1. Steps 5, 6 and 7 of the Generative Sentence Rhetoric Method DS 014 Writing

2. Agenda for Today Sign-In Sheet “An Oopsie” Review adding modifiers to BSPs GSR Step 5—Verb, Noun and Adjective Clusters GSR Step 6—Absolutes GSR Step 7—Relative Clauses Assignment Coming Up...

3. Oops! Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know. Donald Rumsfeld - This comment before the war in Iraq won the US Secretary of Defence the 2003 Award for Gobbledygook from the Plain English Campaign.

4. Bound Modifiers Review There are three kinds of “bound modifiers”- -adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. The reason they're called bound modifiers is that they're not necessarily set off by punctuation but are rather “bound” tightly into the sentence. – Jim carefully drove the huge truck onto the highway.--BSP-2 plus adjective, adverb, and prepositional phrase.

5. Reminder--Word of Warning! The BSP is weakened (hard to find the original structure) if you add too many bound modifiers to it.  Old, unhappy, bashful, friendless Jim carefully, quietly, and deliberately drives a battered, decrepit, unpainted, unlicensed truck. A base clause should normally be between eight and twenty words long (Christensen).

6. Free Modifiers Review Structures that may ordinarily be "freely" placed before, after, or in the middle of the base clause that they modify and are set off from the modified base clause by pauses in oral speech and by punctuation in writing.

7. Free Modifiers Review (cont.) One simple way to add a free modifier is to add a subordinate clause to the beginning of a base clause.  When Jim drives a truck, he is happy. Words used to start subordinate clauses include (but aren't limited to)...  after, although, as, because, before, even though, if, once, since, though, unless, until, and when.

8. GSR Step 5--Clusters Verb Cluster  To generate a verb cluster, one may best begin with a BSP-1 or BSP-2 base clause. The verb is then altered to its -ing form and this -ing form (plus its bound modifiers) crosses over to the beginning of a new sentence, where it is set off by a comma and acts as a free modifier to a new base clause.

9. In Plain English, We Do This... The solution deteriorated after an hour. --modified BSP- 1  Change deteriorated to deteriorating.  Then move it to another part of the sentence. Deteriorating after an hour, the solution exploded.  This creates a verb cluster, a type of free modifier.

10. Practice Creating Verb Clusters Let's try creating verb clusters on the following sentences...  The man escaped from jail.  Bobcat has a bobbed tail.  Matt looked for a job.  We drove for an eternity.  The boys cleaned up the mess.

11. More Clusters—Nouns To make a noun cluster, we start with BSP-3s (you remember, the ones that have linking verbs?) We take the part of the BSP that is describing and move it around.  John is a talented musician.--BSP-3  A talented musician, John plays numerous instruments.

12. Let's Practice Making Noun Clusters My father is an elementary school principal. Teal is my favorite color. Janelle's project was the Math Module. An outline is a great thing to have. Dog attacks have been a problem. All of these are BSP-3s—let's see if we can change things up, creating noun clusters!

13. Still More Clusters(!)--Adjectives We can make adjective clusters the same way we make noun clusters, except this time, we start with BSP-4s (the ones with the descriptive modifiers in there).  The program was faulty in its program statements.  Faulty in its program statements, the program had to be rewritten.  The road was blocked by a tree.  Blocked by a tree, the road was impassible.

14. Adjective Cluster Practice Pamela's classes were too early in the morning. Rachire's car was almost an antique. Those earrings were much too expensive. Volunteer vacations are popular this year. Clowns are much too scary.

15. Tip to Remember To add interest in your writing, remember to use a good mixture of, not only the basic sentence patterns, but also sentences built of BSPs and clusters.

16. GSR Step 6--Absolutes Another type of free modifier-the absolute-is formed by taking away or removing the “to be” from a base clause.  His nose was running.  His nose running, Jack looked pitiful.  Her hands were blue from the cold.  Her hands blue from the cold, Misty huddled near the fire.

17. Practice Making Absolutes His car was running hot. Paul's books were too heavy for him to carry. The trees were full of fruit. My head was hurting after the exam.

18. GSR Step 7—Relative Clauses A free "relative clause" is created by replacing a noun with a relative pronoun such as "who" or "which."  Dogs are mammals.  Dogs make good pets.  Dogs, which make good pets, are mammals.  Dogs, which are mammals, make good pets.

19. More Examples of Relative Clauses The weather is usually clear. The weather is cloudy today.  The weather, which is usually clear, is cloudy today.  The weather, which is cloudy today, is usually clear. Her fiance works at Chevron. He has a degree in engineering.  Her fiance, who has a degree in engineering, works at Chevron.  Her fiance, who works at Chevron, has a degree in engineering.

20. Your Turn! Write 10 sentences using what we learned today. They can have any mixture of clusters, absolutes and relative clauses.

21. Coming up this week! Friday  GSR Step 8—Positioning modifiers  GSR Step 9—Parallelism in modifiers  GSR Step 10—Turning modifiers non-parallel with a purpose

22. Next week! Monday  GSR Step 11-- Punctuation  GSR Step 12— Transitions  Take home test/ worksheet Wednesday and Friday  No class  Work on take home test