I just need to double check a few sentences to make sure that they are grammatically correct. I found out today that the markers are going to be extra hard on poor grammar so I need to make sure I get it right.

The sentences are;

The deliberate use of metaphors, emotive language, rhetorical questions and punctuation work together to illustrate the depths to which the teacher has sunk, and to highlight the hopelessness which he feels. <- should the words in red be as they are, or should they be all plural or all singular?




Metaphors are the most significant literary technique used by Lawrence. <- should metaphors be singular? Or should 'technique' become plural?




Dark words such as ‘waste’ ‘abyss’ and ‘consume’ can be associated with depression, which support the teacher’s view that there is no purpose to either his teaching, or his students’ learning, and how he feels about teaching itself. <- Should that comma in red be there, or is the sentence just too long either way?




An example of this would be having the students physically portrayed as the ‘unruly hounds’ which the teacher describes them as in the original text instead of children, and have them sitting at their desks, straining against their leashes and scratching at the floor with their feet, while their leashes are held by the teacher as he sits as his desk. <- clearly this sentence is too long. Would it be acceptable to have bracket around this sentence 'which the teacher describes them as in the original text instead of children' or not? or just leave it out altogether?