Lesson video

Hello.

Well done.

You've made it to the final lesson of non-fiction and grammar with myself, Ms. Richards.

Well done for all your hard work so far.

Today's really exciting.

'Cause you're going to get to have lots of free choice at building and creating your own piece without me telling you what to do.

I can't wait.

Let's make sure we're somewhere nice and quiet to work.

Turned all distractions, all notifications off.

We've got a pen and paper.

We're ready to go.

If you need to pop off and do those things now, press play when you're ready.

Use this pause point to get yourself sorted, run off and get that pen and paper if you haven't already.

Press play when you're ready and we'll get on with the lesson.

Let's have a look at our overview then.

For today's lesson, we're starting by recapping fragments from last time or you might remember them as minor sentences.

We're going to look at something called register and how we switch our register.

Again, you might've heard of it, you might not.

We're going to look at how we plan effectively and all the elements we're going to think about.

Then you're going to have your turn at writing your own piece of non-fiction writing.

Followed by your final quiz for non-fiction.

Lots to cover, let's get going.

Here's our lovely planning line that we've been working against.

So you've now learned how to do an introduction, how to write a supporting paragraph, how to do a counter paragraph, how to create balance, and then how to write a conclusion that calls to action.

Covered so much.

It's going to be your turn to do it some of it independently today.

Let's start with a recap then, a fragments from last lesson or you might remember them as minor sentences.

Let's see if you can remember what they are.

A fragment is when we have an incomplete sentence.

So we've got our subject, verb, object.

You must revise now.

And then our fragment becomes something that doesn't have a subject or a verb.

In this case, it's just a single word, now.

It's a really punchy reminder to an audience, isn't it? And we can use them in all kinds of different ways.

So pineapple is the best pizza topping, fact.

So we're really trying to add fragments and minor sentences for effect.

We don't want to use them all the time because they're incorrect.

But the odd bit that's not quite correct is really really effective.

So pineapple is the best pizza topping, fact, no lie, utter truth, I think is true.

I love pineapple on pizza but I know that's quite controversial.

So we can use our fragments and our minor sentences here to really add impacts and really show certainty in what we're saying.

There's no room arguing with me if I'm saying fact, no lie, utter truth.

Nobody's arguing with that rule of three.

And if they aren't, they're not winning.

Let's have a look at another example then.

Your local community needs your help.

Let's go.

So here, we've got our fragment, let's go, to really encourage people to join in.

Now take care with let's.

If I have an apostrophe in there, let's go.

That actually means let us go.

So that apostrophe is the contraction of let us go.

So let us go.

That isn't a fragment.

We can still use it as a short sentence.

And it's a really good short sentence if that works but actually to be fragmented, we can't have the subject in there, us and we can't have that subject verb because otherwise it's not a fragment.

Still a short sentence, still really punch in worth using.

I've used, let's go.

Now, lets, is a third person to mean we're allowing you or encouraging you that you're being allowed to go.

In which case this is a fragment because those are both verbs.

So it's fine.

So just watch that one apostrophe can change the whole meaning.

Your turn then.

I'd like you to have a look at each of these and add in fragments to each one.

Should be experts at this from last time.

Pause the video now, have a go, write that down, press play when you're ready.

How'd you get on? Here are my examples.

So have you ever stopped to think about how it might feel to be homeless? Cold, isolated, alone? So I've used the three adjectives fragmented they're a single word sentences.

If we work together, number two, if we work together then we can make a bigger impact for the future, our future.

So I've just taken that final phrase.

Can you use, our, pronoun our, to make the audience feel included? And number three, I went with, what are you waiting for? Come on.

Real way of encouraging your audience to suggest that they can just get going on something.

Yours will look very different to mine.

That's absolutely fine.

Let's start them with something called register switching.

You might've heard of register before you might've done that with your teachers.

And they might have talked to you about register switching, but maybe not.

It's one of my favourite things about English because it's something that we all do automatically and we weren't really ever taught how to do it but we all know that we must.

So "register is when you think about the way you use language based on how well you know your audience." So it's about the way you use your language, change your language and speak differently or write differently based on how well you know your audience or how well you're pretending to know your audience.

So if I think about a group of friends then we know them well.

So our register is going to be really relaxed, really informal, use lots of colloquial language.

That means casual language if you've heard of that.

And there's probably going to be inside jokes that people who aren't in that friendship group wouldn't know.

So that would be my register for a group of friends.

If I'm speaking to a total stranger or I'm writing something for a total stranger, I don't know them very well, or at all.

So because there's no previous connection, I probably be extra polite and I'd use lots of modal verbs like could or might rather than directly telling someone that they will or they must or they're going to go.

I'm going to be a bit more polite.

So I change my register because I don't know them.

Now we do this quite automatically.

We often don't have to think about it.

If I'm talking to a sibling, I'm really informal but I might be a bit extra authoritative if I'm not like the older sister he's making the youngest sibling do something.

