How much grammar do I need to know?

How much grammar How much grammar do I need to know?do I need to know?

www.geoffbarton.co.uk

1 - Sentence types

(co-ordination & subordination)

2 -Modification

3 - Cohesion

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS

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SENTENCE TYPES

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS

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There are 3 types of sentences:

•Simple sentences

•Compound sentences

•Complex sentences

Using a variety of sentences will improve your

writing.

1: SIMPLE SENTENCES

Seamus is asleep

Seamus likes warmth

Old Seamus used to be funOld Seamus is positively knackered

Seamus smells rather badly

Seamus has a chronic haemorrhoid problem

Essential ingredients:

•Subject

•Verb chain

•Tells us about one thing

Modification

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS

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Simple sentences don’t need to be

short, if we use modification ..

Modifying a noun with an adjective:

The house is menacing old

mustysmellyrevolting

Modifying an adjective with an adverb:

The house is menacing old

reallyhorriblyvery

too

Simple sentences don’t need to be

short, if we use modification ..

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 ..

Modification in action ...

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

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

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

COMPOUND SENTENCES /

CCORDINATION

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS

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2: COMPOUND SENTENCES

Essential ingredients:

Simple sentences joined by the conjunctions

And

But

Or

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

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

2: COMPOUND SENTENCES

VISUAL GRAMMAR

Compound sentences in context ...

•Create longer sentences

•Coordinate ideas (equal weighting)

•Can become repetitive

•Can sound colloquial, conversational

•Can feel uncontrolled if overdone, so ...

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

This creates

subordination

Remember coordination …?

I like fish and I enjoy chips

The sea bass, which was filmed two days ago, cruises slowly through the ocean.

SUBORDINATION

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

The sea bass, which was filmed two days ago, cruises slowly through the ocean.

SUBORDINATION

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

MAIN CLAUSE

The sea bass, which was filmed two days ago, cruises slowly through the ocean.

SUBORDINATION

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

Starting at the bottom, it works its way upwards.

SUBORDINATION

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

Starting at the bottom, it works its way upwards.

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

MAIN CLAUSE

Starting at the bottom, it works its way upwards.

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

He moves upwards because he senses danger.

SUBORDINATION

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

He moves upwards because he senses danger.

SUBORDINATION

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

He moves upwards because he senses danger.

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

MAIN CLAUSE

He moves upwards because he senses danger.

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES

VISUAL GRAMMAR

MAIN CLAUSE

SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

Conjunction:

because

although

as

MAIN CLAUSESUBORDINATE CLAUSE

Conjunction:

because

although

as

MAIN CLAUSESUBORDINATE CLAUSE

-Ing verb:

Make sure the subject agrees

•Walking

•Thinking

•Hoping

MAIN CLAUSESUBORDINATE CLAUSE

-ed verb:

Make sure the subject agrees

•Frustrated

•Destroyed

•Undermined

MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

relative pronoun:

•Who

•Which

•That

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

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 ..

COHESION:

Pronouns and other connectives

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS

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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

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

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

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

And that’s all there is to it ...

1 - Sentence types

(co-ordination & subordination)

2 -Modification

3 - Cohesion

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS

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