Homophones

Homophones are words that are pronounced the same but have different meaning.

Try and think of an example of a spelling for the following homophones:

To

Too

Two

There

They’re

Their

Aisle

Isle

Be

Bee

Cell

Sell

Cent

Scent

Flour

Flower

Hear

Here

Meat

Meet

Pair

Pear

Pray

Prey

Sew

So

Sow

Tail

Tale

Toe

Tow

Wear

Where

Writing to Inform

Writing to Inform

You will find many examples of writing to inform all around you. These can be:

·         Recipes

·         Railway timetable

·         Book/ movie review

·         Travel brochure

·         Guide book

·         Letter to parents about a school trip

When writing to inform it is important that you think about the purpose and audience.

Purpose- What the writing is trying to do

Audience- Who the writing is aimed at

You will need to decide-

·         Is it formal or informal?

·         Does it use jargon (specialist terms)

·         Does it use slang?

·         How long is the piece?

·         Is it laid out in an appropriate manner for the audience?

·         Does it appeal to the target audience?

·         Is it complex or simple to follow?

·         How does the font (colour, size and style), pictures, backgrounds, etc create a particular impression?

Example-

The Mission Specialist opened the payload bay doors and used the RMS to deploy the satellite. This was only possible once the pilot had used the OMS to get the shuttle in to the correct position.

It is clear from this example that there is a lot of space and aviation terminology and many abbreviations and so this would be aimed at an audience who had prior knowledge in this area. The same information may be altered if the audience are not knowledgeable in this area:

The Mission Specialist, who is in charge of science experiments on board, opened the large doors of the shuttle and used the RMS (the long robotic arm) to launch the satellite in to orbit. Before this was possible the pilot had to move the shuttle in to the correct position by using the smaller engines that are near the nose of the shuttle.

Writing to Entertain

Writing to Entertain

The following English techniques are used to entertain the audience in different ways:

·         The unexpected

·         Cliffhangers

·         Knowing something the character doesn’t

·         Humour/ horror/ suspense

·         Realistic, three-dimensional characters

·         Life or death situations

·         Events or places that we would otherwise not know about (eg. Space, submarine, back in time)

·         Short sentences for tension or action

·         Precise adjectives to show the writer’s mood

·         Power of three to describe

·         Lots of detail

·         Repetition for effect

·         Choice of words (eg. Mellifluous voice)

·         Use of action verbs to make it fast paced

·         Longer sentences for detail and a slower pace/ tension

·         Dialogue

·         Showing how the character feels

·         Delaying the climax to build up tension

Read the following extract from Jane Eyre and look at what techniques are used to build suspense:

This was a demoniac laugh- low, suppressed and deep- uttered, as it seemed, at the very keyhole of my chamber door. The head of my bed was near the door, and I thought at first the goblin-laughter stood at my bedside- or rather, crouched on my pillow…

Active/ Passive Voice

The Active/ Passive Voice

Most people speak and write in the Active Voice which involves:

subject,                       verb,                           object

eg.                   Lucy                           howled     at                the moon

In an Active Voice, the subject is the most important so comes first.

In a Passive Voice, the object is the most important and so comes first, eg.

object,                         verb,                           subject

The house                   was built   by              John

Depending on where the writer wants to place focus will depend on whether it is written in an Active or Passive Voice. This can be seen in journalism eg.

Lucy had bought the new car in 2011         (active) – Lucy is most important

The new car was bought by Lucy in 2011  (passive)- The car is most important

Narrative Voice

Narrative Voice

First Person

This is where you write from your perspective, eg.

I felt the sand between my toes.

Second Person

This is where the protagonist is referred to as ‘you’ and ‘your’, eg.

You could feel the sand between your toes.

This is often used in non-fiction writing such as recipes, instruction manuals and advertisements.

Third Person

The third person narrative uses the pronouns he, she, it, they, him, her and them and can tell us about the thoughts and feelings of any character in the story.

Lucy felt a pang of excitement as she slowly unwrapped the bow of the small, cardboard box that her boyfriend had left on the side for her.

Narrative Voices

Stream of Consciousness

The narrator’s perspective is given by replicating the thought process of the narrative character.

Character Voice

A living person is the narrator but may not be involved in the story and so is reliable.

Subjective Voice

Usually in first person, this narrator is subjective and unreliable by presenting their opinions, which may not be correct. Thoughts, feelings and opinions are given.

Objective Voice

The narrator tells a story by omitting feelings and thoughts. It therefore gives an objective, unbiased point of view.

Epistolary Voice

The story is told through a series of letters or documents. This may mean that the story is told from a variety of perspectives.

Omniscient Narrator

The narrator knows all of the facts and also the inner thoughts of the characters.

Ellipses

Ellipses

What is an Ellipse?

An ellipse is used for two things:

1)      a pause, often denoted by ...

2)      to stand for missing information

What does an ellipse do?

An ellipse is often used for suspense, eg.

The car edged towards the cliff, the driver desperately struggling to get out before it crashed in to the rough seas below. He tugged on the door handle but before it would open the car lunged forwards...

The ellipse here now denotes a pause and lets the reader imagine what happens. It creates suspense.

The second use of an ellipse is used to miss out information, for example shortening a quote eg.

Original Quote

“I think that the suitable course of action is to, upon careful consideration and discussion with my fellow colleagues and upon hearing testimonies based on your previous experience and service, recommend that you be demoted to Sergeant”

Reported Quote Using an Ellipse to Shorten

“I think that the suitable course of action is to... recommend that you be demoted to Sergeant”

Here the ellipse has substituted a large amount of information in order to make the quote shorter (a technique often used in journalism).

