HyphensPrepositional Phrases Phrasal Verbs Vivid DescriptionsVivid VerbsCharacterizationSimileAdverb ClauseParticipial Phraseits/it’sPersonificationCompound PredicateCompound-ComplexAdverb PhraseHyperbolePast Progressive

GerundAdjective PhraseIdiomAdjective ClauseSimileMetaphorPast PerfectBeginning sentences Present participleWord ChoiceNoun ClauseCompound SentenceParallel StructurePredicate Nominativedialogue

than/thenme/I

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Edwards, Kim. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, 3.

A few flakes first, in the dull grey late afternoon sky, and then wind-driven swirls and eddies around the edges of their wide front porch.

hyphen, prepositional phrase, vivid description

Sewell, Anna. Black Beauty, 3.

There were six young colts in the meadow besides me; they were older than I was; some were nearly as large as grown-up horses.

hyphen, semicolon,

Singer, Isaac Bashevis. The Spinoza of Market Street.

Dr. Fischelson was a short, hunched man with a grayish beard, and was quite bald except for a few wisps of hair remaining at the nape of his neck. His nose was as crooked as a beak, and his eyes were large, dark, and fluttering like those of some huge bird.

characterization, simile

Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

On this particular day, however, since it was a Saturday morning and was so sunny, he was not so perfectly groomed.

transition, prepositional phrase, compound predicate, complex sentence

Patterson, James. Maximum Ride.111

After the fireball from Big Boy disintegrated, the cabin burned brightly, its old, rotted wood consumed as instantly as kindling. Flames reached for the sky, licking at the green trees nearby, snaking along the ground as brittle brown pine needles caught fire.

Prepositional phrase, vivid description, vivid verbs, Adverb Clause, Participial Phrase, its/it’s

Malmar, McKnight. “The Storm.”

She inserted her key in the lock and turned the knob. The March wind snatched the door out of her hand and slammed it against the wall. It took strength to close it against the pressure of the gale, and she had no sooner closed it than the rain came in a pounding downpour, beating noisily against the windows as if trying to follow her in.

Personification, Compound Predicate, Participial Phrase, Compound Sentence, infinitive

Lawrence, D.H. “The Rocking-Horse Winner.”

She inserted her key in the lock and turned the knob. The March wind snatched the door out of her hand and slammed it against the wall. It took strength to close it against the pressure of the gale, and she had no sooner closed it than the rain came in a pounding downpour, beating noisily against the windows as if trying to follow her in.

Personification, Compound Predicate, Participial Phrase

Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. 98.

As I began to play, the boy disappeared, the color ran out of the room, and I saw only my white pieces and his black ones waiting on the other side.

Parallel structure, Compound-Complex Sentence, Participial Phrase, Possessive Pronoun

Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. 98.

A light wind began blowing past my ears. It whispered secrets only I could hear.

“Blow from the South,” it murmured. “The wind leaves no trail.”

Personification, Dialogue, Pronouns

Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. 244.

My mother did not say anything. She remained on the ground, her back as rounded as the turtle in the pond. She was crying with her mouth closed. And I began to cry in the same way, swallowing those bitter tears.

Simile, infinitive, prepositional phrase, participial phrase

Hemingway, Ernest. A Farwell to Arms. 61.

The drops fell very slowly, as they fall from an icicle after the sun has gone.

Simile,

Felton, Harold W. “Pecos Bill and the Mustang.”

He could shoot a bumblebee in the eye at sixty paces, and he was a man who was not afraid to shake hands with lightning.

Hyperbole, Prepositional Phrase, Infinitive Phrase, Compound Sentence, Predicate Nominative, Adverb Phrase

Felton, Harold W. “Pecos Bill and the Mustang.”

There was pin wheeling, high diving, sun fishing, high flying, and all other tricks of a bucking horse.

Gerund, parallel structure, adjective phrase, prepositional phrase

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “Paul Revere’s Ride.”

Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street,

Wanders and watches with eager ears,Till in the silence around him he hearsThe muster of men at the barrack door,

Transitions, assonance, alliteration

Wright, Richard. “The Rights to the Streets of Memphis.”

Hunger had always been more or less at my elbow when I played, but now I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at me gauntly.

Compound-Complex Sentence, metaphor, personification

King, Coretta Scott. “Montgomery Boycott.”

Rosa Parks was not in a revolutionary frame of mind. She had not planned to do what she did. Her cup had run over.

Simple Sentences, infinitive, idiom

Goodman, Ellen. “The Suspected Shopper.”

It is Saturday, Shopping Saturday, as it’s called by the merchants who spread their wares like plush welcome mats across the pages of my newspaper.

capitalization, adjective clause, simile, prepositional phrase

Spinelli, Jerry. Crash, 83.

On the football field I don’t run around people, I run through them. Life is football. For a couple minutes there, I had forgotten.

Beginning Sentences, Metaphor, Past Perfect

Yolen, Jane. Sword of the Rightful King, 40.

Kay was a thin, still boyish-looking young man who tried to appear older by sporting a flowing moustache.

Characterization, hyphen, present participle, adjective clause

Yolen, Jane. Sword of the Rightful King, 326.

Crestfallen, the boy stood up and looked at his boots as if he did not know where else to look or how to make his feet carry him away.

Characterization, Sentence Beginnings, infinitive phrase, phrasal verb,

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games, 182.

Gale always says I remind him of a squirrel the way I scurry up even the slenderest limbs. Part of it’s my weight, but part of it’s practice.

Characterization, Noun Clause, Compound Sentence, Word Choice

Zusak, Marcus. The Book Thief, 13.

Apart from everything else, the book thief wanted desperately to go back to the basement, to write, or to read through her story one last time.

