Author’s Craft and Grammar: The Impact of Syntax in “The Tell-Tale Heart”

Have you ever wondered how to help students see the correlation between grammar and reading? This resource connects the writer's use of particular grammatical structures to impact reader understanding, build tension, and enhance tone and mood. The exercise builds from a simple review of prepositional phrases to understanding the importance of their use in enhancing both meaning and tone. Then students examine both independent and dependent clauses and consider why the author would use sentences with multiple clauses. Finally, students apply their understanding of both prepositional phrases and independent/dependent clauses to recognize the intentional use of various sentence structures to build suspense or focus the reader on particular details. While the resource uses the terms loose/cumulative and period sentences, the concepts themselves are explained simply. The labels are not important--the impact of the sentence structure is!

This resources includes student notes, guided practice, group or partner Google activity analysis, and a complete Teacher's Guide.