Image Grammar

Using Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing

Harry R. Noden

“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.”

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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 Prince’s 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.

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.

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.

Painting with Absolutes Definition: Noun + Participial (-ing, -ed)

Absolutes painted by Anne Rice in The Vampire LeStat:

The mummy was moving. The mummy’s 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.

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.

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 Hitler’s Europe, fast new attack transports, slow rust-scarred freighters, small ocean liners, channel steamers, hospital ships, weather-beaten tankers, and swarms of fussing tugs.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 author’s 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:

1. Still Shots

2. Movie Clips

3. Real Life