The linguistic challenges of the text: A bus called heaven by Bob Graham
Notice the verbs/verb chains in the sentences. The variety
verbs in the text will present a challenge for EAL/D learners.
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saying verbs (‘verbal processes’) are used to help the
reader become familiar with the way the characters speak
and interact with each other (Derewianka, 2011, p. 21).
whispered, said, gasped, pleaded, cheered, spoke, asked
action verbs (‘material processes’) are used to describe
the actions of the characters. These verbs create a sense
of dynamic action in the text: spun, carried, drew, mopped,
scrubbed, polished, scratched, causing, dropped, came,
arrived, showed, paint, followed, play, nesting, smacked,
scored, put, flapping, started, rose, drifted, slid, fly, ran,
come, began, rose, staying, slowed, pushed, climbed,
stopped
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action verbs to describe characters’ behaviour
(‘behavioural processes’). These verbs tend to represent
bodily actions that tell the reader how the participant is
behaving: talked, settled, fluttered, crawled, played,
dancing, planned, laughed, pat, carried, lent, met, join,
shook, crept, danced, took, stood
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sensing verbs (‘mental processes’)
thinking: called
perceiving: see, looked
feeling and wanting: needed
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relating verbs (relational attributive role to link two pieces
of information): is, was, has, were, are, appeared
Which voice is used? (passive/active)
The body of the text is written in an active voice. The passive
voice is evident in the following examples where the do-er is not
evident:
…meetings were planned…
(It was) Abandoned. The subject ( it or the bus) and verb was
are ellipsed.
Three rescued snails…
…the grass was danced flat around a bus called Heaven.
Are there auxiliary verbs used? E.g. modal verbs (might,
may etc) Modal auxiliaries:
Modal auxiliaries function in the text to indicate the degree of
certainty surrounding the action or event (Derewianka, 2011, p.
30). They may present a challenge to EAL/D learners if they use
different patterns of interaction in their own cultures (Derewianka,
2011, p.131).
…where no bus should be. Expressing medium modality.
…you could almost see through her. Expressing low modality.
The word almost tempers the statement.
The bus has to go. Expressing high modality.
You can paint the whole bus… Expressing medium modality
She took her thumb from her mouth, where it usually lived…
Here the statement is tempered in terms of ‘how often’ by using
the word usually.
It needs to come off the road… Expressing medium modality.
Are there a range of tenses being used?
The main body of the text is set in the past, common in the
narrative. The simple past tense and the progressive and perfect
aspects of time are used. The dialogue, representing spoken
language in the text, is in the simple present tense as this tense
is used to talk about the action that is happening in the present
(Derewianka, 2011, p. 27).
Notice the sentence structures.
The sentences focus on the characters actions and reactions to
the arrival, the renovation, the removal and the eventual return of
the old bus. The development of the main character, Stella, her
actions and observations build the tension in the text. The
dialogue is important to move the complication along.
Other examples of theme choices that are used to push the
discourse forward in the narrative are:
Circumstances in position of theme:
The use of ‘marked themes’ foregrounds circumstantial meanings
in some sentences in the text. Circumstances of time, place, and
manner are evident (Derewianka, 2011, p. 67). At sentence level
the theme controls the flow of information. The author uses
marked themes as a cohesive device and also as an evocative
device to make the point more clearly to the reader. For
example:
Time (When?):
Next morning, Stella looked out…
That day, the bus settled in.
That night, the bus saw…
How are clauses used? Are there dependent clauses? What
function are they performing and where are they in the
sentence?
There are dependent clauses of Time, Place and Manner made
thematic (put up front) in the sentences. The dependent clauses
function to give the reader more information about the process
such as When? Why? How? With whom? These details
surrounding the activity are called circumstances (Derewianka,
2011, p. 66). EAL/D learners will need to explicitly learn the
different kinds of circumstances so that they can extend their
language use and learn to build more complex meanings.
Next morning, Stella drew…
One Saturday morning, just outside Stella’s house…(When
followed by Where)
That evening, in the vacant…
And when the old bus came to rest at last, everyone else needed
a rest too.
Place (Where?):
Amid the frantic flapping of the parent sparrow’s wings, Joe the
Boneyard Boss…
Manner (how?):
Tired, old and sick, it (the bus) had a painted sign on it…
Prepositional phrases as qualifiers tell us more about the
Thing by locating it in space or time:
The bus appeared one morning from a sea of traffic – right
[outside Stella’s house]…
Example of simple sentence:
Stella, the colour of moonlight, stood [among the bottles, cans
and rubbish].
Example of compound sentence:
(2 or more independent clauses)
... it needs to come [off the road]…
Stella’s fingers fluttered and her footballers spun.
2 independent clauses connected by the subordinating
conjunction and.
The wheels stick out [on the pavement]…
A little pink glow crept across Stella’s cheek.
1 independent clause.
Stella looked [out of her front window].
People sat [on the wall]…
Weeds nudged up [around the tyres].
…sparrows nested [in the old engine].
Example of complex sentence:
(1 independent clause and 1 dependent clause)
Amid the flapping of the parent sparrow’s wings, Joe the
Boneyard Boss spoke quietly.
The first clause is a dependent or subordinate clause indicating a
circumstance of place telling the reader where the action is
happening followed by an independent clause.
…snails dropped [from under the bus]…
Example of complex/compound sentence:
…music drifted high [over the city]…
Three rescued snails were [deep in her pocket].
