warning

Content guidance

Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Adult supervision recommended

video

Lesson video

In progress...

Loading...

Hello, my name's Miss Halladay and I'll be your teacher for today.

Thank you so much for joining me.

I can't wait to hear what you come up with.

Let's get started with today's learning.

So today's lesson is the fifth instalment in our writing master's unit and I'm really excited for today's lesson because by the end of it, you will have written your own effective argument, which meets an ambitious success criteria.

Let's get started.

First, here are some keywords that you'll need to unlock today's learning.

We've got concise, abolish, disapprobation, and progressive.

I'm going to put the definitions of these keywords on the slide and give you a moment to read and digest them.

Here's today's lesson outline.

We're going to start with a little bit of grammar where we're going to look at how to nominalise verbs and adjectives before moving on to you writing your own effective argument.

But first, as I said, let's have a look at some sentence level grammar.

Nominalisation is the process of changing verbs or adjectives to nouns.

Now this is really useful because it allows you to convey meaning more concisely, so in as few words as possible.

And that's something that we're really looking to do in any kind of writing because we want our reader to understand the information that we're presenting in as little time as possible.

So we're looking to be really economic with our choice of words and this makes our writing more sophisticated.

So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to present you with two sentences and I'd like you to think about which of these sentences is more concise.

Is it this sentence, having interviewed the community members of the public revealed their disapprobation with the vast amounts of litter on the streets.

Or do you think it's this sentence? Interviews with the community revealed the public's disapprobation with the vast amounts of litter on the street.

I'm now going to encourage you to pause the video while you have those discussions.

Which of the sentences is more concise? Well done, some great discussion there and well done if you identified that actually it's the second sentence that is more concise as it uses less words than the first to convey meaning.

Now it it's more concise because one of the verbs here has been nominalised.

And as you can see from the animation, it's that verb interviewed.

So interviewed has become interviews.

I'm now going to ask you to discuss how does making the sentence more concise also make it more sophisticated? And again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you have those conversations.

Again, some great discussion there.

I heard some really good suggestions.

I think my favourite was this idea that actually when we nominalise the sentence and make it more concise, the tone becomes more formal and that makes our writing sound more sophisticated.

So well done if you were one of the people that came up with that idea.

So here's an example of how we nominalise a verb.

Here's our sentence.

We need to discuss the increasing rates of homelessness in our city.

Now we know here that we're looking to nominalise the verb.

So I would like you to discuss well, where are the verbs in this sentence and also which are the most influential or important verbs because actually these are the ones that will be nominalised.

So again, I'm gonna encourage you to pause the video while you identify the verbs and then choose the most influential one or two.

Some great discussions there and well done to those of you that identified that need and discuss are the two verbs and they are in fact the the influential verbs in this sentence as well.

So we're looking to nominalise at least one of those verbs here.

Now, we've already established that the two influential verbs in this sentence are need and discuss.

Now, what we'll need to do is find the noun forms of these verbs.

So in this case the noun forms of the verb to need is necessary.

And the noun form of the verb to discuss is discussion.

You might not always know the noun form, and that's okay, because actually the dictionary will give it to you.

So if you just look up the verb, it will list the noun form underneath.

So you can always use a dictionary to just check that if you're not quite sure.

We'll also need to bear in mind that we might need to do some adjusting of the sentence in order to make the new nominalised verb make sense.

So we might need to add in or move other words around.

So here's our example of our nominalised sentence.

Further discussion around the increasing rates of homelessness in our city is necessary.

So as we can see here, we've got the nominalised version of the verb to discuss and the nominalised version of the verb need.

We've also had to add in that word further in order to make, make the sentence make sense.

And as you can see, this is just a much more formal version of the same sentence.

I'll leave them up side by side so that you can compare the difference between the two.

Now we know from our definition of nominalisation that it is not just verbs that can be nominalised and that actually we can nominalise our adjectives as well.

I'm sure you'll all be really relieved to know that actually nominalising an adjective follows exactly the same set of steps as nominalising a verb.

And I'm going to walk you through an example now.

So let's say that we want to nominalise this sentence here.

The student's performance was excellent resulting in a standing ovation.

Now just like before with the verbs, we need to identify the adjective in the sentence.

So I'm going to invite you to pause the video for a moment while you have a look at that sentence and pick out the adjective.

Excellent.

I'm hearing the word excellence so much, and that's correct because actually excellent is the adjective here that we are going to be nominalising.

So well done if you identified that.

Now again, just like with the verb, we are looking for the noun form of the adjective excellence, which is actually excellence.

And again, if you're not sure, you can always use a dictionary to check.

