Resource for teaching fronted adverbials: 'Something about a Bear' by Jackie Morris

‘Where the water churns with salmon, thick and rich with leaping fishes, there the Brown Bear stands and catches the wild king of the river.’

What a poetic opening this is!  Of course, it is just the rich, beautiful language we have come to expect from Jackie Morris and, once again, she has provided teachers with a quality text for exemplifying certain sentence structures. 

This book could be used to develop understanding around many aspects of grammar, but here we are going to focus on fronted adverbials.  Below are some examples from the text which could be used in the following ways:

1. Using Talk for Writing techniques, children can learn the patterns of the text and innovate/invent their own sentences from these. 
2. Discussing the fronted adverbials will also help children understand this grammatical feature.  For example, is the adverbial position filled with one phrase, more than one phrase, or a clause?
3. In some sentences, there is subject-verb inversion after the fronted adverbial and children could use this pattern for a more literary style.  This structure can be used when the subject is a noun (not a pronoun) and there is an initial place adverbial (position or direction).

I would not discuss sentence structure beyond points 2 and 3 above, since many of the sentences have lengthy, sophisticated constructions and there is no need to understand how these are put together to appreciate the beauty of the language.

On the shore the young bears watch him; still others swim …  (Fronted adverbial phrase)

In the wildest lands of China, in the forests and the mountains, lives the white-and-black Giant Panda, hidden from the world. (Power of 3 opening: 3 adverbials followed by subject-verb inversion and a final, non-finite, adverbial clause.  Note that the third listed adverbial has the preposition ‘in’ omitted for succinctness.)  This would be a great structure for children to imitate, innovate and invent their own.

Through the forest, hunting termites and the honey hives of bees, where the mangos and the fruit trees grow in plenty, walks the shaggy-coated Sloth Bear.  (This is a complicated structure, with two clauses placed between the fronted adverbial and the inverted subject-verb.  The basic sentence is Through the forest walks the shaggy-coated Sloth Bear.  This is split by a non-finite adverbial clause ‘hunting termites and the honey hives of bees,’ and a finite adverbial clause ‘where the mangos and the fruit trees grow in plenty’. Children learning to use fronted adverbials do not need to understand these two clause structures grammatically, but it is useful for the teacher to be aware of them. 

With her cubs aboard her strong back she keeps them safe from danger, for there are tiges in the forests, and wild dogs and leopards too. (Fronted adverbial phrase)

Up in the crowns of tall trees, in the softest nests of green leaves, the Spectacled Bear sunbathes through the heat of the day.  (Two adverbial phrases fronting the sentence.)

By dawn light and dusk light the great Moon Bear of Asia hunts and searches, for insects, and for noney, nuts and berries.  (Fronted adverbial created by a preposition + two noun phrases linked with ‘and’.)

Where the forest meets the snowline she watches from her bear’s nest for the wild leopard of the mountains, who hunts the higher ground.  (Fronted adverbial clause)

In the cool of night he searches…  (Fronted adverbial phrase)

Besides the lakes and in the forests Black Bear fishes in the water, …  (Two adverbial phrases linked with ‘and’ fronting the sentence.)

You will note that many of Jackie Morris’s fronted adverbials are not punctuated with commas, unless embedded clauses or phrases follow.  For more about punctuating fronted adverbials, click here.

Using commas with fronted adverbials

The new National Curriculum requires children to be taught to use fronted adverbials and to indicate these as a grammatical feature by ‘using commas after fronted adverbials’. (Years 3-4 Programme of Study).  This statutory requirement appears in appendix 2: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation under Year 4.

I have no disagreement at all about teaching children to front adverbials, since these enable them to create different effects for their readers and also provide variation in sentence structure.  However, I think the statement ‘Use of commas after fronted adverbials’ needs a little mediation, since not all fronted adverbials will require to be punctuated.  In fact, hidden away in the glossary of the National Curriculum, it does state ‘When writing fronted phrases, we often follow them with a comma’ (my italics). 

