• I never said I loved you!

•Please keep quiet.•Go away NOW• YOU are not included in the list

• She is a ventriloquist

•What words did you notice?

•Why?

EMPHASIS

•When and where do we use emphasis?

•Why do we use it?•Give examples

WRITING FOR EMPHASIS

SECRETS TO WRITING FOR EMPHASIS

•Passive-Active construction

•Subordination•Repetition•Climactic order

ACTIVE-PASSIVE CONSTRUCTION

• ACTIVE SENTENCES PLACE EMPHASIS ON THE SUBJECT.

• PASSIVE SENTENCES PLACE EMPHASIS ON THE OBJECT

ACTIVE PASSIVE

SUBORDINATION

Positions of Emphasis• When you read a sentence, the parts most likely

to catch your attention and stay in your mind are the beginning and end; we call them the positions of emphasis, with the stronger position at the close of the sentence.

• Writers call attention to important ideas by putting them at the beginnings and ends of sentences.

• This makes it easier for readers to grasp the meaning and remember important points. It also gives sentences a rhythmic flow, as in these examples:

• Mary had a little lamb. • Why didn't they ask Evans? • Ask and you shall receive.

Subordination

• is a way of combining sentences that makes one sentence more important than the other.

• One sentence is under the other sentence (sub means under).

• Sentences that use subordination (grammar books call them complex sentences) have a main clause or independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses or dependent clauses.

• One or more of the sentences being combined is reduced from an independent clause to a dependent clause by adding such words as when, although, if

• (called subordinating conjunctions) or

• such words as who, what, that (called relative pronouns).

Depending on its function, a subordinate clause can be classified as :• noun clause, a subordinate clause used

like a noun (it can be a subject or object) (I don't know what you are talking about.)

• adjective clause a subordinate clause that modifies or gives information about a noun (I read the letter that was on your desk.)

• adverb clause a subordinate clause that functions like an adverb (I will call you after I get back from the movie.)

WHAT IS THE EMPHASIS?

• The dog was scrawny and old, and he lived next door; he barked and howled and kept me awake all night.

•The scrawny old dog next door kept me awake all night by barking and howling.

•By barking and howling, the scrawny old dog next door kept me awake all night.

Identify the emphasis

•The dog that kept me awake all night with its barking and howling lived next door.

TRY THIS

• Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1937 during a round-the-world trip. She set a new speed records for long-distance flying in the 1930s.

• Subordinate her disappearance to her setting speed records.

• Subordinate her setting of speed records to her disappearance

REPETITION

• Repetition links related ideas and gives sentences a lyrical rhythm. For example:

• When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.(From The Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:11)

• You can repeat pronouns, adjectives, verbs or conjunctions to emphasize key elements and create word music. Repetition also changes the sentence structure and gives it a "piling-on" effect:

Examples

•Anaphora•Epistrophe

• But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land..

• What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us." —Emerson

• Hourly joys be still upon you!Juno sings her blessings on you. [. . .]Scarcity and want shall shun you,Ceres' blessing so is on you. — Shakespeare, The Tempest (4.1.108-109; 116-17)

• We are born to sorrow, pass our time in sorrow, end our days in sorrow.

CLIMACTIC ORDER

• Another way of calling attention to key ideas is by placing them in climactic order: that is, arranging them in order of increasing importance or impact. This arrangement builds up suspense in a sentence.

CLIMAX

• What you choose to emphasize determines your sentence structure.

• Let's say you want to tell readers about your dog Butterball - a lovely golden retriever, if a little on the plump side (he does so love his food). You could highlight any of these points by leading up to it:

This beautiful golden retriever with the slight waddle is my dog Butterball.

He's mine

This is my dog Butterball: he's a golden retriever, and you can see he's really beautiful. He's gorgeous

Exercise AComplete each of the following sentences by adding a third item to each series. In number 3 you need to decide all three items for the series. Fill in the blanks.

1. Jack fought, cheated , and _______________.

2. He was accused of assault, fraud, and _________________ .

3. Jack is in jail, but he still loves to _______________, ________________ , and ________________ .