Language Skill: Using Appropriate Adverbials to Fit Rhetorical Context
Vivid language engages your reader and will enhance and support your rhetorical purpose. The ways we can use grammar include:
· Adjectives
o Painting a picture – using specific sensory details to create an image for your reader
§ Vision – color, shape, etc.
§ Audition – sounds, loud/quiet, quality
§ Taction – touch, soft/hard, smooth/rough
§ Gustation – taste, sweet/sour/bitter/salty/umami
§ Olfaction – smell, odor, fresh/musty, etc.
o Adjectives out of order – changing the standard order to make your reader pay attention
§ Conventional/standard order:
· quantity/number - one
· quality/opinion - lovely
· size - little
· age - old
· shape - rectangular
· color - green
· proper adjective - French
· material - silver
· purpose/qualifier - whittling
· e.g., “one lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife”
§ Out of order:
· One or more adjectives might follow rather than precede the noun
o One lovely whittling knife, old and green
o Large bull moose, red-eyed and angry, charged
· One or more adjectives might be set off from the sentence by commas in a clause
o Careful movements, controlled and precise
o Participial adjectives
§ Present participle: verb + ing
· Stomping feet
· Clapping hands
§ Past participle: verb + ed
· Framed with traditions and beliefs
· Mashed potatoes
· Powerful nouns and verbs
o Nouns:
§ Absolutes: two-word combinations of noun + present participle
· Hands shaking
· Feet stomping
· Claws digging
§ Appositives: noun, noun phrase, verb – creates the illusion of reality in fiction, but implies a foundation of research in non-fiction
· The dancer, a whirling swirl of color, flew by
· The raptor, a white shadow, soared overhead
· The results, well-founded data, proved convincing
o Verbs:
§ Concrete, specific verbs replace the feeling of still images or bland language
· The dancer went by < The dancer flew by
· The river was calm < The river stretched out in front of us as smooth as the surface of a mirror
· She walked casually past her ex-boyfriend’s house without a care < She strolled past her ex-boyfriend’s house without a care.
· They talked < They shouted or They whispered
· They walked < They stomped. They crept. They skipped.
§ Replacing the verb “be/am/is” etc., makes a sentence more powerful
· She was happy < She overflowed with joy. < She beamed radiant smiles at everyone.
· Sentence order
o Adjective clauses and phrases – create smooth flow in description
§ Combine sentences; use dependent clauses inside commas
§ The dancer spun around the room. She was wearing bright colorful clothing.
§ The dancer, wearing bright colorful clothing, spun around the room.
o Embedded elements – use any of the above to break monotony
§ The sun sank behind the tress. It was a fiery glowing globe.
§ The sun, a fiery glowing globe, sank behind the trees.
o Combined sentences – avoid overuse of subject/verb/object structure
§ The hall was empty. She ran toward the classroom. She entered right after the bell rang.
§ She ran toward the classroom down an empty hall and entered right after the bell rang.
§ Racing down an empty hall, she skidded into the classroom, breathless, just as the bell clanged above her.
o Parallel structures – create a musical quality, develops a rhythm, adds balance, and threads images together to create a more complete picture
§ …there was never a page that was void of interest, never one that you could leave unread without loss, never one that you would want to skip…
Language Skill: Relating Form to Function
· Using appropriate forms based the correct function makes your ideas clearer
o Function: the use of grammar to create discourse for different purposes in different situations
o Form: the specific grammatical structures
o Academic writing requires specific forms for distinct functions:
§ Simple present: report current trends and general aspects
§ Simple past: report methods completed in the past
§ Passive voice: report methods and procedures
· When writing bulleted text:
o Do not mix sentences and phrases.
o It is best to have only complete sentences OR only short phrases equal in length.
o Use a period after every sentence.
o Do not use periods after phrases.
o Either capitalize the first letter (sentences) OR capitalize no letters (phrases).
o Doing research to make a bulleted list:
§ underline keywords/phrases
§ begin with/without stem
§ create stylistic consistency
§ punctuate carefully
