Where Expanders tell "where" (location) in the sentence. Look at the following sentence:
Genny's ice cream fell below the bleachers.
Ask yourself, "where" did Genny's ice cream fall? The answer is: "below the bleachers". This phrase expands the sentence and give the location of the fallen ice cream. There are thousand of words that tell "where", below is a short list.
down around through near under over above along
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How Expanders tell "how" (in which way) something happened in a sentence. Look at the following sentence:
John finished the race without any help.
Ask yourself, "how" did John finish the race? The answer is "without any help". This phrase expands the sentence and shows in which way John finished the race. There are thousands of words that tell "how", below is a short list.
like with without all words ending in -ly: slowly, quickly, quietly, etc.
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When Expanders tell "when" (time) in a sentence. Look at the following sentence:
During the rain storm, my dog hid under the couch.
Ask yourself, "when" did my dog hide? The answer is "during the rain storm". This phrase expands the sentence and gives the time that the dog hid. There are thousands of words that tell "when", below is a short list.
when since before after as during while
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Why Expanders tell "why" (reason) something happened in a sentence. Look at the following sentence:
Let's move to another table so we can see better.
Ask yourself, "why" did they move to another table? The answer is "so we can see better". This phrase expands the sentence and gives a reason as to why they moved. There are thousands of words that tell "why", below is a short list.
to so for because
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As the students become more familiar with this process of elaboration: Where, How, When, and Why, it will become easier to construct sentences combinding two or more expanders together in the attempt to provide more detail and allow for a variety of sentence lengths.
Below is a paragraph filled with expanders. Read the paragraph once all the way through, then read it again leaving out the red highlighted words. After, decided which way is more interesting and exciting to read.
Fishing
Down by the river bank, Jared went fishing with his dad. As the sun fell from the sky, the fish became more active. He and his father waited patiently. Each time the fish nibbled, Jared's heart skipped a beat. Will I ever catch one, Jared thought to himself. Finally, Jared's dad yelled, "Look!" From the corner of his eye, Jared saw his bobber bounce up and down. Immediately, he began reeling in his prize, but the fish was strong. So he wouldn't loose his catch, Jared offered the fishing pole to his father for help. With the net ready, Jared waited for his dad to pull the fish from the water. PLOP! went the fish into the net. "Man, he's a big one," dad said in amazment. Jared smiled happily as he realized how awesome his dad was.
Without the details that these expanders offer, this story would have sounded dull and flat. Hopefully you were able to see just how these expanders help to elaborate within a story. Go ahead, give it a try... writing with expanders is easy!
**This content was taken from the writing program, "Framing Your Thoughts", a part of the "Project Read" curriculum by Victoria Green.
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As the students become more familiar with this process of elaboration: Where, How, When, and Why, it will become easier to construct sentences combinding two or more expanders together in the attempt to provide more detail and allow for a variety of sentence lengths.
Below is a paragraph filled with expanders. Read the paragraph once all the way through, then read it again leaving out the red highlighted words. After, decided which way is more interesting and exciting to read.
Fishing
Down by the river bank, Jared went fishing with his dad. As the sun fell from the sky, the fish became more active. He and his father waited patiently. Each time the fish nibbled, Jared's heart skipped a beat. Will I ever catch one, Jared thought to himself. Finally, Jared's dad yelled, "Look!" From the corner of his eye, Jared saw his bobber bounce up and down. Immediately, he began reeling in his prize, but the fish was strong. So he wouldn't loose his catch, Jared offered the fishing pole to his father for help. With the net ready, Jared waited for his dad to pull the fish from the water. PLOP! went the fish into the net. "Man, he's a big one," dad said in amazment. Jared smiled happily as he realized how awesome his dad was.
Without the details that these expanders offer, this story would have sounded dull and flat. Hopefully you were able to see just how these expanders help to elaborate within a story. Go ahead, give it a try... writing with expanders is easy!
**This content was taken from the writing program, "Framing Your Thoughts", a part of the "Project Read" curriculum by Victoria Green.
