Category Archives: English Writing Instruction

Writing well takes study and practice.

What makes sentences great?

Posted on December 28, 2023 | Leave a comment

Do you collect things? My grandson collects Lego creations.  My husband collects carpentry tools.  My brother collects genealogical trivia.  I collect books on writing. 

Frank Bruni, a New York Times columnist, collects sentences.  He has just published what he considers the best ones of 2023, most submitted by readers.  Almost all are about politicians.  And almost all use one or more figures of speech, bringing complexity to the sentence meanings.  Yet many are a hoot.  To read 40 of them, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/opinion/2023-journalism-writing-sentences.html

But what makes them “the best” sentences of 2023?  Let’s analyze a few.

Maureen Dowd, columnist for The New York Times, writes about an interview with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after she stepped down from that office:  “I was expecting King Lear, howling at the storm, but I found Gene Kelly, singing in the rain.”

Dowd uses antithesis, a figure of speech which contrasts opposites.  King Lear, a tragic Shakespearean character, is contrasted with Gene Kelly, a blithe, happy-go-lucky dancer.  To intensify the contrast, Dowd describes King Lear as “howling at the storm” which his life has become and describes Kelly as “singing in the rain.”  Dowd expected to find Pelosi, stepping down from her role as the leader of the House of Representatives, to be angry.  Instead, she finds her “singing in the rain.”

Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri writes about the ethical shortcomings of Supreme Court justices:  “It is a truth universally acknowledged that an American billionaire, in possession of sufficient fortune, must be in want of a Supreme Court justice.”

Petri uses allusion, a figure of speech which calls to mind (in this case) the famous opening line of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice:  “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”  Petri keeps the grammar and changes just six words.  Anyone familiar with Austen’s famous line recognizes the sentence.  The humor comes from Petri’s keeping the tongue-in-cheek tone of the original.

Matt Bai, a columnist for the Washington Post, argues that vice presidential candidates do affect elections: “I’d argue that Sarah Palin mattered in 2008, although she was less of a running mate than a running gag.”

One way to create humor is to lead readers down a path, so that readers think they know what to expect.  Then at the last second, or the last word in this case, twist the meaning.  The word “running” is repeated, leading readers to expect that the meaning of “running” will also be repeated.  But it isn’t.  “Running mate” is totally different from “running gag.”  The humor comes from verbal irony.

Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington Post writer Robin Givhan writes about President Jimmy Carter’s decision to use Hospice care for his final days: “Hospice care is not a matter of giving up. It’s a decision to shift our efforts from shoring up a body on the verge of the end to providing solace to a soul that’s on the cusp of forever.”

Givhan uses anthesis when she contrasts a body dying to a soul heaven-bound.  Jimmy Carter, a Christian, believes that life continues after death, so “on the cusp of forever” matches his expectations.  Givhan’s use of the word “soul” intensifies this expectation.

Anthony Lane, film critic for The New Yorker, comments on all the pink coloring in the film Barbie:  “Watching the first half-hour of this movie is like being waterboarded with Pepto-Bismol.”

Pepto-Bismol is a bubble-gum-pink colored liquid used for digestive issues, including diarrhea.  Waterboarding is a form of torture.  Torture is not funny, but the visual image of a person struggling to stay afloat in a pink liquid used for diarrhea shows what Lane thinks of all that pink in Barbie.

Figures of speech aren’t just for poems, as these noted newspaper columnists prove.  One way to learn how to use more figures of speech is to copy these “best” sentences, substituting your own words and ideas.  For example,

It is a truth universally acknowledged that woman in possession of unwanted Christmas gifts must be in want of Goodwill.”

Happy New Year.

 

 

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Posted in allusi, allusion, antithesis, English Writing Instruction, Figures of speech, humor in writing, irony--verbal, sentence structure

How to write a five-sentence introduction to an informational or persuasive essay (not a narrative)

Posted on December 3, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a template for writing a five-sentence essay introduction:

First, Identify the topic.

Second, write the main idea / thesis sentence.

