Introduction

Deep breaths, everyone. We’ve come to the final Harry Potter book and the final week of learning grammar through reading using Harry Potter. It’s time to delve into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to destroy those Horcruxes and conquer death. It’s time for the final battle against Tom Riddle. (We only give him more power by using his other name, folks. Remember that.) And, for the purpose of this post, it’s time to learn about pronouns!

Just to recap, we’ve spent the past six weeks discussing homophones, commas, interrogative sentences, subject–verb agreement, ellipses, and exclamatory sentences. We’re going to close things by discussing pronouns, those important parts of speech that make writing a much more concise business. Laughter, tears, and spoilers ensue. You’ve been warned.

Pronouns and the Deathly Hallows

This is it, folks. The last Harry Potter book. For this very special book, we’re going to look at a very important part of speech: pronouns. Pronouns are used to replace nouns. They make speaking and writing a lot easier, as they allow us to not repeat ourselves.

Much like subject–verb agreement, house-elves seem to have quite a hard time grasping the use of pronouns. With that in mind, let’s start by looking at a quote from Dobby—one of Dobby’s final lines, in fact.

“Dobby has no master!” squealed the elf. “Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!”

Sorry, what was that you said? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of my HEART BREAKING. Does anyone have a tissue? I just need a minute . . . okay, I’m good. Back to grammar and stuff.

Dobby has a tendency to not use pronouns. Instead of saying I when referring to himself, he uses his name. If a person were to do this, it would be incredibly frustrating. When a house-elf does it, it’s endearing. (Double standards, I know.) He’s also about to save a bunch of people’s lives and sacrifice his own in the process, so what kind of heartless monsters would we be if we judged him for his pronoun usage? We also have to give Dobby props for his correct usage of the pronoun his as the end of the second sentence. I mean, he’s acting incredibly bravely by openly defying his abusive former masters. I’d say he’s doing pretty darn well.

Now that we’ve all had a good cry and seen what a sentence looks like without pronouns, let’s take a look at some quotes that make good use of pronouns.

He was afraid of it. Small and fragile and wounded though it was, he did not want to approach it. Nevertheless, he drew slowly nearer, ready to jump back at any moment. Soon he stood near enough to touch it, yet he could not bring himself to do it. He felt like a coward. He ought to comfort it, but it repulsed him.

The best way to explain how crucial pronouns are to this passage is to write it again without said pronouns. Here it is:

Harry was afraid of the thing making the noise. Small and fragile though the thing making the noise was, Harry did not want to approach the thing making the noise. Nevertheless, Harry drew slowly nearer, ready to jump back at any moment. Soon Harry stood near enough to touch the thing making the noise, yet Harry could not bring Harry to do it. Harry felt like a coward. Harry ought to comfort the thing making the noise, but the thing making the noise repulsed Harry.

Yikes. If we ever want to completely destroy the description of Harry’s experience with death, with Voldemort’s shriveled piece of soul, and with the departed Dumbledore, we know how to do it: just remove all the pronouns.

All around the walls, the headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts were giving him a standing ovation; they waved their hats and in some cases their wigs, they reached through their frames to grip each other’s hands; they danced up and down on the chairs in which they had been painted.

Harry has defeated Voldemort once and for all; Hogwarts is safe, as is the world. The former headmasters and headmistresses celebrate the victory with great cheer. As with the previous quote, this just doesn’t work without pronouns. Pronouns are as important to writing as determination is to Apparating. A lack of pronouns can cause grammatical splinching, if you will.

Conclusion

This concludes our use of the Harry Potter series to learn grammar through reading. If you’re anything like me, all you want to do right now is curl up and reread the entire series. I want to tell you that I support you in that decision. Go ahead—indulge in the greatness that is Harry Potter.

Thanks so much for following this article series. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have any other thoughts or ideas about this article, feel free to let me know on Facebook or Twitter. Maybe you’d like to tell me about what you learned reading Harry Potter, or maybe you have some questions about something you’ve read in these articles. Maybe you just want to tell me about your massive crush on Matthew Lewis or about your deep love for Neville Longbottom. Either way, please feel free to reach out! I’m always happy to chat with fellow book lovers and grammar nerds!

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.