Mastering Sentence Structure: Higher Reading Focus for UAE Learners
"Enhance your confidence in recognizing and analyzing sentence structures with a special focus on listing, repetition, and parenthesis. Engage in activities to understand the significance and diversity of sentence structures, enabling a deeper comprehension of written text."
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Higher Reading for UAE Focus on sentence structure
Learning Intentions You are developing confidence in identifying significant aspects of sentence structure You are developing confidence in analysing aspects of sentence structure.
Prior Knowledge What can you write about in a question that asks about sentence structure? Make a mind-map or list of bullet points.
Todays focus Listing Repetition Parenthesis
1. Listing A list is a series of connected items or words, written one after the other. Words in lists are separated by commas or semi-colons. Words like and & or can also be used between items in lists.
1. Lists often convey the idea of something being diverse, endless, infinite or varied. Lists can also be used to reflect the great extent or size of something. Listing
Listing - strategy 1. Work out and write down what is being listed 2. Work out what the writer is trying to suggest is something seemingly infinite? Is there a wide range of something?
Listing: Example 1 Beyond the almond orchards were fields of pomegranates, pistachios, grapes and apricots. 1. What is the writer listing? 2. What is therefore suggested about the environment of Central Valley?
Listing: Example 1 Beyond the almond orchards were fields of pomegranates, pistachios, grapes and apricots. 1. The writer lists the various types of produce grown in the fields. 2. This suggests there is an abundance of produce, implying Central Valley is very fertile and full of natural life.
Listing: Example 2 Through a combination of selective breeding, artificial diets and growth hormones designed to maximise milk production, they are pushed so grotesquely beyond their natural limit that they are soon worn out. 1. What is the writer listing? 2. What is therefore suggested about the way these cows are treated?
Listing: Example 2 Through a combination of selective breeding, artificial diets and growth hormones designed to maximise milk production, they are pushed so grotesquely beyond their natural limit that they are soon worn out. 1. The writer lists the various scientific procedures used to farm cows. 2. This suggests that there is nothing truly natural about the ways they are treated, highlighting the cold, uncaring style of modern farming methods.
Listing: Example 3 Many had stories about their homes plummeting in value, the desecration of lovely countryside, the disappearance of wildlife and serious health problems linked to pollution. 1. What is the writer listing? 2. What is therefore suggested about the side effects of industrial farms?
Listing: Example 3 Many had stories about their homes plummeting in value, the desecration of lovely countryside, the disappearance of wildlife and serious health problems linked to pollution. 1. The writer lists the diverse problems caused by industrial farming. 2. This suggests industrial farming is able to cause damage in multiple ways, whether to homes or to health, making it seem incredibly dangerous.
2. Repetition Repetition is the deliberate repeating of words and phrases to create impact. Normally, repetition is used for emphasis.
Repetition - strategy 1. Work out what word / phrase is repeated. Quote it! 2. Ask yourself what the writer achieves by repeating this particular word or phrase.
Repetition: Example Among the perfectly aligned rows of trees and cultivated crops are no birds, no butterflies, no beetles or shrubs. 1. What word does the writer repeat? 2. What is therefore suggested about the environment of Central Valley?
Repetition: Example Among the perfectly aligned rows of trees and cultivated crops are no birds, no butterflies, no beetles or shrubs. 1. The word no is repeated. 2. This emphasises the lack of wildlife and absence of nature, making Central Valley seem like a very sterile, unnatural environment.
Stop and Check! When writing about listing, repetition or parenthesis, do not even acknowledge the punctuation used. You are interested in the words / phrases / ideas brought to your attention via the technique!
3. Parenthesis Parenthesis is the insertion of a word or phrase into a sentence. It provides us with non-essential, but useful, information. Parenthesis is marked off by a pair of brackets, dashes or commas.
Identifying parenthesis It can be tricky to work out if a pair of commas are adding parenthesis. To determine this, read the sentence without the information contained in commas. If it still makes sense, the sentence features parenthesis.
Identifying parenthesis Hedgerows, vital habitats for wildlife, have halved since the second world war. Hedgerows have halved since the second world war. Makes sense = it s parenthesis!
Identifying parenthesis But, as I discovered when I began looking into the way food is produced, increasingly powerful forces are pulling us in the opposite direction. But increasingly powerful forces are pulling us in the opposite direction. Makes sense = it s parenthesis!
Identifying parenthesis Exploring the area by car, it was not long before I saw my first mega-dairy, an array of towering, open-sided shelters over muddy pens. Exploring the area by car an array of towering, open-sided shelters over muddy pens. Doesn t make sense it s not parenthesis!
Dealing with parenthesis As you have just seen, information contained in parenthesis is not required for the sentence to make grammatical sense. You therefore must ask yourself: what does the writer achieve by inserting this additional information? How does it emphasise or strengthen his / her point?
Parenthesis - strategy 1. Identify and quote the words contained in parenthesis. 2. Explain what the writer gains by providing us with this additional information what does it clarify or strengthen?
Parenthesis: Example 1 Hedgerows, vital habitats for wildlife, have halved since the second world war. 1. Identify and quote the information contained in parenthesis. 2. What is gained by including this? What is suggested about the impact of British farming?
Parenthesis: Example 1 Hedgerows, vital habitats for wildlife, have halved since the second world war. 1. The writer inserts additional information, saying hedgerows are vital habitats for wildlife. 2. This allows us to see how crucial the hedgerows are, and therefore understand the destructive impact of British farming methods.
Parenthesis: Example 2 Industrially reared farm animals 50 billion of them a year worldwide are kept permanently indoors, treated like machines and pumped with drugs. 1. Identify and quote the information contained in parenthesis. 2. What is gained by including this? What is suggested about the nature of global farming methods?
Parenthesis: Example 2 Industrially reared farm animals 50 billion of them a year worldwide are kept permanently indoors, treated like machines and pumped with drugs. 1. The writer inserts additional information about the number of animals that are reared industrially: 50 billion of them a year worldwide. 2. This allows us to see the shocking, dramatic scale of industrial farming; an unimaginable number of animals are being treated in an inhumane, exploitative manner.
Summary You should now be more confident in a) Identifying lists, repetition and parenthesis b) Being able to explain why such features are used. You MUST learn the strategies and approaches for dealing with these structural features. You WILL come across them all in assessments and the exam. Sentence structure IS difficult to get your head around, so you are going to struggle if you don t work hard to understand it.
Quick Revision! Read passage 2 and Find PARENTHESIS in paragraph 1 Find a LIST in paragraph 2 Find REPETITION in paragraph 3 Find a LIST in paragraph 5 Find PARENTHESIS in paragraph 5 Find REPETITION in paragraph 6 Find a LIST in paragraph 6 Find a LIST in paragraph 7 Find REPETITION in paragraph 7