Third, follow the outline below for a five-sentence introduction.

  • First sentence if the topic is a piece of literature (novel, short story, poem, biography, film, TV show, or video game):  identify the work of art and its author or network.
  • First sentence if the topic is not a work of art:  identify the topic you are writing about.
  • Second and third sentence if the topic is a work of art:  Summarize the plot / theme / setting / character –whatever is important relating to the main idea of your essay.
  • Second and third sentence if the topic is not a work of art:  Provide background information relating to the main idea of your essay.
  • Fourth sentence:  Transition  to your main idea.
  • Fifth sentence:  Transfer your main idea sentence here.

Here is an example of an essay introduction about a novel, using the format just described:

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume is a children’s chapter book about two brothers.  The older brother–Peter–is in fourth grade and is embarrassed by his little brother.  The little brother–Fudge–is a smart three-year-old who often gets in trouble.  On page after page, Fudge’s antics become more and more ridiculous.  Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is a funny story.

Here is an essay introduction about what I did over Thanksgiving break.

Where I live, schools close for a whole week for Thanksgiving break.  Counting the weekends before and after, the break is nine days of vacation.  Some people fly across the country to be with family and friends during this long school break.  However, not everyone travels far.  I enjoy Thanksgiving break at home where I watch a parade on TV, play with my friends, and eat lots of turkey.

Notice that in each of these two introductions, the first sentence introduces the topic (the name of the book; Thanksgiving break).  The next two sentences develop ideas named in the first sentence (they summarize the book’s contents; they elaborate on having a whole week off of school.  The fourth sentence connects the previous sentences to the ideas in the last sentence (Fudge’s antics become worse; not everyone travels on Thanksgiving break). The fifth sentence identifies what the rest of the essay will be about (how the novel is funny; how I had fun over Thanksgiving break).

Is it necessary to have a five-sentence introduction?  No.  But since many teachers require it, students would be smart to learn how to write one.

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Posted in English Writing Instruction, essay introduction, five sentence paragraph, writing template

Three qualities of Tolstoy’s writing you can use to improve your own

Posted on November 2, 2023 | Leave a comment

I am always hunting for information on how to write better.  Most of what I find I’ve found before.  But occasionally I find new insights, as I did last week when I read a biography of the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy by A. N. Wilson.

Tolstoy is considered a literary genius based on his two most famous novels, War and Peace (published serially beginning in 1865), and Anna Karenina (1875).  I learned three important ideas to improve my writing from reading Wilson’s biography.

First, Tolstoy’s stories contain “hardly an incident, conversation or character” that is not autobiographical, according to Wilson.  War and Peace “evolved out of Tolstoy’s purely private preoccupations and fantasies with his own family.” “Almost every particle of War and Peace bears a relation to something in Tolstoy’s personal experience.”

His epic story of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia centers on the Rostovs, a family based on his wife’s real family, the Bers.  The animated Natasha Rostov is based on the personality of Tolstoy’s young sister-in-law, Tatyana Bers.  When Tolstoy’s wife, Sofya, was pregnant and unwell, Tolstoy took Tatyana to a ball. Their experience becomes the famous ball scene in which Natasha dances with Prince Andrey.  Princess Marya’s isolated existence in the countryside is based on Tolstoy’s mother’s and wife’s lives, one imagined and one observed.  His own life as a soldier in the Crimean War became the basis for the Nikolay Rostov’s fighting Napoleon.

Second, Tolstoy’s characters are so believable because he knew most of them intimately as real people.  While writing, he infused himself into their souls as he brought them to life.  He became each character as he wrote, finding aspects of each character that we, the readers, can sympathize with.  Each character “is imagined with all the intensity of Tolstoy’s being.  He is each character.”

Tolstoy took people born a generation or more after the events of 1812 and transposed their ages and relationships.  The characters were so true to life that his family recognized themselves as they read the pages of the novel.

