8/22

BW

In your notebook, define the following stems (don’t use your notes):

(1)Hend(2)Pro(3)In(4)Dol(5)Per

Let’s review

What are the qualities of a good personal narrative regarding the following features:• Introduction• Main Idea• Development• Organization• Transitions• Detail• Verb Tense

What is style?

Style is the way something is done.Style is concerned more with the “how” than the “what.”

Style Analysis

Today you will analyze your own writing style according to four distinct features:• Sentence length• Modifier density• Sentence variety• Verb use

Sentence length

Sentence length refers to the average number of words in your sentences.Sentence length can be a hallmark of a writer’s personal style.For example, William Faulkner is known for writing VERY LONG sentences, while Ernest Hemingway is know for writing VERY SHORT sentences.

Sentence length

1)Bring your attention to your first 10 sentences.2)Add up the number of words in those ten sentences, and divide that number by ten. This will give you your average sentence length.3)Write your average sentence length on the line provided.

Modifier Density

“Modifier density” refers to frequency of adjectives and adverbs.–While some writers prefer to let adjectives

and adverbs carry most of the description, others prefer the well-chosen verb.

– For example:– Kent walked very fast to the water

fountain and took a long, thirsty drink.– Kent rushed to the fountain and gulped

the water down.

Modifier Density

1)On your own writing sample, mark all of the adjectives and adverbs you’ve used in the first 100 words.2)Add them up. This calculation gives you an approximate percentage of modifiers.3) Write the percentage on the line provided.

Sentence Variety: Structure

Sentence variety refers to how much we use different sentence structures as well smaller sentence parts.

Sentence Variety: Structure

Of your first ten sentences, how many are…• Simple: Subject+verb+direct object or

subject+verb+modifiers• Compound: Two independent clauses

joined by a coordinating conjunction (and but or nor for so yet)

• Complex: One main clause + one or more subordinate clauses

• Compound-Complex: Two main clauses + one or more subordinate clauses

Sentence Variety: Structure

• Simple: I believe in the pleasures of food.• Compound: I’ve never been one to watch

the weather, but that particular season, a big storm was predicted, and I had just finished my planting.

• Complex: When I was younger, I experimented with my diet.

• Compound-Complex: I ran cross country and found out early that meat slowed me down, so I stopped eating it.

Sentence Variety: Sentence Parts

In the first ten sentences, how many begin…• With a simple subject and verb?

– I took pleasure in putting my seeds to bed.

• With a prepositional phrase?– By that time I had started eating meat again.

• With a participial phrase?– Strolling the aisles of Safeway, I marveled at the American

grocery store.

• With a gerund phrase?– Doing these things for your pet will benefit him.

• With an adverb clause?– While in college, I sometimes skipped the cafeteria and

experimented with shopping.

Verbs

• Many writers would argue that strong verbs are one of the keys to good writing.

• Use action verbs when possible rather than forms of “to be” (but don’t force an action verb when a “be” verb is the most obvious or necessary option).

Verbs

1)Count the total number of verbs in your first 10 sentences or 100 words—whichever is longer.2)How many are forms of “to be”?– Be, am, is, are, was, were, has been, had

been, have been

3)Divide the number of “be” verbs by the total number of verbs in the first ten sentences.4)Write the percentage on the line provided.

Words That Describe Style

• The best personal narratives are conversational, meaning that the writer does not use a lot of big words or long sentences.

• The language is mostly exact, but may be poetic in places (but not overdone).