Sentence Variety

Sentence Variety By Alfred Taylor Sentence Variety Please practice utilizing these sentence patterns throughout the semester. Good sentence variety keeps writing from becoming dull. Understanding these sentence patterns will improve your ability to communicate. Sentence Variety Simple Sentence Spock drank a Pepsi. Alfred bought a diamond ring for his lovely wife Thuy. Sentence Variety Both of the sentences are simple sentences because they each only have one clause. The second may have more adjectives and adverbs, but it is still a simple sentence. Sub Verb Art Adj Do/ noun prep PN Alfred bought a diamond ring for his Adv Adj Ido / Proper Noun lovely wife Thuy. Sentence Variety Compound Subject / Verb / Object A compound sentence has two subjects or two verbs or both. Kirk and Spock drank Pepsi. Spock slurped and gulped his drink. Spock drank Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. Note: There are no commas in these sentences Sentence Variety Sentences utilizing a compound subject, verb, or object are still simple sentences because they only have one clause. A clause is a phrase that contains both a subject and a verb. It is possible to have a sentence that has a compound subject, verb, and object. Kirk and Spock ate and drank pizza and Pepsi. Sentence Variety Please don’t confuse a sentence with a compound verb with a compound sentence. Compound Verb Spock drank Pepsi and belched loudly. Compound Sentence Spock drank Pepsi, and he belched loudly. A compound sentence must have a subject on both sides of the coordinating conjunction. Sentence Variety Compound Sentence A compound sentence uses one of the seven coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet) and connects two complete simple sentences. Each half of the sentence is equally important to the meaning of the sentence. The coordinating conjunction must be proceeded by a comma. Sentence Variety The seven coordinating conjunctions are: For Or Nor Yet But And So Sentence Variety sub verb art obj C.C. Sub verb obj. Spock drank a Pepsi, and he enjoyed it. This is a compound sentence because it has a complete sentence on both sides of the coordinating conjunction, the sentences make sense together, and the coordinating conjunction makes sense with the sentences. Sentence Variety Spock drank a Pepsi, or he enjoyed it. Spock drank a Pepsi, nor he enjoyed it. These are examples of faulty coordination since the coordinating conjunction does not make sense with the sentences it is connecting. Sentence Variety Spock drank a Pepsi, so computers hate people who have poor usage skills. This is another example of faulty coordination because these two sentences don’t make any logical sense together. Sentence Variety Expletive Sentence An expletive construction consists of “there” or “it” plus a form of the verb “be.” There was a man from Orlando. It is a good day to study English. Sentence Variety Forms of “Be” I am You are He/She/It Is I was You were He/She/It was I will be We/They are We/They will be I/You/They have been Sentence Variety Expletive sentences should be used sparingly. They tend to be wordy and they have weak subjects and verbs. There was a man who drank Pepsi. The subject of this sentence is “there,” and the verb is “was.” Both of these are weak words. Avoid using “be” verbs whenever possible. Sentence Variety Infinitive phrase An infinitive phrase consists of “To” plus a verb. To go into space was Captain Kirk’s Dream. If a word interrupts the infinitive phrase, it is called a split infinitive. To boldly go where no man has gone before. Sentence Variety Appositive An appositive renames a noun in a sentence, usually the subject of the sentence. This helps to make the significance of the noun more clear. An appositive is usually separated from the sentence by a comma. A monster-dog, a two-hundred pound German Shepherd, stole my lunch. Sentence Variety Students who use debit cards eat more fast food. Missy a lazy dog chased three parked cars. Cars with bad spark plugs get poor gas mileage. Anna a good student studied English all night. Sentence Variety Dependent clauses are created by placing either a subordinating word or a relative pronoun in front of a sentence. independent clause Spock drank a Pepsi. dependent clause When Spock drank a Pepsi. Sentence Variety Common subordinating words include: as because If after since provided before where unless whether while once when although so that until though whenever than as if Common relative pronouns include: which what who that whom whatever whoever Sentence Variety When Spock drank a Pepsi. This is a dependent clause because it doesn’t express a complete thought and must rely upon an independent clause to give it meaning. When Spock drank a Pepsi, what happened? Sentence Variety dependent clause independent clause When Spock drank a Pepsi, he slapped Mr. Sulu. When the dependent clause comes first, separate the clauses with a comma. Independent clause dependent clause Spock drank a Pepsi when he slapped Mr. Sulu. When the independent clause comes first, no comma is necessary. Sentence Variety Prepositional Phrase A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with an object. A preposition is a word with some meaning of position, time, or other abstract relation. Words like above, below, near, far, from, of, to, after, before, and until are all prepositions. Sentence Variety After lunch, the Universe exploded. In this example, after is the preposition, and lunch is the object of the preposition. The noun or pronoun that follows the preposition is object of the preposition that makes up the prepositional phrase. Sentence Variety Conjunctive Adverb Two independent clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb. Each independent clause must be a sentence with a subject and a verb. A semicolon precedes the conjunctive adverb and a comma follows it. We saw a Star Trek double feature; hence,we were labeled “Trekies” by our coworkers. Sentence Variety To Join Sentences Accordingly Also Anyway Besides Certainly Consequently Finally Furthermore Hence However Incidentally Indeed Instead Likewise Meanwhile Moreover Nevertheless Sentence Variety The End