The True Crime Book of Writing

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The true crime book of writing Written by: Avril Cayetano

Table of contents Topic

Page

Introduction ····························································· 3 About the author ·····················································4 Punctuation & Capitalization ······················· 5 Parts of Speech ······················································· 7 Phrases & Clauses ·················································· 10 Essays ··········································································· 12

INtroduction This book of writing was made to increase your writing abilities. It will help you become a better and stronger writer by breaking down the different parts of proper grammar.

Grammar is not always easy, it can be easy to make mistakes, this book serves as a guide to help make it a lot easier. It goes over Punctuation & Capitalization, Parts of Speech, Phrases & Clauses, Sentences, Paragraphs, and Essays. In order to help keep this book interesting i included examples of true crime cases, more specifically, different killers who committed the crimes.

About the author My name is Avril Cayetano, I am 16 years old. I have a younger sister and I live with my parents who both immigrated from Oaxaca Mexico. I first learned to write with the help of my mom, She and I would sit at the dinner table and I would trace and practice as long as possible. From then my knowledge only grew with the help of my teachers. I choose to write this book on true crime because I love listening to podcasts and watching videos on youtube. Although they can be tragic, I love learning about these cases and I hope you enjoy this book!

SECTION 1 - Punctuation 1. . is for abbreviations and ending a sentence.

Example: Ted Bundy is believed to have killed over 100 people.

2. , means that whatever is in front and behind of the comma can switch places.

Example: The most infamous serial killers are Samuel Little, Denis radar, Ted Bundy, Yang Xinhai, etc.

3. – EM Dash Example: By 1975 samuel little had been arrested no fewer that 26 times across 11 different states–with crimes ranging from fraud to violent attacks 4. - EN Dash Example:Yang Xinhai was active in the years of 1999-2003 5. Colon. Indicates that whatever comes after it is related to the word that came before it. Ways to use a colon: a list, definition, answer.

Example: Most serial killers grew up in an unstable household that contains: rape, abuse, violence, incest, etc.

6. ; Semicolon Connects two independent clauses.

Example: The zodiac killer is believed to have commited 37 murders; However, this mystery remains unsolved to this day.

7. ? Ends a question (ends an interrogative sentence) Example: Will the zodiac killer ever be identified?

8. ! Ends an Exclamatory sentence. Emphasizes.

Example: Aileen Carol wuornos’s last words were, “Yes, I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the Rock, and I'll be back!”

9. ‘ apostrophe or the quote mark (used only within quotation marks) Used for contractions.

Possession Example: “Chillingly, Bundy eventually said: ‘I'd like to give my love to my family and friends.’ ” 10. “ ” quotation marks.

Example: “Dahmer later admitted to eating the thighs, hearts and organs of many of his victims.”

11. … represent what is left unsaid.

Example: Taking apart his victims was not the only thing jeffery dahmer did...

12. [ ] Brackets used to add something into the sentence.

Example: The most prolific modern serial killer is arguably Dr. Harold Shipman.[with 218 probable murders and possibly as many as 250] 13. ( ) Parenthesis parenthetical info, Unnecessary information.

Example: Ted Bundy (at the age of 27) committed several murders all throughout the country, all while attending law school.

14. / Back Slash. And/Or. Used for a decision.

Example: who would you consider to be the worst killer, Ted Bundy/Jeffery Dahmer

Capitalization 1. Please list the rules of capitalization here: - Used to Capitalize the First Word of a Sentence The zodiac killer has never been identified.

- Capitalize Names and Other Proper Nouns There are many known murderers across the U.S the most popular and Commonly heard of is Ted Bundy.

- Capitalize Days, Months, and Holidays Jeffrey Dahmer was killed by a fellow inmate on November 28, 1994 - Capitalize Most Words in Titles A book I am interested in reading is “The Night Stalker” - Capitalize States, Cities, Countries, Nationalities, and Languages The state with the most serial killers is California.

