun takes the place of a noun. Pronouns can be described by their person (first,
second or third) and number (singular or plural). Memorise the chart below:
Singular
Subject Object
Plural
Subject Object
I
me
we
us
you
you
you
you
3rd person:
male
female
either
unknown or neuter
he
she
they
it
him
her
them
it
they
they
they
they
them
them
them
them
ES
1st person
2nd person
See ‘Phrases’, following page, for an explanation of subject and object.
PA
G
Every time you use I or me you are using the ‘first person’ (the person who is talking or
writing). When you use you, this is the person you are speaking or writing to – the second
person. Everyone else is someone we are speaking about, so they’re the third person. Nouns
are usually third person. You can test this by putting a pronoun in place of the noun:
We met Sally yesterday. (We met her yesterday – third person.)
Sally, what do you think? (Here, someone is speaking to Sally, so they say you – second person.)
E
Note that you is the same for singular and plural. There was a singular you hundreds of
years ago – it was thou/thee. It became old fashioned, so the plural you took over for both.
Thou/thee can be found in the Bible, Shakespeare, prayers and some poetry.
PL
There are two ‘numbers’ in English nouns and pronouns – singular (one of something) and
plural (more than one).
‘Computer’ is singular, ‘computers’ is plural. ‘I’ is singular (there’s only one of me) but ‘we’ is
plural because it means ‘me and one or more others’.
M
The person and number affect the verb in the present tense.
You can say or write ‘I walk’ or ‘you walk’, but ‘Koro walks’.
SA
This final s appears only on the third person singular of nearly all verbs in the present tense.
A third person singular verb such as ‘she sings’ does not have an apostrophe.
Sentences and clauses
Several sentences can be put together to make a larger sentence.
The following two sentences can be combined in various ways.
She had a broken finger.
She carried on playing.
such as
Although she had a broken finger, she carried on playing.
Every sentence is made up of one or more clauses. Subject, verb phrase, etc, are called the
‘elements’ of a clause.
A clause (eg ‘She disappeared’) must have a subject (she) and a finite verb (disappeared).
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Units 12.3 and 12.4 Writers’ Workshop
Phrases
A phrase is a group of one or more words that does the job of one word. A noun phrase is
a group of words, containing a noun or pronoun, that behaves like a noun. A verb phrase is
a group of words, containing a verb, that behaves like a verb.
The following four sentences begin with a noun phrase (shown in italics and underlined)
containing the common noun ‘food’. A phrase is a group of one or more words that does the
job of one word.
1. Food has arrived.
2. Tasty food has arrived.
3. Only half the expected amount of food has arrived.
4. The food you have been waiting for has arrived.
ES
The noun phrase and verb phrase are the key elements of the basic English clause – the noun
phrase is called the subject (and usually goes first), then the verb phrase follows. There may be
other elements in the clause, but you must be able to identify the noun phrase and verb phrase:
Ask ‘Who/what was doing the action?’ to identify the noun phrase/subject.
•
Ask ‘What were they doing?’ to identify the verb phrase.
G
•
PA
Stumbling forward towards the dimly outlined hut, ignoring the freezing gale ripping at their
thin coats, they felt certain that help was near.
• ‘Who/what was doing the action?’ – they is the noun phrase.
• ‘What were they doing?’– they felt – felt is the verb phrase.
The subject and noun phrase and the verb phrase form the grammatical core of the sentence.
E
Subjects
Punctuation
PL
The subject ‘you’ is left out of a command. No subject appears in ‘Take two eggs and beat
them well’. This is called an ‘understood’ subject, since we understand that it means ‘you’.
All other complete sentences must have a subject.
M
Don’t put a comma after the subject unless there is another reason to do so. If you look at
the four sentences listed above, even no. 4, which has a very long subject, has no comma.
SA
Extra pronouns
It is common in everyday English to hear a noun followed by its pronoun as the subject.
My parents, they don’t like hip hop.
That kid over there, he’s Mark’s brother.
Some of those shops by the supermarket, they’ve just closed down.
This structure is not used in standard written English. Leave out the comma and the pronoun:
My parents don’t like hip hop.
Questions
To form a question, the order of subject and verb may be different.
You went to the movies can form the questions:
Subject
Verb phrase
Did you go to the movies?
you
did go
When did you go to the movies?
you
did go
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Topic 3: English language conventions – grammar
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Units 12.3 and 12.4 Activity 3E: Subject noun phrases and verb phrases
Copy out the subject and verb phrase of the following sentences. You are only looking
for one subject and one verb phrase (the main verb), but each of them can include one or
more words. The first three have been done for you.