The task for us is to teach children:

• What function adverbs, adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses have in a sentence, e.g. where, when, how, why things happen.
• What words, phrases and clauses can fill the adverbial positions in a sentence.  When considering single word adverbs, children need to recognise that these can end in –ly, but also include other words too, such as away, off, well.  Adverbial phrases are often prepositional phrases, but could also consist of a single word adverb an a premodifying adverb, e.g. extremely well, really quickly, very conscientiously.  Adverbial clauses are subordinate clauses that fill the adverbial position.  Very often we teach children the subordinate structure for these, but don’t highlight the adverbial function (other functions of subordinate clauses are nominal and relative).
• How to construct adverbial phrases and clauses, e.g. a prepositional phrase = a preposition + a noun or noun phrase.
• How and when it is appropriate to punctuate adverbs, adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses, especially when these are fronted.

Children need to understand that the purpose of punctuation is to help a reader (who is usually not present) understand clearly what the writer intended.  I don’t think that this is discussed explicitly enough with children.  It is not obvious from the classroom context that the purpose for writing is usually for a reader who is not present at the time of writing.  In many instances, children are writing for a teacher, teaching assistant or peers who are in the same room, maybe sitting at the same table.  This means that any misunderstandings in what they have written can be explained verbally. It is extremely difficult for children to read their writing as another reader would: they know exactly what they had in mind and reading with somebody else’s ‘eyes’ is a skill that needs to be learnt.

So, how can punctuation of fronted adverbials help a reader understand the text more clearly?  Well, most punctuation is a matter of convention, rather than definite ‘rights and wrongs’.  In spite of what some may say about ‘rules’ of punctuation, use of commas is optional in many cases and very much depends on personal preference, avoiding ambiguity and promoting clarity of message.  This clarity is not just about the sense the reader can obtain from the text; it is also about creating the effect the writer desires.

Bearing what I have just said about optional use and personal preference I would simply offer the following ideas about use of commas with fronted adverbials.  Not everyone would agree with me!

Adjuncts (adverbials that are integral to the sentence)

With this type of adverbial, which can usually be placed in different positions in a sentence, I would be much more likely to consider sense, and the effect I wanted to create. 

In short sentences, or those where I wanted to develop some pace, I would be less likely to use a comma since these do cause the reader to pause mentally (or physically if they are reading aloud).  We should avoid telling children that punctuation makes the reader ‘take a breath’: the reader is very capable of controlling their own breathing, especially if reading silently! However, pausing at the grammatical boundaries in a sentence does give the reader chance to consider what has gone before, take in the meaning, and prepare for the next piece of information.

Consider the following examples.  The sense is clear and I would prefer to build the pace so have not used commas.  

• That night I tried again.
• Suddenly it started.
• Hurriedly they darted under a rock.

Now compare these two similar structures. What difference does the punctuation make?

• Explosively the fiery lava spurted from the mouth of the volcano.
• Gradually, the viscous, black oil dripped from the pipe.

I would also use a comma if my opening adverbial was lengthy. (David Crystal discusses the issue of use of commas with longer grammatical structures in his book: Making a point, for anyone interested in further reading.)  With short term memory being what it is, slowing the reader down can give time for the information to be processed:

• In the silent darkness of the gloomy forest, the red-cloaked child felt nervous.
• Because of the clear tones of her voice and the beauty of the melody, the audience gave her a standing ovation.

Of course, if the fronted adverbial is a subordinate clause, I would use a comma to demarcate the boundary:

• Since she was a child, Sophie had wanted to work with horses.
• Climbing to the top, he had a clear view of the surrounding countryside.

Conjuncts (adverbials with a cohesive function)

With most of these adverbials, I would use commas to separate them from the rest of the sentence.  Conjuncts are used to help the text flow and are therefore on the periphery of the sentence.  They are usually placed at or near the beginning of the sentence, so that the reader can use this early information to link to what has happened in the previous sentences or paragraph:

• Furthermore, animals do not have as much room to move in captivity.
• Later that afternoon, he left the house and wandered through the streets again.
• In the meantime, she would practise making cakes.
• The prince was, however, not ready for the responsibility of ruling the kingdom.

With some conjuncts though, especially in short sentences, I might omit the comma, e.g.

