Sentence Imitating:For each of the following sentences below, there are two sentence imitations. Each of the sentence imitations approximates the structure of the model. First, match the imitations for each model. Next, write an imitation for each model.

Models:

  1. Near the spot upriver to which Mr. Tanimoto had transported the priests, there set a large case of rice cakes which a rescue party had evidently brought for the wounded lying thereabouts but hadn’t distributed.

John Hersey, Hiroshima

  1. There was also a rhino, who, from the tracks and the kicked-up mound of strawy dung, came there each night.

Ernest Hemingway, Green Hills of Africa

  1. The dark silence was there and the heavy shapes, sitting, and the little blue light burning.

Ray Bradbury, The Vintage Bradbury

  1. Lights flickered on bits of ruby-glass on sensitive capillary hairs in the nylon-brushed nostrils of the creature that quivered gently, gently, its eight legs spidered under it on rubber-padded paws.

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Imitations:

  1. Stars twinkled on pieces of broken shells and on ruined sand castles in the sea-drenched sand of the beach that stretched miles, endless miles, its may shells strewn on it by high-crested waves.
  2. At the place in the room where he had left his books, there was a stack of journals that had evidently been brought by several of the more academic students but hadn’t been used by the teacher.
  3. The dense fog was there and the bloody bodies, dying, and the torn white flag waving.
  4. I sat on velvet grass and under spreading blue leaves in the light-yellow atmosphere of a planet that orbited, slowly, steadily, its six moons clinging close like newborn children.
  5. There was also a turtle, who, from the half-eaten tomato and the hole under the fence, had visited the garden that day.
  6. The big race was next and the line of cars, waiting, and the red flag ready.
  7. There was also the horror, which, from the odor and snake-belly sensation of dead flesh, came there each time.
  8. Outside the shack from which the patrol had started shooting, there was a blast of gunfire that the rebels had intended for the door lock but hadn’t hit.

Your Project

CCSS.ELAW.11-12.5Develop & strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose & audience.

CCSS.ELAL.11-12.3Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, & to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

CCSS.ELAL.11-12.3aVary syntax for effect, consulting references (e.g., Tufte’s Artful Sentences) for guidance as needed; apply an understanding of syntax to the study of complex texts when reading.

From your literature textbook, you will copy substantial prose passages, word for word. This may strike you as a rather brainless exercise, but it can teach you a great deal about the niceties of style. You will then imitate the style of the author by constructing an original sentence that matches the syntax of the author.

You will need to imitate 20 different passages from 20 different authors due on: ______

You will format the project as a PowerPoint, with each passage and imitation on the same slide. You must also include a piece of visual art (not clip art) that mirrors the tone of the original passage on the slide.

Be sure to use parenthetical citations for your passages. Ex: (Walker 1390).

Taken from:

Killgallon, D. Sentence Composing for College. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1997. 17-18.

Corbett, E. P. J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. 424-442.