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Additional materials Literacy Entry 3
Writing sentences
Introduction
The type of sentence you write depends on what you are writing and what you want to say. Short, simple sentences can be suitable but sometimes you might want to add more details to give your reader more information.
This activity looks at building up detail in sentences.
You will learn:l how to use adjectives and adverbs to add detaill how to use phrases to add detail.
Ws/E3.11 Copyright © Tribal Education Limited 2007
Additional materials Literacy Entry 3
Writing sentences
Building up detail
Look at this text from a recipe for a spaghetti dish.
Cook the spaghetti, meanwhile cut the bacon into strips. Put the oil into a pan and fry the bacon. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks together with the cream and cheese. Return the pan to the cooker over heat. Drain the spaghetti and stir into the pan with the bacon. Add the egg and cheese mixture; the eggs will cook when they are mixed with the spaghetti.
Look at the table below. The nouns and verbs from the second version of the recipe are in the table. Add the adjectives and adverbs from the recipe to the table. The first one is done for you as an example.
Read the recipe again. Look carefully at how the adjectives and adverbs add more detail.
Nouns Adjectives Verbs Adverbs
water salted, boiling drain well
strips stir
pan add
heat cook
The writer has not given many extra details. Some details, for example about the type of pan to use and how to do things would help the reader to cook this dish more successfully.
Look at this version of the recipe with more detail added:
Cook the spaghetti in salted, boiling water, meanwhile cut the bacon into thin strips. Put the oil into a large pan and fry the bacon. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks together with the cream and cheese. Return the pan to the cooker over a moderate heat. Drain the spaghetti well and stir rapidly into the pan with the bacon. Carefully add the egg and cheese mixture; the eggs will cook immediately when they are mixed with the spaghetti.
The second version uses adjectives and adverbs to add extra detail.
Adjectives are words that describe a person, place or thing. They describe the nouns in sentences.
Adverbs give extra meaning to other words in a sentence. In this example they tell you more about the verbs. They tell the reader how, why or when to do something. Many adverbs end with –ly but common words such as ‘well’ and ‘hard’ are also adverbs.
Practice 1
Ws/E3.12 Copyright © Tribal Education Limited 2007
Additional materials Literacy Entry 3
Writing sentences
Building up detail
When you write a descriptive text or story, adjectives and adverbs add useful details to help build up a picture in the reader’s mind. Look at this example sentence:
a. Fill in the gaps in this description with suitable adverbs to make the description more interesting. You can choose from the ones listed below or write your own.
A strange shape was coming towards him. Just as it reached the door it stopped turned and then changed direction, gliding across the floor.
gracefully gently suddenly softly slowly swiftly sadly
b. Underline the four adverbs in this description.
It was windy as Punam walked carefully and deliberately to the house. He heard a noise and turned suddenly. After a moment of panic, he whispered hoarsely, ‘Who’s there?’ But there was no answer.
c. Choose suitable words from the list to give more meaning to this description.
Ronaldo is an fit player with a high energy level. He can be flamboyant both on and off the pitch.
quite extremely very
The sun shone fiercely on the dry earth. He walked slowly to the old house.
The adjectives and adverbs emphasise the heat of the sun and help the reader to imagine the situation. Look at the example carefully, the adjectives are shown in bold type and the adverbs are shown in italics.
Giving words more meaning
You can make the meaning of a word stronger by using words such as ‘very’, ‘considerably’, or ‘extremely’. Words and phrases such as ‘slightly’, ‘a bit’ or ‘a little’ help to make the meaning less strong. Look at some examples, shown in bold, in these sentences.
The sun shone fiercely on the very dry earth. He walked really slowly to the old house. He was a little nervous although he had made this journey many times before.
Practice 2
Ws/E3.13 Copyright © Tribal Education Limited 2007
Additional materials Literacy Entry 3
Writing sentences
Adding phrases
You can also add phrases to your sentences to give your reader more information or to make your writing more interesting. A phrase is a group of words.
Here is a short sentence with one adverb ‘slowly’.
The old man walked slowly.
It does not give the reader a lot of information. You could add phrases to explain more to the reader about:l the old manl how he walked l where he walked to l when he walked.
Here are some examples. The phrases that add extra detail are shown in bold.
a. Add one phrase to this sentence to give more information about the woman:
The young woman ran swiftly.
b. Now write a longer description by adding other phrases. Try to add details about how, when and where the woman ran. Rewrite your description as two sentences if it is too long.
The old man, with a hunched back, walked slowly.
The old man walked slowly and painfully on his sore feet.
The old man walked slowly towards the pond.
The old man walked slowly towards the pond where he fed the ducks every morning.
You can add more than one phrase to a sentence but try not to make your sentences too long. Very long sentences can be hard for a reader to follow. For example, using all the phrases above would make a very long sentence. Instead, you could write it as two sentences, like this:
The old man with a hunched back walked slowly and painfully on his sore feet. He headed towards the pond where he fed the ducks every morning.
§Try adding phrases to your sentences to give more information about how, when and where something happened
Practice 3
Ws/E3.1� Copyright © Tribal Education Limited 2007
Additional materials Literacy Entry 3
Writing sentences
Check your skills
1 Which two words would best fill the gaps in this sentence to add more detail?
(1) place the spaghetti in the pan and (2) bring it back to the boil.
A. (1) careful (2) slowB. (1) carefully (2) slowC. (1) carefully (2) slowlyD. (1) slowly (2) carefully
2 Which of these sentences includes an adverb?A. The window was broken in several places. B. A large brown dog snarled at the locked gate.C. The train screeched to a halt. D. The jogger ran carefully on the slippery road.
3 Which words would best fit into this sentence to add more detail?
The (1) baby slept (2) all night.
A. (1) soundly (2) contentedB. (1) sleepless (2) wellC. (1) contented (2) soundlyD. (1) sleepless (2) contented
4 Which phrase could be used to fill the gap in this sentence to add information about Ali?
Ali, , arrived late to work this morning.
A. the manager’s sonB. and was told offC. by car D. because he had overslept
5 Which of these words and phrases could be used in a sentence to make the meaning of other words stronger?A. quiteB. considerablyC. slightlyD. a bit
Ws/E3.1� Copyright © Tribal Education Limited 2007
Additional materials Literacy Entry 3
Writing sentences
Answers
Practice 1
Nouns Adjectives Verbs Adverbs
water salted, boiling drain well
strips stir
pan add
heat cook
Practice 2
a. You may have written something like this:
A strange shape was slowly coming towards him. Just as it reached the door it stopped suddenly, turned swiftly and then changed direction, gliding softly across the floor.
b. The four adverbs are in bold:
It was windy as Punam walked carefully and deliberately to the house. He heard a noise and turned suddenly. After a moment of panic, he whispered hoarsely, ‘Who’s there?’ But there was no answer.
c. Ronaldo is an extremely fit player with a very high energy level. He can be quite flamboyant both on and off the pitch.
Practice 3
Show your work to your tutor.
Check your skills
1 C
2 D
3 C
4 A
5 B
Writing sentences
Ws/E3.1� Copyright © Tribal Education Limited 2007
