Hello, welcome to your lesson today on crafting interesting sentences.

I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

Our learning outcome is to be able to experiment with a range of different sentence structures to make our creative writing more engaging.

I'm really looking forward to going through a few really interesting sophisticated sentence structures with you today and helping you to use them in your own work.

We have four keywords today.

They are: syntax, inverted, asyndeton, and polysyndeton.

Syntax is the order of words in a sentence.

Inverted means changed from its normal position by being ordered in the opposite way.

So if a triangle was upside down, we might say it's an inverted triangle, but the word inverted can also be applied to sentences if we order the words in a sentence in a different way to how they're usually ordered.

Asyndeton is the emission of conjunctions between parts of a sentence.

So instead of using the conjunction and, asyndeton might replace the word and with commas.

And polysyndeton is the repetition of conjunctions in close succession within a sentence.

So polysyndeton and asyndeton are essentially the opposite.

Asyndeton does not use conjunctions, and polysyndeton uses plenty of conjunctions.

Pause the video now and reflect upon those keywords.

Off you go.

We have two learning cycles today.

We are going to begin with experimenting with sentence structures, and in the second learning cycle, we will be varying sentence structures in our descriptive writing.

So let's begin with experimenting with sentence structures now.

Read the sentences below.

Fierce was the storm.

Quiet and peaceful is the night.

Odd, she thought.

Apricot, lavender, and terracotta was the sky.

Freezing, they felt.

Tall and proud stood the oak tree.

I want you to discuss, what do the above sentences have in common? Pause the video and discuss.

These sentences reverse the natural syntax of a sentence, creating an inverted sentence structure.

We usually would say the storm was fierce.

The night is peaceful and quiet.

She thought it was odd, and so on.

So these six sentences use an inverted sentence structure.

I want you to now discuss, what is the effect of the different sentence structure? Think about what they emphasise.

Pause the video and discuss.

Inverted sentence structures help the reader focus on whatever is mentioned first in the sentence.

Fierce was the storm; odd, she thought; and tall and proud stood the oak tree.

So in the first sentence, the writer emphasises how fierce the storm was.

In the second sentence, the writer emphasises how odd the thing that the woman is looking at is or how odd the instance she's describing is.

And the third sentence emphasises how tall and proud the oak tree is.

So inverted sentence structures may be used when there is something particularly notable about a scene or object that the writer wants to draw the reader's attention to.

So bear that in mind when you are thinking about whether to use an inverted sentence structure in your writing later on.

We're now going to look at asyndeton.

Asyndeton is when a writer uses a list with no conjunctions.

Let's compare these two sentences.

It was cold, dark, frightening, and it was cold, dark, and frightening.

The first sentence uses asyndeton, whereas the second does not.

Discuss now, how does the use of asyndeton change the effect of the sentence? Pause the video and discuss.

The use of asyndeton adds a sense of danger and adrenaline to the sentence as the list progresses much faster.

Let's read it again.

It was cold, dark, frightening, and it was cold, dark, and frightening.

So bear in mind that when you're using asyndeton, you are making the pace of the list and the pace of the sentence much faster.

So use it when you want to create that fast pace in your own writing.

Use it potentially when there's a tense moment.

Use it when there's danger.

That might help you to create more meaning in your work.

Now, it was cold, dark, frightening.

That's our example of asyndeton.

Why might the writer put the three adjectives in the order that they do? Why might they first say cold and then say dark and then say frightening? Pause the video and discuss the syntax of that sentence.

Now, asyndeton becomes more interesting when we combine it with a climactic structure.

This means the words get more intense and dramatic as the list progresses.

So we can see there how frightening is the most intense and dramatic word in that sentence, and cold is the most subtle and neutral or mild word in that sentence.

So as the list goes on, the sentence becomes more intense and dramatic and the tension builds.

Now which order should the following words go in to create a climactic structure? We've got the words suffocating, warm, and humid.

Discuss now, which order should those words go in to create a climactic structure? Off you go.

To create a climactic structure, the writer might want to say it was warm, humid, suffocating.

We can see how suffocating is the most intense, dramatic word in that list.

If we put it last, we are going to build a sense of tension, intrigue, and suspense for the reader.

Now let's check your understanding of what we've just discussed.

What is an inverted sentence structure? Pause the video and reflect upon that question.

An inverted sentence structure is when the natural order for a sentence is reversed.

So instead of saying the storm was fierce, an inverted sentence structure might say, fierce was the storm.

And we use inverted sentence structures to emphasise whatever comes first in that sentence.

The sentences below describe a busy market scene.

I want you to rewrite them to include an inverted sentence structure.

Your sentences are: A, the sun left them feeling hot and sticky.

B, the vendors chat amongst the hustle and bustle.

C, the stalls stood proud.

D, she thought it was unique.

And E, market stalls adorn the town.

Next, I want you to rewrite these sentences to incorporate asyndeton with a climactic order.

A, the sun made them feel angry, sticky, and hot.

B, the jewellery was stolen, antique, beautiful.

And C, her whisper was deadly.

It was also soft and reckless.

Remember, asyndeton uses no conjunctions, and climactic order means that the sentence ends with the most dramatic and intense word.

Pause the video now and get rewriting those sentences.

Off you go.

So let's go through how you might have rewritten the first six sentences to include an inverted sentence structure.

So the sun left them feeling hot and sticky becomes hot and sticky was how the sun left them feeling.

The vendors chat amongst the hustle and bustle becomes amongst the hustle and bustle, the vendors chat.

The stalls stood proud becomes proud stood the stalls.

She thought it was unique becomes unique, she thought.

And market stalls adorn the town becomes adorning the town are market stalls.

Well done if you successfully changed those sentences to create an inverted sentence structure.

