Download Craft Table for A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L`Engle Craft Moves

Craft Table for A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Craft Moves
appositive
phrases
Page
Numbers
bottom of p. 4
middle of p. 5
middle of p.6
bottom of p. 6
top of p. 8
participial
phrases
middle of p. 3
bottom of p. 5
top of p. 6
top of p. 11
delayed
adverbs
middle of p. 3
middle of p. 5
middle of p. 11
sentence
fragments
top of p. 4bottom of p. 4
middle of p. 5
semicolons
bottom of p. 6
middle of p.
11-bottom of
p. 11
top of p. 16
Explanations
Writers use noun phrases as appositives in order to add more detail to
a character or object. L’Engle uses appositive phrases repeatedly
throughout the first chapter of A Wrinkle in Time to introduce many of
the new characters. For example, the appositive phrases used to
describe Sandy, Dennys, and Charles Wallace reveal the relationship
that Meg has with each of her brothers. Appositives might also connect
and classify characters in relationship to the setting or plot, create
interesting sentence structure, and add sensory detail to the text.
Because participles are verbals ending in ~ed or ~ing, writers can use
participial phrases to add a sense of action to a sentence without the
clunkiness of excessive compound verbs. Participial phrases are set off
by commas, making them extremely versatile; authors can flexibly vary
the structure of the sentences by moving participial phrases around.
L’Engle uses participial phrases to give extra description to her
characters and the setting without interrupting the action, like on page
11 when depicting both the helpful and gentle nature of Charles
Wallace. “His pajamaed feet padding softy” shows his tender demeanor
without detracting from the action verbs of the sentence—“slid down
from his chair and trotted over to the refrigerator”—on his way to
prepare sandwiches for his mother and Meg.
The flexibility of adverbs gives writers the freedom to manipulate the
order of action and description within their sentences. Delayed adverbs
appear after the verb they are describing in a sentence, to offer further
information about when, where, or how an action is taking place.
L’Engle sometimes uses delayed adverbs to sustain a sort of rhythm
and meter in her sentences, such as “the window rattled madly in the
wind” on page 5 during her description of the thunderstorm. In other
instances, the placement of the adverb in relation to the verb alters
where the emphasis occurs in the sentence, so L’Engle designs her
sentences to fluctuate between accenting the describers or the actions
depending upon what is of greater significance.
Writers sometimes use fragments to break up the rhythm and flow of
their writing. L’Engle employs sentence fragments to depict the stream
of consciousness in Meg’s thinking. These incomplete sentences reflect
the scattered, illogical pattern of Meg’s ideas, and even mirror the
jagged rhythm of the thunderstorm rattling the walls of Meg’s attic
bedroom. In this way, the fragments are effective in giving a feeling of
immediacy to Meg’s thoughts, as the reader seems to receive them as
quickly as Meg thinks them.
In contrast to the short, broken rhythm created by sentence fragments,
L’Engle utilizes semicolons to construct lengthy descriptions. Writers
can use semicolons to join complete independent clauses without the
full stop that periods produce. Thus, semicolons supply a relationship
between the ideas they connect. These elongated sentences create a
smooth, pervasive calm in the description of the warm, safe kitchen
and the presence of Meg’s mother and brother—starkly dissimilar to
the fragmented description of the thunderstorm outside.