Lesson video

Hello everyone.

It's lovely to see you here today.

My name's Dr.

Clayton and I'm to guide you through Learning Journey today.

So grab your pen, laptop, whatever you're using for this lesson and let's get started.

Welcome today's lesson.

The lesson is called Using Sentence Structures for Effect in Descriptive Writing.

Now, often when we think of descriptive writing, our first thought tends to go to sensory or figurative language in order to influence the reader's perception of an image or a scene, but this lesson's all about how you can use sentence construction to also influence the reader's perception.

So we five words today, we're gonna focus on as our keywords.

They're identified in bold throughout the learning material.

And I tried to point 'em out to you as well so you can see them being used in context.

Our first keyword is "descriptive".

Now this is essential to this lesson because we're looking at how we can use sentence structures in descriptive writing.

So it's really important that we understand that when we say descriptive writing, we mean writing that describing something in an interesting and detailed way.

Our second key word is "subordinate clause".

Now, subordinate clause is a group of words that do not function as a complete sentence on their own.

We're gonna be looking at how you can use subordinate clause in complex sentences later on in the lesson.

Our third key word is "vary", and that means to change in form appearance, nature, or substance.

So when we talk about varying your sentence structures, we mean changing the form of your sentences in order to have an effect on the reader.

Our fourth key word is "main clause", and that's a group of words including a subject and a verb, that form a complete sentence.

We're going to be looking at main clauses in both compound and complex sentences later on in the lesson.

Our fifth key word is effect, and that means a consequence, an outcome, a result or an influence.

So when we talk about using sentence structures for effect, we mean use them in a way that will influence the reader.

So I'll just give you a few moments to write down those key keywords and their definitions.

So pause the video and write them down now.

Fantastic.

Let's get started with the lesson.

So we have three learning cycles in a lesson today for our first learning cycle, we're going to be looking at how we can use adverbs in our sentences for effect.

We're going to define what an adverb is.

Consider why you can use an adverb in a sentence.

Consider why they might be useful for descriptive writing.

And then look at how Lewis Carroll uses adverbs for effect, in Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

We're going to be looking at extracts from Through the Looking-Glass throughout the lesson because not only is it one of my favourite books, but because of its whimsical and fantastical nature, it's also a fantastic example of descriptive writing because Caroll really has to add a lot of detail for us as a reader to understand all these illogical and wonderful images and things happening.

For a second learning cycle, we're going to look at how we can add extra information to our sentences to form a complex sentence.

As with the adverbs, we're going to consider how we can use extra information, where we can use it within a sentence, why it might be useful for the descriptive writing.

And we're gonna see it used in context to consider how it affects us as the reader.

For our final learning cycle, we're going to consider how we can add a second piece of information by creating a compound sentence.

As before, we're going to consider how we can make a compound sentence, why it might be useful in descriptive writing.

And we're gonna look at an example.

By the end of the lesson, hopefully you'll feel confident, not only in varying your sentence structures, but also confident knowing how that variation is gonna impact your reader.

So in this lesson we're going to look at how you can vary your sentences in your descriptive writing for effect.

Now we've met several of our keywords here, so just remind ourselves of the definitions.

So vary means change in form.

Descriptive means describe something in an interesting and detailed way and effect means to influence.

So essentially we're looking at how we can change our sentence structures in order to add more detail to our writing and therefore influence the reader.

So, what I'd like us to start off by considering is the why behind the lesson.

So why do you think it's important to vary your sentences in your descriptive writing? What effect do you think it might have on the reader? So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great discussions about how you want to make sure the reader sees different levels to your writing and it doesn't become monotone because that can become quite dull for the reader.

You also might like to think about it as a way of taking the reader on a journey through your writing.

When we experience something new for the first time, our emotions tend to change, we see new things or smell new smells.

And varying your sentences in your descriptive writing can mimic the sensation of discovering somewhere for the first time for the reader.

Because adding in more detail or adding in more information can imitate that feeling for something grabbing your eye or attention.

