REAL SSR time College Prep

Independent Reading Novel  Heads up….your first IRN needs to be done by March 1st

What you need  Notebook  Paper  Your roomie story

Quick Review  Participles and participial phrases

Painting with Participles  Participle: a verbal that functions as an adjective  Verbal: a verb form that functions in a sentence as a noun or modifier rather than as a verb.  A more simplified way to explain a participle is: “an ing verb tagged on the beginning or end of a sentence.”

Same thing…with participles  “Hissing, slithering, and coiling, the diamond-scaled snakes attacked their prey.”  The participles evoke action. Suddenly, we can see the snakes coiling and slithering. We feel PART of the experience.

Participial Phrases  Participial Phrases: a participle along with any modifiers that complete the image.  Modifiers: A word, phrase, or clause that functions as an adjective or adverb to limit or qualify the meaning of another word or word group.

Combo example and explanation  “Hissing their forked red tongues and coiling their cold bodies, the diamond-scaled snakes attacked their prey.”  Both methods (single participles and participial phrases) paint more detailed picture.  Using the single participles creates rapid movement, while expanded phrases add details at a slower, but equally intense pace.

Your Story  Get your roommate stories out.  Add a participle and a participial phrase to your story

Absolutes  Absolute: a two-word combination-a noun and an ing or ed verb added onto a sentence.  Absolutes utilize verbs; therefore, this brush stroke also adds action to an image.

Examples  “The cat climbed the tree.”  Does this work? Does it show or tell?

Good example  “Claws digging, feet kicking, the cat climbed the tree.”  Was this better? Show or tell?

Visualize  1) Close your eyes….DO IT!  2) A mountain climber is moving along a steep cliff…..pause  3) Visualize this one sentence description: “The mountain climber edged along the cliff.”  4) Now I’m going to add some absolutes (a noun combined with an ing participle).

Visualize (Cont.)  5) “The mountain climber edged along the cliff, hands shaking, feet trembling.”  6) I’m going to add more absolutes  7) “The mountain climber edged along the cliff, hands shaking, feet trembling, eyes watering, nose running.”  8) Open your eyes…which of the three worked best? Showing v. telling? The right amount of info?

Absolute tips  1 is good, 2 is good, but 3 absolutes overloads the picture and diminishes the effect  1 or 2 creates a far more dynamic image than the original

Practice  Look at this image, describe using 2 absolutes Look at this image  On your exit ticket

Your Story  Add an absolute to your story.

Absolute phrases  Absolute phrases combine an absolute and a modifier.  Modifiers: A word, phrase, or clause that functions as an adjective or adverb to limit or qualify the meaning of another word or word group.  Absolute phrases are to absolutes as participial phrases are to participles.

Absolute Phrases Examples  “Feet trembling on the snow covered rocks, the mountain climber edged along the cliff.”  Which part of the sentence is the absolute and which is the modifier?  Which is the noun that the absolute phrase adjective(fies)?

Absolute Phrases Practice  Look at this image, describe using an absolute phrase. Look at this image  On your exit ticket

Maybe this will help  Hopefully you have noticed, these techniques we are using are dependent clauses and dependent clauses NEED commas.  All of our techniques are DEPENDENT phrases that connect to INDEPENDENT clauses; therefore, they need a comma.

Cont  A group of words that has both a subject and a verb, but (unlike an independent clause) cannot stand alone as a sentence. (AKA a subordinate clause).  Dependent clauses are additions to your sentences.  Dependent clauses add a richness to your writing that helps with sentence fluency.

The comma as a telescope  Think of that comma as a telescope controller. You have your basic sentence. Its ok on its own, but there isn’t enough detail. Use THAT COMMA, and ZOOM in with it.  These participles, participial phrases, absolutes, and absolute phrases, help you add detail by ZOOMING in on your topic.

Example  “The rhapis palm sat in a large, white container.”  This is a simple sentence. No flavor….  If used in a research paper, an extra sentence is needed to explain details!!!

Example CONT.  The writer can ZOOM up on any part of the picture that is already framed by the original sentence. In this example, that means zooming up on either the container or the palm.

CONT.  For instance, assume the branches of the palm are the DETAIL of interest. Without any word of transition (a skill WE all lack), only a twist of a zoom lens represented by a comma, the sentence can now read:  “The rhapis palm sat in a large, white container, the branches stretching into the air…”  The writer can now place a comma after “air” and ZOOM up something framed in this part of the sentence.

MORE  Suppose there is nothing of interest about the air, but the branches have interesting joints or nodes, Zooming in further, the sentence now reads:  “The rhapis palm sat in a large, white container, the branches stretching into the air, fibrous joints knuckling the otherwise smooth surface.”

Your story  Add an absolute phrase to your story.