He also used his eye for telling details to make his characters believable.  For example, Princes Marya practiced “a Dusek sonata, the difficult passages repeated twenty times.”  The Rostov carriage “dove down the straw-laid street.”  Jealous Sonya “turned pale, then red, and tried as hard as she cold to hear what Nikolai and Julie were saying to each other.”

Third, Tolstoy focuses on scenes, not on plot or historical accuracy.  In Anna Karenina, the first part of the story moves from one scene to another:  Stiva’s half-hearted regret for his affair with the French governess, Levin’s club dinner with Stiva, Levin’s meeting with Kitty at the ice skating rink, Anna’s arrival at the Moscow train station where she meets Vronsky, the home party where Kitty refuses Levin’s proposal, the dance where Kitty realizes Vronsky is in love with Anna, the snowy train scene where Anna is agitated by memories of Vronsky.  Each scene contains one essential quality:  the forward thrust of life.  These scenes are like short stories strung loosely together by the actions of repeating characters.

Of course, analyzing a great writer, and understanding what makes his or her writing great, does not guarantee that a writer will write well.  I have heard some people advise to hand write, word for word, a paragraph of a great writer, and then to substitute words to make your own writing great.

A much better idea, I think, is to look at these three qualities of Tolstoy’s writing and incorporate them into your own fiction.  Base characters on people you know well.  Describe them as completely as you can, warts and all.  And show them off in scenes where they live fully.

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Posted in adding details, analysis, Anna Karenina, believable characters, English Writing Instruction, Leo Tolstoy, use autobiography in fiction, War and Peace, writing scenes, writing tips

Delete ‘very’

Posted on September 25, 2023 | Leave a comment

When I revise essays with my students, I suggest deleting the word “very.”

Why? they ask.

I tell them that “very” weakens writing, not strengthens it.

How can that possibly be? they wonder.  Isn’t “very” meant to intensify a word?

Yes, it is meant to strengthen an adjective.  But the consensus of writing experts is that “very” weakens ideas, not strengthens them.

So what is a writer to do?

  • Replace weak or mediocre adjectives with strong ones, according to writerswrite.co.va. Instead of writing “afraid,” write “terrified.”  Instead of “old,” write “ancient.”  Instead of “fast,” write “quick.”
  • According to prowritingadi.com, very has no “inherent” meaning.  “Very” contains not enough new information to be useful to the reader.  Instead write strong verbs and adjectives.

Lists of weak words and stronger synonyms are available online.  Just search for “How to replace ‘very’ and you will find many.

If you are a teacher, you can discourage students from using “very” by having a contest.  On a given written or speaking assignment, students who don’t use “very” could put their names in a bowl, and at the end of a week or a month or an assignment, you could draw a name and provide a small prize.

You could write a passage using weak verbs and adjectives and the word “very,” and see what alternatives small groups of students can come up with to replace the weak words.

Using “very” is a habit like overusing any word (just, like, then, and so, for example).  With practice, students will self-edit the word out of their writing.

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Posted in English Writing Instruction, very

Edgar Allan Poe’s four rules for writing

Posted on August 13, 2023 | Leave a comment

Many writers have left us rules for writing well.  Here are four of Edgar Allan Poe’s rules for writing his plot-driven narratives:

  • Plan every plot backward, with the ending in sight, before any sentences are written. (“Every plot. . .must be elaborated to its dénouement before anything be attempted with the pen.”)

 

  • Once you know the ending you want, backtrack and develop the incidents and tone that lead to that ending. (“Only with the dénouement constantly in view. . .we can give a plot its indispensable air of consequence, or causation, by making the incidents, and especially the tone at all points, tend to the development of the intention.”)

 

  • Consider the effect you wish to show. (“Of the innumerable effects, or impressions, of which the heart. . .is susceptible, what one shall I, on the present occasion, select?”)

 

  • Decide whether that effect can be achieved through ordinary incidents or through a particular tone. (“I consider whether it can be best wrought by incident or tone. . . . afterward looking [within] me. . .for such combinations of event, or tone, as shall best aid me in the construction of the effect.

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Posted in Edgar Allan Poe, English Writing Instruction, rules for writing