PL
E
PA
G
ES
1. Uncle George has left his glasses here again.
Subject: Uncle George
Verb Phrase: has left
2. Are you allergic to peanuts?
Subject: you
Verb Phrase: are
3. That jacket you lent me has gone missing
Subject: that jacket you lent me
Verb: has gone
4. The Committee meets at lunchtime.
5. The last four players forgot to collect their tops.
6. Poor old Julius was the last one to find out.
7. Why do I have to do it?
8. Since about fifteen years ago the brontosaurus has been known as ‘apatosaurus’.
9. My 8-gigabyte multi-media PC became obsolete last week.
10.Jenny was dancing all evening.
11.Who’s seen ‘Golden Eye’ yet?
12.That wasn’t the best way of asking her.
13.Waiting at the checkout, Joe discovered his wallet was gone.
Verb phrases
M
Verb forms
A verb phrase can be formed from a single verb.
‘You collect basketball cards’. ‘Collect’ is the main verb and the verb phrase.
SA
There can also be two or more verbs in a verb phrase.
‘I have tried that one’. Have and tried are both verbs.
The first verb in a verb phrase changes according to person, number and tense, by adding suffixes.
First person:
Third person:
Third person plural:
Past tense:
I collect baseball cards
James collects basketball cards (+ s)
James and Joseph collect basketball cards
James collected basketball cards (+ ed)
A verb adds suffixes only to form the present and past tense. We can talk about future time
by using ‘going to’ or the auxiliary will as in ‘I will see you soon’.
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Units 12.3 and 12.4 Writers’ Workshop
Units 12.3 and 12.4 Activity 3F: Identifying verb forms
Copy out the subjects and their verbs from the sentences below. Look at the verb and
identify its person, number and tense. The first two have been done for you.
PA
G
ES
1. I’m asking you nicely – will you please go?
Subject: I
Verb phrase: am asking – 1st person (I); singular (one person); `present
tense (happening now).
Subject: you Verb phrase: will go – 2nd person (you); singular or plural; present tense.
2. Serah spoke to her doctor yesterday.
Subject: Serah Verb phrase: spoke – 3rd person (she); singular (one person);
past tense (happened before now).
3. I usually have piano practice on Wednesdays.
4. The beach was too crowded.
5. Maria gets in around 9 o’clock.
6. You all passed yesterday’s test.
7. Twenty kina has gone missing from my wallet.
8. I won’t call him again.
9. Some of the chimpanzees were running around and screaming.
10.The wizard puts a spell on anyone he doesn’t like.
11.You washed the wrong lot of clothes, Peter.
12.We are trying to get these boots clean.
E
Past tense – standard English
PL
There are differences between the past tenses of some verbs in vernacular and standard
English. For example, many people say I done it, but you should write I did it. Here are
some examples:
Past tense
you brought some kai
the people came
Chris did it
I gave thanks
Past participle
you have brought some kai
the people have come
Chris has done it
I have given thanks
they players know why
Jenny sees us
you shake it up
I speak clearly
the river runs west
the players knew why
Jenny saw us
you shook it up
I spoke clearly
the river ran west
the players have known why
Jenny has seen us
you have shaken it up
I have spoken clearly
the river has run west
SA
M
Present tense
you bring some kai
the people come
Chris does it
I give thanks
Negatives
Another difference between standard and vernacular English is the use of words like
nothing, no one or never. Standard English uses a rule something like maths – ‘two negatives
make a positive’.
If you write ‘I didn’t see nobody’, you mean that you did see someone! The correct sentence is
‘I didn’t see anybody’.
The word never means what it says – at no time. Only use never when it is important to say
that something has really not ever happened.
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Topic 3: English language conventions – grammar
135
Units 12.3 and 12.4 Activity 3G: Standard English
Answer the questions below using complete sentences, in correct standard English, using
the same verb. Use the information in brackets in your answer. The first is done for you.
G
ES
1. What did you see in the tunnel? [nothing]
A. I didn’t see anything or I saw nothing.
2. Who gave you that bracelet?
[boyfriend / present]
3. Have you done the washing up? [yes, this morning]
4. Who do they know in Madang? [no one]
5. When did your parents come? [yesterday morning]
6. Where should I take her?
[nowhere]
7. Who did you speak to?
[my brother]
8. Who did you bring that for?
[no one]
9. How much did you give them? [K5]
10.How much can you give me?
[nothing]
Object noun phrases
PA
The object
A basic clause is made of two elements – someone/thing (the subject), doing something
(the verb phrase).
E
Very often, the subject is doing something to something else. The ‘something else’ is
another noun phrase – the object. The object is closely related to the verb phrase, so we
say that it is the object of that verb. The object normally follows the verb phrase.
