Spivey for the Spirited: Introduction and Action Expanders

1. Spivey for the Spirited: Introduction and Action Expanders S. Hutson

2. Spivey will turn your writing from • This • To THIS! In just minutes a day!

3. We Can Grow Our Writing Skills • From acorn • To tree

4. Each individual leaf is a paragraph or page from our writing portfolio. The branches are phrases and clauses. The tree’s trunk is a simple sentence. Imagine that the roots of a tree are words.

5. Two Sides of the Tree One side of Our Tree will Represent “Noun Expanders”. One side of our Tree will represent “Action Expanders”.

6. Expanders add Details What? When? Who? Where? Why? How? Under What Condition?

7. Start with the MST ( (Main Sentence Trunk ) 5 Criteria for a Sentence: It must begin with a capital. It must contain a noun as the subject. It must contain a verb as the predicate. It must end with punctuation: . ! ? It must express a complete thought.

8. Nouns name a Person, Place, or Thing Common Nouns • boy • principal • park • city • vampire • building Proper Nouns • Joey • Mrs. Stillman • Central Park • San Diego • Dracula • Twin Towers Nouns answer the question Who or What?

9. Pronouns • Single Subject Pronouns • I • You • He • She • It • Plural Subject Pronouns • We • You • They • Single Object Pronouns • Me • You • Him • Her • It • Plural Object Pronouns • Us • You • Them

10. Verbs show Action!!! • Run – zip, dart, jog, race, canter, sprint, rush • Walk – amble, saunter, hike, parade, march, stride, trudge, stroll, lumber • Say – exclaim, state, vocalize, declare, ramble Verbs answer the question Does / Did / Will Do What Action?

11. Like top hats and bow ties, Articles are OptionalA man jogged. / Mr. Short jogged.An elephant lumbered. / Babar lumbered.The teacher rambled. / Mrs. Hutson rambled.

12. We start with a recipe for MST: Main Sentence Trunk • MST = (Article: A, An, or The) + Noun + Verb.

13. Choose Your Words Use SpecificNouns and Vivid Verbs Use word choice to make even simple sentences POP!

14. Name a Specific Who/What!Pair with a Vivid Verb! The horse ran. Can become… The majestic chestnut mare galloped.

15. Code an MST First, mark the capital by underlining the first letter three times. Second, circle the noun. Next, zigzag the verb by drawing four small triangles under it. Finally, circle the ending punctuation. 4 codes should equal a complete thought. A crocodile slithered.

16. Code Practice • Rhinos rumble! • Crocodiles cruise. • Bears battle!

17. Add a Fantastic Adjective (Adjectives describe the Noun ) Cute Cuddly Vicious Angry Howling Smart Clever Worried Talkative

18. MST + Adjective • The crying boy pouted. (Which boy pouted?) • The frustrated teacher grimaced. (Which teacher grimaced?) • The calm water pooled. (Which body of water pooled?) Code your MSTs / Color your adjectives

19. LET’s Expand The ACTION!

20. When Expanders When Expanders tell When the action took place. The sea turtle swam. When did the sea turtle swim? After midnight, the sea turtle swam. The sea turtle swamafter midnight. (Notice the When Expander can be written Before or After the MST. Recipe for When Expanders: MST + When Expander When Expander, MST

21. When Expanders Signal Wordsand Phrases • When Signal Words • As • After • Before • During • Since • Until • When • At • On • While • When phrases • As the tide came in • After midnight • Before the sun rose • During the storm • Since the beginning of time • Until he was safe • At the start of the feeding cycle • On Sunday • While at the island

22. When Expanders in Action! • As the storm set in, the sea turtle swam. • After the rain storm, the sea turtle swam. • Before she ate, the sea turtle swam. • The sea turtle swam during the night. • The sea turtle had been swimming since sunrise.

23. When Expanders Cont’d • Until she knew she was safe, the sea turtle swam. • The sea turtle swam when the whale chased her. • At dawn, the sea turtle swam. • On the eve of the storm,the sea turtle swam.

24. Before and AfterWrite and Code Correctly During the storm, the turtle swam during the storm. After the rains, the turtle swam after the rains. While sharks slept, the turtle swam while sharks slept. Until she was safe, the turtle swam until she was safe.

25. Where Expanders Where Expanders tell Where the action took place. The sea turtle swam. Where did the sea turtle swim? Above the coral, the sea turtle swam. The sea turtle swam above the coral. (Notice the Where Expander can be written Before or After the MST. Recipe for Where Expanders: MST + Where Expander Where Expander, MST

26. Where Signal Words(Prepositions) • Above • Across • Along • Against • Around • Before • Behind • Below • Beneath • Down • From • Inside • Near • On • Outside • Over • Past • Toward • Under • Upon

27. Where Phrases(Prepositional Phrases) • along the shore • against the current • around the island • before the great reef • behind the sail boat • upon the rocks • toward the bay

28. Where Expanders in Action • The sea turtle swam against the current. • The sea turtle swam outside the bay. • The sea turtle swam past the ship. • Beneath the ship’s hull,swam the sea turtle. • Around the island,the sea turtle swam.

