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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

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

6. 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?

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

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

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

10. 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?

11. 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

12. Example Four: “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.

13. 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

14. 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.

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