2. A. Varying Sentences Length and Structure
Vary your sentences in numerous ways
to add impact and interest to your
writing.
3. BLAND
Bernice won the sculpting contest. She told her
best friend Emi as soon as she found out.
BETTER
Bernice won the sculpting contest. As soon as she
found out, she told her best friend Emi.
4. BLAND
Emi Was happy for Bernice. She told Ari the good
news over the phone.
BETTER
Emi was happy for Bernice. Over the phone, she
told Ari the good news.
5. BLAND
Emi kept Ari on the phone for an hour. She is
talkative and sociable.
BETTER
Talkative and sociable, Emi kept Ari on the phone
for an hour.
6. BLAND
Ari was excited to hear that Bernice had won. He
wanted to congratulate her.
BETTER
A. Excited to hear that Bernice had won, Ari
wanted to congratulate her.
B. Ari was excited to hear that Bernice had won
and wanted to congratulate her.
7. Paragraph without Variety
She heard about Galveston’s devastating
hurricane. She went to Texas, bringing a small
staff with her. She participated in the last
disaster relief work of her career. She was
seventy-eight years old. She was a
remarkable woman. She was Clara Barton.
She was the founder of the American Red
Cross.
8. Varying sentence beginnings
A. Sentence Connectives
(and, but, however – can help you make
transitions between ideas)
B. Appositive and Appositive phrases
C. Single-word modifiers
D. Phrase modifiers
E. Clause modifiers
9. Paragraph with Variety
Almost as soon as the devastating hurricane hit
Galveston, she heard about it. Immediately, she
went to Texas, bringing a small staff with her. There
she participated in the last disaster relief work of
her career. Being seventy-eight years old did not
stop her. Who was this remarkable woman? She
was Clara Barton, founder of the American Red
Cross.
10. B. Using Grammatical Voice
There are two grammatical voices to choose from:
active and passive.
• Active voice
• Ex. Nelson Mandela led the South African
People in protest.
• Passive voice
• Ex. Mandela was freed after twenty-seven
years.
11. C. Point of View
Point of view is the vantage point from which you
write, your “angle” on your topic.
The point of view you choose depends on whose
story you want to tell, how formal you want your
writing to be, and how much closeness you want to
set up between you and your readers.
12. Three basic points of view:
•
first-, third-, and second-person
A story narrated by a participant using pronouns
such as I, me, my, we, and our is told from the firstperson point of view.
A story of the other people’s experiences narrated
by an observer is told from the third-person point
of view. The use of pronouns such as they, it, her,
him, and she signals this point of view.
13. The second-person point of view is used
for specific purposes, such as giving
directions and instructions. The pronoun
you is used to as the subject, though it
may be implied rather than stated.
14. Ex.
To protect your family from fires, follow
these rules:
1.
Install smoke detectors in your home, and
check them regularly to make sure that they
are working.
Always have a fire extinguisher on hand.
Explain to young children that it is not a toy.
2.