So we're going to begin by looking at adverbs.

An adverb is a word that modifies, which means describes, a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a complete sentence.

And therefore they're a great way of adding detail to your writing.

So, let's think about some examples.

Now all of these examples are based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland because we're gonna be looking extracts from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There later on in the lesson.

And hopefully this will give you a sense of what the text is like.

So we can use an adverb to modify a verb.

The Cheshire Cat grinned widely.

Here, we know the Cheshire cat is grinning, but adding in "widely" gives us extra information to really help us picture what the grin looks like.

We can use an adverb to modify an adjective.

Wonderland was an utterly strange place.

Again, by adding in the adverb, it emphasises the strangeness of one brand for the reader.

We can also use it to modify another adverb.

The White Rabbit ran too quickly for Alice to keep up.

Now we typically think of adverbs ending in -ly, but actually words, just, too, vary or quite are also adverbs 'cause they describe or modify words.

You can also modify complete sentence.

Unfortunately Alice was too small to reach the key.

Here, the adverb affects the whole sentence.

In this instance, it's affecting the tone because it's telling us it's a bad thing that Alice cannot reach the key.

So let's now think about why these words might be useful in descriptive writing.

So I'd like to discuss, why might using adverbs create effective descriptive writing? So pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing.

Some great discussions there.

So like Aisha, you might've thought that adverbs indicate the manner and degree of the action, so they can help the reader really picture the scene by adding in more detail.

As we saw an example of the Cheshire cat grinning widely, an adverb gives the reader more information so they can visualise a scene.

Or like Izzy, you might have thought that adverbs can also help to add emotion and atmosphere to your writing.

As we saw in our final example, adding adverbs can change the mood of your sentence because they're adding extra detail and letting the reader know how to perceive something that's happened.

Now we're going to look at how Lewis Carroll uses adverbs for effect in Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

As I said, this is one of my favourite books 'cause it's so fantastical.

Now Alice's Adventure in Wonderland is probably more well known as a story and Through the Looking-Glass has the same main character, Alice.

But in this story she goes through a mirror and discovers a new world where there's a giant chessboard and the rules of physics and logic don't apply.

For example, Alice discovers that to stay in one place you have to run as fast as you can because it's a mirror world.

So everything is backwards.

Now here, this extract is the moment where Alice first enters the looking-glass world.

"In another moment Alice was through the glass and had jump lightly down into the looking-glass room.

The very first thing she did was look whether there was a fire in the fireplace.

She was quite pleased to find that there was a real one, blazing away as brightly as the one she had left behind." So, I'd firstly like you to think about what is happening in this extract.

How do you think Alice feels in this moment? So pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Now here, Alice has travelled through the looking-glass.

She's exploring the looking-glass room for the first time.

Because she's noticing details about the room, we might think she's curious and excited to be exploring.

As I said earlier, varying your sentence structure can mimic the sensation of looking around somewhere for the first time and having certain things jump out at you and catch your eye.

Now let's start thinking about the adverbs and their effect.

So what does the addition of "lightly", say to us about Alice's mood at this moment? So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, you might have said, that by saying she jumped lightly Caroll is giving us extra information about the way Alice is moving and it gives the impression that perhaps Alice doesn't want to disturb anyone or anything.

So just that perhaps she's slightly nervous as well as curious.

Now, let's look at some more adverbs.

So what does the addition of "very" and "quite" suggest to the reader? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great thoughts there.

By using "very" to emphasise that this is the first thing Alice did Caroll is showing us just how important the fire was to her.

And by using "quite", we as the reader understand Alice's emotional reaction more.

'Cause it tells although she's pleased, she's not ecstatic about the discovery, merely somewhat pleased.

Now let's think about the addition of "brightly".

How does that help the reader visualise the room? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, you might have thought that the addition of "brightly" gives us extra detailed description and it helps the reader to visualise the fire as giving off a strong light, and therefore helps 'em to see the fire in their mind.

