Lesson 6

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • “The Far and the Near,” Thomas Wolfe, Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1935

Materials

Tools

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Telling Stories: Wolfe Language Use Handout

• Working with Mentor Sentences Tool

Editable Google Docs

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Working with Mentor Sentences Tool

Activity 1: Discuss

We will learn about, review, and discuss the grammatical concept of modifiers.

Follow along as your teacher reviews the grammatical terms and concepts related to modifiers used in the Wolfe Language Use Handout—and specifically the use of vivid adjectives and adverbs to describe nouns and verbs and to further modify adjectives.

Activity 2: Discuss – Read

We will examine mentor paragraphs from “The Far And The Near” more closely, focusing on the grammatical use of adjectives and adverbs to develop descriptions and create mood.

Step 1

With other students in your discussion team, re-examine your assigned paragraph from the story, as indicated below:

• Paragraph 5: "But no matter what peril or tragedy… "

• Paragraph 6: "The sight of this little house… "

• Paragraph 7: "He felt for them and for the little house… "

• Paragraph 8: "The engineer walked slowly… "

• Paragraph 11: "And instantly, with a sense of bitter loss… "

• Paragraph 12: "And now his own voice sounded… "

Annotate your paragraph, identifying first all of the adjectives used, with the nouns that they modify. Make a list of these adjectives, and make observations about how these words contribute to the mood you have identified in the paragraph.

Step 2

Now, further annotate the paragraph, this time identifying all the adverbs that have been used, with either the verbs or adjectives they modify. Make a list of these adverbs, and make observations about how these words also contribute to the mood you have identified in the paragraph.

For the class, share what you have identified and observed about the use of modifiers to develop mood in your team’s mentor paragraph.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss – Write

We will examine mentor paragraphs from “The Far And The Near” more closely, focusing on the grammatical use of modifying prepositional phrases to develop descriptions and create mood.

Step 1

Be part of a class discussion on the modifying phrase used often by Thomas Wolfe in building his descriptions: the prepositional phrase. Identify and discuss examples from the story, such as:

• "The whole place had an air of tidiness, thrift, and modest comfort."

Note that in this example, the noun air is modified and enlivened by the phrase that follows it (“of tidiness, thrift, and modest comfort”), which includes evocative words such as tidiness, thrift, and modest comfort.

Step 2

Rejoin your discussion team. For your team’s mentor paragraph, identify all prepositional phrases and the nouns they modify. List these noun-modifier phrases and make observations about how these phrases also contribute to the mood you have identified in the paragraph.

Share and compare with the class what your discussion team has determined about how modifiers contribute to the mood of your selected paragraph, and how it compares and contrasts to the moods developed through language use in other key paragraphs in the story.

Step 3

Individually, select two to three mentor sentences from your paragraph that use prepositional phrases to modify other words in a way that helps develop the mood of the paragraph.

Write out these sentences as models you will try to emulate.

Under each mentor sentence, write a sentence that follows a similar pattern and develops a similar mood.

• Model Sentence: "The whole place had an air of tidiness, thrift, and modest comfort."

• New Sentence: "The prom ballroom was animated by a sense of anticipation, excitement, and unexpected companionship."

Note that in this new sentence example, there are two modifying prepositional phrases: the first further modifies the adjective animated ("by a sense") and the second modifies the noun sense ("of anticipation, excitement, and unexpected companionship").