And remember, we've got to bear in mind that we may have to move other words around or change the forms of some of the other words to make the sentence make sense.

So here's our nominalised sentence.

The student's excellence resulted in a standing ovation.

And again, you can see that here we've got the noun form of the objective excellent has turned into excellence and as a result that sentence is much more concise than the first one.

And again, I'll leave that up there for you for a moment just so you can have a look at the difference between the two.

Let's check for understanding.

True or false, nominalisation is the process of changing nouns to verbs or adjectives.

And I'm just gonna give you a minute to pause the video while you jot your answer down.

And well done to those of you that identified that the answer was false, I'm now going to ask you to justify why that was not correct.

So here are your two options.

Was it false because the verbs become objectives or nouns or was it false because the adjectives or verbs become nouns? Now those sound quite similar, so I think you'll need a moment to digest those and choose your response.

So pause the video while you jot your answer down.

And massive congratulations to those of you that identified that actually B is the correct answer and that nominalisation involves turning adjectives or verbs into nouns.

We're going to practise some nominalisation now.

So I'm going to ask you to nominalise the highlighted verbs or adjectives in the following sentences.

And I've actually given you a little bit of help because as you can see, I have highlighted in purple the verb or the adjective that I would like you to nominalise.

So I've given you that little bit of extra support because this is a really difficult task.

So first of all, I would like to recommend a review of the school's homework policies.

Second sentence, we should consider the potential disadvantages of making all school meals vegan.

Third, the team were brilliant and were therefore granted a pay rise.

And fourth, company X's innovative approach makes them market leaders in progressive strategies to support disabled adults.

Remember the process of nominalisation and have a good go at this.

Yes, it's difficult, but I know that you can do it.

So pause the video while you have a go and then we'll mark our work together.

Well done.

I was so impressed with the effort there and the resilience that you all demonstrated.

Excellent work.

Let's mark your work and see how well you've done.

So first of all, here we've got sentence one, a recommendation for a review of the school's homework policies is the next natural step.

Okay, so that is the noun form of the verb to recommend.

Two, a consideration of the potential disadvantages of making all school meals vegan is necessary.

And again, here we've got that noun form of the verb consider.

So well done if you got that right.

Three, we had the adjective brilliant, and this turns into the team's brilliance resulted in a pay rise.

And finally we had that innovative adjective.

So we've nominalised that and made it into innovation.

So we've got company X's innovation makes them market leaders in progressive strategies to support disabled adults.

Now I really hope that some of you got four out of four because that was such a difficult task.

So well done for giving it your all and let's move on.

So back to our lesson journey.

And we are on our second step where you are going to be writing your own effective argument.

So you are going to be writing a response to the following task.

Loud music after 9:00 PM is on the rise again.

This kind of noise pollution is selfish and inconsiderate of others, especially those with young families.

Write a speech to your fellow students arguing your views on this matter.

Now before we do anything, we need to consider what steps do we need to have already taken before we can write.

So I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you have a think about what you need to do before you can pick up your pen and start writing your response.

Some great suggestions there.

And I can see that some of you really understand the writing process.

So well done if you identified that.

First of all, we really need to establish the perspective that we're going to be writing from.

And in order to do that, we need to be thinking about well, who actually cares about this topic and why? So who would care about loud music and who wouldn't? And we're going to choose a perspective from there.

Then we'd need to decide well, okay, why do I think what I think? So we'd have to think of our three reasons for the viewpoint on the topic.

And these would fit between our introduction and our conclusion.

So they would form kind of the main body of our argument.

And finally, the final step before we write anything is planning.

It is so important to plan so that you know that going into that writing you are confident and you know exactly what you're going to write.

So creating single paragraph outlines for our introduction are three reasons, and our conclusion is absolutely essential to put you in the best position possible before writing.

And now before we write, I think it's really important to consider what we're aiming for here.

So I'd like you to discuss what makes a great piece of writing and what is it that gives a piece of writing flare? 'Cause that's what we're aiming to do here.

So again, I'm gonna invite you to pause the video while you have those discussions.

Well done, some really great discussions there.

And well done to those of you that identified that actually we can only present one viewpoint if we're going to be truly persuasive and convincing.

So you are only presenting one side of the argument, whatever that may be.

You should also adopt a consistent and appropriate tone of voice with character.

So we'll have to look to the form, audience, and purpose of the task in order to determine what is and isn't appropriate.

In terms of character, that is informed by the perspective that you are writing from that you should have already decided by now.

We're looking to use structural devices for effect and for cohesion.

And an example of this might be mirroring, where we reflect ideas from the beginning.

