13/03/2013
Sentence Style
Analysis
Steve Cope
[email protected]
The Student Learning Advisory
Service (SLAS)
Canterbury
• Email : [email protected]
• Phone: 01227 82(4016)
Medway
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone 01634 88(8884)
www.twitter.com/unikentSLAS
www.facebook.com/unikentSLAS
www.kent.ac.uk/learning
Learn to Express Your Ideas
• Writing skills are not embedded
in your DNA.
• Reading widely can aid style.
• Always keep your audience in
mind.
Three Little Words
• Sense.
• Relevance.
• Brevity.
The Tricky Part
The Easy Part
Writing replicates spoken ideas,
without tone or gesture using:
• Vocabulary
• Choice of phrases
• Punctuation
Have something to say.
Our work can be re-read many
times so clarity is essential.
It’s all talk
(in print)
Say it!
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13/03/2013
It’s a Process
Getting There
Improvement takes time and
effort
Be clear about what you
want to say
Moving up academic levels
Make a plan
More complex does not
necessarily mean better
Work ideas through in your
drafts
Simple not Dull
• Even the most cautious humanitarian
efforts can create the cultural space for
bolder undertakings.
• Children with literate mothers in
developing countries are healthier and
more likely to survive past the age of five.
• If you are finding it hard to concentrate
on a topic it may be that you actually
have to take your mind right off it for a
period of time.
The Big Bad Sentence
It is possible to argue that almost all
advertisements, with the exception of a
few, are informative, indeed, as we
have already seen, some appear to be
wholly concerned with this, although
government bodies releasing warnings
about smoking or the use of domestic
fire alarms are clearly intent on
changing our behaviour they are still
concerned to give the public what
they believe is vital information.
The 2nd Draft
Complex not Unintelligible
It is possible to argue that almost all
advertisements
are
informative.
Indeed, as we have already seen,
some appear to be wholly concerned
with this. Although government bodies,
releasing warnings about smoking or
the use of domestic fire alarms, are
clearly intent on changing our
behaviour, they are still concerned to
give the public what they believe is
vital information.
• Typically, mega-events involve the
creation of a variety of cultural
products – live performances,
worldwide broadcasts, ensemble
recordings, compilation LPs, home
videos, and/or “The Making of…”
documentaries – each of which
can be produced and consumed
in a variety of ways.
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13/03/2013
A New Beginning
• While it is true that technological advances serve the
capitalist goals of expansion and concentration, it is
important to note that capital itself is not monolithic in
these developments.
• Interestingly, it was, in many ways, the movements of
the sixties which forced a reconsideration of the
traditional Marxist model at the experiential level.
• In commodifying human interaction, mass culture
reduces culture to its exchange value and negates
the possibility of any real use value.
Independent Clauses
Express a complete thought with subject and verb:
• The sun rose.
• This cake is delicious.
May contain a complement:
• Water evaporates rapidly in warmer climates.
• Writing essays is not difficult if you work from a plan.
• To avoid disappointment, booking is essential.
Clauses
• The building blocks of sentences.
• These contain at least a subject and a verb.
Sentences:
Ecology is a science.
Pollution causes cancer.
Attending university widens your career options.
Not sentences:
To protect the environment.
After working all day.
With too many disorganised ideas.
Dependent Clauses
• Are not complete sentences.
• Do not express a complete thought (fragment)
• Start with a variety of subordinators: when, while, if,
that or who etc.
• May come at the beginning, in the middle or at the
end of a sentence.
In the light of the dawn we could see the devastation.
There will be a catastrophe if the drought continues.
At weekends I visit my sister and, although we often
disagree about politics, we share many interests.
Here to Help
Punctuation
Logical indicators
White space
Sentence length variety.
• Too long can lose your reader .
• Too short can seem abrupt.
Personal growth never stops
☺
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13/03/2013
The Student Learning Advisory
Service (SLAS)
Canterbury
• Email : [email protected]
• Phone: 01227 82(4016)
Medway
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone 01634 88(8884)
www.twitter.com/unikentSLAS
www.facebook.com/unikentSLAS
www.kent.ac.uk/learning
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