• Finally they arrived.

Disjuncts (adverbials conveying the writer’s attitude)

I would use commas to separate these adverbial words, phrases or clauses from the remainder of the information in the sentence, since they are not integral to the sentence, but purely convey the writer’s feelings.  It seems right to me to help the reader distinguish the main message from the writer's feelings, beliefs and opinions.  For example:

• Frankly, he is unlikely to remain a politician.
• Seriously, I heard them say so on the radio.
• To be precise, not all the details are available.
• With regret, we will not be able to attend.
• If I can be direct, I don’t agree.

However, once again I think that I might omit the comma if the sentence is very short and the disjunct is a single word.  Consider the structures below.  Does the reader really need the benefit of a comma here?

• Obviously I care!
• Clearly it's not.

In the grammar and punctuation tests, children are likely to be required to identify a fronted adverbial punctuated with a comma as the correct option.  I just hope the people setting these tests choose examples where there is no doubt a comma is required for sense and effect.  If that is the case, we can teach children to write well, using adverbials and commas to aid sense and effect, rather than requiring them to punctuate every single fronted adverbial in order to pass a test!

Developing KS2 sentence level writing using 'The Ice Bear' by Jackie Morris

This version of an Inuit myth is another beautiful book by Jackie Morris.  As always, her illustrations are stunning and the story is captivating; however, as a teaching and learning text, it can be used in many different ways.  The rich language will help children improve their description and widen their vocabulary, the story provides opportunities for book talk on many different levels  and the variation in sentence structures make this a valuable text for developing different aspects of writing, dependent on the children’s needs.

Below are some of the grammatical elements you could teach from this book, together with the relevant Sentence Toolkit tools which you can use with these.  Under each element, I have listed a few examples from the text.  Which element you choose to teach will depend on what aspect of writing you want the children to develop, based on their identified next steps.

Expanded noun phrases which provide wonderful description  (Sentence Toolkit: tape measure)

There are many examples in this text of noun phrases using pre-modification only (where the main noun is in final position in the phrase).

• his bone-tipped spear
• thin powder snow
• her golden white fur

The text is very rich in expanded noun phrases which are post-modified with prepositional phrases.  I have emboldened the main verb in the following examples:

• the scent of snow
• a pale shard of shining light
• the smooth beads of amber
• a hiss of hot breath

There are also examples of noun phrases expanded with relative clauses.  Some of these are introduced by the relative pronoun; however in some examples the relative pronoun is elided and the clause starts with a past participle. 

• the great white bear who had held them close in the blue ice cave (relative pronoun ‘who’)
• the place where the boy had sunk to his knees (relative pronoun ‘where’)
• the bear that had taken the life of his child (relative pronoun ‘that’)
• a bundle wrapped in a scrap of white fur (the main noun ‘bundle’ is post-modified by a subordinate structure ‘wrapped in a scrap of white fur’.  This non-finite past participle is in relative clause position and could have been written ‘which was wrapped …’)
• fingers, clawed by the cold (the subordinate relative clause could have been written ‘which were clawed by the cold’)

Similes (Sentence Toolkit: medium size paintbrush)

• like a raven’s wing
• like a fragment of fire

Adverbial phrases of where, how and when  (Sentence Toolkit: saw)

• high into the darkness of winter, over the frozen sea (this could be considered as 3 where adverbials together: high, into the darkness of winter, over the frozen sea)
• on the hard-packed snow (where)
• over his footprints (where)
• with a mittened hand (how)
• like a flame on the cold white (how)
• in the beginning of time (when)
• in the dark months (when)

Compound sentences  (Sentence Toolkit: glue gun)

Compound sentences in this text vary the sentence structures used and create different effects.  For example, the first sentence of the book is a compound structure which links two main points, both of equal importance:

• In the beginning of time people and animals lived together on the earth and there was no difference between them.