Now let's consider how you can use adverbs in a sentence.

You can use an adverb anywhere in a sentence.

We should try to place the adverbs close to the word or words you're trying to modify as possible.

Now, you also need to make sure you're careful in your placement of adverbs to ensure that create the meaning that you want.

And misplace adverb can alter the meaning of of a sentence.

These two sentences, for example, have two very different meanings.

Alice almost dropped all of the teacups she was carrying.

In this sentence, Alice doesn't actually drop the teacup she's carrying.

However, Alice dropped almost all of the teacups she was carrying.

In this sentence, Alice has dropped nearly all of the teacups she was carrying.

Now for a quick check for understanding, what I'd like to do is complete the following two sentences.

So sentence one, an adverb is a word that, a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a complete sentence.

Sentence two.

Adverbs indicate the manner or degree of an action so they can help add more, to descriptive writing.

So pause the video and complete the sentences now.

Amazing.

You might have said an adverb is a word that modifies, describes, a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a complete sentence.

And adverbs indicate the manner or degree of an action so they can help add more detail to descriptive writing.

So very well done if you've got those right.

Now, let's put what we've just learned into practise in our first task of the lesson.

What I'd like to do is add an adverb to each of the following sentences to enhance the description of this image.

Now the images from Alice's Adventure in Wonderland is the moment where Alice sits down to tea with the Mad Hatter's table.

So, sentence one.

Alice sat in the wooden chair.

Sentence two.

The March Hare looked at Alice.

Number three.

The Mad Hatter sipped his tea.

Number four.

The Dormouse spoke quietly.

And number five.

The tea was pleasant.

So pause the video and add in your adverbs now.

Amazing work everyone.

You might have said for number one, Alice sat awkwardly in the wooden chair.

Now here, this adds the atmosphere of the description because it's telling us how Alice is feeling while she's sitting down the table.

For number two, you might have said, The March Hare looked nonchalantly at Alice.

Again, this adds the atmosphere of description because it's telling us the March Hare isn't particularly interested when he is looking at Alice.

For number three, The Mad Hatter loudly sipped his tea.

Now this adds a sensory quality description 'cause it allows you to almost hear the way the Mad Hatter is sipping as tea.

For number four, The Dormouse spoke too quietly.

Again, this adds more detail to the scene.

Allows us to understand that no one can hear the Dormouse 'cause it's speaking too quietly.

For number five, you might have said The tea was rather pleasant.

By adding this detail we can again understand more about what it would feel like to be in the scene as if we were drinking the tea ourselves.

Amazing work so far, everyone.

Now we're moving on to the second learning cycle.

We're going to look at how we can use subordinate clauses in complex sentences in order to add extra information to our sentences and our descriptions.

So in order to add extra information to our descriptive writing, we can add a subordinate clause to a sentence to make it a complex sentence.

Now, subordinate clause is one of our key words, means a group of words that do not make sense on their own.

Now an example might be, Alice sipped her tea politely.

Now here, we have a complete sentence, but we can add a subordinate clause to it to add extra detail.

So we might say, Alice, who was looking curious at her companion, sipped her tea politely.

Here, "who was looking curious at her companions" adds extra detail 'cause it tells how Alice is reacting to The Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse.

And it's subordinate clause because "who was looking curiously at companions" doesn't make sense on its own, as we don't know who the subject of the sentence is.

Now let's consider why adding extra information might be useful in descriptive writing.

So, I'd like you to discuss why my adding a subordinate clause make effective descriptive writing? So pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great discussions there.

It was wonderful to see people looking back at their definition of descriptive writing to really understand what we're looking for and how a subordinate clause might help.

So descriptive writing is all about writing in a detailed and interesting way.

So like Laura, you might have thought, adding a subordinate clause helps to add that extra detail to our writing, which will help the reader visualise the scene better.

Now we're going to look at how Lewis Carroll uses subordinate clauses for effect in Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

Now in this extra, Alice has found herself in a wood.

