Teaching GRAMMAR FOR WRITING
CRAFTING SENTENCES IN
NARRATIVE FICTION
Word class?
cold
‘This is the third cold I’ve had this winter.’
striking
‘That’s a very striking coat you’re wearing.’
escape
‘Any attempt at escape is useless.’
wind
‘You really know how to wind me up!’
swirl
‘Finish with a swirl of cream.’
Word classes in context
It was a bright cold day in April, and the
clocks were striking thirteen. Winston
Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an
effort to escape the vile wind, slipped
quickly through the glass doors of Victory
Mansions, though not quickly enough to
prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering
along with him.
Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell
Aims



To explore ways of teaching students about
sentence construction and sentence variation
To consolidate teachers’ subject knowledge
about sentences
To plan for teaching sentence variety in the
context of narrative fiction
Grammar is what gives sense to language…
Sentences make words yield up their meanings.
Sentences actively create sense in language and
the business of the study of sentences is the
study of grammar.
David Crystal, Rediscover Grammar
Conscious manipulation of syntax deepens
engagement and releases invention.
Ted Hughes
Some basics

What is the difference between a phrase, a
clause and a sentence?
Finite Verbs

Necessary to create a main clause and therefore a
sentence.

They are inflected for person, number and tense (so
changing the tense of a passage is an easy way to
find most of them).

Modal verbs are also finite (would, could, may etc).

Imperatives are finite (Stay! Sit! Eat!).

In a string of verbs, the first verb is the finite one.
Find the finite verbs…
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were
striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled
into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind,
slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory
Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a
swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.
Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell
The Sentence
Simple sentence
 one
clause containing a finite verb (main clause)
Compound sentence
 two
or more coordinated main clauses
Complex sentence
 one
main clause and one or more subordinate
clauses
Simple sentence


One clause containing a finite verb.
A simple sentence can be any length.
The detective hurried along the
street.
The detective hurried along the
rain-swept streets, his hands deep
in his pockets.
With his hands deep in his pockets
one cold November night, the
detective from New York hurried
anxiously along the half-deserted,
rain-swept streets, a troubled
frown on his face.
Identify the simple sentences
I was just pushing the lower half of the ladder back up when I heard
it. There was someone at the front door. I held my breath. It was
OK. They couldn’t get in. I slid my hand into my pocket to make sure
the key was still there. It wasn’t. I’d left it in the front door. I could
hear it turning in the lock now. I raced back up the ladder and
hauled it after me. When I reached down to pull the hatch back up, I
could hear someone coming up the stairs. I quickly pulled the hatch
back into place and scrabbled over to the water tank, holding my
breath.
(From Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce)
Can you add more detail to this sentence so that we have a
clearer picture of the setting, characters and events?
Use only one verb.
• Choose more interesting nouns
A boy and his dog sat in the
The
house was near a road.
road.
(e.g. teenager, pavement)
• Choose a more interesting verb
(e.g. crouched, were curled up)
• Add more information to the verb
with an adverb
(e.g. despairingly, together)
• Add more information to the noun
with an adjective
(e.g. hungry, exhausted)
• Add more information with an
adverbial phrase that tells you where,
when or how something happens
(e.g. outside the supermarket, on a cold
winter’s day, in despair)
• Change the order of words for
emphasis (e.g. by moving the adverb to
the start of the sentence)
Coordination
and…but...or
words:
phrases:
clauses:
words:
phrases:
clauses:
words:
phrases:
clauses:
bread and butter
all the king’s horses and all the king’s men
It’s getting late and I’m tired.
tired but happy
out of sight but not out of mind
I like coffee but love tea.
heads or tails
table d’hôte or à la carte
We can eat in or we can go out.
Compound sentence
It was a bright cold day in April, and the
clocks were striking thirteen.
She was startled and looked at her son.
She looked at her son and was startled.
Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or
BOYFANS but, or, yet, for, and, neither, so
Sentence variety
Some findings from research:

Weaker writers tend to chain together finite clauses,
(most frequently joined with and or by comma
splicing).

