Sentence composing #5

Practice 3: Combining to Imitate

In the model, identify the opening adjectives. Next, combine the list of sentences to imitate the model. Finally, write your own imitation of the model and identify any opening adjectives.

Model: Dark, velvety, the beauty of his mustache was enhanced by his strong clean-shaven chin.
--Toni Morrison, Beloved

a. His cautionary steps were slow.
b. His cautionary steps were weary.
c. His cautionary were caused by something.
d. The cause was the surrounding overexcited horses.

Weary, slow, his cautionary steps were caused by the surrounding overexcited horses.

--Strong, defined, the power lifters muscles bulged when he lifted the winning weight.

Practice 4: Imitating

1. Identify the opening adjectives in the models and sample imitations. Then write an imitation of each model sentences, one sentence part at a time. Read one of your imitations to see if your classmates can guess which model you imitated.

Models:

1. Wordless, we split up.
--Annie Dillard, An American Childhood

Sample: Wet, the napkin fell apart

-Soft, the cookie melted in my mouth.

2. Cold, dark, and windowless, it stretched the length of the house.
--Jessamyn West, "The Child's Day"

Sample: Hot, humid, and muggy, the weather exhausted the stamina of the bikers.

Exhausted, powerless, and faint, the marathon runner collapsed at the end of the race.

3. Afraid that we might hunt for a cheaper apartment for the next two weeks and find nothing better than this one, we took it

Sample: Happy that we would escape to a lovely beach for the upcoming one month and have nothing but good time, we left home.

-Scared that the cops might catch him in the next month in that city and arrest him, he left town.

Practice 5: Expanding

The opening adjectives are omitted at the caret mark(^) in the following sentences. For each caret, add an opening adjective or adjective phrase, plending your content and style with the rest of the sentence.

1. ^Optionless, I began climbing the ladder's rungs, slightly reassured by having Finny right behind me.
--John Knowles, A Seperate Peace

2. ^Freezing and ^weary, he wandered about the many tents, only to find that one place as cold as another.
--Jack London, "To Build a Fire"

3. ^Bright and ^knowledge hungry my limited reading helped me to know something of a world beyond the four walls of my study.
Christy Brown, My Left Foot