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Year 9

Improving the style of a letter: sentence structure and rhythm

I can improve a letter which recounts an imagined experience in the trenches by using a range of sentence lengths and fronted adverbials.

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Year 9

Improving the style of a letter: sentence structure and rhythm

I can improve a letter which recounts an imagined experience in the trenches by using a range of sentence lengths and fronted adverbials.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Rhythm is the beat, flow, or pattern of a piece of music or writing.
  2. Writers create rhythm by using a variety of sentence types and punctuation.
  3. Fronted adverbials are words or phrases at the beginning of a sentence which describe the action that follows.
  4. Fronted adverbials can help organise writing by explaining how, when or why something happens.
  5. Fronted adverbials can help create tension.

Keywords

  • Rhythm - the beat, flow, or pattern of a piece of music or writing

  • Recount - to describe something that happened, to tell its story

  • Tension - the mental strain a reader is put under because of their suspicion that something bad is about to happen

  • Fronted adverbials - words or phrases at the beginning of a sentence which describe the action that follows

  • Variety - a range of different forms, types, things

Common misconception

Word choice is more important than rhythm.

Word choice and powerful literary methods (for example metaphor) are hard things to craft and deserve time and attention. But so too does your sentence construction. Consider if you heard one of your favourite songs but there was no rhythm to it.

If your own pupils have written drafts of their recount letters, consider if using their work as the models would be more powerful than the pre-written ones in both learning cycles.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Pupils were tasked to write a letter recounting an imagined experience in the trenches of WW1. What does it mean to recount?
to create a piece of fiction
Correct answer: to describe something that happened, to tell its story
to use your imagination
to adopt a persona
Q2.
A pupil was tasked to write a letter recounting an imagined experience in the trenches of WW1. They start their letter with a greeting. Which greeting is accurate?
dear millie
Dear millie,
dear Millie
Correct answer: Dear Millie,
Dear Millie
Q3.
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was a British soldier. He is most famous for his about the realities of trench warfare in World War One.
Correct Answer: poems, poetry
Q4.
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was a soldier and poet. His poem about a gas attack in WW1 sees a speaker recount, "Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him ."
Correct Answer: drowning
Q5.
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was a soldier and poet. His poem about a gas attack in WW1 sees a speaker recount the death of another soldier: "I saw him drowning." What type of clause is this?
a subordinate clause
a dependent clause
Correct answer: an independent clause
a simple clause
a compound clause
Q6.
In one of his 1917 letters to his mother, the poet and soldier Wilfred Owen describes a trench he was stuck in for 50 hours. “One entrance had been blown in and blocked. , the other remained.”
Correct Answer: So far

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Often, writers try to create rhythm in their writing to engage their readers. What are the two main ways to create rhythm in writing?
using varied metaphorical language
Correct answer: using varied sentence types
using sub-headings to divide ideas
Correct answer: using varied punctuation
using a varied vocabulary
Q2.
A pupil wrote a sentence pretending to be a soldier on the frontline of WW1: "Gently crying, I tried to extricate myself from the wire." Which is the fronted adverbial?
extricate
from the wire
I tried
Gently
Correct answer: Gently crying,
Q3.
A pupil wrote a sentence pretending to be a soldier on the frontline of WW1: "Looking left and right, I made a mad dash for the trench." Which is the fronted adverbial?
Looking
right
mad dash
Correct answer: Looking left and right
mad
Q4.
A pupil wrote a sentence pretending to be a soldier on the frontline of WW1. Which sentence contains a correctly punctuated fronted adverbial?
Seeking comfort I tore your letter open and read it immediately.
seeking comfort, i tore your letter open and read it immediately
seeking comfort, I tore your letter open and read it immediately.
Seeking comfort, I tore your letter open and read it immediately
Correct answer: Seeking comfort, I tore your letter open and read it immediately.
Q5.
Starting with the first, put these words and punctuation marks in order to create a sentence with a fronted adverbial. The first word of the sentence has not been given a capital letter.
1 - moaning
2 - ,
3 - I
4 - rolled
5 - sideways
6 - .
Q6.
Starting with the first, put these words and punctuation marks in order to create a sentence with a fronted adverbial. The first word of the sentence has not been given a capital letter.
1 - without
2 - warning
3 - ,
4 - the
5 - shelling
6 - began
7 - .