And I also might, depending on how old they are related to things that they know.

So my register with a sibling might use lots of analogies or like "remember when we did this" and have lots of shared memories in it.

But it would be quite informal because I know my sibling quite well.

If I'm talking to my boss, well I'm going to be very respectful even if I know them quite well.

I'm probably going to use a register that has a lot more questions in it.

So I'm asking for help.

Or even when I think I know the answer.

I'm going to be a little bit more subordinate by phrasing it as a question so.

Could you just look at what I've done here? Or I was thinking about doing this, does that work? And there's going to be lots of real positive language, lots of praise.

And I really enjoy doing this, but can we now look at this? You'd have really show off a bit too.

And because it's my boss there's probably going to be some shared jargon and some shared language about the work that we're doing.

So, if you were writing or talking to the following, your head teacher, a customer service advisor, a large business or a company, or a friend, what would the register be like? I'd like you to pause the video now and have a go at filling in this table with your ideas.

What kind of things would you see in that language, in that speech? Let's look at some answers.

So I said for your head teacher, you would be polite and respectful 'cause you understand their authority.

And there'd be lots of language about school because it's really familiar to you both.

That's what your most likely to be talking about.

Customer service advisor, if you're phoning up for a problem, probably you going to be really polite.

You're going to be asking for help but it's going to be quite formal because you don't know them.

Contacting a large business or a company.

You're going to be really formal, direct statements.

And depending on why you're talking to them you might have quite a frustrated tone, lots of imperatives and like, you must change this for me.

But if you're talking to a friend it's the complete opposite.

It's informal, relaxed, loads of inside jokes and slang.

Now we do this all the time.

We change our language.

We change our register depending on who we're talking to.

And that's perfect.

That's what we should be doing.

We're going to use contractions and collectible language talking to our friends but we won't use them when we talk to our headmaster or we're in a formal setting.

Now you guys know how to do this.

You do it automatically.

It's just reminding you to do that with our writing as well.

And that's because there are lots of different types of nonfiction.

We went through at the very first lesson that with speeches, letters, articles and that you come across non-fiction in textbooks as well.

So the register of each of these pieces changes based on the start of writing and the audience.

So if I go back to my request for help for a community project.

Your local community needs your help.

Let's go.

Here's the things that I've included to make this a speech.

The, your, that personal pronoun that we've talked about so much.

The fragment, let's go, really encouraging them to get on.

That's really appropriate for a speech.

But if I was doing this as a letter, I could include, let's go, but it's quite informal.

And if I'm sending this out to a letter in my local community, I don't know them very well.

That might make them feel like we're friends already and they want to help.

But I could also switch that to a rhetorical question.

Could you join us? Which is a little bit more inclusive and a little bit more respectful of the fact that I don't know them.

So I'm not making an assumption that they're going to join us.

Now, if I was doing this as an article about a community and then requesting help, these don't work for the formality of a news article, your local community needs your help.

Let's go.

It doesn't work as well when an article is a bit more formal when you don't know who's going to be reading it.

So I could change that to the local community is and then asking for help for as much help as locals can offer.

If you think you can help, then you can.

And I can give some really factual details on what people can do.

Now, going back to our original phrase.

Your local community needs your help.

Let's go.

If this was a textbook, they wouldn't phrase it like that at all.

The register is completely different.

This is too informal and actually textbooks are past tense.

'Cause they're talking about things that have already happened.

So it become the community, 'cause we don't know who's reading it.

So it's not the community we need to get rid of that, your.

And we make it into past tense.

The local community needed help.

And then here's what happened.

Villages joined quickly to support the efforts.

The register of a textbook is totally different.

These are all things you know, these are things you know spotted and the things you will subconsciously do in your speaking all time and maybe during your writing.

And if you haven't then we've had a little think about it today.

It's really brought our attention to it.

So that's important because when we're planning, we might be writing different types and different styles.

So we need to know what register we're going to be using.

That helps us create an effective plan.

And it's important before we do any bit of writing that we have planned it properly.

In order to plan effectively, we need to review our task and we consider the purpose audience form and register.

So if we're writing a letter to a head teacher requesting their support for a non-uniform day to raise money for charity.

I would think what the purpose, audience, form and register is.

If you're competent pause the video now and written down yourself.

If your not we're going to go through them.

The purpose then would be to persuade your head teacher to let you have that non-uniform day.

The head teacher is your audience and the form is a letter nice and easy.

So our register is formal but personal because we're formal because we respect our head teacher but personal because it's our school and we want their help and we want to feel like they're approachable.

The other thing that I need to do is decide on my structure.

So during this unit, we looked at writing an introduction.

A supporting paragraph, a counter paragraph, a balanced paragraph and a conclusion.

But our supporting our counter and our balanced who are quite separate.

And actually we don't have to include all three in a piece.

