Entering the darker places: The lodge-gates in The Hound of the Baskervilles

This next fragment is going to be fun.

This fragment is called an adjectival phrase, which means its only function is to be descriptive. 

Structurally it’s so small and simple there’s not much to say. We could produce variations all day long.

However “blotched with lichens” is a nice detail that is both literally true (the pillars are rough stone in a wet, outdoors environment so they are collecting lichen—it’s no big deal, perfectly natural) but is also suggestive of damp, decay, aging, necrosis… and eventually death. So gothic!

So let’s take the chance to learn some good death-and-decay-laden gothic words.

To the thesaurus! Here are some starting points, but feel free to roam further:

http://thesaurus.com/browse/blotch

http://thesaurus.com/browse/decay 

Find some words you like and make a gothic-sounding adjectival clause like this one:

…blotched with lichens…

…action preposition thing…