Improving SPaG and vocabulary choices

When crafting any piece of imaginative writing it is a good idea to use some sensory language as this helps to bring the text to life for your reader and allow them to experience it in 3D. However, simply writing directly and very obviously about details that appeal to the senses is not only ineffective but it is also clumsy and unsophisticated. The impact of a very clumsy, obvious and basic sensory description such as this: 'When I walked into the room I could smell the delicious aromas of the meal and see the lovely colours of the table setting' Can be improved enormously if we use more indirect sensory description such as: 'Delicious savory aromas welcomed me into the room as I arrived whilst the kaleidoscope place settings called invitingly, drawing me ever closer to the enormous spread.' This version appeals to exactly the same two senses, smell and sight, but has a much greater impact on the reader because the imagery is much more vivid. This is because the senses are appealed to without using the obvious phrases ' I could smell . . .' or 'I could see . . ' and through the figurative devices of personification and metaphor. Look at each sentence below which appeals to one or more of the senses indirectly and match them to the correct sense.

Look at this extract from a response to an imaginative writing task which asked candidates to 'Write about a time when you or someone you know, had to work hard on something'. As I stood on stage, in front of the seemingly endless audience I felt my hands shaking slightly. I took a deep breath and allowed the piece to take over me. I was intoxicated by the sound, and soon the audience were as well. The soft echo of my notes gently stroked the audience's ears and I could see tears prickling their eyes. I played each note sounding stronger, my breath lasting longer and my body in complete control of what I was playing. This response was written using the images opposite as inspiration. Look at the images and then Identify the ways in which the candidate who wrote the response used the images as inspiration (Their response scored 34 out of a possible 40!)

When constructing compound and complex sentences it is important that you think about the order in which you use the clauses as this will affect the way in which your reader interprets the information. Through carefully considered use of clauses you can convey a wide range of implied meaning to your reader. Here is a short extract from a piece of imaginative writing about nurses tending to wounded soldiers. This is the original order of the clauses. As the light began to fade, the nurses started their evening rounds, going methodically from one bed to the next, tending each man with the sort of professional efficiency which is deigned to protect them from teh dangers of emotional connection with their patients, allowing them to see the injuries but not the person. Now look at the alternative versions of this extract in which the same information is conveyed but the order of the clauses have been changes to convey subtly different connotations each time. See if you can match each extract to the correct explanation of the connoted meaning and effect of moving the clauses by dragging the explanations to the extracts.

Which 3 punctuation marks can you use to end a sentence?

If you write a narrative in response to the imaginative writing task it is very likely that you will want to include some dialogue between your characters. You should aim to keep any passages of dialogue short and don't include too much dialogue as it is not continuous prose. If you do use dialogue it is important that you present and punctuate it correctly. Please look at the dialogue rules poster opposite and then choose the correct options to present and punctuate the short passage of dialogue provided. [blank_start]"[blank_end] Wake up! Wake up[blank_start].[blank_end]" yelled my younger brother as he burst into my bedroom. "What time is it [blank_start]?[blank_end]" "Holiday time!" [blank_start]his[blank_end] enthusiasm was a rude awakening but on seeing his beaming face I simply couldn't resit any more and left the comfort of my warm, cosy bed for a long day of babysitting.

Many of the errors we see in candidates writing in exams come from the fact that we live in an age when the distinctions between everyday, spoken colloquial English and formal, Standard English usage have become increasingly blurred. This means that many people simply write in the same way that they speak. Consequently their writing is full of errors that lose marks in exams because they are, in effect, using colloquial English when they should be using Standard English. One very common error is the use of 'of' after the modal verbs 'would, could & should' instead of the 'have' Please match the correct and incorrect versions of each of the sentences below.

In any piece of writing it is important that your subject and your verb agree. This means that if you have a singular subject you use the singular form of the verb, if you are writing in the past tense then your verb endings must also be past tense. Lack of agreement is another very common error that is seen in candidates' writing and is particularly common in the writing of learners for whom English is an additional language. It is an error which you must try to avoid and, if English sis not your first language, make sure you look for non-agreement of subject-verb & tenses when you check & proofread your responses at the end of the exam. For each of the sentences below, please choose the correct form of the verb. 1: I got into the car and [blank_start]turned[blank_end] the key in the ignition. 2: As the day of the party [blank_start]arrived[blank_end] the [blank_start]excitement[blank_end] grew. 3: We will [blank_start]visit[blank_end] granny later today. 4. I can hear the teacher [blank_start]telling[blank_end] the children to [blank_start]sit[blank_end] down.

Many of the spelling errors made by candidates in their written work comes from with choosing the incorrect spelling of homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings) using the a word in the wrong context because that word has more than one meaning (homonyms & homographs). In each of the sentences below an error has been made with one word. See if you can spot it and then type in the correct versions of each wrong word into the box provided