If we're really in favour of something then it's going to be much more persuasive to only do supporting paragraphs and supporting ideas for it because then your reader or your audience only hears or reads one side and that can be really persuasive.

Equally, if we're really against something then we can just do a whole essay full of against ideas.

We don't always need to show both sides.

Some pieces do show both sides.

In which case it can be effective rather than to do a four against four against to just do a piece that's entirely balanced the whole way.

Any of these formats, any of these structures are okay.

So for your task, you want to think about which one do you want to use.

And that really means working out what your personal opinion is first.

Here's another one then for you to plan.

Think about an article for a community news letter updated on the progress of a local building project.

Pause the video now and write down what the purpose, audience, form and register are.

Press play when you're ready.

Did you get the same as me? The purpose is to inform.

The audience in local people.

It's an article, and it's going to be very formal and factual because it's an article for a newsletter.

It's an update, you want to make sure all the right information is there.

We can think about our structure for an article.

An article often a meant to be unbiased.

So we might need to make sure that we've got a lot of balance.

Of course, for a local community, if it's written as part of a community newsletter, you might have bias.

So rather than having one of each, you might have entirely supporting paragraphs, entirely counter paragraphs or that neutral balance where it's unbiased.

Here's another one for you then.

A teacher giving a speech to Year Nine students about their GCSE options.

Pause the video now to just think about the purpose, audience, form and register.

Write it down if you can.

Press play when you're ready and we'll go through the answers.

Did you get these then? The purpose is to inform, audience would be Year Nine.

It's a speech.

It's going to be factual and it's going to have some formality because it's a teacher but it's likely to be more relaxed and more personal because the teacher's going to know the students well and they're going to want them to listen and think about this.

So being a bit more relaxed and personal is going to help your audience of Year Nine students pay a bit more attention.

And again, when we're thinking about GCSE options, our teacher would have decided what kind of structure they're doing.

So they might do a supporting positive one.

Then they might think about all of Year Nine's fears and then they might show balance.

But it's more likely that this is all going to be really, really positive all in favour of why all these options are amazing.

It's unlikely that your teacher is going to have lots of against paragraphs.

Like here's why you shouldn't pick your options.

'Cause it's the teacher's job to make sure that students have got great options.

So we have to think about which structure is most sensible.

A balanced structure again, make sure too many negatives that a teacher wouldn't want the students to think about.

Okay, it's your turn then.

So I'm going to give you a task now.

One that we haven't planned to work on together and you're going to have a go at planning it and working out your structure and then writing it.

So this is your new task and it is, "We're too invested in celebrity culture and it's dangerous.

We should focus more on our local community." You're going to write an article for teenage blog in which you argue your point of view against this statement.

So that's really important that word against.

First thing I'd like you to do is pause the video and get this written down so that you've got it in front of you.

You've got the task.

Press play when you've got it written down.

Okay.

The first thing that you need to do then is to start thinking about your planning.

So having a look at that task, what is the purpose? Who is the audience? What form are you being asked to write in? And what's the appropriate register for that? If it's for teenagers, you don't know them but they're teenagers, you want to be able to relate.

They want to read something really, really formal.

Have a think about what the appropriate register is there.

Pause the video now make those pine notes.

Okay.

The next thing then is thinking about that statement.

"We're too invested in celebrity culture and it's dangerous.

We should focus more on our local community." You think about if you're for or against that.

Do you think it is dangerous and we're too invested in it? So are you supporting that statement and you're going to come up with lots of reasons why? Or do you disagree entirely with it? Let's have a look then.

Hopefully you said that this was to argue.

It was for teenagers and it's an article, but a blog.

So it's a more informal article.

And your register is going to be factual but more relaxed and more personal.

So that teenagers relate and because it's a blog, Here are our planning lines then, are you doing a piece in the same format that we wrote in the last one with one supporting paragraph, one counter, and one that shows balance? Just like this.

So it's got the three separate elements.

Are you going to do one that entirely supports that statement that you completely agree with it? And all of your reasons are going to be supporting and saying, why? Are you completely against it? Do you think we're not obsessed with celebrity culture? And we shouldn't support our local community? In which case, yours can argue entirely against or you can do one that shows complete balance.

So shows both sides the whole way through.

That's your decision to make but pause the video now and write down what your structure is going to be.

This is now your turn to have a go.

Take all the time that you need.

You're going to write all elements.

It's nice and extended thinking about your full stops, capital letters, extended sentences, and using all the techniques that we've talked about in these last few lessons.

Well done.

Hopefully you've gone really well with that.

And you found you had loads to write.

You should have these lovely, extended pieces of writing out arguing for or against that statement.

I hope this unit has really helped you understand non-fiction and how do you use different grammar elements in your nonfiction to really create lots of different effects and impact.

So well done.

I hope you've enjoyed it.

You've reached the end, but before you can finish and celebrate, don't forget to do that quiz.

Bye.