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The Writers' Sentence, Editing for Grammar and Style

by *Alice Deakins and Julia Rhodes

Coming from an inner city school, I had no clue that once you know

the pieces of the sentence,the power of writing belongs to you.

In just one semester, my whole writing career was transformed."

--student, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ

" Your lessons and everything you taught me completely transformed me

as a writer and as a student. Thank you for teaching me the secrets of beautiful writing.

--student, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

*The Tapestry Grammar: A Reference for Learners of English, Alice H Deakins, Kate Parry, Rober R. Viscount   (used copies available at Amazon)

* "The answer key," BH

See The Tapestry Grammar on VERBALS here.

From Alice: 

This is the best and simplest five-paragraph essay I know. I use it toward the end of the Basic Writing class--after doing narrative, character, and comparison essays--each of which has structural properties whech are not exactly five paragraph essays. But when I do argumentative essays at the end of the semester, I use several essays that help them understand what the frame behind the argumentative essay is. The students love it. And I think it helps them prepare for the exit exam. --AD

Deakins-Essay Model.pdf

A poem that I use to highlight the power of the -ing form of the verb. Not much happens but it seems to be a lively poem. I think that -ing is the active agent in this poem. Fun.--AD

Deakins-Corner.pdf

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