Everyday Speech

We often use Ellipses in everyday speech without realising it:

eg.

1)      ‘What’s up?’ is short for ‘What is the matter?’

2)      What’s the time?

Quarter to.                  (short for time is a quarter to five)

In this case the ellipses are not used for a dramatic effect but are used as part of spoken English.

Speech Marks

Speech Marks

What is Direct Speech?

Direct Speech is the exact speech that is used when a character is speaking, eg.

“I think is going to rain today” remarked Lucy

Note how the “ and ” marks are used to indicate the start and end of the exact words that Lucy says.

Punctuation Marks

If the character asks a question, the punctuation marks fall inside the speech marks, eg.

“Is is going to rain today?” asked Lucy

Full stops are also within the speech marks, eg.

“I think is going to rain today.”

Introduced Speech

If a part of speech is introduced by a non spoken text, it has a comma before the speech, eg.

Lucy remarked, “I think it is going to rain today.”

Broken Up Speech

If part of a speech is broken up by a non spoken text then the first part of the speech ends with a comma and the non spoken speech ends with a comma, eg.

“I think is going to rain today,” remarked Lucy, “so I will bring my coat.”

Note how the second part of the speech does NOT begin with a capital as it belongs to the first part.

Two Characters Speaking

When two characters are speaking, each speech has a new line to represent a new speaker, eg.

“Hey, John!” yelled Lucy.

“Hiya!” replied John.

“Are you coming out tonight?”

“Yes, probably. It depends if I finish my homework.”

“Well if you do decide to come out that would be great.”

Note here how it is clear to see who is speaking as we know Lucy is the first speaker so the next line is John, the next is Lucy, and so on throughout the interaction.

Descriptive Writing- The Layout

Descriptive Writing- The Layout

Imagine a story about a fairground starts by describing the stalls and rides in detail. You may, for a long time, be picturing a busy fairground on a hot Summer’s day with jolly music and children laughing. The story may, in fact, be set on a cold winter’s night in a deserted, spooky fairground that is in disrepair.

For this reason it is important to start with the ‘big picture’ first and then build in detail as you progress.

Imagine you are a CCTV camera and are giving an overview of the scene so that the reader has a clear picture of it in their minds. Then focus on more details to add extra information (as if the CCTV is zooming in).

eg. ‘The Beach’

Paragraph one- Describe the beach, weather, time of day, how many people, landmarks, shops, food stalls, etc.

Paragraph two- ‘zoom in’ to a detail eg. a woman feeding her children some ice cream

Paragraph three- ‘zoom in’ to a detail eg. a ship on the horizon

Paragraph four- ‘zoom in’ to a detail eg. a busy arcade

Paragraph five- conclude the piece so it has a ‘natural’ ending.

Paragraphs two to four allow you to use your senses to add detail (see other sheet; Descriptive Writing- Using Your Senses). Remember to use plenty of adjectives and synonyms!

Descriptive Writing - Using Your Senses

Descriptive Writing- Using Your Senses

When writing a story or descriptive piece, use your senses:

·         sight

·         sound

·         taste

·         touch/ feel

·         smell

For example,

I could feel the course, grainy sand beneath my feet which was warm to the touch and massaged the soles of my feet.

This technique sounds good when writing in the first person (I) but be careful not to write, I could feel...I could see...I could smell... when writing in the third person (He/ she/ they) as this is not very imaginative.  Instead of:

He could feel the course, grainy sand beneath his feet which was warm to the touch and massaged the soles of his feet.

change the order and leave out the word ‘feel’ to write:

The course, grainy sand beneath his feet was warm to the touch and massaged the soles of his feet.

In this second example ‘He could feel’ has been omitted and sounds much better.

Synonyms and Antonyms

Synonyms and Antonyms

What is a Synonym?

A Synonym is another word that has the same meaning. A thesaurus will give you synonyms for a word.

Synonyms for scare are:

alarm

startle

terrify

terrorise

petrify

horrify

appal

shock

intimidate

What is an Antonym?

An Antonym is a word which is opposite in meaning.

Antonyms for scare are:

calm

comfort

ease

satisfy

reassure

encourage

When writing your own poem or story try and ensure you use a variety of synonyms. A common error is using ‘said’ too often in a story. Try and use:

hollered

whispered

screeched

informed

instructed

relayed

reassured

conveyed

admitted

Note how these words do not all mean the same thing but can substitute ‘said’ so that the reader understands how something is said.

Word Families

Word Families

What is a ‘root word’?

A root word can have prefixes (at the beginning) or suffixes (at the end) to make a new word.

All words that share this root word are ‘word families’.

What is a prefix?

A prefix is added at the start of a word to make a new one,

eg. impolite                 Here, the root word is ‘polite’ and the prefix is ‘im’.

What is a suffix?

A suffix is added at the end of a word to make a new one,

eg. truthful                  Here, the root word is ‘truth’ and the suffix is ‘ful’.

Example of a word family

From the root word ‘employ’ we can make:

unemployment

employer

unemployed

employing

unemployable

employment

employee

Prefixes are in green

Suffixes are in orange

Meanings of words

By looking at the meanings of the root words or prefixes/ suffixes we can guess the meaning of a word. For example:

tri- meaning 3

triangle- a 3 sided shape

triangulation- to divide the area in to triangles

triathlon- 3 sporting events

tricycle- a 3 wheeled cycle

trident- a 3 pronged spear

trilateral- involving 3 parties

trillion- a million million million

triplet- 3 babies born at the same time

triumvirate- a group of 3 powerful people