Sentence Beginning, infinitive phrase, parallel structure

Zusak, Marcus. The Book Thief, 48.

Insane or not, Rudy was always destined to be Liesel’s best friend. A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.

Sentence Beginning, noun phrase, predicate nominative,

Zusak, Marcus. The Book Thief, 209.

Outside, a mountain of cold November air was waiting at the front door each time Liesel left the house.

Drizzle came down in spades.Dead leaves were slumped on the road.

Sentence Beginning, personification, word choice, prepositional phrase

Armstrong, William H. Sounder, 21.

“You know who I am,” said the first man as he unbuttoned his heavy brown coat and pulled it back to show a shiny metal star pinned to his vest.

Sentence Beginning, dialogue, characterization, infinitive phrase, prepositional phrase

Armstrong, William H. Sounder, 106.

Suddenly the voice of a great coon hound broke the sultry August deadness. The dog dashed along the road, leaving three-pointed clouds of red dust to settle back to earth behind him.

transitions, characterization, word choice, present participle, infinitive phrase, prepositional phrase

Avi. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, 143.

Up I went. The rain hissed. Thunder boomed. Lightening cracked. Human cries came too, shouts that rose up through the maelstrom, words that I couldn’t catch.

simple sentences, word choice, adjective clause

Krauss, Nicole. The History of Love, 3.

I often wonder who will be the last person to see me alive. If I had to bet, I’d bet on the delivery boy from the Chinese take-out. I order in four nights out of seven.

noun clause, adverb clause, phrasal verb, characterization

Krauss, Nicole. The History of Love, 190.

Slowly, the truth dawned on Rosa: something terrible had happened. It was grotesque, really; it made her sick to her stomach just to think of it. And she was partially guilty.

Sentence beginnings, colon, semicolon, compound sentence

Welty, Eudora. The Optimist’s Daughter, 51.

The McKelva house was streaming light from every window, upstairs and down. As Tish passed the row of parked cars and turned up the driveway, Laurel saw the daffodils were in bloom, long streamers of them reaching down the yard, hundreds of small white trumpets.

word choice, complex sentence, metaphor

Welty, Eudora. The Optimist’s Daughter.

In a kind, faraway tenor, he began to hum as they went along. He seemed to have put something behind him tonight. He was recovering his good spirits already.

infinitive phrase, complex sentence, predicate nominative, past progressive

De Rosnay, Tatiana . Sarah’s Key,166.

I had never seen Edouard drive so fast. Drivers brandished furious fists. Pedestrians scooted aside with terror. We did not say a word as we hurtled along, but our silence was a warm, excited one.

word choice, compound-complex

Burns, Olive Ann . Cold Sassy Tree, 108.

Lying there in the dark, thinking about Aunt Loma, I got really mad. She could of at least pretended to be glad I’d escaped from the jaws of death on that trestle.

Sentence beginning, infinitive phrase, prepositional phrase, metaphor

Burns, Olive Ann . Cold Sassy Tree, 89.

“Shet up, Cretia,” whispered Miss Looly. “Hit ain’t for us to ast sech questions. Hit were the Lord’s will for the boy to live. All we got to do is be thankful.”

dialogue, characterization, word choice

Hiaasen, Carl . Hoot, 87.

The man’s job title was Vice-President for Corporate Relations, and his name was Chuck Muckle, which Curly thought would be more suitable for a circus clown.

characterization, relative clause, compound-complex

Aeschylus . Prometheus Bound.

Prometheus: Mad I may be – if it is madness to loathe one’s enemies.

dialogue, characterization, infinitive, dependent clause, apostrophe

DiCamillo, Kate . The Tale of Despereaux, 146.

“And Mig, still hearing nothing, knocked yet again.”

present participle, adjective phrase

DiCamillo, Kate . The Tale of Despereaux, 76.

“A mouse with red thread,” boomed the voice, “Oh, yes, Gregory knows the way of mice and rats. Gregory knows. And Gregory has his own thread, marking him. See here, mouse.”

word choice, dialogue, first person, characterization

Conroy, Pat . The Prince of Tides, 358.

After ten hours of hard driving and two stops for gas, the city of Miami rose out of the sea as we drove past the sign for the Hialeah racetrack.

commas, adjective phrase, personification, adjective clause, subordinating conjunctions

Conroy, Pat . The Prince of Tides, 578.

I stood on the verandah of the Newbury mansion watching the moonlight ignite the marsh like some dream of altered gold.

simile, word choice, prepositional phrase, participial phrase, adjective phrase

Dessen, Sarah . Lock and Key, 25.

Downstairs in the foyer, I got my first lucky break in days: the alarm wasn’t set. Thank God.

characterization, colon, comma,

Dessen, Sarah . Lock and Key, 99.

At first, it’s just a rumbling, punctuated by the occasional shout: the kind of thing that you’re aware of, distantly, and yet can still manage to ignore.

word choice, infinitive, relative clause, prepositional phrase

Burns, Olive Ann . Cold Sassy Tree, 89.

“Shet up, Cretia,” whispered Miss Looly. “Hit ain’t for us to ast sech questions. Hit were the Lord’s will for the boy to live. All we got to do is be thankful.”

dialogue, characterization, word choice

Anderson, Laurie Halse. The Silver Chair, 14.

“It must be a dream, it must, it must,” said Jill to herself. “I’ll wake up in a moment.” But it wasn’t, and she didn’t.

dialogue, characterization, compound sentence.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Forge, 109.

“Snow began to fall from mushroom-colored clouds as I made yet another dreary trip to the woodlot.”

hyphens, adverb clause, complex sentence, adjective phrase, prepositional phrase