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Linda Peckham explained how to look at a sentence as word clumps, rather than the more formal grammar rules.
The basis is that you have Left-hand clumps and Right-hand clumps.
| Left | Right |
|---|---|
| A subject word | An action word |
| Words or clauses to modify the subject | Words or clauses to modify the action |
So, taking the example from the session:
| Left | Right |
|---|---|
| The cat | slept |
To expand on this, we add adjectives and adverbs:
| Left | Right | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| The | cat | slept | |
| lazy, old | soundly |
And for more expansion, we add clauses:
| Left | Right | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Beneath the old table | |||
| the | cat | slept | |
| lazy, old | soundly | ||
| until dinner time. |
This way of looking at things is useful when you're in the rework phase and you're sculpting a paragraph.
If you're discussing the table, you want to lead with the table clause:
The family table graced the kitchen.
Beneath the table, the lazy old cat slept until dinner time.
If the focus is the time, flip things around:
Everything in our house happened on schedule.
Until dinner time, the lazy old cat slept beneath the table.