1. Sentence structure: worked examples
Higher English
Sentence structure: worked examples

2. Example 1
An extract from an article in the Herald newspaper, in which Melanie Reid describes a police operation in the West of Scotland that seized large quantities of drugs and arrested many dealers. She goes on to explain that new dealers will appear within hours, often with contaminated drugs:
Conventionally, after a huge police effort like this, the response is to sit back in one’s armchair happy in the knowledge that the streets have been cleared of an evil scourge that ruins lives. Good has triumphed over evil. Credits roll.
Except that real life doesn’t always work that way. Drug raids, to put it bluntly, don’t tend to work in reality. They look good on telly. They help senior police officers reach targets. They reassure the public. They may stop a few clubbers enjoying ecstasy this coming weekend. There the benefits end. Unless there is a massive input of drug rehabilitation resources to coincide with the raids (and there almost never is). Without that, these police operations leave communities ultimately worse off, with more crime, more misery and more death.

3. Conventionally, after a huge police effort like this, the response is to sit back in one’s armchair happy in the knowledge that the streets have been cleared of an evil scourge that ruins lives. Good has triumphed over evil. Credits roll.
Except that real life doesn’t always work that way. Drug raids, to put it bluntly, don’t tend to work in reality. They look good on telly. They help senior police officers reach targets. They reassure the public. They may stop a few clubbers enjoying ecstasy this coming weekend. There the benefits end. Unless there is a massive input of drug rehabilitation resources to coincide with the raids (and there almost never is). Without that, these police operations leave communities ultimately worse off, with more crime, more misery and more death
Show how the writer’s sentence structure in both paragraphs adds impact to the points she is making.

4. Answer Approach
1. Identify the technique, e.g. Sentence Structure – Parenthesis
2. Quote, e.g. “(and there almost never is)”
3. Analyse the use of the sentence structure by considering both the FUNCTION (what the technique actually does/what it is used for) and the EFFECT (what it suggests about the particular context it is used in)
N.B. You must look at each example in its own context as the same technique can be used in different examples to create a different effect. There is no generic correct answer that can be learned off by heart.

5. Worked Answer
Conventionally, after a huge police effort like this, the response is to sit back in one’s armchair happy in the knowledge that the streets have been cleared of an evil scourge that ruins lives. Good has triumphed over evil. Credits roll.
Identify = Sentence Structure – Short sentence
Quote = “Credits roll.”
FUNCTION = The short sentence, placed at the end of the paragraph, creates a sudden, abrupt ending. A definitive conclusion. (NOTE: short sentences can also be linked to shortness of time or how little there is of something, but this doesn’t make sense in this context)
EFFECT = This highlights the idea that some people believe drug raids are ‘the answer’ to the problem and that there can be no doubt. They simply accept this concept without consideration of the bigger picture or any further consequences.

6. Worked Answer
Except that real life doesn’t always work that way. Drug raids, to put it bluntly, don’t tend to work in reality. They look good on telly. They help senior police officers reach targets. They reassure the public. They may stop a few clubbers enjoying ecstasy this coming weekend. There the benefits end.
Identify = Sentence Structure – Repetition
Quote = “They look good on telly. They help…They may stop…”
FUNCTION = The repetition of “they” at the start of consecutive sentences creates a listing effect.(NOTE: repetition can also be used to draw attention to a specific word, but that wouldn’t make sense here given the only word repeated is “they”)
EFFECT = This lists all of the supposed benefits from drug raids and the good things they achieve, albeit minimal and of little significance. As each item in the list is superficial, it highlights the writer’s arguments that drug raids are, in fact, futile .

7. You try…
Unless there is a massive input of drug rehabilitation resources to coincide with the raids (and there almost never is). Without that, these police operations leave communities ultimately worse off, with more crime, more misery and more death
Identify =
Quote =
Function =
Effect =