Stronger writers use a wider range of non-finite
clauses to add detail, create mood and rhythm.

However, stronger writers also use simple
sentences for effect.
(QCA, 1999; Myhill, 2001)
Subordination

Subordinating conjunctions join a dependent or
subordinate clause to a main clause to create a
complex sentence
e.g. after, although, as, as if, as long as, before, if,
in case, since, unless, while, when(ever),
where(ever), whereas, because

Make up a subordinate clause to precede the
following main clause:
We didn’t wear our coats
How many different ways can you join the main clauses to the
subordinate clauses? Which sentences sound the scariest?
slowly decaying
the house seemed empty
its windows boarded up
covered with ivy
smiling
holding a flickering candle
beckoning me to follow her
a woman stood in the doorway
Complex sentence
A subordinate clause is formed from:
 A subordinating conjunction + finite verb
As she slid down towards the edge....
.....when I heard it.
 A relative pronoun + finite verb
Winston, who was thirty-nine....
 A non-finite verb (present/past participles; the infinitive)
Holding my breath....
Trapped in the attic....
To make sure the key was still there....
Sentence combining
The boy bit his lip. He kept back the tears. He
advanced. The man raised his arm.
Combine:
 to make compound sentences
 to make one complex sentence
The boy, biting his lower lip so as to keep back
the tears, advanced, and the man raised his
arm.
From The Breadwinner, Lesley Halward
Identify subordinate clauses
That was when Iorek moved. Like a wave that has been building its strength
over a thousand miles of ocean, and which makes little stir in the deep water,
but which when it reaches the shallows rears itself up high into the sky,
terrifying the shore-dwellers, before crashing down on the land with irresistible
power – so Iorek Byrnison rose up against Iofur, exploding upwards from his
firm footing on the dry rock and slashing with a ferocious left hand at the
exposed jaw of Iofur Raknison.
It was a horrifying blow. It tore the lower part of his jaw clean off, so that it flew
through the air scattering blood-drops in the snow many yards away.
(Description of the bear fight in Northern Lights by Philip Pullman)
How did Philip Pullman do that?
Iorek Byrnison rose up against Iofur
Like a wave that has been building its strength over a thousand miles of
ocean, Iorek Byrnison rose up against Iofur
Like a wave that has been building its strength over a thousand miles of
ocean, and which makes little stir in the deep water, but which when it
reaches the shallows rears itself up high into the sky, terrifying the
shore-dwellers, before crashing down on the land with irresistible power –
so Iorek Byrnison rose up against Iofur, exploding upwards from his
firm footing on the dry rock and slashing with a ferocious left hand at
the exposed jaw of Iofur Raknison.
‘Conscious control for effect’
And it seemed to happen so slowly, but there was
nothing she could do: her weight shifted, the stones
moved under her feet, and helplessly she began to slide.
In the first moment it was annoying, and then it was
comic: she thought how silly! But as she utterly failed to
hold on to anything, as the stones rolled and tumbled
beneath her, as she slid down towards the edge,
gathering speed, the horror of it slammed into her. She
was going to fall. There was nothing to stop her. It was
already too late.
The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman
Putting verbs in their place…
A squat grey building of only thirty-four
storeys. Over the main entrance the
words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY
AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a
shield, the World State's motto,
COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY.
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
What the Dickens?
LONDON. Michaelmas Term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor
sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much
mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the
face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a
Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine
lizard up Holborn Hill. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots,
making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as fullgrown snow-flakes — gone into mourning, one might imagine, for
the death of the sun. Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses,
scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Foot passengers,
jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill-temper,
and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands
of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the
day broke (if the day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust
upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the
pavement, and accumulating at compound interest.
“I believe the road to hell is
paved with adverbs”
- Stephen King On Writing
Create a word bank of verbs to describe this picture.
Write a short paragraph using your verbs effectively.
Phrases
I lived alone for a long time in the house at the
end of the street.