- Capitalize Time Periods and Events Ted Bundy was actively killing on February 1, 1974 – February 9, 1978

PARTS OF SPEECH NOUNS · Common Nouns: name a class of people, places, things, or ideas.

EX: Rope, forest, seattle, canada, Washington · Proper Nouns: give the name or title of a particular person, place, thing, or idea (must be capitalized).

EX: Ted Bundy, The Zodiac Killer, Jeffery Dahmer, Aileen Wurnos, Jack the RIpper. · Compound Nouns: consist of words used together to form a single noun.

EX: hallway, cheeseburger, deathrow. · Concrete Nouns: refer to material things, to people, or to places.

EX: car, basement, forest. · Abstract Nouns: name ideas, qualities, concepts, emotions, or attitudes.

EX: charm, intelligence, anger.

Functions (How nouns are used): Write one sentence for each function. · Subject (comes before the verb) Ted Bundy lured his victims with his charm and looks. · Direct Object (comes after the verb and answers what or whom) Before killing someone, serial killers will often torcher victims. · Indirect Object (answers to who or to whom) After requesting a full course meal for his final supper, Lawrence Russell Brewer did not eat a single bite.

PRONOUNS Reflexive: (personal pronouns plus the suffix –self or –selves) Used only: when the action verb is directed toward the subject of the construction: He hid himself in plain sight. to intensify a point: The policeman himself delivered the speech.

VERBS Voice: Voice is the form of the verb that indicates how it relates or interacts with the action.

The English language has two voices: ACTIVE and PASSIVE. Active: The victim's family received a phone call they never thought they would hear. (the victim's family is the subject) Passive: The phone rang leaving the victim's family with utter despair. (the victims family is the subject but treated as the object) Verbals: (VERB FORMS NOT USED AS VERBS) Gerund: word ending in “ing” used as a noun. · Killing is not the only way murderers find satisfaction.

Participle: word ending in “ing” or “ed” used as an adjective · When walking alone, beware of your surroundings, we don't know who or what may be lurking in the dark.

Infinitive: verb preceded by the word “to” (to go, to jump) used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs He like to stalk his victims first.

ADJECTIVES Adjectives modify, describe, limit, and identify nouns and pronouns. · Kinds: Demonstrative, Common, Proper (Give one example of each using words related to your subject) ADVERBS Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. · Endings ( Create one example related to your subject for each) –ly, -wards, -wise · Conversions (Show how three words related to your subject can become adverbs – Example: “Educational” becomes “Educationally”)

Types: Manner, Frequency, Degree, Place, Time Example Types: (Create one example each related to your subject) Manner – Ms. Ramos answered the parent’s phone call quickly.

(How did she answer?)

Time – Mr. Morgan will leave for a science tournament immediately.

(When will he leave?)

Place – Mr. Lee was willingly here earlier today working with students.

(Where was he?)

Degree – Ms. Saldivar’s exceptionally good work cannot be over-recognized.

(How good is she?)

Frequency – Ms. Villaneda is consistently pleasant to students and staff.

(How often is she pleasant?)

INTERJECTIONS absolutely, achoo, ack, ahh, aha, ahem, ahoy, agreed, alas, alright, alrighty, alack, amen, anytime, argh, anyhoo, anyhow, as if, attaboy, attagirl, aww, awful, bam, bah, humbug, behold, bingo, blah, bless, you, boo, bravo, cheers, crud, darn, dang, doh, drat, duh, eek, eh, gee, jeepers, gee, whiz, golly, goodness, goodness gracious, gosh, ha, hallelujah, hey, hi, hmmm, huh, indeed, jeez, my gosh, no, now, nah, oops, ouch, phew, please, rats, shoot, shucks, there, tut, uggh, waa, what, woah, woops, wow, yay, yes, yikes

SECTION 3 PHRASES and CLAUSES Phrases – groups of words that function as a part of speech.

Noun Phrase: A group of words consisting of nouns or pronouns and their modifiers that function as a noun.

Everyone wanted justice for all the lives that Ted Bundy took.