Other compound sentences vary pace or build tension in the text:

• The storm came in fast but his dogs moved faster. 
• She dropped the treasure and it lay like a flame on the cold white.  The boy moved to take it, and in flew the bird. 
• He walked over ice ridges and down into valleys. 
• The cold clung to him, it gnawed at him and fear began to suck at his bones. (a list of main clauses in a compound structure)

Subordinate clauses.  There are examples in this text of the four subordinate structures used to create complex sentences (underlined).  (Sentence Toolkit: all four spanners and also the comma screwdriver where the subordinate clause starts the sentence)  

• Into this world they were born, in the dark months, when the cold and the wind turned water to stone. 
• As he reached out a hand to the biggest of the bears(,) the amber treasure fell to the snow.  (Although authors do not always punctuate according to the convention we are teaching in schools, children should learn to use a comma when the sentence starts with a subordinate clause.) 
• As he stooped to pick up the brightest and best, in flew the raven and snatched it away. (As with many of the sentences in this book, sentence structures are complicated with a mix of compound and complex.  I would be using these with more able writers to vary their compositions.)
•  Maddened by grief(,) he followed the trail of the running bears, a river of paw prints on the frozen sea. (The subordinate clause starts the sentence and is introduced by the non-finite past participle.  Again when innovating sentences like these, children will need to demarcate the clause boundary with a comma where the subordinate clause starts the sentence.) 
• He followed the trail, picking up each shining piece, cupping them in his mittens. (2 subordinate clauses introduced by the non-finite present participle.)
•  She held them close to keep them warm in the blue ice cave that was their world. (Infinitive used to introduce subordinate clause.)

     With level 5 and 6 writers I would also use this text to explore the way authors use structures that are not complete sentences to create effects.  Although the phrases used have a capital letter at the start and a full stop at the end, unless they have a finite verb, they are not complete sentences in English.  However, many examples can be found that ‘break the rule’ and Jackie Morris uses these to great effect.

• So small.  (Adjective phrase)
• His last hunt before true winter.  (Expanded noun phrase)
• Two eyes, black as midwinter. (Expanded noun phrase)
• Dark hair like a raven’s wing. (Expanded noun phrase)
• Two hands, fingers clawed by the cold. (Expanded noun phrase)
• A child. (Noun phrase)
• A piece of amber, smoothed by the oceans, coloured, clear and beautiful, like a fragment of fire, washed ashore from a far-off place.  (Amber is the main noun and this is post-modified by the three relative clauses starting with past participles ‘smoothed’, ‘coloured’ and ‘washed’.  Although these three verbs are used, since they are non-finite, there is no main clause and the whole structure is an expanded noun phrase.  With support, more able writers will be able to see the pattern of participles and use this structure themselves with an element of understanding about how it is formed.  Others will be able to imitate the pattern.)

To see other texts recommended on this blog, click here.  And for more Texts that Teach, check out this link.

Developing punctuation using an authentic text - Ask Dr K Fisher about Animals

I’ve been asked to recommend a text that a teacher could use to develop children’s understanding and use of punctuation, beyond full stops. 

‘Ask Dr K Fisher about Animals’ by Claire Llewellyn is a great text to develop a range of punctuation marks; depending on where your punctuation focus lies, it can be used in different ways.  Obviously, when you are teaching these punctuation marks, this will be alongside teaching of the grammatical feature with which they are used.  For example commas within lists of adjectives in a noun phrase, or commas/dashes/brackets to enclose additional information, writer's comment, etc.

There are other books in the ‘Ask Dr. Fisher’ series, but in this text a teacher could explore the use of the following punctuation (page references for examples provided):

• question marks: 4, 6, 10, 12, 16, 22, 24, 28 
•  exclamation marks: 7, 8, 9, 13, 18, 19, 23, 28, 29
• commas in lists: 4, 6, 11, 12, 15, 18, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31 (not page 10 as these clauses are comma spliced, but you could make a teaching point and correct with use of semi-colons!)
• commas to demarcate clauses: 5, 6, 7, 15, 17, 19, 20 (for relative clause), 21, 22, 23, 25, 29, 30, 31 (relative clauses)
•  commas surrounding additional information/embedded clauses: 7, 11, 13, 17, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31
• apostrophes for contractions: 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 22, 23, 24, 28
•  hyphens: 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 27, 30, 31
•  dashes: 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 16, 25, 29
•  brackets: 10, 13, 15, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28 (some of these used to support text structure and organisation (layout of text), rather than use within a sentence)
•  colons: 4, 13, 14 & 15 (for list), 19, 22, 28 (the colons used within sentences in the text -as opposed to those introducing a list - are excellent examples.  The information after the colon elaborates or explains the statement before.)
• apostrophes for possession: 8, 9, 29

