High Grade Features

Modification Adjectives – words that describe

nouns and pronouns.

Manner adverbs – words that describe verbs (usually end in ‘ly’)

Narrative voiceFirst person – things that start with

‘I’ or ‘we’

Second person – things that start with ‘you’ (generally only in instructions)

Third person – things that start with ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, ‘they’ or a noun / noun phrase

Register …describes how formal the text is

• Frozen• Formal• Informal• Demotic• Intimate

Verbs • Dynamic verbs…are active doing words

• Modal verbs…convey ideas of intention, ability or obligation

Figurative language…includes any image including similes, metaphors and personification.

Present participlesPresent participles are the form of a

verb that ends in ‘ing’

They are used to show enduring action that lasted over a period of time

Sentence moods• Interrogative

ask questions• Imperative

give instructions of some kind – orders, warnings, advice, invitations• Exclamatory

emphatic sentences, indicated by an exclamation mark

• Declarative make statements

Listing Syndetic lists are lists that do contain

a joining word: ‘and’, ‘but’ ‘or’

Asyndetic lists do not contain a joining word

A syndeton contains a joining word after each item in the list

Fronted conjunctions…when words such as

And, But, Or, If, Because, So, etc.

occur at the start of a sentence

SubordinationA subordinate clause is a part of a sentence that can’t stand alone as a simple sentence (and which contains a verb)

Syntax The syntax of a sentence is the order that words

come in.

Normal sentences come in the following order:

Subject – Verb – Object / Adverbial / Complement

Main Clause – subordinate clauses

Sentences with normal syntax are not worth discussing; discuss sentences with unusual syntax

Fronted adverbialsFronted adverbials are adverbials

that come at the start of a sentenceFronted subordinate

clausesFronted subordinate clauses are subordinate clauses that come at the start of a sentence

Passive and active voice

Active voice• Is used when the

subject acts or does something

• The sentence tells us what the subject did

Passive voice• Is used when

something is done to the subject (it is the receiver of the action)

• The sentence tells us what was done to the subject

Rhetorical featuresParallel phrasing is the repetition of the same

grammatical structure to make supporting statements

“We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields”

Antithesis is the repetition of the same grammatical structure to make opposing statements

“Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country” 

Hypophora is asking a question then immediately providing the answer"You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by

sea, land, and air”

Phrases in appositionNoun phrases in apposition are two noun phrases

used to refer to the same thing that both serve the same grammatical function

Steve, my best friend, has moved to Belgium.(“Steve” and “my best friend” are both the

subject of this sentence)

I hate Helen, my boss.(“Helen” and “my boss” are both the object of

this sentence)