Stylistic Techniques: the www.asia Clause

Of the stylistic techniques, the last dress-up to be introduced to students is the www.asia clause. Like the because clause dress-up, the www.asia clause is a dependent (subordinate) clause. By definition, a clause must contain a subject and a verb. You may be wondering why it is called a www.asia clause. Remarkably easy for students to remember, www.asia is a handy acronym that mimics a website’s name. Each letter corresponds to a subordinating conjunction: when, while, where, as, since, if, and although. While these are not the only first words of subordinate clauses, www.asia lists some of the most commonly used ones. You can read more about subordinate clauses at this link. Like the other dress-ups, the www.asia clause is indicated with an underline.

Consulting page 174 of the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style Seminar Workbook, you can read more about this dress-up. It is described during the second video segment. Additionally Andrew Pudewa models how to teach your students this dress-up in the Structure and Style for Students programs. If you would like to sample those courses, you can try the first three weeks’ lessons at IEW.com/free-lessons.

Teaching this dress-up is similar to how I teach the because clause. I begin with a simple sentence:

Mrs. Mauser’s gray cat loves to sleep.

Let’s see how we can use some of the www.asia words to expand at the end of the sentence:

Mrs. Mauser’s gray cat loves to sleep where the sunshine strikes the hardwood floors.

Mrs. Mauser’s gray cat loves to sleep if the house is still and quiet.

Mrs. Mauser’s gray cat loves to sleep although she loves to eat kibble even more.

Mrs. Mauser’s gray cat loves to sleep when the sun is on the east side of the house.

Mrs. Mauser’s gray cat loves to sleep while her person knits.

Mrs. Mauser’s gray cat loves to sleep since she is an old, arthritic kitty.

Mrs. Mauser’s gray cat loves to sleep as guitar music plays in the background.

Jasper, age 20

In the sample sentences above, the www.asia clause is added to the end of a complete sentence: Mrs. Mauser’s gray cat loves to sleep. There are no commas needed before the clause.

As always, when you introduce this stylistic technique to your students, practice it together several times. Model it repeatedly before you expect your students to independently write their paragraphs. Your modeling and repetition will help them feel more comfortable as they practice this new stylistic technique.