A 2. Students add to their flowchart for adjectives. Adverbs of comparison These are treated in the same way as adjectives, using er and est or more and most. For example: Shane ran fast. Ricky ran faster. Guess who ran fastest? or politely, more politely, most politely. Adverbs modifying other parts of speech Adverb modifying an adverb For example: Gilchrist scored runs really fast. adv adv 130 G r A M M A r f o r e V e rY o n e ADJECTIVES – ADVANCED Descriptive new Proper Ford (car) PossessiveDistributive each Demonstrative that (car) Numeral indefinite several ten (cars) ordinal second comparative newer superlative newest A We clapped him very loudly. adv adv Adverb modifying an adjective For example: He was so pleased. adv adj Adverbs formed from adjectives For example: My shoelace is loose. [adj] I tied it too loosely. [adv] 19.2 Activity: adjectives and adverbs Students form adjectives and adverbs using the given nouns, for example: Noun Adjective Adverb hope hopeless hopelessly speed pain waste fool 131 M o r e A b o u t A d j e c t i V e s A n d A d V e r b s More punctuation Before studying more punctuation, check that students can recognise, understand and use correctly the following punctuation marks: full stop, question mark, exclamation mark, comma, inverted commas and apostrophe. So far, the exercises have been mainly straightforward and not purposely complex, as they are designed to test the students’ learning and assess the efficacy of the instruction. Inevitably the students will come across variations in sentence structure that test their skills and sometimes ours as well. In gen- eral, unless they are unreasonably intricate or complex – in which case we may leave them to grammarians to unravel – they can be analysed by logic. Before we embark on studying more complex but well-constructed sentences there are a few gaps to fill. So, in this section, we uncover some of the classifications that further clarify the terms we have been using and are now familiar with. Firstly, we look at the remaining punctuation marks, under- standing of which will enable students to reach a higher level of maturity in their own composition. Colons Definition: The word is from Greek, kolon, meaning ‘a limb’ and is used to indicate that some connected information is to follow. • The colon’s most common use is to precede a list, especially of items consisting of more than one word (note its use after ‘for example’). 20 132 For example: Here are some of the things you can do at our zoo: get close to wild animals, feed the monkeys, cuddle a koala and observe a platypus. • The colon can provide a stop (or a short pause) between two balanced parts of a sentence, in which the second part explains or furthers the information given in the first part. For example: I got our tickets for the final: they had nearly sold out. Note, too, how the use of the colon can make the narrative more dramatic than when it is expressed in an ordinary sentence. For example: He ran to the opening: it was blocked by a fallen rock. Compare with: He ran to the opening, but found it was blocked by a fallen rock. • Colons are used to introduce quotations. For example: Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ opens with the words: ‘Hence! Home, you idle Creatures, get you home.’ • This use of the colon would be one with which every modern child would be familiar! That which separates parts of numerals, as in time: 6:30 9:00 and in some digital time-pieces, one dot refers to a.m. and two dots to p.m. 133 M o r e p u n c t u At i o n A 20.1 Activities: colons 1. Students write an advertisement for the things you can do at: a. a fun park b. Underwater World c. a museum 2. Students answer time questions with digital numerals. a. When did you get up this morning? b. What time do you start school? c. When do you have lunch? 3. Students use colons to write these sentences in a more dramatic way. a. He got badly hurt when he fell off his skateboard. b. We couldn’t get in because Emma had gone off with the key. c. A green ant bit me, so I screamed. Note: It may be more effective to change around the order of words. 4. Students find a quotation from one of their books and introduce it, mentioning the speaker. See the example from Shakespeare on the previous page . Semicolons Margaret Fullerton, in ‘Summer On The Lakes’ 1844, likened semi- colons to the stops in a paragraph of thoughts about one’s life. This is probably a very good description, as semicolons provide a pause between connected thoughts and lie somewhere between commas and full stops. For the more mature writer, semicolons are very effective because they suggest a balance, but to avoid misuse and confusion, it is wise not to introduce semicolons too early. Perhaps the best way to describe semicolons is to say that they link associated thoughts or statements. For example: The mantis rested on a green leaf; you might never notice it there. He had no food; nor did he have any money. 134 G r A M M A r f o r e V e rY o n e Another use of semicolons, which is similar, separates thoughts set within lines of poetry while preserving the poetic flow. For example: I laid me down upon the shore And dreamed a little space; I heard the great waves break and roar; The sun was on my face. (from ‘Pre-Existence’ by Francis Cornford) Lynne Truss reminds us that only full sentences should be joined by semicolons – otherwise one may fall into the habit of running on with a kind of stream of consciousness sentence structure, in the manner of Virginia Woolf, which is not generally acceptable. Hyphens Definition: ‘hyphen’ is from Greek huphen, meaning ‘together’ and refers to the combination of two words. Many compound words have evolved from two hyphenated words and this seems to happen by way of a natural progression as an object becomes more common. For example: night school, but night-light and nightgown. The best advice for students is to check with a dictionary. Students with a good command of language will probably, them- selves, develop the ability to form hyphenated expressions, which are phrase-based and often combine words of two different parts of speech. It is a good idea to draw attention to them in literature and improve students’ awareness of the flexibility of language and the wonderful tools at their command. For example: age-defying moisturiser finger-marked photos never-to-be-forgotten moment 135 M o r e p u n c t u At i o n Parentheses – brackets and dashes Definition: This word from Greek para – ‘beyond’ and enthesis – ‘put in’ means ‘added extra’. So in writing it refers to information extra to the main sentence. The sentence is complete without the part in parenthesis. However, the extra part is added to give further information or explanation to that in the main sentence. The extra part is like something just thought of, mid sentence, and as such, has a more abrupt sense than something separated by commas. Students are reminded that, should they use parenthesis, the parts either side should be grammatically complete without it. Brackets Definition: The word ‘bracket’ is from French braguette meaning ‘a codpiece’, the term for the curved support piece inside men’s breeches. Brackets indicate a fairly formal division of a sentence, marking off extra information. For example: A restaurant called L’Apostrophe in Reims (address on request) … Such inverted commas (usually single, rather than double) are understood … In her autobiography ‘Giving up the Ghost’ (2003), Hilary Mantel reveals … In addition, we have the formal use of brackets to indicate grouping in algebra. 2a(4b + 6) = Brackets of shapes other than the curve are usually editor’s devices for selected types of additional information. 136 G r A M M A r f o r e V e rY o n e . balanced parts of a sentence, in which the second part explains or furthers the information given in the first part. For example: I got our tickets for the. information extra to the main sentence. The sentence is complete without the part in parenthesis. However, the extra part is added to give further information