Grammar and vocabulary, Year 9: precise terms and sentence openings

Simile

HintLook for the small signpost word between 'lonely' and 'a cloud'.

The whyThe word 'as' flags the comparison. Had Wordsworth written 'I was a lonely cloud', claiming to be one, it would be a metaphor. The precise term matters because the two work differently on a reader.

Personification

HintThe term has the word for a human being hidden inside it.

The whyA clock cannot glare or accuse; the writer lends it a human attitude to show how the speaker feels about getting up. It is not pathetic fallacy, a narrower term kept for weather or landscape that mirrors a mood.

imperative

HintRecipes, road signs and sergeants use this form constantly.

The whyThe national curriculum glossary gives 'Do the dishes, Naser!' as its example. These verbs usually have no stated subject, because 'you' is understood, which is why they sound direct and can be used to persuade as well as to instruct.

clause

HintThe same word names a numbered section of a legal contract.

The whyThe test is to find the verb: in the national curriculum's glossary this is a group of words whose head is a verb. 'After the long match' is a preposition phrase; 'after the match ended' is a subordinate one.

An explanation of its effect

HintNaming a tool is not the same as saying what job it did.

The whyA term is a label, and a label earns nothing until it is used to explain something. Name the technique, quote it, then say what it makes the reader notice, feel or think.

A fronted adverbial

HintIn 'Later that day, I heard the bad news', it is the first three words.

The whyAn adverbial says when, where, how or why something happens, and normally follows the verb: 'I heard the bad news later that day'. Moving it forward changes what the reader meets first and breaks a run of sentences that all begin with the subject.

sound

HintFind where the opening phrase stops and the main part, with its subject, begins.

The whyThe fronted phrase is 'Without a sound'; the main clause starts at 'the fox'. The comma marks the join. The national curriculum introduces commas after fronted adverbials in Year 4.

Slowly, he crept down the stairs.

HintMove the -ly word to the front and follow it with a comma.

The whyNothing has been added and nothing lost; only the order has changed. The reader now meets the manner of the movement before the person, which suits a tense moment and breaks the run of 'He... He... He...'.

Every sentence opens in the same way

HintLook at the ending of the first word each time.

The whyThree openings in a row built on an '-ing' verb are as repetitive as three that start with 'I'. Variety means mixing structures, and only where it helps the sense; a plain subject-first sentence is often the right choice.

adverb; preposition; conjunction

HintOne often ends in -ly, one shows position, and one joins a clause to the rest of the sentence.

The whyThe first word tells you the structure that follows: an adverb standing alone, a preposition phrase ('Under the bridge') or a subordinate clause ('Although it was late'). Naming the structures gives a writer a menu to choose from. All three openings here are fronted adverbials.