Rules or Tools of Grammar

I just found the most wonderful example of how Jeff Anderson's Patterns of Power can illuminate how we apply Author's Purpose and Craft to Grammar. Tara Salmon, from Highland Park, and I have composed this lesson exemplar for you as an exemplar for the Region 16 Grammar Geeks course.

I know Jeff...and he would always agree that grammar is about how we craft language to impact the reader. Our standards require us to go beyond the grammatical structures and rules to explore how they help us as readers and writers. 

If you are skimming the article - look for when I change the font.

The lesson below is an exemplar of how grammar is connected to how we read and write with craft and purpose. 

Standard: Complex sentences with subject-verb agreement and avoidance of splices, run-ons, and fragments. (Composition, Editing: Grades 6-12, Di)

Focus Phrase: I will write complex sentences using correct punctuation and subject-verb agreement. 

Invitation to Notice: Because he was small, Stuart was often hard to find around the house. Stuart Little, E. B. White

To Consider:   

• Rule: When the AAAWWUBBIS comes at the beginning of a sentence, a comma follows. If the AAAWWUBBIS comes in the middle of a sentence, there is no comma needed. 
• Craft: What is the impact on meaning and prosody when those structures are used? How is the author using those structures to develop the character, advance the plot, or express theme?

Invitation to Compare and Contrast:  

• Because he was so small, Stuart was often hard to find around the house.
• Stuart was often hard to find around the house because he was so small.
• Note the grammatical differences between the two sentences. Note when a comma is needed and when it is not.
• Note the impact each has on you as a reader. What changes in terms of the writer's emphasis? What changes in your visualizations and comprehension?

Invitation to Edit:  Compose the sentence in both ways and analyze the effect on character, theme, and meaning.

• When his best friend disappears from her nest Stuart is determined to track her down.
• Stuart is a lover of adventure although he's shy.
• Since he lives in New York Stuart is used to city life. 

Reflection: What did we learn about writing from this author? What changed? Name the effect of the change you wish students to consider.

What is the IMPACT of using the dependent clause first? What is the IMPACT if the independent clause is used first? For the example here, I would say that the author's purpose is to emphasize how SMALL Stuart is. The main point is not that he is hard to find - that's just an example. The main point - and emphasized throughout the book is that he is SMALL. This is important to establish his character traits when he is introduced because it is a huge contrast to the optimism he marshals despite the huge deck stacked against him. I guess what I'm saying is that we have to go beyond grammatical structures and rules to express how they give us vehicles for power and beauty in discerning the author's message and the ability to craft our own contributions.

Teacher's Application to Writing: Here's how I'm using it today: "Because I was already irritated before entering the building, I continued to find it difficult to focus throughout the rest of the day." I'm liking this better than the other way around: I continued to find it difficult to focus throughout the rest of the day because I was already irritated before entering the building. The second version makes it seem like the point was the difficulty in focusing instead of the CAUSE. It also delays the emotion until the ending of the sentence. I want my reader to feel my irritation way before the end of that sentence.