Download “When an author lacks a visual eye, his or her writing has no

“The writer is an artist, painting images of
life with specific and identifiable brush
strokes.”
“When an author lacks a visual eye, his or
her writing has no heart and soul: images
lie lifeless like cadavers in a morgue.”
Harry Noden, Image Grammar
• When learning to paint, the painter learns
to focus on small pieces of an artwork,
zooming in to examine the effect of the
brushstrokes.
The artist
zooms in on the
picture in order
to study the
brush strokes
used to create
the image. As
writers, we
must do the
same thing.
Compare the following images; the first written by a high
school student,
It was winter. Everything was
frozen and white. Snow had fallen
from the sky for days. The weather
was horrible.
the second by published novelist Brian Jacques.
Mossflower lay deep in the grip of midwinter beneath a
sky of leaden gray that showed tinges of scarlet and
orange on the horizon. A cold mantle of snow draped the
landscape, covering the flatlands to the west. Snow was
everywhere, filling the ditches, drifting high against the
hedgerows, making paths invisible, smoothing the
contours of earth in its white embrace.
The Five Basic Brush Strokes
• Participle
• Appositive
Action Verb
• Adjective
• Absolute
Out of Order
©2011 by Harry Noden from Image Grammar: Teaching Grammar
as Part of the Writing Process, Second Edition. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann
Brush Strokes
7
The Core Sentence
“The car chugged into the parking lot.”
Participle Brush Stroke
• A participle is an -ing verbal placed at the
beginning or end of a complete sentence.
Because it describes the subject, it functions
as an adjective (not as a verb).
• May also have an –ed ending.
©2011 by Harry Noden from Image Grammar: Teaching Grammar
as Part of the Writing Process, Second Edition. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann
Brush Strokes
9
Participle Phrases
• Sliding on the gravel, the car chugged
into the parking lot.
• Clunking, screeching and sputtering,
the car chugged into the parking lot.
Participles Painted by Students
• Melody froze, dripping with sweat, hoping
with all her might that they wouldn’t hear
the noise. A beam of light swung out into the
darkness, searching.
--Becky Swab
• Flying through the air on the wings of a
dream, the Olympic long jumper thrust the
weight of his whole body forward.
--Cathleen Conry
Step 1: Come up
with the Core
Sentence.
Step 2: Add the
Participle Brush
Strokes.
• Practicing intently, Jay knew he would
someday entertain the masses.
• Step One.
Write your
core sentence.
• Step Two.
Now add two
participial
phrases.
Absolute Brush Stroke
• An absolute is a combination of a
noun followed by a participle.
©2011 by Harry Noden from Image Grammar: Teaching Grammar
as Part of the Writing Process, Second Edition. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann
Brush Strokes
14
Absolute Brush Strokes Added
• Engine smoking, gears grinding, the car
chugged into the parking lot.
• Bumper dragging, transmission leaking,
the car chugged into the parking lot.
• The car, engine wheezing, chugged into the
parking lot.
Absolutes Painted by Students
• I glanced at my clock, digits glowing
florescent blue in the inky darkness
of my room.
--Jenn Coppolo
• Mind racing, anxiety overtaking, the
diver peered once more at the specimen.
--Erin Stralka
Step 1:
Come up
with the
Core
Sentence.
Step 2:
Add the
Particple
Brush
Stroke.
• Jaws cracking, tongue curling, the kitten yawned tiredly,
awaking from her nap.
--Tara Tesmer
An Appositive Brush Strokes Added
• The car, a 1936 Ford, chugged into the
parking lot.
• The car, a graduation gift from my
flighty Aunt Rita, chugged into the
parking lot.
Appositives Painted by Students
• The volcano, a ravenous god of fire, spewed forth
lava and ash across the mountain
--Ben Quagliata
• The waterfall, a tilted pitcher, poured the fresh, pure
spray into the creek. The essence of natural beauty,
tranquil and majestic, it seemed to enchant the forest
with a mystical rush that echoed throughout the
untouched virgin paradise.
--Allie Archer
Step 1:
Come up
with Core
Sentence.
Step 2:
Add the
Appositive
Brush
Strokes.
• The sunset, a brilliant red, yellow, and orange
abstract painting, illuminated the landscape.
Adjectives Out of Order Brush
Strokes Added
• The car, dented and rusty, chugged into
the parking lot.
Painting with Adjectives Out of
Order
• “And then, suddenly, in the very dead of the night, there came
a sound to my ears, clear, resonant, and unmistakable.”
--Sir Arthur Conon Doyle, The Hound
of the Baskervilles
• “I could smell Mama, crisp and starched, plumping my pillow,
and the cool muslin pillowcase touched both my ears as the
back of my head sank into all those feathers.”
--Robert Newton Peck, A Day No Pigs Would
Die
Adjectives Out of Order Painted by
Students
• The woman, old and wrinkled, smiled upon her
newborn great-grandson with pride.
--Stephanie Schwallie
• The boxer, twisted and tormented, felt no
compassion for his contender.
--Chris Hloros
• The cheetah, tired and hungry, stared at the gazelle,
which would soon become his dinner.
--Zach Vesoulis
Step 1:
Come up
with Core
Sentence.
Step 2: Add
Adjectives
Out of
Order
• The student, pensive and gifted, envisioned the new
direction for his artwork.
• Step One:
Write a
core
sentence.
• Step Two:
Add
adjectives
out of
order.
Active Verb Brush Stroke
• The gravel road was on the left side of the
barn.
• The gravel road curled around the left side
of the barn.
• Can you see the difference? The verb was creates a
still photograph. The verb curled creates a motion
picture.
©2011 by Harry Noden from Image Grammar: Teaching Grammar
as Part of the Writing Process, Second Edition. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann
Brush Strokes
28
Brush Stroking Active Verbs
• The car chugged into the parking lot.
Brush Stroking Active Verbs
• Passive: The runaway horse was ridden
into town by an old, white-whiskered
rancher.
• Active: The old, white-whiskered rancher
rode the runaway horse into town.
Prepositional Phrases
• Group of words that show the relationship
of a noun or pronoun to another word.
• About, above, according to, across, after,
against, ahead of, along, alongside, along
with, amid, around, as well as, at, before,
below, beneath, beside, besides, between,
beyond, by, but (except), concerning,
despite, down, due to, during, except, for,
from, in spite of, into, like, minus
• Near, of, off, on, onto, opposite, out,
outside, over, past, plus, prior to, since,
through, throughout, till, to, together with,
toward, under, underneath, up, upon, until,
via, with, within, without
Rod Sterling's Sentence
• Between the past and the future, between
sanity and madness, between dreams and
reality, lies the mystery of the 12 Monkeys.
Above the ramp, beneath the vivid blue sky, in
front of the building, on the sidelines . . .
Using this image,
create your
own, original
prepositional
phrases.