The only punctuation I wouldn't use would be the Oxford commas before 'and', which are used occasionally in this text.  It's a comma used traditionally by printers/editors at OUP and can be used to clarify meaning in some long, complicated lists of clauses.  However, it isn't really needed in this book to clarify meaning.

I may have missed a few, but I hope there's enough here to be going on with!

To see other texts recommended on this blog, click here.  And for more Texts that Teach, check out this link. 

More dragons: developing sentence structure using online texts

If you’re running with the theme of dragons, then a great online text is ‘A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons’.  Containing extracts from the book, this online resource contains a number of pages which provide descriptions and details about some of the deadly dragons. 

I would use this text to help children develop:

·         Description (linked to adjective, simile and noun phrase tools in the Sentence Toolkit).  This could range from adding one or two adjectives to describe an attribute, to building up more subtle descriptions, e.g. ‘all shades of brown’; ‘as black as your darkest nightmare’.  It could also be used to help the children understand the difference between description suitable for narrative and the more precise description used in non-fiction texts (although this is still a fantasy based text, so contains some narrative-like description in places).

·         Punctuation (screwdrivers in the Sentence Toolkit).  There are some good examples in this text demonstrating correct use of commas in lists and to demarcate clauses, but also use of hyphens, brackets and dashes.  However, there is perhaps rather more use of ellipses than you would want to see in your children’s writing.

Once you have investigated the dragons with the children and explored the sentence structures and punctuation you want to develop, children could design their own dragons.  These could then be used to compile a group or class book of more deadly dragons.

Poppy has designed her dragon below.  I would use a picture such as this for shared writing, so that I could model writing each stage of the description and the detailed paragraph.

 

To see other texts recommended on this blog, click here.  And for more Texts that Teach, check out this link.

Something a little more practical about relative clauses

After my rather heavy session yesterday with Mr. Gwynne's relative clauses, I thought I'd follow it up with something a bit more useful.  If your reader has to negotiate such a convoluted path and so many commas to understand what you have written, you would be better to rewrite the sentence.  However, relative clauses can really add variation and effect to children's writing, so let's forget about introducing brothers and sisters and see how we can help children understand this type of clause. (It might also be worth remembering that, if the draft National Curriculum is adopted in its current form, relative clause and relative pronoun will be terminology for Year 5 children.) 

Children use these constructions already in their writing and we encourage use through Talk for Writing activities.  For example, when we learn a story in class so that children can imitate or innovate the structure and language, we highlight function words such as 'who' with actions to help the children remember to add them.  If you name a character and follow it with 'who', you have to go on and add more information about that character.  Try it out and see:

There once was a young boy.  (This would be a rather boring start to a story.)
There once was a young boy, who...  (Well, now we may get something a bit more interesting!  The comma here indicates that the relative clause is going to add some additional information for the reader - a non-restrictive relative clause for those of you who want to know.)

And I would start off with relative clauses that add additional information.  Children will need to understand that they are expanding information about the noun (expanding the noun phrase).  I would use my sentence toolkit here and model expanding my tape measure to show how the noun phrase is expanding.  They will already have experienced the expanding tape measure as they will have used it with me to expand the noun phrase by adding determiners, adverbs and adjectives before the main noun (premodification).

Provide a basic noun phrase and recap how we can add information before the main noun:

• the fox
• the red fox
• the wily, red fox

Challenge the children to add the word 'which' after the noun and expand the noun phrase.  Take suggestions and write one on the board.  Model using the comma screwdriver to demarcate the clause and question childen about whether this clause completes the sentence.  Does it make sense, or do we need to add something else.