PL
Joanna runs a restaurant. You can ask: ‘What does Joanna run?’ The thing she is running is a
restaurant – the object.
If a verb has an object, it is transitive. If it cannot have an object, it is intransitive.
Naomi runs in the morning.
I’m talking.
Naomi runs a restaurant.
I told you.
SA
M
Intransitive:
Transitive:
The indirect object
There are two kinds of object – direct and indirect. If I say ‘I’ll send you a copy’, I’m sending
to you and I’m sending a copy. Clearly I am not doing the same thing to both of these
objects. The copy is a direct object, which I am sending to you. ‘You’ is called an indirect
object in this sentence.
Word classes – v = verb; det = determiner; pron = pronoun; n = noun.
Clause elements – S = subject; IO = Indirect Object; DO = Direct Object;
VP = Verb phrase.
Couldyou passme that ruler?
v pron vprondet
n
VP (+ pass) S
IO
DO
They gave him the Victoria
pron v prondet n
S VPIO DO
Cross.
n
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Units 12.3 and 12.4 Writers’ Workshop
The complement
Sometimes a phrase looks like an object, but it is not doing quite the same job. For example:
You look beautiful. We’ll paint it green. I hope you’re satisfied. This is Hiris.
In these sentences, beautiful, green, satisfied and Hiris are in the place where you would expect
to find an object. However, you are not doing anything to beautiful, and this is not doing
anything to Hiris. In fact, you can see that the subjects and these final words really refer to
the same person or thing. In these cases, it is called the complement. The complement is
another element of a clause. Complements can be noun or adjective phrases. You will find a
complement after verbs like be (which include am, are, is, was, were) and become.
Units 12.3 and 12.4 Activity 3H: Verb phrase, object, complement
ES
Draw up columns headed Subject, Verb Phrase, Indirect Object, Direct Object, and
Complement, and put the parts of each sentences under the correct heading. Some parts
will not go under these headings. The first three have been done for you.
VP
haven’t seen
2. These shoes
are
3. I
’ll (= will) fax
IO
DO
PA
S
1. We
G
1. We haven’t seen Mr Tan this morning.
2. These shoes are much too big.
3. I’ll fax you our prices right away.
C
Mr Tan
you
much too big
our prices
SA
M
PL
E
4. You’ll need a circular saw for this job.
5. They tried on some incredibly expensive shoes.
6. I really didn’t write that note.
7. My grandfather is sending me some of his rare stamps.
8. I’ll lend you the money tomorrow.
9. The children are playing football.
10.They built one of the first aeroplanes ever seen in Papua New Guinea.
Sentence types
Simple sentences
A simple sentence contains one clause with a full verb (also known as a finite verb).
Examples
The sun shone.
The boy with the laptop is my brother.
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Topic 3: English language conventions – grammar
As the topic sentence
at the beginning of a
paragraph.
As the sentence
at the end of the
paragraph which
sums up the
paragraph.
To emphasise a
point in the middle
of a paragraph.
137
As the vehicle for fast-paced
narrative with plenty of
action or drama.
To open and
close an essay.
The short
sentence
can be used:
To help create
atmosphere.
For emphasis.
To achieve a racy,
popular style.
ES
As an oratorical
device.
G
Compound sentences
PA
A compound sentence contains two or more independent or main clauses of equal value
joined by a co-ordinating conjunction (and, but, or).
Examples
E
The family went to the beach and they had a swim.
You can go to the movies but must be home by 11 pm.
He could choose the new car or could buy a second-hand one.
PL
Compound sentences, especially when the conjunction and is used, can capture the way a
child speaks, or can give equal weighting to two ideas, or can stretch out time to make time
pass slowly.
SA
M
Create the sound of
innocence, the voice
of a child.
Evoke the
memorability of
a poem or song.
Link associated
ideas, giving them
equal weight.
As the co-ordinating
conjunction of many
compound sentences,
‘and’ can:
Lengthen time and
space and action, to
heighten the drama.
Emphasise the
importance
of apparently
insignificant
detail.
Build detail on detail to
create dramatic effect.
Complex sentences
A complex sentence contains one main clause and one or more dependent clauses.
Dependent clauses begin with subordinate conjunctions. The most common of these are
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Units 12.3 and 12.4 Writers’ Workshop
because, when, although, if, after, before, whether, while, until. The dependent clause can go
before or after the main clause.
Examples
When the war was over the troops returned home.
I have to study hard if I want to pass my exams.
Because our bags weighed over the legal limit, we had to empty them at the airport.
The complex sentence tends to be a more sophisticated sentence form than a simple or
compound sentence and deals in cause and effect.
