1. Sentence Composing for High School ~ adapted from Don Killgallon
Honors 9th Lit
Sentence Composing for High School
~ adapted from Don Killgallon

2. How Sentence Composing Works
When you or a professional write, you both choose words and arrange then in a certain way, but often with very different results.
The idea behind sentence composing is to help students write in a way that more closely resembles the style of the “professional” writer.
In these exercises, we will learn by imitating the pros. There are many, many varieties of great writing, and by learning to imitate, you will find your own unique “voice” on the page.

3. Why does this way work?
Because composing ONE sentence is feasible - - for anyone! When students see that they have the capability to imitate the greatest authors’ sentences, they will see that writing CAN be learned.

4. The Basics of “Chunking”
When we write sentences, we write them part by part, or chunk by chunk. Each “chunk” represents a logical, meaningful section of the sentence.
Which sentence is divided into chunks that make sense?
- She made stuffed pork chops / with applesauce and mashed potatoes / and it tasted / like cardboard. Or
She made stuffed/ pork chops with applesauce and mashed/ potatoes and it tasted like / cardboard.
~ Frank McCourt, Teacher Man

5. Match the Imitation to the Model
Models
1: The elephant was dying, in great agony, very slowly.
George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant”
2: In the back room of the laboratory, the white rats in their cages ran and skittered and squeaked.
John Steinbeck, Cannery Row
Imitations
A. Near the old barn by the railroad tracks, the stray cat foraged and lived and slept.
B. The sunset was happening, in silent splendor, quite colorfully.

6. Now You Try
Write one sentence that imitates either example 1 or 2.
1: The elephant was dying, in great agony, very slowly.
George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant”
2: In the back room of the laboratory, the white rats in their cages ran and skittered and squeaked.
John Steinbeck, Cannery Row
Share sentences with a neighbor and marvel at the beauty of your words. You are talented!

7. Skill One: Appositive Phrase
When a noun or word is followed by another noun or phrase that renames or identifies it, this is called appositive. This is a literary device that appears before or after a noun or noun phrase. It is always used with commas. Simply, we can define it as a noun phrase or a noun that defines or explains another noun, which it follows. ~
Earth, the only planet in our galaxy known to support life, is sometimes called the third rock from the sun.
Notice that the appositive phrase, the only planet in our galaxy known to support life, is separated from the sentence by a pair of commas. If the appositive phrase and its commas were taken out of the sentence, it would still make sense even though many interesting details would be lost:
Earth is sometimes called the third rock from the sun. ~

8. Identifying the Appositive Phrase
Below is a list of sentences with some parts deleted:
It went away slowly.
The land that lay stretched out before him became of vast significance.
However, I looked with a mixture of admiration and awe at Peter.
That night in the south upstairs chamber Emmett lay in a kind of trance.
What do you notice about these sentences? Discuss with class.

9. Try it on your own. It went away slowly.
Using the above sentence, add words to it that might make it more interesting. Take your time, don’t think too hard, just write. Since we are talking about appositives, you will want to add words that identify nouns or pronouns in the sentence.
Students will share with partners.
Read some to the class. Listen to the fantastic examples of writing you have created.
On the next slide, you will see a famous sentence from a book by novelist Ernest Hemingway.

10. “It went away slowly, the feeling of disappointment that came sharply after the thrill that made his shoulders ache.”
~ Ernest Hemingway, “Big Two-Hearted River”
Compare your sentence to the one above. Remember that Hemingway, Nobel Prize winner, is seen as one of the great American 20th century novelists and is known for works like A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea. ~

11. Adding to the basics…
Here you will see the appositive phrases that accompany the basic sentences from the previous slide:
The land that lay stretched out before him became of vast significance, a place peopled by his fancy with a new race of men sprung from himself. ~ Sherwood Anderson
However, I looked with a mixture of admiration and awe at Peter, a boy who could and did imitate a police siren every morning on his way to the showers. ~ Robert Russell, To Catch an Angel
That night in the south upstairs chamber, a hot little room where a full-leafed chinaberry tree shut all the air from the single window, Emmett lay in a kind of trance. ~ Jessamyn West, “A Time of Learning”

12. Characteristics of the Appositive Phrase
Sentence Openers:
One of eleven brothers and sisters, Harriet was a moody, willful child. ~ Langston Hughes
A balding, smooth-faced man, he cold have been anywhere between forty and sixty. ~ Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Sentence Closers:
Hour after hour he stood there, silent, motionless, a shadow carved in ebony and moonlight. ~ James V. Marshall
Subject-Verb Splits:
Poppa, a good quiet man, spent the last hours before our parting moving aimlessly about the yard, keeping to himself an avoiding me. ~ Gordon Parks, My Mother’s Dream for Me
A man, a weary old pensioner with a bald dirty head and a stained brown corduroy waistcoat, appeared at the door of a small gate lodge. ~ Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne