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