How much grammar do I need to know?

How much grammar do I need to know? www.geoffbarton.co.uk

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS 1 - Sentence types (co-ordination & subordination) 2 -Modification 3 - Cohesion - -

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS SENTENCE TYPES - 1 -

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 smells rather badly • Essential ingredients: • Subject • Verb chain • Tells us about one thing Seamus is asleep Seamus has a chronic haemorrhoid problem Seamus likes warmth Old Seamus is positively knackered Old Seamus used to be fun

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS COMPOUND SENTENCES / CCORDINATION - 1 -

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 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

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES 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. MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATION

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES The sea bass,which was filmed two days ago, cruises slowly through the ocean. SUBORDINATE CLAUSE SUBORDINATION

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES Starting at the bottom, it works its way upwards. SUBORDINATION

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES Starting at the bottom, it works its way upwards. MAIN CLAUSE

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES Starting at the bottom, it works its way upwards. SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES He moves upwards because he senses danger. SUBORDINATION

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES He moves upwards because he senses danger. MAIN CLAUSE

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES He moves upwards because he senses danger. SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

3: COMPLEX SENTENCES VISUAL GRAMMAR

MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE

MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE • Conjunction: • because • although • as

SUBORDINATE CLAUSE MAIN CLAUSE • Conjunction: • because • although • as

SUBORDINATE CLAUSE MAIN CLAUSE Make sure the subject agrees -Ing verb: • Walking • Thinking • Hoping

SUBORDINATE CLAUSE MAIN CLAUSE Make sure the subject agrees -ed verb: • Frustrated • Destroyed • Undermined

MAIN CLAUSE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE • relative pronoun: • Who • Which • That

Handy Conjunctions 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

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 ..

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS Modification - 2 -

Simple sentences don’t need to be short, if we use modification .. Modifying a noun with an adjective: The house is menacing old musty smelly revolting

Simple sentences don’t need to be short, if we use modification .. Modifying an adjective with an adverb: The house is menacing old too really horribly very

Simple sentences don’t need to be short, if we use modification .. Modifying a verb with an adverb: The wolf yawns in his sleep imperceptibly lazily uneasily frighteningly

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

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS COHESION: Pronouns and other connectives - 3 -

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

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 SPOT THE COHESION DEVICES At around £1 for a large fruit, the pineapple isno 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

And that’s all there is to it ...

GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS 1 - Sentence types (co-ordination & subordination) 2 -Modification 3 - Cohesion - -

How much grammar do I need to know?