Introduction

Remember earlier in the series when we discussed the use of interrogative sentences in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? Well, if Azkaban is all about raising questions, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is all about surprises. It’s only appropriate, therefore, that we should use the sixth book of the Harry Potter series to examine the use of exclamatory sentences.

I know I’ve given the “spoiler alert” warning with each of these posts, but I feel especially obligated to give it again here. Let me be very clear: this post will explicitly state major plot twists. If you haven’t read the book, this post will ruin it for you. I beg you—don’t do that to yourself! Please, for the love of all that Dumbledore holds dear, please don’t read this post until you’ve read the book!

Exclamatory Sentences and the Half-Blood Prince

It’s time to look at exclamatory sentences—that is, declarative sentences that express a strong emotion. All exclamatory sentences end with exclamation points. As mentioned before, there’s a lot of reason for strong emotion in Half-Blood Prince, as can be seen in the following examples.

“Don‘t you see? Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realise that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back! Voldemort is no different!“

Dumbledore passionately explains just exactly how Voldemort fulfilled Professor Trelawney’s prophecy in his attempt to avert it. What’s that I hear, Lord Voldemort? Oh, yes. That would be Karma. She’s coming for your Horcruxes, and she’s not happy.

“We did it, Professor!” Harry whispered with difficulty; he suddenly realised that he had a searing stitch in his chest. “We did it! We got the Horcrux!“

Harry is happy to be safely back in Hogsmeade with Dumbledore after an almost-fatal quest to retrieve one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. So happy, in fact, that he can’t help but throw a few exclamatory sentences in there. (But he doesn’t know! He doesn’t know that the danger is just beginning! Oh, the horror!)

“You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them—I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you’d turn my inventions on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don’t think so . . . no!“

Major, major spoiler alert: Snape is the Half-Blood Prince. Don’t worry, though—he’s a good guy. I mean, he’s not really a good guy. He’s kind of a bitter, lonely, middle-aged wizard who has a really hard time letting things go. But he is definitely a hero. It’s kind of confusing, really. Anyway, Snape doesn’t get excited very often, so you know that when he’s using exclamation points, things are gettin’ real.

The final set of exclamatory sentences we’re going to examine are the ones I couldn’t stop myself from exclaiming for approximately three days after finishing Half-Blood Prince:

“SNAPE KILLED DUMBLEDORE! Snape killed Dumbledore! DUMBLEDORE! He’s dead! Snape killed him!”

Heart = broken. Mind = blown. (I warned you that there would be major spoilers, did I not?)

Conclusion

Some people think reading is boring. I think those people are nuts! There is punctuation for every occasion, my friends, and exclamatory sentences are great for alerting the reader that something really important or shocking is going on. They also help keep things exciting!

Thanks for reading this week’s post. Don’t forget to check out the posts from books one, two, three, four, and five if you haven’t already done so, and feel free to reach out on Facebook or Twitter if you have something to say about this Learning Grammar through Reading series. Don’t forget to read the final post next week, which will cover pronouns in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (If thinking about the final book in the Harry Potter series makes you want to cry, know that you are not alone—I’ve been weeping since the book was published in 2007. I guess you could say it’s been a long eight years.)

Introduction

We’ve made it to the fifth book of the Harry Potter series and the fifth week of our lessons learning grammar through reading. This is where things get intense. So intense, in fact, that we don’t . . . know . . . if we’ll be able . . . to go on . . .

Okay, okay, so we can go on. So far, we’ve looked at homophones and evil Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, commas and basilisk fangs, interrogative sentences and boggarts, and subject–verb agreement and gillyweed. Now it’s time to study ellipses. (I know it’s not as exciting as learning the stupefying charm or Petrificus Totalus, but, alas, it is important.)

If you haven’t read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix just yet, I advise you to do so before you continue reading this post. Unless, of course, you’re a fan of spoilers, in which case, please do read on.

Ellipses and the Order of the Phoenix

In non-fiction, ellipses (. . .) serve specific functions. They can either be used to show that something has been omitted from a quotation, or they can be used to show that the writer has taken a pause. The former use is much more common in academic writing of any kind. There are different ways to format ellipses. These vary depending on the style guide being used. Some style guides require a space between each period in an ellipsis, while others require no spaces at all. (In case you’re confused, ellipses is the plural form of ellipsis.)

What purpose does the ellipsis serve in fiction writing? This type of punctuation is usually found within character dialogue. It usually indicates a pause. Basically, it helps the reader imagine exactly how characters are saying their lines of dialogue. Let’s look at a few examples from Phineas Nigellus, Nymphadora Tonks, and Ron Weasley.

