<v Miss Sutherland>Hello everyone, and welcome to your lesson on "Amazing accuracy in basic punctuation".

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

Learning outcome for today is to be able to use a range of basic punctuation accurately.

So we'll be learning about how to use full stops, exclamation marks, question marks, and commas accurately today.

Our key words for today are obscure.

If something is obscure, it is not clear.

Defiant.

If you are defiant, you disobey boldly.

Relentless.

If something is relentless, it is always intense or harsh.

And, paranoid.

If you are paranoid, you have suspicions and mistrust other people.

So in today's lesson, we'll have two learning cycles.

Firstly, we're going to focus on punctuation types.

So learning a little bit about full stops, exclamation marks, question marks and commas, and their purpose.

Then we'll make sure we're able to use all of those punctuation types accurately in our own writing.

So let's begin with punctuation types.

I want you to read this paragraph and discuss what's the problem with it.

Pause the video and read the paragraph.

This paragraph is missing basic accurate punctuation, which obscures its meaning and makes it hard for the reader to follow.

When you were reading it, you probably notice that there were not many chances for pauses, and that really prevents the reader from following the work because they're not sure where one sentence begins and ends.

All the sentences kind of merge into one, making this really unclear.

We need to be able to use basic punctuation accurately so our work is actually very clear for the reader.

So here's a list of basic punctuation that you need to master in your descriptive writing.

In fact, you should master in any type of writing, but we'll be focusing on descriptive writing in this lesson.

So let's start off with an exclamation mark.

An exclamation mark has the purpose of conveying intense emotion.

That could be anger, that could be excitement, that could be sadness.

For example, "Defiance will be punished!" In that sentence, the exclamation mark almost acts to give the sentence a threatening tone as if that sentence is being shouted.

Question mark.

A question mark poses a question.

For example, "Was life always this difficult?" That might be the type of question a dystopian citizen would ask because we know they're in a world of suffering.

Next, full stop.

The purpose of a full stop is to end a declarative sentence.

Now that's just any ordinary sentence.

For example, "The relentless grey clouds scowled down." Notice here how a full stop would usually end a sentence of description.

Next, comma.

A comma's job is to add a pause between items in a list or clauses in a sentence.

For example, "It was a cold, dark, dreary night." The commas there add pauses between each item in the list.

The night was firstly cold.

The night was also dark, the night was also dreary.

The commas there indicate that each item in that list are separate and allow the reader to pause before reading each one.

An apostrophe.

An apostrophe shows belonging or possession.

For example, "Cora's heart thumped." There's an apostrophe s after Cora because that heart belongs to her.

It's her heart that's thumping.

You might use an apostrophe to show the belonging or possession of someone owning items, for example.

I hope we'll be able to master these pieces of punctuation in our writing later on.

Why should you use an exclamation mark? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said an exclamation mark should be used to convey intense emotion.

We know answer A isn't correct because a question mark asks a question.

And we know answer B isn't correct because a full stop ends to (indistinct) sentence.

We also know answer C isn't correct because commas separate items in a list.

Exclamation marks convey intense emotion such as anger, excitement, sadness, et cetera.

Well done if you got that right.

"All citizens wore the same uniform.

Navy trousers a red apron and black boots." Which punctuation mark is missing from this sentence? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done if you said comma.

There is a comma missing between the word trousers and a red apron.

We need a pause after navy trousers and before a red apron because those are two separate items in the list.

The navy trousers the first part of the uniform.

Red apron is the second part of the uniform.

And finally, black boots is the last part of the uniform.

Well done if you got that right.

I now want you to go back to the paragraph you read at the beginning.

I want you to add all of the correct punctuation into that paragraph.

Remember, you're looking to add the full stops, exclamation marks, question marks, commas, and apostrophes where relevant.

And there are 12 errors in total to correct.

So pause the video and have a go at that task.

Let's go through the answers.

"An oppressive grey sky obscures the tops of the towering buildings creating an impenetrable smog." Full stop.

"The citizens trudge through the bleak city," comma, "choking and asking themselves, 'Had it always been this hard to breathe?'" Question mark.

"The rotting walls are plastered with posters of scrutinising eyes and hypnotic slogans." Full stop.

"We are watching," exclamation mark, "read one.

The hostile cameras uphold this message as they crane their necks to get a firm view of one group of citizens huddled together skillfully and relentlessly," comma, "they capture every move," comma, "every whisper," comma, "every flicker of defiance." Full stop.

"The group split up." Full stop.

"They notice the click of the lens." Full stop.

"Had they been heard?" Question mark.

Well done if you corrected those errors.

Now let's unpick why we needed to add a certain piece of punctuation in a certain spot.

For example, let's look at the commas in the sentence, "Skillfully and relentlessly, they capture every move, every whisper, every flicker of defiance." We need a comma after every move and every whisper, because again, those are items in a list, and the reader would have a really hard time if there was no pause in that sentence.

Think about how it would be read.

It would be read, "They captured every move every whisper every flicker of defiance." That's really fast and unmanageable for the reader.

So we must have pauses there in the form of commas.

Let's move on.

We are now going to be using those pieces of basic punctuation accurately in our own writing to make our dystopian descriptions very clear for the reader.

So let's begin.

Here's the paragraph that we corrected with a basic punctuation.

We need to think about why the punctuation's been used.

So I want you to start off with this question.