Verb Phrase: A group of words consisting of verbs working together and that function as a verb.

The police teams knew they would be working hard trying to catch the killer.

Prepositional Phrase: A group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun, and functions as an adjective or an adverb.

Her body was dragged deep into the forest.

Appositive Phrase: A group of words that include all the words that modify an appositive and function as an adjective - IT MUST BE SURROUNDED BY COMMAS. The zodiac killer, active from the year 1968-1969, has now been possibly identified.

Verbal Phrases: A group of words that begin with a verbal and ends with a noun. ● Gerund Phrase verb ending in -ing that functions as a noun.

Running down the street, she avoided the man in the beige car. ● Participial Phrase word ending in -ing (present participle) or -ed (past participle) that functions as an adjective.

As she walked to her car she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being followed. initiative Phrase verb preceded by the word “to” (to read, to study, to write) that function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.

He watched her for days, each day getting closer to strike.

SECTION 3 PHRASES and CLAUSES CLAUSES Clauses – groups of words with BOTH a subject and a verb that function as parts of speech.

There are TWO kinds: Independent and Dependent (called “Subordinate”) INDEPENDENT – CAN stand alone as a complete sentence, known as a simple sentence pattern.

Every victim and their family deserves justice.

DEPENDENT (SUBORDINATE) – CANNOT stand alone as a complete sentence and MUST begin with a SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTION. There are seven (7) kinds: Noun Clause: Used as the noun in a sentence and may function as a subject, a predicate noun, a direct object, an object of a preposition, an indirect object, or an appositive. ○ The conditions he grew up in might have been the root of his problems Adjective Clause: Used to modify a noun in an independent clause. Some adjective clauses begin with an introductory word: ○ This is the Florida state prison where Ted Bundy was executed. (“where” is an introductory word) Some adjective clauses begin with relative pronouns: ■ Jeffrey Dahmer was the one who was killed by prison inmates. (ONE is the antecedent of WHO and is modified by the adjective clause.)

Adverb Clause: Used to modify verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in an independent clause, introduced by a subordinate conjunction and used to indicate time, place, cause, purpose, result, condition, and/or concession.

Modifying verbs: ■ He left her in a deserted area where a few could see. (place) Modifying adjectives: ■ Christmas was never as joyful as it used to be for the Ramsey's . (how much) Modifying adverbs: ■ He watched her more than she looked at herself in the mirror. (condition) Relative Clauses: Dependent clause that begins with a relative pronoun. ○ The person who committed the zodiac killer murders has been unidentified to this day.

Elliptical Clauses: Adverb clauses in which part of the clause is omitted. ○ When driving, she picked up a hitchhiker not knowing that this would lead to her disappearance.

Essential Clauses: Clauses necessary to the meaning of the sentence. ○ His type to which he showed most interest, is clearly tall blonde women.

Nonessential Clauses: Clauses that are NOT necessary to the meaning of the sentence. ○ The spree killings, which began six months ago, are finally over.

SECTION 6 ESSAYS Essays – An essay is a piece of writing usually written in order to provide the author's opinion on a subject or to inform the reader.

Persuasive (Argumentative) A persuasive essay is meant to convince the target audience to do something or not do something.

Expository (Informative) An expository essay exposes things in detail to make readers understand without any complications.

Analytical/Critical An analytical essay analyzes something, such as in literature an analytical essay analyzes a piece of literature from different angles Narrative (Tells a story) A narrative essay is a narration like a short story. It is, however, different from a short story in that it is written in an essay format Research A research essay revolves around a research question that is meant to answer some specific question through a research of the relevant literature.

Timed Timed essays require you to demonstrate disciplinary knowledge by producing a writing sample within a limited time period Strategies/Planning Tips/Steps – - Pre-writing - Prompt Analysis - Outlining - Researching - Evaluating of Sources Work Cited Page – Explain and give an example of how to set up a works cited entry in both MLA and APA formats - there are subtle differences between each format, so be sure to identify them clearly.

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