Language Arts 9

Writing With Style Adapted from Blended Structure and Style by

Betty Wiebe

Writing 101

Dressups and Openers are the key to successful writing in Language Arts 9!

What the %$& are dressups and openers?

Openers

are added to the beginning of

sentences to add variety and maintain

tone and flow

Dressups

are found in the middle of a sentence

and add interest

Identifying Openers Activity

There are 6 categories of openers

They include subject, prepositional, “ly”, ing/ed, clausal and VSS type openers.

1. Subject Openers

As it indicates, these are the nouns, pronouns, and articles (a/and/the) in your writing

THEY ARE BORING!!!

Limited to 1 subject opener per paragraph. I am very strict about this!!

Are identified by a 1 in the margin of your writing, OR with a number at the beginning of your paragraph.

Read through your first paragraph and identify the subject openers by placing a “1.” at the beginning of each sentence that has a subject opener.

Prepositional Openers

Are still found at the beginning of sentences!

Shows position

Use the sentence “______ the tree” to see if it is actually a preposition

You will be provided with a sample list for this.

Identify Prepositions with a “2.” in the margin.

Around the fire, the kids roasted marshmallows.

ly opener

use from prepared list

do not OVERUSE!

is identified by a “3”

‘ing/ed’ Openers

These are participles.

Refers to what might be called a verb's action noun, which is one of the

uses of the -ing or -ed form.

Talk-ing (present participle, also known as gerunds)

Talk-ed (past participle)

Are identified with a “4.” at the start of the sentence.

Talking to the other at the electronics store, the man convinced them that

the iPods were cheaper at BestBuy.

Clausal Openers

Use the acronym WWW.ASIA to remember the clausals! Are identified by “5.” at the beginning of sentence.

MUST have a comma in the sentence to make sense!

W- when, w-while, w- where,

A- as

S- since

I- if

A- although

VSS- Very short sentence

5 words or less!

are used to provide variety or say something important or dramatic

add depth and meaning to writing

MUST BE A REAL SENTENCE- include a verb and a complete thought

Can be changed to be a 1 word sentence

eg. Children(subject) ran(verb) amok everywhere! Wow!

Are identified by “6.” in the margin or at the beginning of sentence.

Assignment

Using your new knowledge of OPENERS, add a different opener for each sentence in your paragraphs. You can only use the SUBJECT opener ONCE!

Dressupsare found in the

middle of a sentence and add interest

are identified by underlining the dressup in the

sentence

Dressups

There are 9 dressups, with 6 of them being used most frequently:

1. who/which2. “ly” words

3. becuase4. Strong verb

5. quality adjective6. WWW.ASIA

7. dual verbs8. noun clause

9. adverbial and adjectectival teeter totters

who/which

adjective clause, found in the MIDDLE of a sentence

eg: The lion who felt helpless was most grateful for the assistance of the little mouse.

“ly” word

is an adverb

use the list of “ly” adverbs from Mr. Nichol

eg. The fox casually mentioned how pleased he would be to hear the crow sing.

because

is an adverb clause

eg. The hare was delighted because he knew it would be an easy race against the tortoise.

Strong Verb

Use a thesaurus, check the banned word list from Mr. Nichol

Quality Adjective

Use a thesaurus, check the banned word list from Mr. Nichol

eg. The tired and weary clydesdale appreciated a rest stop for a drink and a carrot.

www.asia

adverb clause, middle of sentence

Eg. The hair dozed peacefully while the tortoise plodded persistently.

Eg. The cheese dropped to the ground when the crow began to sing.