Transcript Image Grammar Power Point, 2011

Image Grammar: Using Sentence Structure to Teach
Writing
The work of Harry Noden
Show Don’t Tell
Novelist Robert Newton Peck explains "show versus tell" in his
Secrets of Successful Fiction:
Readers want a picture---something to see, not just a
paragraph to read. A picture made out of words. That's what
makes a pro out of an amateur. An amateur writer tells a story.
A pro shows the story, creates a picture to look at instead of
just words to read. A good author writes with a camera, not
with a pen.
The amateur: "Bill was nervous."
The pro: "Bill sat in a dentist's waiting room, peeling
the skin at the edge of his thumb, until the raw, red flesh began
to show. Biting the torn cuticle, he ripped it away, and sucked
at the warm sweetness of his own blood."
Brush Strokes
Writing with action verbs
Writing with adjectives out of order
Writing with participles
Writing with absolutes
Writing with appositives
Writing with Action Verbs
Strong verbs energize action images. Passive
voice creates a still photograph, actually freezing
the action. A strong action verb creates a
motion picture, allowing the reader to visualize
an entire action sequence and sharpening the
visual images.
Example: Rockwell Lake echoed with the
sounds of Canadian geese.
Writing with Adjectives Out of Order
Adjectives out of order
Example: The bull
moose, red-eyed and
angry, charged the
intruder.
Writing with
Participles
Participle:
Example: Hissing, slithering,
and coiling, the snake attacked its
prey.
“Shifting the weight of the line to his left shoulder and
kneeling carefully, he washed his hand in the ocean
and held it there, submerged, for more than a
minute, watching the blood trail away and the steady
movement of the water against his hand as the boat
moved.”
-- Ernest Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea
Writing with
Absolutes
Absolute:
Example: The rock climber edged
along the cliff face, hands clinging
desperately to the ledge and feet
searching for a solid home.
“The mummy’s right arm was outstretched, the torn wrappings hanging from it, as the
being stepped out of its gilded box. The scream froze in her throat. The thing was
coming towards her -- towards Henry, who stood with his back to it -- moving with a
weak, shuffling gait, that arm outstretched before it, the dust rising from the rotting
linen that covered it, a great smell of dust and decay filling the room.”
-- Anne Rice, The Mummy
Writing with Appositives
Writer’s Notebook Entry
• Select one of the following pictures. On loose-leaf, write a
strong description of the picture, or create a short story
inspired by it. Use at least two of the sentence structure
techniques we learned today. Underline or highlight these
techniques each time you use them. Write as much as you can;
try to fill an entire page.
• - Participles
• - Action Verbs
- Adjectives out of order
- Appositives
- Absolutes