Again, at the end of our piece.

We're looking to choose our vocabulary really specifically and be really provocative and precise with it.

We're also looking to use rhetorical devices, so things like you know, similes, metaphors, rhetorical questions, triples, all of those are the rhetorical devices that you should be bearing in mind when you are writing up this piece.

And finally, we're looking to use punctuation and grammar, not only intentionally and accurately, but also for effect.

So let's check for understanding.

Which of the following uses punctuation for effect and not just accurately? So I'm gonna give you a few moments to read those options and have have a think about which uses punctuation, not just accurately, but also for effect.

So pause a video while you jot your answer down.

And well done to those with identified that the correct answer is B.

Now I'm going to read this to you and I'm sure you'll be able to hear what the punctuation is doing to the tone here.

Bullying, yes, it's still happening, is a persistently prevalent issue.

So here that use of brackets and dashes really affected in creating quite a condemning tone as if we're fed up of the fact that bullying is still around.

And now I'm going to hand over to you.

And this is really exciting because it's your opportunity to demonstrate how well you can write and how much flare you have.

So I'll remind you of the task again.

Loud music after 9:00 PM is on the rise again.

This kind of noise pollution is selfish and inconsiderate of others, especially those with young families.

Write a speech to your fellow students arguing your views on this matter.

Now you'll see here that I've highlighted for you the form, audience, and purpose, just because we need to bear that in mind as we are writing.

When writing our response, we need to be able to be only presenting that one viewpoint.

That's really important 'cause otherwise it won't be convincing if we're presenting a balanced view.

We're looking to create that consistent and appropriate tone of voice with character, and the character should match the perspective.

We're looking to use structural devices, not only for effect, but also to create that cohesion that we need in order to write with flare.

We're looking to use provocative and precise language, including those rhetorical devices that I'm sure you're more than familiar with.

We're looking to use punctuation and grammar intentionally and also for effect.

And as an additional challenge, I would like you to demonstrate everything that you've learned in learning cycle one.

And I would like you to use a minimum of one nominalised sentence.

Now, if you are feeling super ambitious today, you might choose to include more than one, but the minimum for today's writing is just one.

So have a really good go at that.

I'm now going to invite you to pause the video while you have a go at completing your writing.

Remember, it is a speech that you are writing and it is about loud music and noise pollution.

Best of luck.

I cannot wait to see your responses.

Enjoy your writing.

Well done for the effort that was demonstrated there.

I saw so much resilience and I know that long writing can be really difficult.

So well done because you all gave it a hundred percent.

Let's have a look at how you've done.

So the first thing I'm gonna ask you to do is reread your work.

Okay, what did you write? What did you think of it? Just read it back and see what you wrote.

I'm then going to ask you to start highlighting, and I'd like you to highlight one example of where you have met each of the points on this ambitious success criteria.

Okay, so where have you presented only one viewpoint? Where have you created that really consistent and appropriate tone of voice with character? Whether you use structural devices to create cohesion and for effect, where's your example of provocative and precise language? Where is your punctuation and grammar used really intentionally and for effect? And finally, and I'm really excited about this one, I would like you to highlight your nominalised sentence for me.

Then once you've done that, I would like you to annotate each example and I would like you to explain its effect on the audience.

Okay, so for example, you might you know, have used the word, I am outraged.

And you might say I've used the word outraged because it's emotive and it shows and conveys the level of my anger and frustration.

And I'm trying to spur the audience into action.

So there's an example of what you might write in your annotation.

I'm now going to invite you to pause the video for a few minutes while you conduct that self-assessment.

And really give this your all because actually reflection is just important, just as important as the writing process.

So off you go, pause the video, and have a go at your self-assessment.

Excellent work and well done.

To summarise today's lesson on writing effective arguments, it's important to remember to be really concise in your writing.

Okay, so using as few words as possible to convey meaning.

We should also remember that using nominalised sentences can help you to be concise.

Excellent opinion-based writing has a really consistent tone of voice with character.

We also have to remember that actually excellent writing uses structural devices not only for effect, but also to achieve cohesion.

Excellent writing has a focused viewpoint throughout, and we're only presenting that one side of the argument, remember.

And it uses punctuation not only accurately, but also for effect.

I'd like to take the time to thank you wholeheartedly for joining me today.

I have absolutely loved teaching you, and I've loved seeing the amazing long responses that you came up with in Learning Cycle two.

I would encourage you to join us next time for lesson six where we are moving on to fiction writing, which I'm so excited for.

But I'd like to thank you for your time and wish you a lovely rest of your day.

So thank you.