Writing with Focus Postponing Adjectives Postponing adjectives Review

Writing with Focus Postponing Adjectives Postponing adjectives Review A Review B

Postponing adjectives Adjectives often come before the noun they modify. The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed a resting army stretched out on on the hills. Adjective Noun Look what happens when Stephen Crane places the adjective later in the sentence. The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. In this sentence from The Red Badge of Courage, Crane draws focus to the adjective by postponing it.

Postponing adjectives Adjectival phrases A group of words may also act together as an adjective, forming an adjectival phrase. Later in the same paragraph, Crane postpones an entire participial phrase: A river, amber-tinted in the shadow of its banks, purled at the army's feet…. A group of words may also separate an adjective or adjectival phrase from the noun it modifies. The men there seemed to be in conventional moods, altogether unaware of the impending annihilation.

Postponing adjectives Combining sentences Postponed adjectives can also bring two sentences together. Crane could have expressed these ideas separately: 1. He thought that all the regiment was fleeing. 2. It was pursued by these ominous crashes. Instead, Crane wrote the sentence this way. He thought that all the regiment was fleeing, pursued by these ominous crashes.

Postponing adjectives On Your Own Revise each of the following sentences by placing the adjective or adjectival phrase in boldface after the noun it modifies. Delete any words as necessary. 1. The sizzling platter of fajitas arrived at our table. 2. Two bullet-fast and screaming fighters flew overhead. 3. The train finally arrived. It was delayed three hours. 4. The custodian pushed his broom along the hall. He was whistling a tune from a Broadway musical. 5. E-mails from adoring fans poured in. They numbered more than anyone could have time to answer. [End of Section]

Review A For each of the following sentences, identify which noun the underlined adjective or adjectival phrase modifies. 1. A reef, castlelike, rose from the ocean floor. 2. Dark thunder clouds, dingy and menacing, hung in the sky. 3. Alison said nothing throughout dinner, insulted by being seated with her much younger cousins. 4. Commander Soto saw that a mass of wires had spilled from the shattered panel, twisted together like a nest of snakes.

Review B Write a paragraph in which you describe a dramatic situation. In two sentences, postpone adjectives to draw attention to a particular aspect of your description.

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