If we stayed for too long you forget your name and who you are.

"So they walked on together through the wood, Alice with her arms clasped lovingly around the soft neck of the Fawn, till they came out into another open field." So, I'd like you to first practise identifying the subordinate clause.

So discuss where is the subordinate clause in the sentence.

Pause video, take a few moments to consider.

Well done.

The subordinate clause is "Alice with her arms clasped lovingly around the soft neck of the Fawn" because it's not a complete thought.

Now, I'd like to discuss, what is the effect of adding the subordinate clause? So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great thoughts there.

You might have said that by adding in this extra information, the reader can not only better visualise Alice and the Fawn walking through the woods together, but they can also better understand there's a warm friendship between them.

Now let's think about where and how you can use a subordinate clause in a sentence.

So subordinate clause can go the beginning, the middle, or the end of a sentence, but the punctuation is different depending on where the subordinate clause is.

So let's look at some examples.

Although she was frustrated with the looking-glass world, Alice desperately want to keep moving to become a Queen.

Now here the subordinate clause is at the beginning of the sentence and therefore we need to comma after it before we move on to our main clause.

We might also say, Alice, although she was frustrated with the looking-glass world, desperately wanted to keep moving to become a Queen.

here, the subordinate clause is in the middle of the sentence and therefore we need commas around it.

You could also use dashes or bracket instead of commas.

If the subordinate clause is in the middle, you might then say, Alice desperately wanted to keep moving to become a Queen, although she was frustrated with the looking-glass world.

Here, the subordinate clause is at the end of the sentence.

Therefore we don't need a comma or any other punctuation because we have the subordinate conjunction "although".

Now for a quick check for understanding, what I'd like you to do is tell me which two of the following statements are true.

So A, subordinate clauses are extra information.

B, adding a subordinate clause creates a compound sentence.

C, subordinate clauses can go anywhere in a sentence or D subordinate clauses can only go in the middle of a sentence.

So pause the video and make a selections now.

The correct answers are A, subordinate clauses are extra information and C, subordinate clause go anywhere in a sentence.

So very well done if you've got those right.

Now, we're gonna return to the same image from task A, but this time we're going to think about how we can add extra information to enhance our description of the image.

So, I'd like you to add a subordinate clause to each of the following sentences and make sure you vary the position of a subordinate clause within the sentence.

So sentence one.

Alice studied the tablecloth.

Number two.

The March Hare sat looking at Alice.

And number three.

The Mad Hatter forgot about his tea.

So pause the video and add in your subordinate clauses now.

Amazing work everyone.

It was great to see people looking back at the examples to remind themselves how to punctuate a complex sentence when you vary the position of the subordinate clause.

You might have said for number one, Because she felt a bit uncomfortable, Alice studied the tablecloth.

Here we've added extra information to explain to us why Alice is studying the tablecloth with a comma separating our subordinate clause and our main clause because the subordinate clause is at the beginning of the sentence.

For number two, The March Hare, with his arm draped over the back of the chair, sat looking at Alice.

Here we've added extra information about the body language of the March Hare.

We've added commas around our subordinate clause because it's in the middle of a sentence.

Number three, The Mad Hatter forgot about his tea, since he was so appalled at Alice sitting down without an invitation.

Here we've added extra information about the emotional state of the Mad Hatter and there's no comma because subordinate clause is at the end of the sentence, we have our subordinated conjunction "since".

Fantastic work everyone.

We're now to our final learning cycle.

We're going to look at how we can add a second piece of information and create a compound sentence in order to enhance our descriptive writing.

So another way to vary our sentences and our descriptive writing is add a second piece of information to turn our sentence into a compound sentence.

A compound sentence where two main clauses have been joined together either with the semicolon or with a coordinating conjunction.

So for example, Alice tried to ask the Cheshire Cat directions.

Here we have one main clause that gives us some information about what is happening.

We might then add a second main clause.

