Mervin the Vermin

Learning intention:

I am learning how authors use punctuation to achieve a particular aesthetic so that I can read dialogue with expression.

 

Success criteria:

• I can describe how dialogue is read based on the author’s punctuation choices.
• I can interpret situations based on those punctuation choices.
• I can read dialogue aloud using complex punctuation to inform the expression in my voice.

 

Essential knowledge:               

• More information about style can be found in the English Textual Concepts video Style.

 

Prior to reading Mervin the Vermin (part 2), display the following piece of dialogue on the board:

 

‘I’ve never seen anything like it. It looked a bit like a human, but it was

entirely white. White like snow. It was so bright it hurt my eyes to look at it.’

 

Read aloud, or have a capable student read aloud, the text as it is written. Note that there are no indications in the text as to how the dialogue should be read.

 

Now display the following on the board:

 

‘I’ve never seen any … thing … like it. It looked a bit like a human, but it … it … it was

entirely white! White like snow! It was so bright it hurt my eyes to look at it!’

(Note: The words thing, white and snow are italicised.)

 

Ask students how this text differs from the first example. Have them identify the complex punctuation in the dialogue (not the full stops, commas or capital letters). Students should note the ellipses and the italics. Pose the following questions:

• How do you read a sentence when you see ellipses? (Pause between words)
• How do you read words that are italicised? (Emphasise them)
• What does it tell you when you see the word “it” repeated three times, with ellipses in between? (The character is stammering)
• How do we read these sentences with exclamation marks? (With emphasis)
• Looking at the dialogue as a whole, what do you think the character is feeling? (Scared or awed)

 

Select some students to read the dialogue aloud using the complex punctuation.

 

Display the following pieces of dialogue on the board:

 

1. ‘I c-c-came straight here. I couldn’t get in there to get him out!’

 

2. ‘Thank you, Officer, I will. I’m sorry to have bothered you … of course it is. Thanks for

your understanding. Bye.’

 

3. ‘I was standing back, watching them to make sure they didn’t run away—the girls,

not Frank—and then I remember I kind of got bored.’

 

4. ‘I … I leant against the door so I could see through the glass, and next

thing—the door swung open, BANG, and I fell inside. It all happened so

fast. Melicent, Milicent and Molicent ran after me, into that place, and

then—there must’ve been a gust of wind or something, I don’t know—the

door slammed shut again, with all of us inside!’

 

In pairs, students are to identify the complex punctuation used within each piece of dialogue, describe how the dialogue would be read aloud and explain what the character is doing or how they’re feeling based on the punctuation choices. Ask whether the exclamation marks are used for happiness, anger, surprise or stress in each instance.

Answers:

‘I c-c-came straight here. I couldn’t get in there to get him out!’	Dashes between letters tells us the character is stuttering. The exclamation mark is to show stress.	The character is probably stressed or scared.
‘Thank you, Officer, I will. I’m sorry to have bothered you … of course it is. Thanks for your understanding. Bye.’	Ellipses is to show a pause while someone else is speaking.	The character is maybe embarrassed or relieved because the dialogue suggests a problem is solved. The ellipses show the character is talking on the phone, as the pause is for the officer speaking on the other end of the line.
‘I was standing back, watching them to make sure they didn’t run away—the girls, not Frank—and then I remember I kind of got bored.’	The em-dashes indicate an aside. This means the character stops in their story to give a short explanation midway through a sentence. The reader has to pause for each em-dash.	The character is recounting.
‘I … I leant against the door so I could see through the glass, and next thing—the door swung open, BANG, and I fell inside. It all happened so fast. Melicent, Milicent and Molicent ran after me, into that place, and then—there must’ve been a gust of wind or something, I don’t know—the door slammed shut again, with all of us inside!’	Ellipses suggest character is stammering. Em-dash indicates the sentence is cut off to show the abruptness of the door swinging open. Capitalised word indicates reading loudly. Em-dash indicates an aside. This means the character stops in their story to give a short explanation midway through a sentence. The reader has to pause for each em-dash. Exclamation mark is to portray alarm in the storytelling.	The character is recounting a high-tension situation.

Select individual students to read sections of Mervin the Vermin aloud, using their knowledge of punctuation to give expression to the dialogue.