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.Copyright, Terry Gibson, BA, MEd

Be Grammar-Confident Leisurely Crash Course in Written English An oxymoron of course. . Welcome to Course A-6 Grefs Open GLOSSARY in Course C-1 . . . . . . . . . Participle, Terms for Unity . . . . . . Start . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Task. . . . . . . . . .A6 a Using the Dash and Ellipsis. .. . A6a + . . . . . . . . Link, Bridge, Local Colour, Comic Relief. .. . . . .You will need Local Colour, Comic Relief in A8. . . . . . .A6 b Recognizing Participles . .. . . . . . A6b . . . . . A6 c Poetry, Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ., . A6c . . . . . . . .Or a descriptive poem (Do one) . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Self-test   Click to Move Within This Course   A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8  Active when red   Click to Find Other Courses   Course B Course C Course D Course E

Swan's Practical English Usage, published by Oxford is the 1995 text that serves as reference. It is recent but will be replaced within the next few years as we get more and more muddled. . . . . . .Both British and American Forms are updated. e.g. dialog, US .

. . .A Reference List of Literary Devices GENERAL INFORMATION In fiction and story-writing This introduction brings them together in one place. "BUSINESS" --briefly doing something-- can replace "he said" altogether, identifying. A term used in scripts, draws attention to the speaker through actions and mannerisms, while showing character. . LINK a few words or a sentence to connect a new thought to an earlier unrelated part to get an easy transition or flow in the body of a chapter. . BRIDGE A more lengthy event or description which provides a transition from one situation to another. It can include related material, description, or at times, additional information or local color. (as in "color commentary" in sports) Purpose, to ease a reader into the next incident. (Colour in UK) . LOCAL COLOR a passage which slips unobtrusively into the action and places the dialog into its setting, describing its location. (Not to be overdone or it slows the plot.) . COMIC RELIEF is a short funny piece with the same characters used when the plot starts to plod along or get heavy, or scary, or tedious. . DASH two hyphens (--) When printed they form a single short line, which interrupts, or suddenly cuts off a thought partway. . ELLIPSIS, either three dots ( . . . ) separated by a space or not, which means there is a lot more to be told, or three dots and a period (. . . .) the latter meaning there is more but will not be told. Never more than four. The 4th period can be replaced with a single "!" or "?" but never both. . .

ASSIGNMENT A6a Do at least two----------- A6a Use of the dash and ellipsis (using the selection.) A6b YOU write dialog and action: The Link, the Bridge. EXAMPLE A6a Sample selection from Chapter 2. Note, italics may be used for thoughts if not heard. . --- In the cafeteria, Shawna and Sonya had claimed the last available table beside the window. Hearing a gasp, Sonya asked, "What's wrong?" --- "This is just so beautiful! The last place I worked had a coffee pot in an afterthought of a place for us, smelling of old cigarette smoke, no windows at all. This view is awesome!" She couldn't believe the difference. "Those huge pines! That tall rock at the edge of the water, the shrubs, all double-imaged, reflected in that big pond...! It is so calm the mirror is as crisp and clear as the--" --- Shawna noticed Sonya's bemused look, and after adding "... the original," she paused. Has she tuned me out? "Sorry! I know I was babbling." --- "No, not at all! What you said about the reflection..." Sonya smiled. "You think like Nellie." --- Like Nellie? After all the praise? Shawna blushed. "How do you mean?" --- "She might have said that. Do you write poems too?" --- "Not since English class!" --- "Maybe you should. Would you like to meet her? Nellie'd inspire you." --- "I'd love to meet her of course," Shawna sounded doubtful. "But I did not really enjoy-- OK, I hated having to force ideas into little boxes, having to count syllables, choosing words with the stress on the right syl-LA-ble, forcing thoughts to fit a rhyme, strangling their grace and fluency-- No... No." --- Taken aback, Sonya ventured, "Everything does not have to rhyme." --- "I know." Reaching for her sandwich, Shawna continued, "It's just that my attempts have defeated me." . .   1.Use of the dash and ellipsis in the selection. Find them and tell why they are used. A dash is made with two hyphens --. The ellipsis has three dots (only 3) followed by a period, a ? or ! Tell what each of them does in the example, and invent a new example using each of them. There are nine participles in the EXAMPLE A6a above. 2. Find them and paste their use as a list, using the references below and quote the identifying name which use it shows. .     I"using" (as a verb) and "identifying" (as an adjective) show the two most common uses of the "ing" present participle.   ,       404-406 in Swan's Practical English Usage gives many other adjective uses: "exciting ideas" "an interesting book" "screaming children" "falling leaves" "smiling worker" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BUT if adding "was" has action, it becomes a verb phrase. Children were screaming, leaves were falling, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Swan's adverb "She walked out smiling" because it answers "how." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . But as 'she was smiling happily' looks like a verb phrase. . Here it starts getting complicated without the adverb 'happily' because smiling also describes as an adjective, smiling face. Yet it also answers "how?" so it acts as an adverb, so we can be justified in choosing which fits better. In short, if you choose to do this, and if you can justify your choice, who can argue? [If curious, Course E gives you a firm base for this. See web2006/GrefStart until we get that far. ] Now go to the EXAMPLE and find at least 6 of the 9 participles.           3. The Link, the Bridge. Check again what they do. Both should fit so well that we are not aware they are there. Find the link at the beginning of this example where the subject changes to someting entirely different. At the end of this selection, write a bridge of at least several paragraphs to make a smooth transition between where we leave them to Nellie, possibly what Nellie's job used to be before she retired, and another worker enters...possibly even Nellie herself. ---------------ASSA6c         ;