Let's move on to look at how you could have changed these three sentences to create asyndeton with a climactic order.

The sun made them feel sticky, hot, and angry becomes the sun made them feel hot, sticky, angry.

The jewellery was antique, beautiful, stolen.

Notice there how the word stolen is the most dramatic, intense, and shocking word.

Therefore, to make a climactic structure, it needs to go last.

And sentence number three, her whisper was soft, reckless, deadly.

Again, deadly is the most shocking, intense, climactic word.

Therefore, we're going to put it last.

And notice how none of those lists include conjunctions.

That's a sign that we've successfully used asyndeton.

Well done on rewriting all those sentences.

I hope you are going to be more confident in creating your own writing that uses these sentences now.

So let's look at how we can vary our sentence structures when writing descriptions.

An Oak pupil is describing a busy marketplace.

They practise using both asyndeton and polysyndeton.

They've written it was warm, humid, suffocating, and it was warm and humid and suffocating.

Discuss now, which sentence type do you think is most appropriate for their chosen setting? Pause the video and discuss.

Aisha has said she thinks the use of polysyndeton is more effective as it slows the sentence down, adding to the uncomfortable atmosphere created.

It makes the reader feel the same irritability that the characters might feel in a marketplace.

So what Aisha is saying is that polysyndeton, with its repeated use of conjunctions, creates a slow pace.

And that slow pace might reflect the slow, tedious, and suffocating environment of that busy marketplace.

So it's important to reflect now that asyndeton may speed the pace of your work up, whereas polysyndeton may slow it down.

So use them accordingly.

Now I want you to match the sentence type with its effect.

Check your understanding of what we've talked about.

Pause the video and match the sentence type with its effect.

Off you go.

So what is the effect of polysyndeton? What is the effect of using conjunctions repeatedly in a sentence? Polysyndeton slows the pace of your writing down because you end up writing something that says it was warm and it was humid and it was suffocating.

The asyndeton, on the other hand, speeds the pace up.

Instead of saying it was warm and it was humid and it was suffocating, asyndeton would phrase that sentence as: it was warm, humid, suffocating.

I hope you'll be able to use asyndeton and polysyndeton to change the pace of your writing later on in this learning cycle.

Now consider the below content ideas for a piece of writing.

Someone's actions are being listed as they escape from threats.

Scenario two, the negative aspects of war are being listed.

And scenario three, someone is listing all the wonderful characteristics of their husband.

Discuss now, do you think asyndeton or polysyndeton would be better to help convey the information more effectively? In other words, when we're listing someone's actions as they escape from threat, do you think we should use asyndeton, creating a fast pace, or polysyndeton, creating a slow pace? Consider which type of sentence is most effective for each of those scenarios.

Pause the video and discuss.

Now, for the first example, I would definitely say that asyndeton would be useful because when we're describing someone escaping from threats, we likely want to create a fast pace there to show how quickly they're moving.

Scenario number two is less obvious which sentence structure we should use, but we might want to use polysyndeton to show how the negative aspects of war are draining and seem to never end.

And that could be emphasised better with the slow pace of polysyndeton.

Scenario number three, someone is listing all the wonderful characteristics of their husband.

Again, either sentence type could work here, but maybe that person could be very excited, and to show their excitement, we might want to create a fast pace and therefore use asyndeton.

Now I want you to write a paragraph describing the scene below.

It's a busy market scene, and we've had a lot of inspiration for how to describe this scene throughout the lesson.

So hopefully you feel prepared and excited to describe this scene.

Your checklist for this piece of writing is on the right.

I want you to use asyndeton or polysyndeton in this work.

I want you to use a climactic sentence structure, and I want you to try and also use an inverted sentence structure.

Pause the video and get writing.

I hope you enjoy being creative today.

Off you go.

I'm really impressed by how you tried your very best to use sentence structures that you haven't come across before.

Great job.

Here's an example of what you could have written.

It was Sunday and it was hot and they were hungry.

Customers burnt with agitation as they haggled their way through the busy market, shifting their weight from one leg to another, waiting to be first, to choose, to devour.

Never-ending, they thought, as they counted what felt like thousands of people ahead of them in the queue.

So this paragraph uses asyndeton and polysyndeton.

The first sentence of this paragraph uses polysyndeton because it repeats the conjunction and.

And later on in that paragraph where it says, waiting to be first, to choose, to devour, that is an example of asyndeton.

It uses commas instead of conjunctions.

This also uses a climactic sentence structure.

It incorporates asyndeton and the climactic sentence structure, because the verb devour is the most intense out of to be first and to choose.

So that sentence builds up tension, which is what we want from our climactic sentence structures.

And this paragraph also uses an inverted sentence structure.

And that is the final sentence of the paragraph where it starts with: never-ending, they thought.

Traditionally, we might say, they thought it was never-ending, but with the use of inverted sentence structure, we emphasise that this queue really felt like it would never end.

So we really emphasise the impatience of the characters by using that inverted sentence structure.

Now I want you to reread your own work.

Where did you meet the success criteria? Pause the video and reflect upon your work now.

Off you go.

Great job on attempting to use all of those three sentence structures today.

Don't worry if you haven't quite mastered one of them.

You'll have plenty more opportunities to use these in future pieces of writing.

Here's what we've learned in today's lesson.

An inverted sentence structure reverses the natural order or syntax of a sentence.

Using an inverted sentence structure is a good way to vary syntax to make your writing more engaging.

Asyndeton uses a list with no conjunctions, whilst polysyndeton uses a list with a repeated conjunction.

Asyndeton creates a fast pace, whereas polysyndeton creates a slower pace.

And you can create interesting sentence structures by adding a climactic structure to your writing.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

I hope you feel more confident with how to vary your sentence structures in your creative writing, and I hope you'll join me for another lesson very soon.