Download betty wiebe - Aurora Middle School

Writing With Style
Adapted from Blended Structure and Style by
Betty Wiebe
L a ngu age Art s 9
Writing 101
Dressups and Openers are the key to successful
writing in Language Arts 9!
What the %$& are
dressups and openers?
Openers
are added to the
beginning of
sentences to add
variety and maintain
tone and flow
Dressups
are found in the
middle of a sentence
and add interest
Identifying Openers
Activity
There are 6 categories of openers
They include subject,
prepositional, “ly”,
ing/ed, clausal and VSS type openers.
1. Subject Openers
As it indicates, these are the nouns, pronouns, and articles (a/and/the) in
your writing
THEY ARE BORING!!!
Limited to 1 subject opener per paragraph. I am very strict about this!!
Are identified by a 1 in the margin of your writing, OR with a number at
the beginning of your paragraph.
Read through your first paragraph and identify the subject openers by
placing a “1.” at the beginning of each sentence that has a subject opener.
Prepositional Openers
Are still found at the beginning of sentences!
Shows position
Use the sentence “______ the tree” to see if it is
actually a preposition
You will be provided with a sample list for this.
Identify Prepositions with a “2.” in the margin.
Around the fire, the kids roasted marshmallows.
ly opener
use from prepared list
do not OVERUSE!
is identified by a “3”
‘ing/ed’ Openers
These are participles.
Refers to what might be called a verb's action noun, which is one of the
uses of the -ing or -ed form.
Talk-ing (present participle, also known as gerunds)
Talk-ed (past participle)
Are identified with a “4.” at the start of the sentence.
Talking to the other at the electronics store, the man convinced them that
the iPods were cheaper at BestBuy.
Clausal Openers
Use the acronym WWW.ASIA to remember the clausals! Are identified by
“5.” at the beginning of sentence.
MUST have a comma in the sentence to make sense!
W- when, w-while, w- where,
A- as
S- since
I- if
A- although
VSS- Very short sentence
5 words or less!
are used to provide variety or say something important or dramatic
add depth and meaning to writing
MUST BE A REAL SENTENCE- include a verb and a complete thought
Can be changed to be a 1 word sentence
eg. Children(subject) ran(verb) amok everywhere! Wow!
Are identified by “6.” in the margin or at the beginning of sentence.
Assignment
Using your new knowledge of OPENERS, add a
different opener for each sentence in your
paragraphs. You can only use the SUBJECT
opener ONCE!
Dressups
are found in the
middle of a sentence
and add interest
are identified by
underlining the
dressup in the
sentence
Dressups
There are 9 dressups, with 6 of them being used
most frequently:
1. who/which
2. “ly” words
3. becuase
4. Strong verb
5. quality adjective
6. WWW.ASIA
7. dual verbs
8. noun clause
9. adverbial and adjectectival teeter totters
who/which
adjective clause, found in the MIDDLE of a
sentence
eg: The lion who felt helpless was most grateful
for the assistance of the little mouse.
“ly” word
is an adverb
use the list of “ly” adverbs from Mr. Nichol
eg. The fox casually mentioned how pleased he
would be to hear the crow sing.
because
is an adverb clause
eg. The hare was delighted because he knew it
would be an easy race against the tortoise.
Strong Verb
Use a thesaurus, check the banned word list from
Mr. Nichol
Quality Adjective
Use a thesaurus, check the banned word list from
Mr. Nichol
eg. The tired and weary clydesdale appreciated a
rest stop for a drink and a carrot.
www.asia
adverb clause, middle of sentence
Eg. The hair dozed peacefully while the tortoise
plodded persistently.
Eg. The cheese dropped to the ground when the
crow began to sing.