The Sentence Toolbox

Learning to Write through IMITATION

THE SENTENCE TOOLBOX

Can Imitating Famous Writers Dramatically Improve YOUR Writing ?

FAMOUS FIRST LINES…He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.The Old Man and the Sea (1952), Ernest Hemingway

When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955), J.R.R. Tolkien

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.The Catcher in the Rye (1951), J. D. Salinger

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.Pride and Prejudice (1813), Jane Austen

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.Lolita (1955), Vladimir Nabokov

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy

The Sentence Toolbox MethodWE WILL STUDY 14 DIFFERENT SENTENCE “STRUCTURES” OR TYPES GREAT WRITERS USE

WE’LL REFER TO EACH TYPE AS A “TOOL” BECAUSE THAT TYPE OR PATTERN CAN BE USED OVER AND OVER AGAIN WHENEVER YOU HAVE TO BUILD AN ESSAY

1. WE WILL LEARN TO IDENTIFY EACH TYPE2. IMITATE EACH TYPE3. THEN APPLY THESE 14 “TOOLS” TO OUR OWN WRITING

This method teaches us to analyze, study, and then imitate• How can something like copying another person really work?

• Let’s take a look …

All of these famous people ADMIT they perfected their craft by IMITATING “the greats”

• Allan Holdsworth: Never heard of him? Many regard Holdsworth as one of the greatest guitarists of the 20th Century. The sounds of Django Reinhardt, Jimmy Rainey, Charlie Christian, Joe Pass , Eric Clapton, and John Coltrane were among this English musician's early inspirations when he began to work professionally as a musician in his early twenties

• Elvis Presley imitated and incorporated Black Gospel music to give birth to what we know as Rock n’ Roll. He couldn’t have done it without black musicians…

Each one of these thinkers & artists admits that his own art was inspired by…OTHERS

We begin with IMITATION

IN FACT, EVERY TIME WE LEARN ANYTHING NEW…

Click icon to add picture

But instead of imitating like THIS

Or using a lot of hard to understand sentence diagrams

PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!! I HATE SENTENCE DIAGRAMS!!!

•YEAH!!!!We study 14 sentence types or patterns great writers useWe keep all that “grammar lingo” to an absolute minimumWe learn by COPYING because copying makes us pay attentionWe learn by RECOGNIZING THE PATTERN so we can do it, tooAnd we learn to PUNCTUATE AS THE PATTERN DICTATES, so we can literally toss out hundreds of grammar worksheets

So which method of learning to write well should I use?Traditional The Sentence Toolbox

*A plastic box for index cards*Index cards*Dividers are nice if you can make them (one for each “Tool”)Sometimes it helps to color code, so you might want to use blue markers for Tool One, red for Tool Two, etc.

IT’S TIME TO MAKE YOUR SENTENCE TOOLBOX

Today you will make one index card for each sentence type in the SENTENCE TOOLBOX

• TOOLS THAT USE WORDSEach one of these sentence types is a “tool”1. Opening Adjective2. Delayed Adjective3. Opening Adverb4. Delayed Adverb

TOOLS THAT USE PHRASES5. Absolute Phrase6. Appositive Phrase7. Prepositional Phrase8. Participal Phrase9. Gerund Phrase10. Infinitive Phrase

• TOOLS THAT USE CLAUSES11. Clause Types ( Independent & Dependent)12. Adjective Clause13. Adverb Clause14. Noun Clause

ONLY write the “Type” or pattern…

We’ll learn & practice one type a day

After we learn the 14 “Tools”…

• We’ll multiply what we can do with them by mixing or combining the different tools• It’s really a lot like learning to play

the basic chords on a piano and then experimenting with different combinations so that you can play• Hiphop• Jazz• Classical• Rock• Blues• And much, much more

Pay attentionKeep your toolbox organizedHelp, don’t hinder, the folks near youPractice

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

YOU CAN DO IT!