Painting Pictures with Words: Basic Brush Strokes of Image Grammar

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Painting Pictures with WordsBasic Brush Strokes
of Image Grammar
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A Comparison Whats the diff?
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A Comparison

• The amateur writes Bill was nervous.
• The pro writes Bill sat in a dentists waiting
  room, peeling the skin at the edge of his thumb,
  until the raw red flesh began to show. Biting the
  torn cuticle, he ripped it away, and sucked at
  the warm sweetness of his own blood.
• (Robert Newton Peck as quoted in Noden, 1998,
  Image Grammar, p. 157)

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(No Transcript)
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Absolute Brush Stroke

• Noun ing verb
• Function adds to the action
• Core The car went into the parking lot.
• Engine smoking, gears grinding,
• the car went into the parking lot.

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Paint with ABSOLUTE Brush Stroke
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Appositive Brush Stroke

• A noun that adds a second image to a preceding
  noun, restate the noun
• Function expands detail in the readers
  imagination
• Core The car went into the parking lot.
• The car, a 1936 Ford, went into the parking lot.

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Paint with APPOSITIVE Brush Stroke
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Participle Brush Stroke

• ing verb or phrase
• Function evokes action, makes the reader feel a
  part of the experience
• Core The car went into the parking lot.
• Sliding on the loose gravel, the car went into
  the parking lot.

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Paint with PARTICIPLE Brush Stroke
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Adjectives-Out-of-Order Brush Stroke

• Shift two adjectives after the noun
• Function intensifies an image, gives it rhythm
• Core The car went into the parking lot.
• The old car, rusty and dented, went into the
  parking lot.
• (Note avoid 3 adjectives in a row. Place 1
  before the noun and two after)

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Paint with ADJECTIVES-OUT-OF-ORDERBrush Stroke
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Action Verbs Brush Stroke

• Verbs that do action
• Function effective image tools, energize images
• Core The car went into the parking lot.
• The car chugged into the parking lot.

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Paint with ACTION VERBS Brush Stroke
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Rainy Summer Sky Rolling, draping, folding Clouds
hang like icing borders on a cake glazed smooth
with gray Edges congealing, a summer front,
moist and cool, slides over my street. Dripping,
sighing, sagging Air, heavy and suspended, rain
settles in for the day.
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Rainy Summer Sky Rolling, draping, folding Clouds
hang like icing borders on a cake glazed smooth
with gray Edges congealing, a summer front,
moist and cool, slides over my street. Dripping,
sighing, sagging Air, heavy and suspended, rain
settles in for the day.
Action Verb
Participles
Absolute
Adjectives
Appositive
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You try!

• Write a paragraph on a topic of your choice using
  these brusthrokes.