Close ReadingAnalysis Questions – Sentence Structure:

Punctuation

Analysis Questions

• Understanding Questions – What has the writer said?

• Analysis Questions – How has the writer said it?– This type of question tests your ability to

identify (using appropriate terminology) and examine the techniques or language features the writer has used to put his/her ideas across.

Analysis Questions - Structure

When writing an answer to an analysis question, it is helpful to apply the following structure:

1. Identify unusual language features you have discovered, quoting them where necessary.

2. Explain what the feature you have identified contributes to the passage.

For Example:3. The writer uses repetition: “The boy was really,

really tired.”4. The repetition of the word “really” is used to

emphasise the point that the boy was extremely tired.

Close ReadingAnalysis Questions – Sentence Structure

Analysis Questions – Sentence Structure

Some of the most common features of sentence structure are:

1. The type of sentences used.

2. The way in which sentences are grouped in paragraphs.

3. The punctuation used to separate and link different types of sentence.

4. The use of sentence patterns.

Close ReadingAnalysis Questions – Sentence Structure:

Punctuation

Sentence Structure: Punctuation

• Punctuation is a tool that writers use to organise the words in their writing.

• It is used to:a) separate ideas into distinct sentences;

b) organise and connect information within sentences.

• Therefore punctuation is vitally important when considering sentence structure.

Sentence Structure: Punctuation

• There are many different uses of punctuation in the English language.

• Some uses of punctuation that crop up most commonly in Close Reading questions will be outlined in the following slides:

1. Inverted Commas2. Colons3. Semi-colons4. Parenthesis5. Dashes

• However, it is important to bear in mind that there are many others.

Punctuation: Inverted CommasInverted commas serve four main purposes:1. To indicate the title of a play, poem, film, etc.

– “The Crucible”, “War Photographer”, “Neighbours”2. To indicate direct speech

– “Did you have a good weekend?” asked Anne.3. To indicate a quotation

– Duffy describes the war photographer: “a priest preparing to intone a mass”.

4. To indicate that the writer is in some way distancing him/herself from the words contained in the inverted commas.

– In Victorian times foreign travel was the preserve of the “superior” classes of society.

Punctuation: ColonsColons serve three main purposes:1. To introduce a quotation:

– Duffy describes the war photographer: “a priest preparing to intone a mass”.

2. To introduce a list– I went to the shops and bought the following items:

some fruit, a loaf of bread, a newspaper and a pint of milk.

3. To indicate an explanation or expansion of the previous statement:

– The boy missed his bus: he had been up until four the previous morning and therefore slept in.

Punctuation: Semi-colonsSemi-colons serve two main purposes:

1. To function as a full stop between two closely connected ideas:

– The sentence was never carried out; the man was allowed to go free.

2. To separate items in a list– I went to the shops and bought the following items:

some fruit, a loaf of bread, a newspaper and a pint of milk.

– I went to the shops and bought the following items: some fruit, including bananas, apples and pears; a loaf of bread, as we had recently run out; a newspaper, to read the football results; and a pint of milk.

Punctuation: Parenthesis• Parenthesis is the technique of using punctuation to

mark off information in order to distinguish it from the rest of the sentence.

• The information contained in the parenthesis isn’t essential to the technical construction of the sentence.

• Parenthesis can be created by using a range of punctuation:

1. Commas• The boy, who had been up until four o’clock in the morning, slept

in and missed his bus.

2. Brackets• The boy (who had been up until four o’clock in the morning) slept

in and missed his bus.

3. Dashes• The boy – who had been up until four o’clock in the morning –

slept in and missed his bus.

Punctuation: DashesDashes serve three main purposes:

1. To indicate an explanation or expansion of the previous statement (in the same way a colon does):

– The boy missed his bus – he had been up until four the previous morning and therefore slept in.

2. To indicate parenthesis– The boy – who had been up until four o’clock in the morning –

slept in and missed his bus.

3. To indicate breaking off mid-sentence:– “What on earth – ”

This last effect can also be achieved by using ellipsis:– “What on earth … ”

Comment on the writer’s use of sentence structure in the following extract:

At this time pass all the characters of the Spanish streets: the dark-veiled women hurrying home from the priest; the Civil Guard whom nobody greets; gold-skinned sailors and strutting carters; goat-faced ruffians down from the hills; and old men with the hollow eyes of hermits – their skin stretched thin on chill ascetic bones.

Punctuation: Sample Question