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 is asleep
Seamus
likes
warmth
Essential ingredients:
•Subject
•Verb chain
•Tells us about one thing
Old Seamus is positively
knackered
Seamus
smells rather
badly
Seamus has a
chronic
haemorrhoid
problem
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
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.
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
Conjunction:
because
although
as
MAIN CLAUSE
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
old
house is
musty
smelly
revolting
menacing
Simple sentences don’t need to be
short, if we use modification ..
Modifying an adjective with an adverb:
The
old
house is too menacing
really
horribly
very
Simple sentences don’t need to be
short, if we use modification ..
Modifying a verb with an adverb:
The wolf yawns imperceptibly in his sleep
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
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
GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS
COHESION:
Pronouns and other
connectives
-3-
COHESION
Cohesion is the way we show the reader the
‘direction’ of a text using ...
PRONOUNS:
CONNECTIVES:
she / he / it / they / we / us
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 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
And that’s
all there is
to it ...
GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS
1 - Sentence types
(co-ordination & subordination)
2 -Modification
3 - Cohesion
- -