Download Participles - JJ Daniell Middle School

Integrating
Grammar
Into Your
Writing
How is a writer like an artist?
5 Basic Brush Strokes
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The participle
The absolute
The appositive
Shifted adjectives
Action verbs
Painting with Participles
• Picture in your mind’s eye, rats nearby.
Participle
A participle is a verb ending in
–ing or –ed that is acting like an
adjective in a sentence
Which image captures the picture?
The sewer rats
devoured their
food.
Wailing, shoving,
and gnawing, the
sewer rats
devoured their
food.
Participles BRING Action
to your WRITING
– Wailing their high-pitched voices and shoving
their skeletal cold bodies, the sewer rats
devoured the school lunch thrown in the
dumpster.
– Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed
its club with Harry clinging on for dear life; any
second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch
him a terrible blow with the club.
» -Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
Capture this picture by using a
participle in your description.
Absolute
• A two-word combination
– A noun and an ing or ed verb added onto
a sentence.
• Example:
– The squirrel scrambled up the tree. (no
absolute)
– Claws digging, legs kicking, the squirrel
scrambled up the tree.
• Mind racing, anxiety overtaking, the
diver peered once more at the
specimen. (E. Stralka)
• As Dorothy gazed upon this in wonder
and fear the eyes turned slowly and
looked at her sharply and steadily.
Then the mouth moved, and Dorothy
heard a voice say:
“I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Who are
you?” The Wizard of Oz
Capture this picture by using
an absolute in your description.
Painting with Appositives
• A noun that adds a second image to a
preceding noun
– Expands details in the reader’s
imagination
Enhance the First Image
• FIRST IMAGE: The criminal lurks in the streets.
• The criminal, a scandalous thief, lurks
in the streets.
• The criminal, a scandalous thief
in search of worldly possessions,
lurks in the streets.
The fish, a slimy mass of flesh, felt
the alligator’s giant teeth sink into his
scales as he struggled to get away. (L. Kannen)
“A balrog, a demon of the ancient
world,” Gandalf cried, “this foe is beyond
any of you. Run!” The fellowship ran. (Lord of
the Rings)
Capture this picture by using an
appositive in your description.
Painting with Adjectives Shifted
Out of Order
• Used more often by fiction authors
– Amplify the details of image
Correcting the Overload
of Description
Shifted Adjectives
• The large, red-eyed, angry officer
arrested the intruder.
Better– The large officer, red-eyed and angry,
arrested at the intruder.
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.
-A Day No Pigs Would Die
The boxer, twisted and tormented, felt no compassion
for his contender. (C. Hloros)
The cheetah, tired and hungry, stared at the gazelle,
which would soon become his dinner. (Z. Vesoulis)
Capture this picture by using
shifted adjectives in your
description.
Painting with Action
Verbs
• Eliminating passive voice
action)
(communicate no
• Reducing being verbs
• Action verbs replace still photos with
motion pictures
• Bring an inanimate object to life with
action verbs
Being Verb:
The dirt path was around the prison
Action Verb:
The dirt path twisted around the
prison.
First Draft
Rockwell was a beautiful
lake. Canadian geese could
be heard across the water
bugled like tuneless
trumpets. Near the shore,
two children were hidden
behind a massive maple
tree. Watching quietly,
they hoped to see the first
gosling begin to hatch.
Tiny giggles escaped their
whispers of excitement.
Final Draft
Rockwell Lake echoed with
the sounds of Canadian geese.
Their honking bugled across
the water like tuneless
trumpets. Two children hid
behind a massive maple tree.
They silently watched, hoping
to see the first gosling hatch.
Tiny giggles escaped their
whispers of excitement.
COMBINING STROKES
“Oh, right!” said Hermione, and she whipped out her
wand, waved it, muttered something, and sent a jet
of the same bluebell flames she had used on Snape at
the plant. In a matter of seconds, the two boys felt
it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light
and warmth. Wriggling and flailing, it unraveled
itself from their bodies, and they were able to pull
free.
Lucy you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione,”
said Harry as he joined her by the wall, wiping sweat
off his face.
Capture this picture by combining
at least two “brush strokes” in
your description.
Extras…..
Examples of Brushstrokes.
Pictures to use as writing hooks.
Image Grammar Web Page.