Exam Review Notes

Expressive Writing – Writer’s Craft Moves for Effective WritingZooming in / zooming out A paragraph that zooms in on an important

moment / a paragraph that’s written like a summary to indicate time has passed.

Show versus tell writing A carefully written, frame by frame, explanation of a moment in time. This could include dialogue as well as sensory details (what you see, smell, hear, taste, and touch).

Repetition with purpose A sentence or sentences with a repeated word, phrase, or sentence structure to add emphasis.

So What? A clear idea of the purpose behind the writing. A one sentence paragraph

A sentence that stands out in its own paragraph to establish the author’s point.

Muscle verbs Verbs that evoke a specific image in the reader’s mind (that are not cliched).

Irony

• Video Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqg6RO8c_W0 Situational

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiR-bnCHIYo Verbal Irony

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZFYuX84n1U Dramatic Irony

Dramatic Irony (retrieved from: http://www.writethisway.net/163/the-three-kinds-of-irony/) This type of irony, also called tragic irony, is very common in plays. It is also frequently used by writers to keep readers captivated by creating incongruity between the action that will unfold and the character’s present situation. In dramatic irony, a character in a play doesn’t know that his words or actions reveal the play’s real situation. Often, the spectators know more than the

characters in the play. When used as a literary tool, it gives the reader a superior position and encourages his hopes, fears, and curiosity regarding when and if the characters will discover the truth about the situations and events in the story. Dramatic irony is best portrayed in “Oedipus Rex” where the audience already knows that Oedipus has murdered his father and married his mother. Oedipus, unaware of this, condemns himself to death without knowing that he is the main cause of the problems in his kingdom. He confidently tells his brother-in-law that someone who has committed such gravely sins and still expects mercy from the gods is simply foolish. Both the audience and reader understand the entire situation better than he does. Another example of dramatic irony is displayed in Shakespeare’s play “Merchant of Venice” where the audience is aware that Lancelot is deceiving his father, that Nerissa and Portia are actually Balthazar and his clerk, and that Jessica dresses as a boy.

Situational IronyIn situational irony, events come together in a surprising and unexpected way. In this case, the outcome is inconsistent with what is expected. Situational irony is also called irony of events and is generally viewed as a situation with sharp contrasts and contradictions. In literature, situational irony builds up tension in a story. Writers frequently use it in literature as it is subtle and builds upon a story’s events as compared to a single ironic sentence. An example of situational irony is a man who steps away from a water hose because he doesn’t want to get wet then ends up falling in a swimming pool. Another example is that of a traffic policeman who gets his license suspended because of unpaid parking tickets.

Verbal IronyThis type of irony is closely connected to sarcasm. It is the most widely used form of irony. In its simplest form, it involves two people having a conversation unlike other forms of irony which require a “third” party to interpret the ironic situations. In verbal irony, a person speaks words meant to express the opposite of what he’s saying. Verbal irony is very easy to incorporate into different forms of writing. For it to be most effective, timing is everything. If it comes too late or too early in a conversation, is spoken in an inappropriate circumstance, or is not accompanied by the correct tone, it can be considered offensive or confusing. An example of verbal irony is a person who mistakenly steps in a big puddle of water while walking with his friend. His friend seeing this, smiles and helps him out saying, “You must be the luckiest person in the world.” This comment will be seen as ironic and funny by both people and the two friends will probably laugh the mishap off. Verbal irony requires an understanding of timing, attitude, and circumstance.

Dialogue Rules

Elements to Include in Your Short Story

Example:

1. “What If” Situations:

-What if people could stall aging with a blood transfusion from young adults?

- What if vanity caused people to lose the respect of their peers?

2. Controlling Idea (your answer to the what if situation) : You can stall aging, but at a social cost.

3. Setting: My main character is at home with her sister, packing for her trip to the company. She will be collecting her second litre of blood. This story takes place in present time.

4. Three Vignettes (spatial or temporal): Present: an old woman in her house looks at her face in the mirror; a flashback: the woman remembers her younger, more vibrant self; present: the woman is in her car.

The 4 Types of Point of View – (Retrieved from: https://thewritepractice.com/point-of-view-guide/)

Here are the four primary POV types in fiction:

First person point of view. First person is when “I” am telling the story. The character is in the story, relating his or her experiences directly.

Second person point of view. The story is told to “you.” This POV is not common in fiction, but it’s still good to know (it is common in nonfiction).

Third person point of view, limited. The story is about “he” or “she.” This is the most common point of view in commercial fiction. The narrator is outside of the story and relating the experiences of a character.

Third person point of view, omniscient. The story is still about “he” or “she,” but the narrator has full access to the thoughts and experiences of all characters in the story.

Motif

Parallel Structure: is balance in a sentence containing a list. This list might consist of words, phrases, or clauses. Balance occurs when all items in the list are of the same grammatical form. 

Example: She went out with him because of the twinkle in his eye, the swagger in his step, and his love for movies.

Unparallel: She went out with him because of the twinkle in his eye, swaggering, and he loves movies.

Parallelism Examples

We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a State noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet.”

- “We Choose to go to the Moon” – President Kennedy

How Many mOre Children Will Die without Seatbelts on Busses?” – Elaine Alpert

“If only seat belts were installed – and used – on coach buses, some who perished in Humboldt, in Sussex, and elsewhere, perhaps

even my Steve and Chris’s son Jaxon, might have survived. If only drivers always took care and attention while driving to assure everyone’s safety. If only Transport Canada had acted on the findings of its own 2002 report following the Sussex tragedy. If only, if only, if only…” Politicians, look me in the eye and tell me that this is not politically feasible. It is, and if you need to be voted out for lack of political will, the voters will gladly oblige. Industry lobbyists, look me in the eye and tell me it’s too costly. And if you dare make that assertion, tuck your kids into bed tonight and then try looking me in the eye tomorrow. You won’t be able to. Engineers, look me in the eye and tell me it’s too difficult. You won’t, because you know it’s not.

Persuasive Technique

Common Fallacies