. Assignment A6c . . Our Third lntermediate Level Session: Can we assume previous courses have existed? lf not, this is for you:--- . . . . . .AND FOR OUR POETS . . . . . . . .  Meaning and line breaks . . . . . . . . Punctuating for meaning. . .. . . . .. .FURther GO at TROchées ------------------------- ----------------------------------lf not, this is for you:----------. With "ing" as a rhyme, write a short descriptive poem, a take-off of the view through the cafeteria window described by Shawna in the Example. Feel free to add ideas of your own. Please have built-in rhythm in it, either iambic or trochaic, but other end-rhymes are not needed unless inspiration strikes you! Forced rhymes not wanted! Do one, or use this poem for the assignment below:   Meaning can be manipulated with line breaks, not only in free verse, but also where enjambments allow freedom in sonnets and other more demanding forms. Particularly in poetry,  the ways that punctuation can alter or improve meaning has to be experienced: Consider this non-poem as a paragraph without punctuation.               so often we see it written with no punctuation at all and in reading silently the eye slides through it end to end letting details pass as soon as new ones replace them without guidance as to which of them are more important than others without attention coming to what is written unless it is done by pausing to isolate for focus. Even in prose....             So often we see it written with no punctuation at all and in reading silently the eye slides through it end to end letting details pass as soon as new ones replace them without guidance as to which of them are more important than others without attention coming to what is written unless it is done by pausing to isolate for focus   So often we see it written with no punctuation at all and in reading silently the eye slides through it end to end letting details pass as soon as new ones replace them     Meaning manipulates with distance, location, grouping. lt can be fun to find different significance to single words. The version at right keeps the words in same order, isolating some for special attention.   without guidance as to which of them are more important     Because it seems most poets already use free form by choice, there is no great need to teach it here, except to point out that even here, editing for meaning does have its place, if only to milk all the feelings and surprises out of the form, and to emphasize what is important in it. Periods end thoughts, allowing change. See, at right.   than others without attention coming to what is written unless it is done by pausing to isolate for focus               .. . . . . . . . TO PUNCTUATE or not THAT IS THE QUESTION Some of the meaning is clarified by line breaks if they chunk ideas together. Wide open to interpretation as it is, many prefer to leave it with none, for recreational value in finding many meanings there. The way line breaks are placed has become the only guide. Their style. Altering them can give quite a different impression. Consider the difference when attention is guided by commas and other punctuation. It is often not at the ends of lines. No law states that it must be there, and, in reading it the enjambment continues to the next line without a break, Let's see what we can draw attention to, with the use of commas-- and this is not even a poem!     So often, we see it written with no punctuation at all. And in reading, silently, the eye slides through it end to end, letting details pass as soon as new ones replace them. Without guidance as to which of them are more important than others, without attention coming to what is written, unless it is done by pausing . . . to isolate for focus!   Whatever we do with commas should be done with good reason. Would it work better if . . . ? Experienced writers punctuate automatically, for maximum impact. lt is not run by rigid rules, where it stutters and stumbles with too many, but to leave them out feels unfinished, running breathlessly to the end. Without focus it can wander, not necessarily a bad thing in stream-of-consciousness pieces.               Now we enter where solid learning happens: What happens when free verse is tested this way for rhythm? If it has iambic rhythm, especially iambic pentameters, you get BLANK VERSE! No kidding. Not only that, but you are in good company! Poetic drama by TS Elliot. Milton used blank verse for Paradise Lost, Wordsworth for his Prelude, Tennyson for Idylls of the King, Coleridge's Frost at Midnight, and Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey... Enough?               Taking you back to the trochaic scansion done in CourseA-5 Copy the one at left to notepad and BOLD the accented syllables. Then copy the Trochaic stresses to the one at right and compare. lf with trochaic, it should match what is in Course 5. You used iambic? lt should not resemble what is in Course 5. .     A poetic Rorschach verily, it is! A playground for the subconscious, busily darting around, dropping signs of leaving, daring to be found   A poetic Rorschach . . . .. . YES verily, it is! A playground. .yes for the subconscious, . . . .yes busily darting around, dropping signs of leaving. . .yes daring to be found.               Edits: busy darting around// daring TA be TA found (Topeka bound?) Forced.           New ASSIGNMENT A6c     With "ing" as a rhyme, write a short descriptive poem, a take-off of the view through the cafeteria window described by Shawna in the Example. Feel free to add ideas of your own. Please include built-in rhythm, either iambic or trochaic, but other end-rhymes are not needed unless inspiration strikes you! No forced rhymes please! Bonus for pentameters. Fun? With TROCHÉES we can call it Blinkety-Blank Verse! Use your own poem for the scansion assignment followed by editing, below. Please submit both.

. Updated April 28 2008 Please submit graded answers to AP Class box if not placed by Teacher, advancing to a higher level. We have had trouble in the submit-box in AP toward the trophy when ungraded work has been submitted. By submitting graded works into the box, they cannot be lost! Your five best assignments are now the minimum for a trophy. That means the pressure is off as you do the advanced #6, #7 and #8 worth a percentage of 60 bonus points dependent on your results. For students achieving at least 90% and expecting to continue to complete all 8, after the first and last four, there are two trophies. An evaluation form will be sent to get five submissions demanded by the software. For full feedback, please send your E-mail address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Back to Top or onward to Part A7 . . . . . . . .. . Copyright: Tiled wallpaper drawn by Terry Gibson 1996