Writing the opening of 'A Christmas Carol'

The introduction of Scrooge’s character greatly contrasts the general Christmas atmosphere in the opening. Precise vocabulary, including ‘show and tell’ and direct speech, conveys a character’s traits and feelings. Using a range of simple, compound and complex sentences supports text flow. A relative complex sentence uses a relative pronoun (who or which) to provide greater detail about a noun. Inverted commas are used to demarcate speech and a piece of punctuation separates speech from the reporting clause.