“You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts . . . but you cannot deny he’s got style . . .“

Phineas Nigellus—or, rather, his portrait in the Headmaster’s office—is commenting on Dumbledore’s impressive disappearance. Nigellus is not Dumbledore’s biggest fan, so he’s somewhat reluctant to compliment Dumbledore’s “style.” Ellipses are used in this quotation to show that Nigellus is reluctant to make this statement; it is as if he is trying to stop himself from saying it. If you were a disgruntled former Slytherin Headmaster, you might find yourself relying heavily on hesitant punctuation as well.

Her eyes widened as they fell on the broomstick in Harry’s right hand. It was his pride and joy, a gift from Sirius, an international-standard broomstick.

“And I’m still riding a Comet Two Sixty,” said Tonks enviously. “Ah well . . . wand still in your jeans? Both buttocks still on? OK, let’s go.“

Tonks is jealous of Harry’s broomstick. An ellipsis is used here to show that Tonks is changing the topic, as there is no point in her brooding in envy over Harry’s Firebolt when they are about to embark on a very dangerous journey. On a more serious note, all wizards- and witches-in-training should heed Mad Eye Moody’s previous warning about keeping wands in their back pockets. After all, “Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!”

“I’ll make Goyle do lines, it’ll kill him, he hates writing,” said Ron happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle’s low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. “I . . . must . . . not . . . look . . . like . . . a . . . baboon’s . . . backside.“

The ellipses used in this quotation give the reader information about the way Ron is saying his line. He is adding long pauses between each word because he is imitating Goyle. He is poking fun at the length of time it would take Goyle to write lines. This surely isn’t Ron’s most mature behavior, but what else could Dumbledore have expected when he made Ron a prefect?

Conclusion

Sometimes in life, you just . . . don’t quite know . . . what to say. Even wizards and witches have to take a bit of a pause sometimes, and that’s where ellipses come into play.

Subject–Verb Agreement and the Goblet of Fire

I’d like to start today’s lesson with a disclaimer: If you don’t find house-elves to be adorable in every way, you aren’t going to be a big fan of this post. But unless your name is Malfoy, I really doubt that’s going to be a problem.

So far in this series, we’ve covered homophones, commas, and interrogative sentences. Today’s Harry Potter lesson is going to look at subject–verb agreement. Or, as I like to call it, “that thing that no amount of magic can make Dobby learn.” As I’ve mentioned before, this post most definitely contains spoilers. Don’t ruin this magical story for yourself if you haven’t read it yet: go, read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and return only after your mind has been thoroughly blown.

Learning Subject–Verb Agreement from House-Elves

For most native speakers of English, subject–verb agreement is an automatic process. Most people don’t have to think about properly conjugating verbs when they are speaking, as subject–verb disagreements very obviously sound incorrect. In written language, however, or for non-native speakers of English, subject–verb agreement can be a bit more difficult to grasp.

Luckily for us, house-elves don’t have a great grasp of subject–verb agreement, either. Let’s take a look at some mistakes made by Dobby the house-elf to learn more about subject–verb agreement.

“Socks are Dobby’s favourite, favourite clothes, sir!“ he said, ripping off his odd ones and pulling on Uncle Vernon’s. “I has seven now, sir . . . but, sir . . .” he said, his eyes widening, having pulled both socks up to their highest extent, so that they reached to the bottom of his shorts, “they has made a mistake in the shop, Harry Potter, they is giving you two the same!”

Dobby starts off strong in the above quotation. Are is the correct form of to be to go with the noun socks, as socks is plural. I’m afraid, however, that it is grammatically all downhill from here. Because the subject in the second sentence is the first-person singular I, the verb form for to have should be have. Similarly, the next sentences should say they have and they gave. Though I’m sure you get the concept at this point, let’s look at two more examples, just because Dobby is adorable and we love him:

“But most wizards doesn’t want a house-elf who wants paying, miss.”

Correction: “But most wizards don’t want a house-elf who wants paying, miss.” Because the word wizards is plural, the correct form here is not does not (doesn’t), but do not (don’t). Just as most wizards do not want to pay their house-elves, most house-elves do not want to use proper grammar. That’s just the way of the wizarding world.

“You has to eat this, sir!“ squeaked the elf, and he put his hand in the pocket of his shorts and drew out a ball of what looked like slimy, greyish green rat tails. “Right before you go into the lake, sir—Gillyweed!”

Correction: “You have to eat this, sir!” If the subject were a different pronoun—namely, he or she—then has would be correct. It turns out that when you’re saving someone’s neck by providing the answer to one of the Triwizard Tournament challenges, it doesn’t much matter how well you construct sentences. Who’d have thought?

Conclusion

Subject–verb agreement can be tricky, especially for non-native speakers of English. I hope this article has given you a greater understanding of this topic. If nothing else, I hope it has inspired you to treat your house-elves with the dignity and respect they deserve.

Remember to check out next week’s post, which will cover the use of ellipses in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.