•  the wily, red fox, which hadn't eaten for a week

 Through discussion, help children to understand that this noun phrase only forms part of their sentence and they need to go on to say what the fox is doing/feeling.  Again, ask for suggestions and model completing the sentence:

• The wily, red fox, which hadn't eaten for a week, slunk around the chicken house. 

Discuss how the commas now enclose the relative clause and can be used as handles to lift out the clause.  The sentence will still make sense because this clause just adds additional information and is subordinate to the main clause: The wily, red fox slunk around the chicken house.

You can also show how the whole structure of noun and relative clause is part of the noun phrase, because the whole can be substituted by a pronoun: It slunk around the chicken house.  That's a useful test of a noun phrase.

Once children have this knowledge, they can be challenged to use the relative pronouns in their independent writing.  They should use 'who' for people and 'which' for objects and places.  Peer discussion can identify what additional information is provided and whether this enhances the information or not.

Gwynne's Grammar Test - Restrictive and non-restrictive postmodification

OK, I needed to sort this one out in my head, but think I'm there now!  Warning - this is one for true nerds and I don't really understand what it's doing in a general grammar test.

This question appeared in Gwynne's grammar test (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationquestions/9987757/Good-grammar-test-can-you-pass.html) and reworded in The One Show's grammar test (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22512744).  There has been a lot of fuss online about it, so let's see if I can shed any light on it.

"I should like to introduce you to my sister Amanda, who lives in New York, to my brother Mark who doesn't, and to my only other sibling, Evelyn." What gender is Evelyn?
1.  Evelyn is male
2.  Evelyn is female
3.  Impossible to know from the wording of the sentence whether Evelyn is male or female.

Interestingly the above wording appeared in the answer section, but the quiz now has a different wording, as has The One Show version:
" I should like to introduce you to my sister Amanda, who lives in New York, to Mark, my brother who doesn't, and to my only other sibling, Evelyn."

When a noun is postmodified the information can be additional information, in which case it is enclosed in commas and referred to as non-restrictive or non-defining, or it can identify the noun, in which case the commas are not used and the clause is said to be restrictive or defining:

• my sister, who lives in New York,  (the relative clause is providing additional information)
• my sister who lives in New York, (the relative clause is identifying which sister - the one that lives in NewYork)

In the sentence "I should like to introduce you to my sister, who lives in New York, to my brother who doesn't, and to my only other sibling, Evelyn." we can deduce that there is only one sister and the writer has offered the additional information that she happens to live in New York.  However, by omitting commas after brother, the writer is indicating that he has more than one brother and is specifying the brother that doesn't live in New York.  We can deduce that Evelyn is male and also lives in New York.

Without the inclusion of the names 'Amanda' and 'Mark' this question would have been much more straightforward.  However, our language also allows something called non-restrictive and restrictive apposition.  Apposition is a way of linking grammatical elements, where each element refers to the same thing:

•  Swansea, her home town, held a special place in her heart. ('Swansea' and 'her home town' are the same place)
•  Cheetah, my chimpanzee, stole the banana ('Cheetah' and 'my chimpanzee' refer to the same animal - sorry to stereotype on the behaviour front all you chimps out there!)

When punctuating, the rules are the same as they are for relative clauses.  If the apposition is additional information, it is enclosed in commas; if it identifies the first element, no commas are added:

• Mr. Northern, my teacher, will be at the meeting. (additional information - non-restrictive apposition)
• Mr. Northern my teacher will be at the meeting. (It is Mr. Northern my teacher who will be at the meeting, not any other Mr. Northern that I know - restrictive apposition.)

So the fact that 'my sister Amanda' does not have a comma between 'sister' and 'Amanda' implies that there is more than one sister, as Amanda here is restrictive apposition and is identifying which sister the writer is discussing.

In the first wording 'my brother Mark who doesn't' is very confusing.  Mark is restrictive as is the relative clause.  Perhaps that is why it was changed.

In the second question 'to Mark, my brother who doesn't' implies another brother because the restrictive relative clause is postmodifying 'my brother'.  So can we deduce another brother and another sister?  Quite frankly, I don't care.

Why on earth was this question included?  The only possible, sensible reason I can think of is to highlight the ridicuous nature of grammar tests!