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Sentence Variety

Please practice utilizing these nine

sentence patterns throughout the

semester. Good sentence varietykeeps writing from becoming dull.

Understanding these sentence

patterns will improve your ability tocommunicate.


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Sentence Variety

#1 Simple Sentence

Spock drank a Pepsi.

Alfred bought a diamond ring for

his lovely wife Thuy.


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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 hisAdv Adj Ido / Proper Noun

lovely wife Thuy.


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Sentence Variety

#2 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


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Sentence Variety

Sentences utilizing a compound

subject, verb, or object are still simple

sentences because they only have oneclause. 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.


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Sentence Variety

Please dont confuse a sentence with acompound verb with a compoundsentence.

Compound Verb

Spock drank Pepsi and belched loudly.Compound Sentence

Spock drank Pepsi, and he belched loudly.

A compound sentence must have a subjecton both sides of the coordinatingconjunction.


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Sentence Variety

#3 Compound or Coordinate Sentence

A compound sentence uses one of theseven coordinating conjunctions (and,

but, or, for, nor, so, yet) and connectstwo complete simple sentences. Eachhalf of the sentence is equally importantto the meaning of the sentence. Thecoordinating conjunction must beproceeded by a comma.


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Sentence VarietyThe seven coordinating conjunctionsare also known as FONYBAS words. IfThese words are written out, the first

letter of each one spells FONYBAS.ForOrNor

YetButAndSo


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Sentence Variety

Joining two simple sentences togetherwith a semicolon does not create astrong sentence; however, it does

create a sentence that is awkward anddifficult to understand. This type ofsentence may have worked in HighSchool, but college instructors expect

well developed sentences.I hate semicolons!


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Sentence Variety

The chicken got well; we had salad.

These two sentences seem to be

completely unrelated when joined witha semicolon.

The chicken got well, so we had salad.

When joined with a coordinatingconjunction, the sentences meaning is

more clear.


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Sentence Variety

Each time the coordinating conjunction

is changed the meaning also changes.

The chicken got well, forwe had salad.The chicken got well, yetwe had salad.

The chicken got well, butwe had salad.

The chicken got well, andwe had salad.The chicken got well, so we had salad.


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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.


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Sentence Variety

Spockdrank a Pepsi, orhe enjoyed it.

Spock drank a Pepsi, norhe enjoyed it.

These are examples of faulty

coordination since the coordinatingconjunction does not make sense withthe sentences it is connecting.


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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 dont make any logical

sense together.


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Sentence Variety

#4 Expletive Sentence

An expletive construction consists of

there or it plus a form of the verbbe.

There was a man from Orlando.

It is a good day to study English.


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Sentence VarietyForms of Be

I am

You are

He/She/It IsI was

You were

He/She/It was

I will beWe/They are

We/They will be

I/You/They have been


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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 theseare weak words. Avoid using be

verbs whenever possible.


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Sentence Variety

#5 Infinitive phrase

An infinitive phrase consists of To

plus a verb.

To go into space was Captain Kirks Dream.

If a word interrupts the infinitive phrase,

it is called a split infinitive.To boldlygo where no man has gone before.


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Sentence Variety

#6 Appositive

An appositive renames a noun in asentence, usually the subject of thesentence. This helps to make thesignificance of the noun more clear. Anappositive is usually separated from thesentence by a comma.

A monster-dog, a two-hundred pound

German Shepherd, stole my lunch.


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Sentence Variety

There are two types of appositives,

essential or restrictive and nonessential

or nonrestrictive.

A nonrestrictive appositive may be

removed from the sentence without

changing the meaning of the sentence.

To indicate that it can be removed, it isset apart with commas.


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Sentence Variety

If a restrictive or essential appositive is

removed, the meaning of the sentence

will change. Since a restrictiveappositive is essential to the meaning

of the sentence, it is not separated by

commas.


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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 gasmileage.

Anna a good student studied English all night.


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Sentence Variety

Students who use debit cards eat more fast

food.

Restrictive or EssentialMissy a lazy dog chased three parked cars.

Nonrestrictive or Nonessential

Cars with bad spark plugs get poor gasmileage.

Restrictive or Essential

Anna a good student studied English all night.


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Sentence Variety

We will discuss restrictive and

nonrestrictive modifiers in greater detail

later in the semester.


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Sentence Variety#7 Subordinate or Complex Sentence

Complex sentences consist of adependent clause and an independentclause. The independent clause is the

important part of the sentence. Thesubordinate clause is only additionalinformation. There are many varietiesof this sentence. A comma separates

the dependent clause from theindependent clause when thedependant clause precedes theindependent clause.


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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.


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Sentence Variety

Common subordinating words include:as because If after since provided before where

unless whether while oncewhen although so that untilthough whenever than as if

Common relative pronouns include:which what who thatwhom whatever whoever


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Sentence Variety

When Spock drank a Pepsi.

This is a dependent clause because it

doesnt express a complete thought

and must rely upon an independent

clause to give it meaning. When Spock

drank a Pepsi, what happened?


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Sentence Variety

dependent clause independent clause

When Spock drank a Pepsi, he slapped Mr.Sulu.

When the dependent clause comesfirst, separate the clauses with acomma.

Independent clause dependent clause

Spock drank a Pepsi when he slapped Mr.Sulu.

When the independent clause comesfirst no comma is necessar .


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Sentence Variety

#8 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.


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Sentence Variety

Afterlunch, the Universe exploded.

In this example, afteris the preposition,

and lunch is the object of thepreposition. The noun or pronoun that

follows the preposition is object of the

preposition that makes up the

prepositional phrase.


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Sentence Variety

#9 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 StarTrek double feature; hence,we

were labeled Trekies by our coworkers.


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Sentence VarietyCommon Conjunctive Adverbs

Accordingly

Also

Anyway

Besides

Certainly

Consequently

FinallyFurthermore

Hence

However

Incidentally

Indeed

Instead

Likewise

MeanwhileMoreover

Nevertheless


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Sentence Variety

A writer should only use a conjunctive

adverb when she wants to get her

readers attention. Conjunctive adverbs

force the reader to pause and payattention to the sentence; however, if

conjunctive adverbs are overused, they

lose their impact upon the reader.


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Sentence Variety

Please practice with these sentence

patterns whenever writing a essay.

Understanding how and when to use

these types of sentences will improvethe coherence of your writing.


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Sentence Variety

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