Starter quiz
- Which of these texts are likely to be fiction?
- a reference book
- a novel ✓
- a diary
- a poem ✓
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- Tick the sentences that contain parenthesis.
- Leeds (a city in West Yorkshire) has a famous football team. ✓
- Leeds is known for its famous football team.
- Plymouth is a city on the south coast of England and has 250,000 residents.
- Plymouth (a city on the south coast of England) has 250,000 residents. ✓
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- Which section of this sentence could be a piece of parenthesis in brackets? 'World War II 1939-1945 resulted in the deaths of millions of people.'
- World War II
- World War II resulted in the deaths of millions of people
- 1939-1945 ✓
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- Which section of this sentence should be a piece of parenthesis in brackets? 'Spain a country in southern Europe produces lots of sausages.'
- Spain produces lots of sausages
- a country in southern Europe ✓
- produces lots of sausages
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- Which version combines these two sentences correctly using parenthesis in brackets? 'K2 is the world's second-highest mountain. It is 8,611m tall.'
- K2 (at 8,611m) is the world's second-highest mountain. ✓
- K2 (is 8,611m tall) and is the world's second-highest mountain.
- K2 (is the world's second-highest mountain) is 8,611m tall.
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- Tick all the pieces of parenthesis that could be placed inside this sentence: 'China has 1.4 billion people.'
- is a country in Asia
- a country in Asia ✓
- which has 1.4 billion people
- the world's most populous country ✓
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Exit quiz
- What is the purpose of adding parenthesis using dashes in a piece of fiction writing?
- to add extra detail that adds to the dramatic effect for the reader ✓
- to add extra factual information
- to describe nouns
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- Which of these sentences uses dashes correctly to add parenthesis?
- The lion – pounced fast as lightning – and grabbed its prey.
- The lion pounced – fast as lightning – and grabbed its prey. ✓
- The lion pounced fast – as lightning – and grabbed its prey.
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- Which words in this sentence should be placed between dashes to show parenthesis? 'An echo loud and deep rang through the darkness.'
- an echo rang through the darkness
- an echo
- loud and deep ✓
- rang through the darkness
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- Which words in this sentence should be placed between dashes to show parenthesis? 'The desert as dry as dust stretched for miles in all directions.'
- as dry as dust ✓
- the desert stretched for miles in all directions
- the desert as dry as dust
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- Which of these sentences creates the most intense effect of fear for the reader?
- A roar – ferocious and close at hand – blasted through the trees. ✓
- A roar blasted through the trees.
- A loud roar blasted through the trees.
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- Which of these pieces of parenthesis could be added to this sentence to create an effect of sadness? 'The toy was left on the shelf for years.'
- neat and tidy
- abandoned, forgotten and dust-covered ✓
- my favourite
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Worksheet
Presentation
Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Parenthesis can be achieved with a range of punctuation.
- Dashes are a punctuation mark used to add extra information in a clause often for dramatic effect.
- Dashes are often written in a pair.
- Dashes can be removed from a clause and it will still make sense.
- Dashes can be used purposefully in fiction texts to cause a dramatic effect for the reader.
Common misconception
Pupils may struggle to identify where to add parenthesis in a sentence.
It is easiest to add parenthesis after nouns or verbs - encourage children to identify these if needed.
Keywords
Parenthesis - additional information that is added to a sentence; if it is removed, the sentence still makes sense
Dashes - a punctuation mark to add extra information in a clause often for dramatic effect
Dramatic effect - using writing to create an emotion or effect for the reader
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