29. Before and After • Along the reef, the turtle swam along the reef. • Near the boat, the turtle swam near the boat. • Over the wave, the turtle swam over the wave. • Upon the tide, the turtle swam upon the tide. Recipe Reminder: MST + Where Action Expander Where Action Expander, MST

30. Why Expanders Why Expanders tell Why the action took place. The sea turtle swam. Why did the sea turtle swim? To avoid the whale, the sea turtle swam. The sea turtle swambecause she needed to reach shore. (Notice the Why Expander can be written Before or After the MST. Recipe for Why Expanders: MST + Why Expander Why Expander, MST

31. Why Expander Signal Words and Phrases • Why Signal Words • Because • Since • So that • To + action verb • In order to • Why Phrases • because he was tired • since she had to make up for time lost • so that she could lay her eggs • to reach shore • in order to survive (to survive…)

32. Why Expanders: Examples In order to find her mate, the turtle swam. The turtle swam since she had to lay her eggs.

33. (Why) Before and After To find some food, the turtle swam to find some food. Since he was hungry, the turtle swam since he was hungry. So that he could eat, the turtle swam so that he could eat Recipe Reminder: MST + Why Action Expander Why Action Expander, MST

34. The Because Clause Yes, we can start a sentence with because If We follow it with an MST. Because she needed a place to lay her eggs, the turtle swam. (This is a complete sentence.) “Because she needed a place to lay her eggs” is NOT a complete sentence. It is a FRAGMENT - a piece of a sentence.

35. Because Before and After Because she was a fast swimmer, the sea turtle escaped because she was a fast swimmer. Because she was able to hide, the sea turtle escaped because she was able to hide. Because the ocean coral disguised her, the sea turtle escaped because the ocean coral disguised her.

36. A Word on Fragments Actually, all Action Expanders are fragments. Each Expander is added to an already complete, simple sentence. So, make sure you follow or precede your Expander with an MST. MST + Action Expander or Action Expander, MST

37. Which of these is a fragment? • Because I want to. • Around the road and through the tunnel. • When she was biking. • He ran. • Because she was tired, she took a nap.

38. How Expanders How Expanders tell How the Who / What acted. The sea turtle swam. How did the sea turtle swim? Quickly, the sea turtle swam. The sea turtle swam quickly. (Notice the HowExpander can be written Before or After the MST. Recipe for When Expanders: MST + How Expander How Expander, MST

39. How Signal Words(Adverbs) • Quickly • Slowly • Happily • Sadly • Nervously • Warily • Gracefully • Menacingly • Carefully • Dutifully • Apprehensively • Wisely • Unwisely • Quietly • Energetically • Eagerly

40. How to convert an Adjective into an Adverb (or a What kind into a How) Add LY Drop y Add ily Hungry / Hungrily Dainty / Daintily DROP E ADD LY Gentle / gently Adorable / adorably • Nervous / Nervously • Sad / Sadly • Kind / Kindly • Loud / Loudly • Eager / Eagerly

41. How Signal Words and Phrases • With • Without • Like • Unlike • By • As • with a song in her heart • without a care in the world • like her mother before her • unlike her brother • by being courageous • As quietly as possible

43. How Expandersas Similes Like the bright sun rising over the east, Lilly awoke with a great big smile. Leo moved through the grass like a cat. David ran to the cafeteria as quickly as a bunny. As gently as a butterfly, Flora fluttered to her desk.

44. HowBefore and After Gently, the sea turtle laid her eggs gently. Sadly, the sea turtle swam away sadly. Like a small boat setting sail, the sea turtle swam toward the rising sun like a small boat setting sail. Comma after Before Expanders Period at sentence’s end.

45. Condition Expanders Condition Expanders tell what the situation is regarding the action. Even though the sea turtle swam quickly, she was unable to escape the shark. (What was the sea turtle’s situation?) She couldn’t swim faster than her predator. (Notice the Condition Expander can be written Before or After the MST. Condition Expander, MST MST + Condition Expander

46. Condition Expander Signal Words • Although • Though • If • Even if • Even though • Unless • Despite • In spite of • regardless

47. Condition Expander Clauses • Although the sea was rough, the sea turtle was able to reach the shore. • If the sea turtle were any less determined, she would never be able to swim so many miles. • Despite the cold water, turtle babies are able to protect themselves with their thick skin. • Regardless of the risk, female sea turtles trudge along the shore to lay their eggs.

48. Before and After Condition Expanders • In spite of the oil spill, the sea turtle was able to find fresh sea weed in spite of the oil spill. • Even though people are more careful about protecting the ocean, the creatures of the sea still remain in danger even though people are now more careful about protecting the ocean.

49. Double and Triple Your Expanders • After the storm, the sea turtle swam to shore in order to lay her eggs. (Code and name the Expanders) • When she had laid all her eggs, the sea turtle waddled back into the sea even though a storm was fast approaching. (Code and name the Expanders.)

50. What to include for Stunning Sentence Fluency • Different sentence beginnings. Only repeat beginnings for intentional effect. (Example: He was a stressed out guy. He was a teacher.) • Varied sentence lengths. Count totals of words in each sentence. Make sure you have some long, languid sentences (30 words or more), some short power sentences (one to three or four words long, and some in between sentences. • Keep sentences interesting by combing action expanders together in several sentences.