Compound-complex sentence
ES
A compound-complex sentence has more than one main clause and at least one dependent
clause.
Example
PA
G
Because it was raining and our bags were heavy, our father picked us up at the PMV-stop and
took us home.
Minor sentences
A minor sentence is a sentence missing a part, sometimes a complete verb form, or the
subject.
E
For emphasis.
PL
To build detail
on detail.
Function of the
minor sentence
For dramatic or
rhetorical effect.
SA
M
To cut costs.
To focus
atttention.
Examples
Bargains galore. Back soon. Disappeared without trace.
Minor sentences are often used in advertising, or for particular emphasis in a piece
of prose.
Incomplete sentences
An incomplete sentence is often a sentence fragment or an unfinished sentence.
Example
I’m just off to –
Shouldn’t be –
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Other sentence structures
Parallel structures
Parallel structures occur when a particular structure is repeated.
Example
Winston Churchill:
‘We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields
and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills: we shall never surrender.’
Parallel structures
are used:
To provide contrast.
Imperatives
For emphasis (by repeating
an idea in slightly different
words).
PA
To sound witty
or clever.
G
For rhetorical effect
(eg to grab the
audience’s attention).
ES
This structure is often used in oratory to provide rhythm and memorability to a speech.
To build to a climax.
Examples
PL
E
Imperatives represent a series of commands. Imperatives can give a particularly aggressive
or intimidating mood to a piece of writing.
M
Come down here at once.
Don’t say a word.
Be sure and listen to every word I’m saying.
SA
Imperatives are also used in oratory to direct an audience’s emotions. Recipe books and
instruction manuals also contain imperatives.
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Units 12.3 and 12.4 Writers’ Workshop
Interrogatives
Interrogatives involve many sentences which are questions. In oratory, the speaker often
wants to connect with their audience and may do so by means of a series of rhetorical
questions.
Example
ES
President Nixon, in his November 1969 Vietnam speech, began with a number of questions
that he went on to answer; the questions thus forming the structure of the speech.
How and why did America get involved in the first place? How has this administration
changed the policy of the previous administration? What has really happened in the
negotiations in Paris and the battlefront in Vietnam? What choices do we have if we are
to end the war? What are the prospects for peace?
Listing
Listing adds detail to detail and conveys a lot of information quickly.
G
Example
PL
E
PA
From Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, at a point of high drama in the book, come the
following sentences:
Cannon, muskets, fire and smoke; but still the deep ditch, the single drawbridge, the
massive stone walls, and the eight great towers. Flashing weapons, blazing torches,
smoking wagon-loads of wet straw, hard work at neighbouring barricades in all
directions, shrieks, volleys, execrations, bravery without stint, boom, smash and rattle,
and the furious sounding of the living sea …
The effect of listing gives the impression of a maelstrom of activity taking place, with our
senses being assaulted by an array of sights and sounds. Dickens piles one detail on top of
another in rapid succession to heighten the drama and tension and catapault the reader into
the scene.
M
Inversion
SA
Inversion changes the usual order of subject, verb, object. In creative writing (not just
poetry), word order is often rearranged or the normal order inverted for a particular effect.
Example
Sad I was that he could not come to the party.
Neglected by his parents he ran away.
In altering the usual word order, emphasis is placed on the first word in the sentence; hence
the words sad and neglected have greater importance.
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Balanced sentences
Balanced sentences have two equal parts, often connected by a colon or semi-colon.
A formal, even archaic type of writing emerges. Balanced sentences are often used in
oratory to convey formality and seriousness in a speech.
Example
‘We did not make this war, we did not seek it.’ – Winston Churchill.
‘It is not only an army marching towards the goal, but it is forty-four million Italians marching in
unity behind this army.’ – Benito Mussolini.
Antithesis often occurs – the idea in the first half is contrasted with the idea in the
second half.
ES
Units 12.3 and 12.4 Activity 3I: Sentence structures
G
Identify (name) the following sentence structures and suggest where you would be likely
to find each extract.
1. Extract A
‘There was no wind. Yellowjackets were at the rotten apples under the orchard trees. The
PA
light fell slow, heavy. Inhaling the sharp odour of acetic, rotted fruit I stepped into the honeycoloured field.’
2. Extract B
‘As the Spectre gunships and rocket-propelled grenades do their deadly business in Iraq’s holy
E
city of Najaf, the Shia clerics are fighting their own battles. If Bush is re-elected, these clerical
struggles could sink any lingering chances for peace in the region.’
PL
3. Extract C
‘So our choice is clear: back down and leave Saddam hugely strengthened; or proceed to
SA
M
disarm him by force. Retreat might give us a moment of respite but years of repentance would,
I believe, follow’.
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