How much grammar do I need to know?: How much grammar do I need to know? www.geoffbarton.co.uk Friday, 16 November 2007


Slide2: 1 - Sentence types (co-ordination & subordination) 2 -Modification 3 - Cohesion GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS - -


Slide3: SENTENCE TYPES GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS - 1 -


Slide4: There are 3 types of sentences: Simple sentences Compound sentences (coordination) Complex sentences (subordination) Using a variety of sentences will improve your writing.


Slide5: 1: SIMPLE SENTENCES Seamus is asleep Seamus likes warmth Old Seamus used to be fun Old Seamus is positively knackered Seamus smells rather badly Seamus has a chronic haemorrhoid problem


Slide6: 1: SIMPLE SENTENCES Seamus is asleep Seamus likes warmth Old Seamus used to be fun Old Seamus is positively knackered Seamus smells rather badly Seamus has a chronic haemorrhoid problem Essential ingredients: Subject Verb chain Tells us about one thing


Slide7: 1: SIMPLE SENTENCES Statements: The beach is beautiful. The sea is calm. Questions: Where are we? Why is the sea calm? Commands: Go to the beach. Buy me a choc-ice. Sentence functions ...


Slide8: 1: SIMPLE SENTENCES In action ...


Slide9: Kipper wanted a dog. Everyone wanted a dog. They went to the dogs’ home. They looked at the dogs. Kipper wanted this dog. It was too big. Biff wanted this dog. It was too little. Mum wanted this dog. It was too strong. Everyone liked this dog. They took the dog home. A New Dog (OUP)


Slide10: A New Dog (OUP) Effect …?


Slide11: BUILD YOUR SKILLS


Slide12: Simple sentences in context ... Give clarity Can become repetitive Can be very short Are separated by full stops, not commas Can be great for instructions, factual writing, texts for children, suspense


Slide13: COMPOUND SENTENCES / COORDINATION GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS - -


Slide14: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES The woman is worried and she looks out of the window and she wants to see someone but she is all alone and there is no one there.


Slide15: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES The woman is worried and she looks out of the window and she wants to see someone but she is all alone and there is no one there.


Slide16: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES The woman is worried. and She looks out of the window. and She wants to see someone. but She is all alone. and There is no one there.


Slide17: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES Essential ingredients: Simple sentences joined by the conjunctions And But Or


Slide18: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES This creates coordination I like fish and I enjoy chips I adore fish but I hate chips I enjoy fish, or I did as a child


Slide19: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES This creates coordination I like fish and I enjoy chips I adore fish but I hate chips I enjoy fish, or I did as a child


Slide20: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES VISUAL GRAMMAR


Slide21: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES Grammar and effect ... I am four and my sister is three and she is often cross but today she is happy and we are going for a picnic but I am taking my bucket and spade and we will play on the beach but not if it’s raining and then we will come home and I will watch Tweenies and … (YAWN)


Slide22: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES Sailor Bear He thought and he thought. Then he looked at his suit and he knew what to do. “I’ll be a sailor, and sail on the sea!” decided Small Bear. But he hadn’t a boat. “Now what shall I do?” wondered Small Bear. He thought and he thought. Then he looked at the sea and he knew what to do.


Slide23: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES Sailor Bear He thought and he thought. Then he looked at his suit and he knew what to do. “I’ll be a sailor, and sail on the sea!” decided Small Bear. But he hadn’t a boat. “Now what shall I do?” wondered Small Bear. He thought and he thought. Then he looked at the sea and he knew what to do.


Slide24: 2: COMPOUND SENTENCES Essential ingredients: Simple sentences joined by the conjunctions And But Or


Slide25: BUILD YOUR SKILLS


Slide26: Compound sentences in context ... Create longer sentences Coordinate ideas (equal weighting) Can become repetitive Can sound colloquial, conversational Are great for personal writing, stories, information texts … … But must be used with care


Slide27: COMPLEX SENTENCES / SUBORDINATION GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS - -


Slide28: 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES The sea bass, which was filmed two days ago, cruises slowly through the ocean. Starting at the bottom, it works its way upwards. Determined to find food, it scours the coral reef. He moves upwards because he senses danger.


Slide29: 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES This creates subordination Remember coordination …? I like fish and I enjoy chips


Slide30: 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES SUBORDINATION


Slide31: The sea bass, which was filmed two days ago, cruises slowly through the ocean. SUBORDINATION 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES


Slide32: The sea bass, which was filmed two days ago, cruises slowly through the ocean. SUBORDINATION 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES MAIN CLAUSE


Slide33: The sea bass, which was filmed two days ago, cruises slowly through the ocean. SUBORDINATION 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES SUBORDINATE CLAUSE


Slide34: Starting at the bottom, it works its way upwards. SUBORDINATION 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES


Slide35: Starting at the bottom, it works its way upwards. 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES MAIN CLAUSE


Slide36: Starting at the bottom, it works its way upwards. 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES SUBORDINATE CLAUSE


Slide37: He moves upwards because he senses danger. SUBORDINATION 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES


Slide38: He moves upwards because he senses danger. 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES MAIN CLAUSE


Slide39: He moves upwards because he senses danger. 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES SUBORDINATE CLAUSE


Slide40: 3: COMPLEX SENTENCES VISUAL GRAMMAR


Slide41: MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE


Slide42: MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE Conjunction: because although as


Slide43: MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE Conjunction: because although as


Slide44: MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE -Ing verb: Make sure the subject agrees Walking Thinking Hoping


Slide45: MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE -ed verb: Make sure the subject agrees Frustrated Destroyed Undermined


Slide46: MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE relative pronoun: Who Which That


Slide47: Coordinating conjunctions And, but, or Subordinating conjunctions after, although, as, as if, as long as, as though, because, before, if , in case, once, since, than, that, though, until, unless, when, whenever, where, wherever, whereas, while Handy Conjunctions


Slide48: BUILD YOUR SKILLS


Slide49: COMPLEX SENTENCES ... Have a main clause and a subordinate clause linked by ... Conjunction - as, until, after … -ing verb -ed verb Relative pronoun - who, which, that ..