Alice tried to ask the Cheshire Cat directions, but he just grinned at her widely.

Here we've added a second main clause to tell us the result of what happened.

We've used a coordinating a coordinating conjunction "but" to join the two sentence together and we have a comma before the conjunction.

Now let's consider why we might use a second piece of information.

So, why might it be more effective for our descriptive writing to create a compound sentence rather than simply start a new sentence? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great discussions there.

It was great to see people looking back at the example we just talked about to consider why that might be useful in descriptive writing.

And like Alex, we might have thought that adding a second piece of information and creating a compound sentence allows us to show the reader how two pieces of information are connected, which adds detail to our descriptive writing.

Now we're going to look at how Lewis Carroll adds more information for effect in Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

"Alice didn't like being criticised, so she began asking questions." Now, what I'd like to think about is what is the effect of adding a second piece of information and creating a compound sentence here? So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, you might have said that by creating a compound sentence Caroll shows the reader the two pieces of information have a cause and effect relationship.

And this allows us to better understand Alice and the world around her.

Now let's consider how to add a second piece of information.

In order to add a second piece of information and create a compound sentence, both parts of the sentence must be main clauses and that means they must be complete sentences that make sense on their own.

To join them together you can either use a coordinating conjunction, and, for, but, so, yet, or, nor, and some people like the acronym FANBOYS to remember those, or a semicolon.

For example, Alice was excited to discover that the world was a giant chess board and she desperately wanted to become a Queen.

Here both parts of sentence are main clauses, so they have a subject, a verb, and are complete thoughts.

We've then shown that they're connected by adding "and".

You might also then say, Alice was excited to discover that the world's a giant chessboard, she desperately wanted to become a Queen.

Here we've simply substituted the and for a semicolon.

Now, for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like to do is complete the following two sentences.

So sentence one.

Adding a second piece of information and creating a compound sentence allows to show the, between pieces of information.

Sentence two.

To connect the two pieces of information, you can either use a coordinating conjunction or a.

So pause the video and complete the sentence now.

Amazing, you might have said that adding a second piece of information and creating a compound sentence allows to show the connection between the pieces of information.

To connect the two pieces of information, you can either use a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon.

So very well done if you've got those right.

Now we're gonna practise that skill by again returning to the same image we've used throughout the lesson and creating some compound sentences.

So, I'd like you to add a second piece of information to each of the following sentences.

Remember to use aquatic conjunction or a semicolon to join the sentence together.

So sentence one.

Unfortunately the tea had gone cold.

Number two.

The Dormouse had just woken up.

Number three.

The tea set had a very pretty design.

And number four.

The Mad Hatter wore a very fetching hat.

So pause the video and add in your second piece of information now.

Fantastic work everyone.

It was great to see people really considering how you can add more information to really try to make the scene easier for the reader to visualise.

They might have said, Unfortunately the tea had gone cold, semicolon, the sandwiches were simply plain bread with no butter.

Here we've added more information to add to the sense of disappointment in the tea party.

The Dormouse had just woken up, comma, but Alice could see its eyes beginning to droop again.

Here we've added a second piece of information to tell us more about the Dormouse and show us it simply doesn't stay awake for long.

Number three, the tea set had a very pretty design, comma, yet there were scratches and cracks in all of the crockery.

Here we've added a second piece of information to allow us to better visualise the tea set.

And number four, The Mad Hatter wore a very fetching hat, comma, so Alice kept finding her eyes drawn him.

Here, our second piece of information tells us more about the interactions between the characters and offers a cause and effect to the Mad Hatter hat and Alice's gaze.

Fantastic work today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

Adding an adverb can help add emotion and detail to descriptive writing.

Varying your sentences allows you to mimic the sensation of the reader discovering the scene for the first time.

Varying your sentences can also allow to add more detail and allow the reader to better visualise the scene.

And creating a compound sentence can help the reader see how the information is connected together.

I really hope you enjoyed the lesson, everyone.

Goodbye.