Higher Close Reading

1. Higher Close Reading Sentence Structure

2. It’s Not Hard! • Identify the feature • Comment on the effect of the feature • Remember, it is analysis, so it is more than just the meaning

3. List Series Parallelism Climax/ anti-climax Repetition Expansion Colon/ semi-colon Short sentence Minor sentence Balance Antithesis Parenthesis Point of view Triad Position of “And…” Direct address Key Terms

4. Types of sentence • Statement – narrative/ factual writing • Question – reflective/ emotional writing * rhetorical question • Exclamation – conveys tone of amazement, shock – any strong emotion • Command – used in instructions and in persuasive (e.g. advertisements)

5. Minor Sentence • Where the verb is omitted for dramatic effect • Usually some form of the infinitive ‘to be’ e.g. He looked in his rear view mirror. Nothing coming. • Creates impact, suspense or urgency • Suggests informality • Could be an abbreviation (notes/ diary)

6. Antithesis • contrasting relationship between two ideas • antithesis emphasises the contrast between two ideas. The structure of the phrases / clauses is usually similar in order to draw the reader's / listener's attention directly to the contrast. • That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind . (Neil Armstrong) • To err is human ; to forgive, divine. (Pope) • It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father. (Pope)

7. Point of view • Structure used to reinforce/ reflect the author's viewpoint

8. Balance • Created, usually, by some form of parallel structure or repetition • Look at the paragraph structure • Balance of ideas? • Key words to indicate this?

9. Direct address • 2nd person • Addresses reader directly to create relationship • Forces reader to consider point made and own opinion • Engages reader with the point/ argument

10. Triad • List of 3 • ‘magic number’ which appears in writing • Refer to context – not merely identify

11. Position of “And…” • Used to the start of a sentence to emphasise • Isolates and reinforces an additional point. • Grammatically incorrect – deliberately. • Refer to context

12. There are 5 Main Possibilities • Punctuation and lists • Length of sentence • Use of climax or anti-climax • Repetition • Word order Memorise them and use them to check against the sentences you have been asked to examine

13. Lists • Numbers of items separated by punctuation (usually commas or semi-colons) form lists • Recognising a list will get you 0 • You must comment on its function and impact.

14. List • Listing of items , consequences or ideas • Not “commas make up a list”- items are the list not the punctuation mark • Make clearer • Emphasise volume • Reinforce ideas • Suggest scope • context

15. How do deal with a ’list’ question • Identify the list • Say what effect the list has on the reader • The effect will often be created by the cumulative nature, or the monotony, or the shape of the list.

16. Example 1 • Comment on the structure and effect of this sentence. (2A) • The Scottish race has been variously and plentifully accused of being dour, mean, venal, sly, narrow, slothful, sluttish, dirty, immoderately drunk, embarrassingly sentimental, masterfully hypocritical, and a blueprint for disaster when eleven of them are together on a football field.

17. Answer • The sentence consists of a long list of faults of the Scots. It makes their faults seem endless, as if there were no hope of redeeming features.

18. Example 2 Show how the writer uses the sentence structure to enlist your sympathy for Mohammed Ali. (2A) What overwhelms you about this man from such a violent trade are the goodness, sincerity and generosity that have survived a lifetime of controversy, racial hatred, fundamental religious conversion, criminal financial exploitation, marital upheavals, revilement by many of his own nation and, eventually, the collapse of his own body.

19. Answer • There are two lists here. Here is an answer for the second longer list: • The list of all the adversities that Mohammed Ali had to face impresses on you what a mountain of difficulties there were piled up against him, so that you sympathise with his situation.

20. Sentence length • Easy to spot; hard to comment on • Generally what you will notice is a short sentence • Normally Higher passages have sentences of some length and complexity so the short sentence (simple or minor) stands out. • Remember it’s not that it is short or long but what its impact is you are being asked for.

21. Example 1 • Show how the sentence structure emphasises the impact of the destruction of his bat. (2A) I used that bat the entire summer and a magical season it was. I was the best hitter in the neighbourhood. Once, I won a game in the last at-bat with a home run, and the boys just crowded round me as I were a spectacle to behold, as if I were, for one small moment, in this insignificant part of the world, playing this meaningless game, their majestic, golden prince. But the bat broke. Some kid used it without my permission. He hit a foul ball and the bat split, the barrel flying away, the splintered handle still in the kid’s hands.

22. Answer • The short sentence ‘But the bat broke.’ is a dramatic sentence which puts and end to the glory that has been built up surrounding the bat in the previous paragraph. It marks a sudden event which takes the reader by surprise. Its position as a link sentence at the beginning of the paragraph stresses the contrast between the triumph of the previous paragraph and the disaster of the next paragraph.

23. Example 2 • But then, like the cavalry regrouping, they set off once more, ground their way back up to speed, beat a path through the final verse and ended again. Simon’s final flourish sounding a little more sheepish this time. After that they were gone. And no encores. • Show how the sentence structure emphasises the failings of the band.

24. Climax and Anti-climax • Sometimes easy to identify, especially if in a list of three things or in a long sentence. Bur what if it is more subtle? For example: • We are not going to be identified as a ‘growing social problem’, as the social commentators would have us labelled, but as a thriving, gossiping and defiant sisterhood. How does the sentence structure emphasise her positive point of view? (2A)

25. Answer Clues for climax • There is list • There is a build up • The negative ideas are at the beginning • The ideas become more positive Anti-climax would reverse 2 and 4

26. Example 3 The Scottish race has been variously and plentifully accused of being dour, mean, venal, sly, narrow, slothful, sluttish, dirty, immoderately drunk, embarrassingly sentimental, masterfully hypocritical, and a blueprint for disaster when eleven of them are together on a football field. Comment on the structure and effect of this sentence.

27. Repetition • Repetition of sentence structure ie word order or parts of speech or patterns • Repetition of words or expressions • Repetition of sounds (Remember it is the impact of the repetition not just identification of it that gets marks.)

28. Repetition • Words or phrases are repeated throughout the text to emphasise certain facts or ideas • Use of structural repetition • Down. Down. Down.. Would the fall never come to an end! “ I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?”she said aloud.Down. Down. Down There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. • America at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness.America at its best, is also courageous. Our national courage is compassionate. In the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promise.