Slide50: Modification GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS - 2 -


Slide51: So are simple sentences always short …? Seamus is asleep. Old smelly Seamus used to be soundly asleep on the old fur rug.


Slide52: Simple sentences don’t need to be short, if we use modification .. Modifying a noun with an adjective: The house is menacing old musty smelly revolting


Slide53: Modifying an adjective with an adverb: The house is menacing old really horribly very too Simple sentences don’t need to be short, if we use modification ..


Slide54: Modifying a verb with an adverb: The wolf yawns in his sleep lazily uneasily frighteningly imperceptibly Simple sentences don’t need to be short, if we use modification ..


Slide55: BUILD YOUR SKILLS


Slide56: Modification in action ...


Slide57: The Other Side of the Dale County Hall was a large, grey, stone mansion of an edifice ...The interior was like a museum, hushed and cool, with long echoey, oak-pannelled corridors, high ornate ceilings, marble figures and walls full of gilt-framed portraits of former councillors, mayors, aldermen, leaders of the Council, high sheriffs, lord lieutenants, members of parliament and other dignitaries. It was really quite a daunting place. Gervase Phinn


Slide58: The Other Side of the Dale County Hall was a large, grey, stone mansion of an edifice ...The interior was like a museum, hushed and cool, with long echoey, oak-pannelled corridors, high ornate ceilings, marble figures and walls full of gilt-framed portraits of former councillors, mayors, aldermen, leaders of the Council, high sheriffs, lord lieutenants, members of parliament and other dignitaries. It was really quite a daunting place. Gervase Phinn


Slide59: The Other Side of the Dale County Hall was a large, grey, stone mansion of an edifice ...The interior was like a museum, hushed and cool, with long echoey, oak-pannelled corridors, high ornate ceilings, marble figures and walls full of gilt-framed portraits of former councillors, mayors, aldermen, leaders of the Council, high sheriffs, lord lieutenants, members of parliament and other dignitaries. It was really quite a daunting place. Gervase Phinn


Slide60: COHESION: Pronouns and other connectives GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS - 3 -


Slide61: COHESION Cohesion is the way we show the reader the ‘direction’ of a text using ... PRONOUNS: she / he / it / they / we / us CONNECTIVES: Before, later, on the other hand, despite this, however ...


SPOT THE COHESION DEVICES: SPOT THE COHESION DEVICES At around £1 for a large fruit, the pineapple is no longer the special-occasion fruit it was in my childhood. (If there is a pineapple in the fruit bowl, then it must be Christmas.) More recently, in the lush, tropical heat of Goa, the fruit became a daily ritual during a beach-bum holiday. Armed with a plump pineapple, chosen for its ripeness and stripped of its inedible skin by the stallholder’s fearsome machete, we would wander far along the deserted beach to make the most of the fruit and its sticky juice. Six months later, in the frost-covered gardens of Versailles, the statues and urns wrapped up for the winter, such a fruit seemed even more welcome, cheering us up as our teeth chattered and we dripped juice into the snow as we walked. It is this fruit’s impeccable timing, turning up sweet and gold in the depths of winter, that probably makes it so popular. Nigel Slater, Real Good Food


SPOT THE COHESION DEVICES: SPOT THE COHESION DEVICES At around £1 for a large fruit, the pineapple is no longer the special-occasion fruit it was in my childhood. (If there is a pineapple in the fruit bowl, then it must be Christmas.) More recently, in the lush, tropical heat of Goa, the fruit became a daily ritual during a beach-bum holiday. Armed with a plump pineapple, chosen for its ripeness and stripped of its inedible skin by the stallholder’s fearsome machete, we would wander far along the deserted beach to make the most of the fruit and its sticky juice. Six months later, in the frost-covered gardens of Versailles, the statues and urns wrapped up for the winter, such a fruit seemed even more welcome, cheering us up as our teeth chattered and we dripped juice into the snow as we walked. It is this fruit’s impeccable timing, turning up sweet and gold in the depths of winter, that probably makes it so popular. Nigel Slater, Real Good Food Pronouns


SPOT THE COHESION DEVICES: SPOT THE COHESION DEVICES At around £1 for a large fruit, the pineapple is no longer the special-occasion fruit it was in my childhood. (If there is a pineapple in the fruit bowl, then it must be Christmas.) More recently, in the lush, tropical heat of Goa, the fruit became a daily ritual during a beach-bum holiday. Armed with a plump pineapple, chosen for its ripeness and stripped of its inedible skin by the stallholder’s fearsome machete, we would wander far along the deserted beach to make the most of the fruit and its sticky juice. Six months later, in the frost-covered gardens of Versailles, the statues and urns wrapped up for the winter, such a fruit seemed even more welcome, cheering us up as our teeth chattered and we dripped juice into the snow as we walked. It is this fruit’s impeccable timing, turning up sweet and gold in the depths of winter, that probably makes it so popular. Nigel Slater, Real Good Food connectives


Slide65: And that’s all there is to it ...


Slide66: 1 - Sentence types 2 -Modification 3 - Cohesion GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS SENTENCE LEVEL WORD LEVEL TEXT LEVEL


How much grammar do I need to know?: How much grammar do I need to know? www.geoffbarton.co.uk Friday, 16 November 2007