Footnote Marion Levine
Our hallway was empty. [footnote]Levine uses short sentences often. This one quickly sets the scene and mood that comes with an empty hall in a usually busy household.[/footnote] I followed it to the spiral staircase and walked down, remembering the times Mother and I had slid down the banister.
We didn't do it when people were around. "We have to be dignified," she would whisper then, stepping down the stairs in an especially stately way.And I would follow, mimicking her and fighting my natural clumsiness, pleased to be part of her game. [footnote]Note that Levine uses participial phrases in this paragraph to relate present action to the past as well as to pair actions to words and feelings. The last sentence of this paragraph uses more than one such phrase to demonstrate how Ella is trying to be like her mother. [/footnote] …show more content…
[footnote]Levine begins some of her sentences here with conjunctions, contrasting the way Ella and her mother behaved with company to what was usual for them. It shows how certain ideas or circumstances are related. [/footnote]And run back up for another ride, and a third, and a fourth.[footnote] The second sentence here is a fragment that emphasizes that their careless fun was repetitive and continuous.[/footnote]
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I pulled our heavy front door open and slipped out into bright sunshine.[footnote]This sentence begins with a prepositional phrase that bring the reader from the past back into the present.[/footnote]
It was a long walk to the old castle, but I wanted to make a wish, and I wanted to make it in the place where it would have the best chance of being granted.[footnote]Here, Levine uses two conjunctions and dependent clauses in the sentence to explain what Ella is doing and why. Putting the independent clause first emphasizes the effort that Ella is willing to go to in order to make her wish.
We didn't do it when people were around. "We have to be dignified," she would whisper then, stepping down the stairs in an especially stately way.And I would follow, mimicking her and fighting my natural clumsiness, pleased to be part of her game. [footnote]Note that Levine uses participial phrases in this paragraph to relate present action to the past as well as to pair actions to words and feelings. The last sentence of this paragraph uses more than one such phrase to demonstrate how Ella is trying to be like her mother. [/footnote] …show more content…
[footnote]Levine begins some of her sentences here with conjunctions, contrasting the way Ella and her mother behaved with company to what was usual for them. It shows how certain ideas or circumstances are related. [/footnote]And run back up for another ride, and a third, and a fourth.[footnote] The second sentence here is a fragment that emphasizes that their careless fun was repetitive and continuous.[/footnote]
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I pulled our heavy front door open and slipped out into bright sunshine.[footnote]This sentence begins with a prepositional phrase that bring the reader from the past back into the present.[/footnote]
It was a long walk to the old castle, but I wanted to make a wish, and I wanted to make it in the place where it would have the best chance of being granted.[footnote]Here, Levine uses two conjunctions and dependent clauses in the sentence to explain what Ella is doing and why. Putting the independent clause first emphasizes the effort that Ella is willing to go to in order to make her wish.