…three snails slid safely back [under the tyres].
…the vacant allotment just [behind Stella’s house]…
Notice the phrases.
Are there expanded phrases which may be difficult?
While the others pushed, she and Mum sat up front to
steer…almost back to where they’d started from.
While is a subordinating conjunction of time (how long?). 4
clauses of which 3 are dependent and 1 independent.
While the others pushed = dependent clause
she and Mum sat up front = independent clause
to steer = dependent clause
almost back to where they’d started from = dependent clause
Adverbial phrases: construct circumstances to do with time,
place, manner, purpose, reason:
Circumstances not in position of theme:
There are several noun phrases or groups in the text. They work
to describe the characters and help to set the scenes in the text
(Derewianka, 2011, p. 42).
Stella, the colour of moonlight, stood among the bottles, cans
and rubbish.
Stella is the noun. The colour of moonlight is an evaluative
describer. Stood among the bottles, cans and rubbish is a
prepositional phrase as a qualifier. The qualifier adds richness to
the noun phrase. In this case it locates Stella.
…a bit of new paint.
Paint is the noun. New is the factual describer. A bit tells how
much and precedes the factual describer new as it is less fixed.
Time (When?):
The bus appeared one morning…
Place (Where?):
The traffic slowed where no traffic had slowed before.
Cause (Why? What for? Purpose):
Stella drew a picture for the Ratz to copy.
Expressions:
Formulaic language
…out of the way.
…on board
…came to rest
…hand painted
…excuse me…
…end to end…
…that old bus is as sad as a whale on a beach.
Figurative use of language
Bus is the noun followed by a circumstance of Manner: what like? Idiomatic expressions:
(comparison) as sad as a whale on a beach
A pair of sparrows…
Shook his head…meaning a negative response
The bus appeared from a sea of traffic…
A mixture of factual and evaluative describers are used in the
Goalie meaning the goalkeeper in football
text.
A little pink glow
…silver trails
Similes:
…a pair of sparrows
…that old bus is sad as a whale on a beach.
Phrasal verbs:
Sticks out, held down, up front, settled in
Collocating words: words that occur together:
E.g. …come and see, she said. Rather than see and come.
Theme:
Words related to the bus: bus, on board, traffic, steer
Words that are related to the wrecking yard: boneyard, crusher,
boneyard boss, the driver, tow truck.
Words related to body parts: hand, cheek, head
Notice the words.
Means of cohesion
Are there technical words, subject specific words or
Referring words: Tracking the participants, pronouns, articles.
examples of nominalisations (processes turned into nouns)? Characters:
Stella, kid
Dad
 technical / specialized words:
regulations, handles, vacant allotment, tyres, engine,
pavement, packing tape, crusher, boneyard, Supercomix
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new/challenging words:
traffic, tow truck, flat, crowd, hand painted sign, among,
almost, amid, frantic, goal, sparkle, moonlight, no one,
anyone
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nominalisations:
…causing an obstruction
…came with donations….
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abstract nouns:
somewhere, an idea, a change, a twittering, the reply, a
rest, the first time, life, meetings, laughter, music
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Synonyms: mopped, scrubbed, polished
wheels, tyres
Are there familiar words ‘acting’ differently in this text?
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As the front wheels left the ground… Left is used here to
mean lose contact with rather than referring to direction.
The bus brought change to Stella’s street. Change is
used here to describe something new happening on the
street rather than meaning small amounts of money.
She took her thumb from her mouth, where it usually
lived… The action verb lived is used in an unusual way to
describe how Stella’s thumb is always residing in her
mouth.
Means of cohesion (continued)
the bus, this one
the grown-ups, the crowd, babies, people, kids, granddads,
couples, the Fingles, everyone
the snails
the driver, Boneyard Boss
sparrow parents, sparrow chicks
Personal Pronouns:
You (Stella) tell me why should I play you…
She (Stella) She was so pale…
I (Stella) …but if I win…
They (the people)…but they talked.
Possessive pronouns:
Her (Stella) She took her thumb for her mouth…
Ours (the community’s) …it could be ours…
Their (the crowd) The crowd pleaded for their bus…
Articles:
Indefinite article indicating a general reference:
That old bus is sad as a whale on the beach.
Definite article indicating a specific reference:
Under the bus were Esther…
Ellipisis:
She followed that with nine more (goals) – and (she) won!
The noun goals and personal pronoun she are ellipsed.
Text connectives
Words that act as signposts to show how sections of text are
both developed and linked (Derewianka, 2011, p.153).
Repetition
As life returns to the old bus the author repeats the structure of
the phrases in the sentence. They are short and sharp yet able to Clarifying:
That’s my regulation.
give the reader a snap shot of how the bus has been
transformed. The action verbs help to create a sense that there
has been a big change.
Life returned to the old bus…
Babies crawled, people laughed, kids fought, granddads
scratched dogs, meetings were planned, couples met and the
Fingles showed their holiday pictures.
Showing cause / result:
The ball smacked end to end, then…goal!
Indicating time:
Next morning, Stella looked out…
That day, the bus settled in.
Other patterns repeated in the text:
The traffic slowed where no traffic had slowed before.
People sat on the wall, where no one had sat before.
…there was music and dancing, there were picnics and
laughter…
Sequencing ideas:
Then she pushed open the door…
Adding information:
Well, whoever’s it is…