Image GrammarUsing Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing

For Teachers Based on the book Image Grammar by Harry Noden

ParticiplesAbsolutesAppositivesAction VerbsAdjectives Shifted Out of Order

The 5 Basic Brush Strokes

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Pick one for your example:

The elephant charged the lions.

The car went into the parking lot

Basic sentences

◦Definition: “-ing” words or phrases tagged on the

beginning or the end of a sentence Example: “-ing” = present participle;

“-ed”= past participle

◦What they can do: Add description to an otherwise bland

sentence or string of sentences. Specifically, they give motion to a sentence.

Participles

Roaring a loud warning screech, the elephant charged the lions.

◦Definition: Simply put, they are nouns + an “-ing”

participle.

◦What they can do: Add description to a noun, a subject,

or a phrase acting as a noun.

Absolutes

Feet stomping, ears flapping, the elephant attacked the lions.

I ran to catch the bus.

Now YOU Try ItAdd an ABSOLUTE

(noun + -ing word).

◦Definition: A noun phrase that adds a second

description, image, or idea to a previous noun.

Simply, it means that you ‘re-name’ a noun with a word or a phrase.

◦What they can do: Add more description to the subject

(person, place, thing, idea) of sentences.

Appositives

The elephant, an angry 1,200 pound beast, charged the lions.

The boat bobbed lifelessly in the Lake Michigan swells.

Appositive “Makeover”

The boat, a small weathered trawler with a faded inscription -- “Lucky Lady” --on the stern, bobbed lifelessly in the Lake Michigan swells.

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I ran to catch the bus.

Now YOU Try ItAdd an APPOSITIVE

(rename the bus or I)

◦Definition: Avoid “passive” voice: It was raining. I had been reading. The cookies were taken. (Watch out for “be” verbs.)

Use a verb that does something!

◦What they can do: Give a sentence ACTION and

movement.

Action Verbs

The elephant attacked the lions.

I ran to catch the bus.

Now YOU Try ItAdd an ACTION VERB

(think of another word for ‘run’ to show more OR less urgency).

◦Definition: Adjectives are descriptive words that

help color and enhance pictures in reader’s minds.

◦What they can do: Give a “safe” and “ordinary” sentence

more sophistication.

Adjectives Shifted Out of Order

The elephant, monstrous and fierce, charged the lions.

I ran to catch the bus.

Now YOU Try ItAdd some ADJECTIVES

(out of order).

Put It All Together

Look back over your practice sentences. Pick and choose parts (brush strokes) that you thought were particularly effective, and see what you can come up with for a final sentence.

Just like in art, the basic brush strokes are meant to be combined and to work together.

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NEXTReturn to Beginning of Slide Show

The storm woke me in the middle of the night.

The road went around the left side of the barn.

This is a brief introduction and overview of Harry Noden’s 5 Basic Brush Strokes from his book Image Grammar.

They are basic grammatical structures that give movement and “picture” to text.

This is only intended to give the big picture, with practice and further examples to follow.

Return to Beginning of Slide Show

Book Information:Noden, Harry. Image Grammar: Using Grammatical Structures to Teach Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1999.

ISBN 978-0-86709-466-4 / 0-86709-466-4 / 1999 / 224pp / Paperback (Grade level 6-10)