Noun phrase: the house at the end of the street

Verb phrase: I lived alone

Prepositional phrases: in the house; at the end of
the street

Adjectival phrase: the house at the end of the street

Adverbial phrase: I lived alone for a long time in the
house at the end of the street
Aaagh! Beam me up!
Don’t panic!

Descriptions of grammar or syntax operate on many levels
concurrently.
e.g. A group of words can be a finite subordinate clause and also an
adverbial clause at the same time.
e.g. A prepositional phrase can also be an adjectival phrase.
e.g. A subordinating connective (who) can also be a relative pronoun.

This is not a cause to despair.

You don’t need to know everything!

Concentrate on a few specific points to help students’ writing.

Agree them with each other – and what to call them.
Teaching adverbials

Generic term for words/phrases/clauses that
add detail of when, where and how something
happens:

Time
‘I walked in the dusky evening.’

Place
‘I walked through the shadowy
forest.’

Manner ‘I walked on, feeling afraid’
Teaching Adverbials


Create atmosphere (melodrama, foreboding,
melancholy).
Change verbs, add adverbials (words, phrases or
clauses).
I walked through the city. The sun shone.
Wispy clouds moved across the sky. People
crowded the streets. Still, I was alone.
The power of punctuation

The way a sentence is punctuated
communicates the relative importance and
relevance of points and can create or
solve ambiguities for the reader.

How many different ways can you
punctuate the following:
A woman without her man is nothing
Teaching punctuation
Punctuation is about awareness of grammatical
chunks to split up texts into sentences
indicating clearly where each major chunk of
meaning begins and ends we use capital letters
and full stops within the sentence we use a
variety of punctuation marks to show breaks
between phrases clauses and sometimes words
Teaching punctuation
Punctuation is about awareness of grammatical
chunks. To split up texts into sentences,
indicating clearly where each major chunk of
meaning begins and ends, we use capital letters
and full stops. Within the sentence, we use a
variety of punctuation marks to show breaks
between phrases, clauses and, sometimes,
words.
Punctuate for meaning
Speakers use tone of voice to shape meaning.
Writers use punctuation marks. David Crystal
It’s not there.
It’s not there!
It’s not there?
Writers’ choices
I listened and at last I heard it a tiny squeaking
sound far off like it was coming from another
world.
I listened, and at last I heard it: a tiny squeaking
sound, far off, like it was coming from another
world.
Writers’ choices
Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around them
blocking their way left and right eyes glinted through slits in
hoods a dozen lit wand tips were pointing directly at their
hearts Ginny gave a gasp of horror
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35
Black shapes were emerging out of thin air all around
them, blocking their way left and right; eyes glinted
through slits in hoods, a dozen lit wand tips were
pointing directly at their hearts; Ginny gave a gasp of
horror.
Using commas
We use commas:
 before but in a compound sentence
 to separate the subordinate clause from the
main clause when the subordinate clause
comes first
 after a connective that links across or between
sentences
 to separate items in a list
 round additional information in a sentence that
can be removed without affecting meaning.
Writing conversations
Talking about patterns and features of
language helps pupils to become more
aware of them and so to use them better
as tools for thinking and expression.
Rhetorical grammar rules

Linked to students’ own reading and writing, not studied
separately.

Teaching features and patterns of language and how they
create meaning or effects.

Detailed and explicit discussion about language in context
using real examples, not simplistic descriptions such as
“adjectives create good description” “short sentences
create impact”.

Not focused on accuracy.

Always support technical terminology with examples.
Final Recap

‘Grammar,’ as a word, has many shades of meaning.

When it comes to attempts to describe language, there are
many different ‘grammars’.

Language came first: grammar is just an attempt to describe
it!

You already have expert implicit knowledge about language.

When teaching, remember to focus on language in context
and on how any features you teach can be used in students’
own writing.

Have fun!