Image Grammar

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Image Grammar

• Using Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing
• Harry R. Noden

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• The writer is an artist, painting images of life
  with specific and identifiable brush strokes,
  images as realistic as Wyeth and as abstract as
  Picasso. In the act of creation, the writer, like
  the artist, relies on fundamental elements.
• p. 1

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Grammar and Punctuation - Do They Matter?

• Yoko Ono will talk about her husband John Lennon
  who was killed in an interview with Barbara
  Walters.
• No one was injured in the blast, which was
  attributed to a buildup of gas by one town
  official.
• When Lady Caruthers smashed the traditional
  bottle of champagne against the hull of the giant
  oil tanker, she slipped down the runway, gained
  speed, rocketed into the water with a gigantic
  spray, and continued unchecked toward Princes
  Island.
• Two cars were reported stolen by Groveton police
  yesterday.
• Guilt, vengeance, and bitterness can be
  emotionally destructive to you and your children.
  You must get rid of them.

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Painting with Participles

• Definition an ing (or ed) verb tagged on the
  beginning or end of a sentence.
• Participles painted by Hemingway in The Old Man
  and the Sea
• Shifting the weight of the line to his left
  shoulder and kneeling carefully, he washed his
  hand in the ocean and held it there, submerged,
  for more than a minute, watching the blook trail
  away and the steady movement of the water against
  his hand as the boat moved.

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Participles painted by Angela

• The gorilla stared sadly at the people outside
  the glass.
• Resting his chin on the rubber tire, the gorilla
  sat, wondering how he came to be trapped in this
  manmade jungle.

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Painting with Absolutes

• Definition Noun Participial (-ing, -ed)
• Absolutes painted by Anne Rice in The Vampire
  LeStat
• The mummy was moving. The mummys right arm was
  outstretched, the torn wrappings hanging from it,
  as the being stepped out of its gilded box! The
  scream froze in her throat. The thing was coming
  towards her towards Henry, who stood with his
  back to it moving with a weak, shuffling gait,
  that arm outstretched before it, the dust rising
  from the rotting linen covering it, a great smell
  of dust and decay filling the room.

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Absolutes painted by Darrin

• Andrew smiled as he stared at the wrinkly figure
  that was to be his baby brother.
• Andrew sat, heart pounding and smile beaming, as
  he stared at the wrinkly figure that was to be
  his baby brother.

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Painting with Appositives

• Definition a noun that adds a second image
• Appositives painted by Cornelius Ryan in The
  Longest Day
• Plowing through the choppy gray waters, a phalanx
  of ships bore down on Hitlers Europe, fast new
  attack transports, slow rust-scarred freighters,
  small ocean liners, channel steamers, hospital
  ships, weather-beaten tankers, and swarms of
  fussing tugs.

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Appositives painted by Eduardo

• The woman stared at the smooth waters and dreamt
  of days gone by.
• The woman, a devoted wife and mother, stared at
  the smooth water, the water that mystified her as
  a child, and dreamt of those whimsical days gone
  by.

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Painting with Vivid Verbs

• Definition verbs that show action not passive
  voice
• Vivid verbs painted by Gary Paulsen in My Life in
  Dog Years
• The result was spectacular. The voltage hit his
  wet mouth like a sledge and stiffened him like a
  poker. He snarled, growling deeper, and tried to
  hang on, but the jolt was too powerful and
  slammed him back and down on his rump.

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Vivid Verbs Painted by Gloria

• The UFO shot across the sky leaving a trail of
  light.
• The UFO hurtled across the sky splitting the sky
  with a trail of light.

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Painting with Inverted Adjectives

• Adjectives shifted out of order amplify the
  details of the image.
• Adjective out of order painted by Newton Peck in
  A Day No Pigs Would Die
• I could smell Mama, crisp and starched, plumping
  my pillow, and the cool muslin pillowcase touched
  both my ears as the back of my head sank into all
  those feathers.

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Inverted Adjectives painted by Anna

• The kitten yawned after a hard day of chasing
  birds.
• The kitten, rotten but irresistible, yawned after
  a hard day of chasing birds.

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Easy Way to Practice Painting Scenes

• Watch a short scene from a film of which you also
  have the book version.
• Have students write out the scene.
• Read the authors version of the scene and
  discuss.
• Excellent examples
• In God we Trust, All Others Pay Cash
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Jurrasic Park
• Lord of the Rings
• Harry Potter

• Natural Flow
• Still Shots
• Movie Clips
• Real Life