Sentence Structure – List Questions Close Reading Sentence Structure – List Questions Nat 5

Learning Intentions Success Criteria To understand how a list functions in writing To understand how to discuss the effect lists have on a piece of writing

I can ….. Understand how to answer a question on listing Discuss the effects that listing can have on a piece of writing Identify lists in fiction and non-fiction I know …. How to answer sentence structure questions that focus on listing

Lists Numbers of items separated by punctuation marks (often commas and semi-colons) form lists. However, simply mentioning that there is a list is not going to get you very far. As with other features you must also comment on a feature’s function and effect. Summary Identify the list. Say what effect that list has on the reader. The effect will often be created by the cumulative nature, or the monotony, or the shape of the list.

List – provides detail and complexity The effect will often be created by the cumulative nature, or the monotony, or the shape of the list

Example One: Look at the lines below. Identify any feature of sentence structure the writer uses effectively in this paragraph. 1 mark (2008) But as that new way of living arrives—as we retreat from the wild places, and the fences of national parks go up; as we cease the exploitation of animals, and the cow, the camel, the sheep, the chicken and the pig become items in modern exhibition farms, where schoolchildren see how mankind used to live; as our direct contact with our fellow creatures is restricted to zoos, pets and fish tanks; and as every area of natural beauty is set about with preservation orders and rules to keep human interference to a minimum—will we not be separating ourselves from our planet in order, as we suppose, to look after it better? Will we not be loving nature, but leaving it?

ANSWER repeated use of (clauses starting with) “as” listing adds detail and complexity

Example Two: Show how your chosen feature helps to clarify or support the writer’s argument. 2 marks

ANSWER listing - Gives idea of multiplicity and/or variety of ways (1) we are moving away from wilderness (1)

Example Three: (lead in question) In this sentence, what point is the writer making about attitudes to texting? Then .... Show how the writer’s structure in the lines below helps to reinforce the writer’s contrasting point. 1 mark (2011) But has there ever been a linguistic phenomenon that has aroused such curiosity, suspicion, fear, confusion, antagonism, fascination, excitement and enthusiasm all at once as texting?

Answer Writer’s Attitude - They were varied / differing / contrasting / controversial / intense Structure Comment will be on list which adds detail and complexity suggesting multiplicity must be more than mere identification of feature

Example Four: 2011 - “Novels may activate our imagination and may conjure up powerful emotions, but games force you to analyse, to choose, to prioritise, to decide.” Show how the writer’s use of language in this sentence emphasises the contrast between novels and video games. 2 marks So it is with games. It’s not what you’re thinking about when you’re playing a game, it’s the way you’re thinking that matters. Novels may activate our imagination and may conjure up powerful emotions, but games force you to analyse, to choose, to prioritise, to decide. From the outside, the primary activity of a gamer looks like a fury of clicking and shooting. But if you peer inside the gamer’s mind, the primary activity turns out to be another creature altogether: making decisions, some of them snap judgements, some of them long-term strategies.

ANSWER Marks will depend on the quality of comment. For full marks, there must be recognition of the contrast. Reference alone: 0. Mere identification of a feature of sentence structure: 0. Possible answers: - list of verbs (“to analyse … to decide”) rapid fire, punchy run of infinitives suggests playing video games is a very dynamic, frenetic activity which involves a lot of cerebral processes taking place simultaneously - nature of verbs in the list all the verbs are to do with higher order thinking skills and so stress the cerebral nature of playing video games

Example Five: Show how the writer’s structure helps to reinforce this point. 1 mark Ever since the arrival of printing—thought to be the invention of the devil because it would put false opinions into people’s minds—people have been arguing that new technology would have disastrous consequences for language. Scares accompanied the introduction of the telegraph, the telephone, and broadcasting. And in such a short space of time. Less than a decade ago, hardly anyone had heard of it.

ANSWER Structure comment will be on list suggesting multiplicity– must be more than mere identification of feature