What does the question mark here show about how the citizens are feeling? So, "Had it always been this hard to breathe?" What does that question show about how the citizens are feeling? Pause the video and have a think.

This question shows the citizen's disappointment at the current city and the longing for the past.

The fact they're asking the question of had it always been this hard to breathe suggests they maybe remember a time where life was better, life was easier.

So the sentence, this question gives a sense of them wanting to return to that period of time.

Now, in this sentence, what does the exclamation mark suggest about the tone of the slogan, "We are watching"? What feeling is created there with the exclamation mark? Pause the video and have a think.

This exclamation mark in, "We are watching," suggests the slogan has a threatening and oppressive tone.

It's almost like that slogan is being shouted to show the control that the leaders have over the society.

Now what about this? What do the commas and repetition of 'every' reveal about the cameras and the society as a whole in the sentence, "they capture every move, every whisper, every flicker of defiance." What does that show about the society and how they treat their citizens? Pause the video and have a think.

Perhaps, the repetition of every and all of the commas there show that the cameras are relentless.

They pick up everything.

There's nothing that they miss.

It shows the huge amount of control over citizens in this society.

The leaders are not willing to let the citizens get away with anything.

Well done if you said that.

What about this? What tone does the quick succession of simple sentences give here? "The group split up.

They notice the click of the lens." How do you think those people are feeling as they perform those actions? Pause the video and have a think.

The quick succession of simple sentences give a tone of panic to the character's actions 'cause it seems like they're moving really quickly.

They're really worried that they've been heard or noticed speaking about whatever they were speaking about.

And finally, what does this question show about the characters here? "Had they been heard?" How might they be feeling? Pause the video and have a think.

The question mark here in "Had they been heard," could show the character's paranoia.

That means, as we said, they're worried that they may have been heard.

They're worried that if they were heard, that there could be consequences for their actions.

I hope that this task has allowed you to see that by using basic punctuation accurately, we can have an effect on our reader.

We can give strong feelings to the reader.

"In dystopian writing, exclamation marks can.

." So what is the purpose of an exclamation mark in a dystopian piece of writing in particular? Or what is one function of an exclamation mark in a piece of dystopian writing? Pause the video and have a think.

In dystopian writing, exclamation marks can give an oppressive tone to the writing.

As we saw in the last example, the exclamation mark can make the reader feel as if the people are being threatened.

The exclamation marks can show a huge amount of control over citizens.

Therefore, exclamation marks can give an oppressive tone in dystopian writing as well as giving an angry tone.

But if you think about it from another lens, if the exclamation mark was used for a citizen's piece of speech, the exclamation mark could actually show an emotion such as despair.

It really does depend on why the exclamation mark's been used.

We know that exclamation marks do not give a neutral tone to the writing, and they do not show the characters are calm.

That is because exclamation marks convey intense emotion.

If you wanted a sentence to be neutral, you'd use a full stop.

Well done.

"Had they been hurt?" The question mark in this sentence, what does it do? Pause the video and have a think well done if you said the question mark in that sentence, creates a sense of paranoia.

As we said before, the citizens in that sentence seem to be worried that they had been heard.

There is no sense of inequality in that sentence because there's no reference to injustice and things not being fair, and there's also not a sense of defiance because there's no sense of rebellion in that sentence either.

I now want you to write a paragraph describing a dystopian setting.

Use the slow writing prompts to help you craft one sentence at a time.

Your sentences must follow each other logically and smoothly.

So I'm gonna read each prompt out.

After each prompt, I want you to pause the video, write that sentence, and then we'll go onto the next one.

So your first sentence should describe the weather.

Pause the video and write that sentence.

Your second sentence should use a compound sentence to describe some sensory information.

Now that means describing something you might see, smell, hear, taste, or feel in that environment.

Pause the video and write that sentence.

For your third sentence, I want you to write a declarative sentence, starting with, "Although." Pause the video and have a go.

For your fourth sentence, end it with a question mark.

Pause the video and write that question.

Next, I want you to use commas in a list.

Pause the video and write that sentence.

Your sixth sentence should use an exclamation mark.

Remember, that can help you convey intense emotion.

Pause the video and write that sentence.

Finally, I want you to write a declarative sentence with an adverb and adjective.

Pause the video and write your final sentence.

Great job on that task everyone.

Let's see what you could have written.

"The howl of the harsh wind swept through the city, forcing Cora to tug on her flimsy coat.

Grey clouds stretched on relentlessly and the smog obscured her view of the towering skyscraper ahead in which she worked." I've started off my paragraph by describing the weather, and my second sentence is declarative and describes sensory information.

"Although it was eerily silent, she could not help the feeling that she was being watched.

She was not alone, was she? Cameras, secret watchmen inside doorways, even the strange animals flying ahead could catch her off guard.

As she turned the corner, a sinister reminder stared back at her.

'The eye of honour follows.

' She shuttered, fearfully and trudged along through the bleak city that she was forced to call home." Now your writing may not look exactly like that, but as long as you follow the slow writing prompts to use a range of punctuation and sentences and created a dystopian atmosphere, very well done.

Let's go through what we've learned today.

Firstly, accurate punctuation helps make your writing clear.

Each piece of punctuation has a different purpose.

You should use each piece of punctuation accurately and for effect.

You should vary your punctuation throughout your writing.

Very well done on your hard work today.

I look forward to seeing you next time.