Section outline

  • FOCUS / ARONGA

    FOCUS / ARONGA learning intentions:

    • We are FOCUSING To develop a sense of audience and to engage the reader’s attention
    • We are FOCUSING To develop structure, using paragraphs and sequencing events, details and ideas within paragraphs;
    • We are DEVELOPING the skills to change the verb within a sentence based on the tense, use the historical present tense, use verbs for analytical writing, nominalise verbs by turning them to nouns and use modal verbs in analytical writing.


    Glossary

    Verb  - the most important word in a sentence which expresses an action, event or state of being along with when such events have taken place

    Tense - the location of a situation in time, an indication of when the situation takes place

    Conjugate - the modification of a verb from its most basic form

    Subject - the SUBJECT of the SENTENCE is the person or thing that the information is about

    Object -  the OBJECT is the person or thing that is affected by the SUBJECT

    Simple past tense - is formed for most regular verbs by adding ‘d’ or ‘ed’ to the root verb 

    Perfect past tense - is formed by combining the simple past tense form of the verb ‘to have’ with the past tense form of the root verb

    Simple present tense - is formed through the use of the root verb alone unless referring to the third person singular noun (he, she, it) in which case the suffix ‘s’ or ‘es’ is added

    Historical present tense - is used when talking about history, literary or media texts in the present tense

    Nominalisation - turning a verb into a noun

    Modal verbs - a verb that combines with another verb to indicate mood or tense


    The historical present tense

    LO: Can I use the historical present tense for analytical writing?

    Q: Why are book blurbs written in the historical present tense?

    Season of Secrets by Sally Nicholls

    On a wild and stormy night Molly runs away from her grandparents’ house. Her dad has sent her to live there until he Sorts Things Out at home. In the howling darkness, Molly sees a desperate figure running for his life from a terrifying midnight hunt. He has come to help her. But why? And who is he?




    The historical present tense makes the past more real. Where does Charles Dickens use it here? What’s clever about it?

    If the funeral had been yesterday, I could not recollect it better. The very air of the best parlour, when I went in at the door, the bright condition of the fire, the shining of the wine in the decanters, the patterns of the glasses and plates, the faint sweet smell of cake, the odour of Miss Murdstone’s dress, and our black clothes. Mr. Chillip is in the room, and comes to speak to me.


    'And how is Master David?' he says, kindly.


    I cannot tell him very well. I give him my hand, which he holds in his.


    • In pairs, identify where Charles Dickens uses the present tense (Slide 3) and discuss the effect it has. Feedback. 

    • Discuss the rules of the historic present tense. Try using it by writing sentences about a text they know.



    We use the historical present tense when writing about a text.  Why do you think this is?

    • When  you write about a text, you write about it in the present:

    • “In this scene, Juliet is a calm and level-headed girl.”


    • At this moment, you also know what has happened in the past:


    • “In this scene Juliet is a calm and level-headed girl. Paris has shown an interest in marrying her, but she will not be rushed.”


    • You also know what happens in the future! 


    “Compared to how she is portrayed just hours later, in this scene Juliet is a calm and level-headed girl. Paris has shown an interest in marrying her, but she will not be rushed.”


    Here’s the beginning and the ending of a story by Ernest Hemingway called ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. (Use slides in presentation 'The Old Man and the Sea' to annotate.

    “He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boy’s parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky.”


    “Up the road, in his shack, the old man was sleeping again. He was still sleeping on his face and the boy was sitting by him watching him. The old man was dreaming about the lions.”


    • In pairs, identify where Charles Dickens uses the present tense (Slide 3) and discuss the effect it has. Feedback. 

    • Discuss the rules of the historic present tense. Try using it by writing sentences about a text they know.


    Answer these questions using your knowledge of the opening of the story.  Use full sentences and the present tense to discuss the text above. When might you need to use the past tense? 

    1. The boy is with the old man at the end of the story. Why do you think this is important?
    2. How do you think the old man is feeling? Why?
    3. Has the old man’s luck changed since the beginning of the novel? If so, why do you think this is?

    • Read another pair’s answers. Have they used the historical present correctly?