STYLE AND EXPRESSION

Common Language

WHY STYLE AND EXPRESSION?

All good authors have a wide variation of sentence structure referred to as syntax.

Increased sentence fluency helps writers write more efficiently.

Good syntax makes writing more interesting.

The writer’s sentence is the golfer’s swing.

A well practiced sentence structure helps provide the writer with a receptacle for their thinking.

NUMERICAL PARAGRAPHING

Sentence Variation

Key: X= a word in a sentence, each line is a sentence.

Good Paragraph: Bad Paragraph:XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

NUMERICAL PARAGRAPHING

NURTURING NOUNSAND

VITALIZING VERBS

Two keys to good writing

1. Nurture your Nouns: Use adjectives to add color and flavor to your nouns.• The swarthy, sunburned, ravenous pirates were in

need of a mother’s love.• The creaky, molded, water soaked, barnacle laden

ship was a home away from home.

2. Vitalize your Verbs: Use Adverbs to provide more detail to your verbs.• Captain Rogers quietly, but forcefully told the crew

to hold steady.• The first mate glared venomously at his fallen foe.

TWO KEYS TO GOOD WRITING

STYLE AND EXPRESSION

Great Lead Techniques

Sailing through the sea mist, pillaging the coastline, reeking havoc in all direction, it’s a pirate’s life for me.

Gasping for breath, churning feet through the water, inhaling the cool ocean, the pirate returned to Davey Jones’ Locker.

Swishing, ripping, tearing through the air, the pirate’s sword looked menacing.

TRIPLE-ING (PRESENT PARTICIPLE PHRASE: 3 VERB + ING + BASE; PARALLELISM)

With waves crashing over the bow, with the wind screaming through the sails, with creeks and cracks bellowing from the mast, the pirate ship ebbed toward destruction.

With an arrow in his back, with a sword puncture in his spleen, with a blackened eye, Captain Rogers drew his last breath.

With screams from innocent villagers, with the musty smell of the ocean bog, with a blood stained deck, a smile lit across the pirate’s face.

TRIPLE-WITH (PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES: 3 WITH PHRASES + BASE)

To fight a pirate is inviting disaster.

To defeat a small band of pirates is no small task.

To sail with the wind is a pirate’s destiny.

INFINITIVE LEAD (TO + VERB)

By keeping a dagger under his pillow, Captain Rogers quieted the mutinous whispers in the night.

By eating a lime a day, the pirates staved off scurvy.

By stealing the captain’s parrot, the town’s people uncovered the location of the buried treasure.

BY VERBING LEAD

Instead of making him walk the plank, Captain Rogers used his hook creatively.

Rather than drinking fresh water, the insane pirate preferred the salty stuff.

Instead of buying a parrot, Captain Ferris perched a My Little Pony on his shoulder.

INSTEAD/RATHER LEAD

What the pirates needed was a few good days of rest in the sun.

When Captain Rogers was on dry land, his spirit grew malcontent.

Why the crew fancied themselves honorable, no one will ever know.

QUESTION WORD LEAD (START WITH A WORD THAT USUALLY BEGINS A QUESTION.)

Like the hellish brute of a father before him, Captain Rogers knew no compassion.

Unlike the pirates of children’s stories, these morbid monsters spoke with the slashing of swords.

LIKE/UNLIKE LEAD (PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES: 3 WITH PHRASES + BASE)

STYLE AND EXPRESSION

OtherTechniques

The pirate rubbed his aching leg, yet it was made of wood.

The parrot spoke pleasantly, but the crew knew he was a biter.

Captain Rogers’ eye patch had a mystical quality, for he could see through the thickest of fog.

COMPOUND SENTENCES USE COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS TO LINK INDEPENDENT CLAUSES (FOR AND NOR BUT OR YET SO)

The shipwrecked pirates kissed the sandy beach, hugged the palm trees, and embraced the island like a long lost love.

Captain Rogers hurtled the deck rail, bolted into the boat, and plunged his strength into the oars.

  The rabid swashbucklers swooshed their

blades, sliced their steel, and stabbed their points violently into the sails of the vessel.

SYNONYM STRING

The pirate was dealt a glancing blow, a blow that rendered him unconscious.

The ship sailed into evil waters, evil waters that echoed with the voices of lost sailors.

The parrot was aware of more than they knew, more than any of them wanted to believe.

REPEAT KEY WORD OR PHRASE (BASE + REPEATED WORD/PHRASE)

The crew, a motley band of scurvy ridden vermin, set out on an epic journey.

The ship, a barely afloat bucket of rust, rested in the marina like a wounded seal.

Captain Rogers’ teeth, a collection of rotting brown maggot holes, smiled at the enemy with contempt.

APPOSITIVE PHRASE (RENAMING THE SUBJECT)

Captain Rogers was the meanest man alive, and yet he’d found true love.

The Pirate ship was held together with twine, moss, and sap, and yet it was the most seaworthy vessel in the fleet.

He never learned to swim, and yet he lived his whole life traversing the ocean blue.

BASE, AND YET

afteralthough as Becausebeforebesidesdespiteeven if if In order sinceso thatthoughunlessuntilwhenwherewhetherwhile

TOP 20 (SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS AND A FEW PREPOSITIONS)

aboard about above across after against along among around at before behind below beneath beside besides between beyond but by Etc.

PREPOSITION STARTERS(START A SENTENCE WITH A PREPOSITION)