CCS: L.6.3a What if all sentences were short? What if all sentences started the same way? What if these short sentences continued? What if the whole book was filled with them? What if these sentences put you to sleep? When you write, it s easy to slip into a pattern and write every sentence in the same way. This is a sure way to bore your audience. Using different kinds of sentences and choosing your words carefully can give your writing a freshness that keeps the reader s attention. It also allows you to create your own writing style. In this lesson, you will learn some tips on keeping your sentence structure strong and effective. TIP 1: Sentences have many possibilities. Varying the way you write sentences isn t difficult if you re aware of some of the possibilities. If you were writing a short story, think about how you might present the following three ideas to a reader. Mr. Elastic is my favorite superhero. Mr. Elastic fights crime. Mr. Elastic stretches himself all over the place. You might decide to present these ideas in one of several ways: A. Mr. Elastic is my favorite superhero; he fights crime by stretching himself all over the place. B. Mr. Elastic, who fights crime by stretching himself all over the place, is my favorite superhero. C. Mr. Elastic fights crime by stretching himself all over the place, which is why he s my favorite superhero. D. Mr. Elastic, my favorite superhero, fights crime by stretching himself all over the place. E. Mr. Elastic is my favorite superhero. He fights crime by stretching himself all over the place. Mixing up the way you present your ideas will give your audience some variety. You ll have more fun writing, which will guarantee that your audience will have more fun reading. Now let s learn about some specific sentence structures. 252
CCS: L.6.3a TIP 2: A simple sentence has a subject and a predicate. A simple sentence has two parts. It must have a subject (a person, place, thing, or idea), and a predicate (describing what the subject is or does). Together, the subject and predicate in a simple sentence express one complete thought. Subject The snake Little Rock Predicate crawled out of the backpack. is the capital of Arkansas. A group of words that doesn t express a complete thought is not a complete sentence. Here are some examples of incomplete sentences. Escaped from the zoo. (no subject) Uncle Charley s new truck. (no predicate) TIP 3: A compound sentence joins two or more simple sentences. A compound sentence expresses two or more complete thoughts by combining two or more simple sentences. It gets cold in the desert at night, and strange noises fill the air. Campers need to stay alert; wolves have been spotted in the area. To make compound sentences, use commas and conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet) or semicolons, but not both at the same time. Right: The trails are very steep, so you should never hike alone. Also right: The trails are very steep; you should never hike alone. Wrong: The trails are very steep; so you should never hike alone. 253
CCS: L.6.3a TIP 4: A complex sentence combines a complete thought with an incomplete thought. A complex sentence combines an independent clause (simple sentence) with a dependent clause (incomplete thought). Subordinating conjunctions are used to create complex sentences. The incomplete thought can come before or after the simple sentence. Before the sentence: When nobody was listening, Allan started singing along with the radio. After the sentence: Allan started singing along with the radio, when nobody was listening. Subordinating Conjunctions after although as as if as though because before even though how if in case now that once since so that that unless until when whenever where which while who TIP 5: A compound-complex sentence has two or more complete thoughts and one incomplete thought. In a compound-complex sentence, two or more complete thoughts work alongside an incomplete thought. The complete thoughts are underlined below, and the incomplete thought is double underlined. The sandwich had been in the refrigerator for three weeks; although it wasn t fit to eat anymore, it was a lovely shade of green. 254
CCS: L.6.3a Practice Activity 1 Directions: On the following lines, write a compound sentence, a complex sentence, and a compound-complex sentence. 1. Compound Sentence: 2. Complex Sentence: 3. Compound-Complex Sentence: Directions: Combine each set of sentences into one or two new sentences. 4. The Ozark National Forest covers more than one million acres. The forest is located in northern Arkansas. Many birds live there. 5. The roller coasters at Magic Springs were awesome. They were scary. We had fun riding them. 6. My grandma has a pet dog. It is a golden retriever. His name is Max. 255
CCS: L.6.3a Practice Activity 2 Directions: Rewrite the following paragraph to vary the sentence structure. Try to combine sentences in different ways. For example, you may decide to combine two sentences and leave a short sentence as it is. The girl was scared. She was all alone. Her name was Cindy. She was 11 years old. She was lost. It was dark. It was raining. She was standing along a street with no lights. She didn t know what to do. Then she saw a bus stop at the end of the street. She ran. Then a car pulled up to the bus stop. She didn t recognize it. She thought of running in the other direction. Frozen, she stared at the car. The window rolled down. The rain stopped. A street light came on. Her father peered out the window. He said, Where have you been? Get in the car! 256
CCS: L.6.3a TIP 6: Change word order to add emphasis or variety to your sentences. The natural order of a sentence is usually a subject followed by a verb followed by an object or complement. Here is an example: Trees grew along the road. The subject of the sentence, trees, is followed by the verb, grew, and the complement, along the road. This sentence is not very interesting, but it does follow the natural order of a sentence. If you wanted to add emphasis to this statement, you could invert the sentence. An inverted sentence changes the natural order of the words. Here is an example: Along the road, trees grew. In this case, the complement, along the road, now comes before the verb, grew, and the subject, trees. Inverting sentences is one more way to add variety to your writing, but you wouldn t want to use inverted sentences all the time. These sentences can be tricky because when you change the natural order of words in a sentence, you still need to be sure that your subjects and verbs agree. TIP 7: Use the kind of sentence that expresses what you want to say. You just learned about four types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. You may not have known how to write all four types, but you most likely have written the four kinds below, even if you didn t know what they were called. Depending on what you want to say, you can use declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamatory sentences. Declarative sentences make a statement and end with a period. My name is Jane. Interrogative sentences ask a question and end with a question mark. Do you like to play soccer? Imperative sentences give commands and usually end with a period. Usually, the subject you is not stated; it is implied. [You] Get your cleats. 257
CCS: L.6.1e, L.6.3b Exclamatory sentences show strong feeling and end with an exclamation point. He plays really well! An imperative sentence can also be an exclamatory sentence if it ends with an exclamation point. Pass the ball! There are so many ways to say things in your writing. By using different kinds of sentences, you ll be sure to keep your audience interested. TIP 8: Keep your writing style and tone consistent. Make sure your tone stays consistent from beginning to end. Your tone can be anything you want it to be (serious, humorous, mysterious, and so on), but it should remain the same throughout your work. Think about your audience and decide whether you should use formal or informal language. If you re writing a narrative or a letter to a friend, you can use informal language. However, a report for school should use more formal language. Notice the problem with the tone in the following example: As a result of the severe problems with truancy at school, the city school is enacting new procedures. After a student has been absent for more than three days, a truancy officer will visit the student s home. I m pretty sure that s gonna help things out. The first several sentences reveal that this is a formal piece of writing that is reporting on findings related to student absences. The style and tone are consistent until the final sentence. Then the tone becomes informal and the word choices are poor. Phrases like pretty sure and gonna are inappropriate. Instead, the final sentence could read: These measures should help to solve the problem. TIP 9: Recognize and use Standard English grammar. Unless you are writing dialogue that is intended to represent a specific way of talking, you should use Standard English grammar in your writing. You will lose credibility as a writer if you have grammatical errors. 258
CCS: L.6.3a Practice Activity 3 Directions: For each sentence, decide whether it is a simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex sentence. Write your answer on the line provided. 1. As Marco was walking to school, he was feeling lucky. 2. His friend Paul was walking slowly toward him down the sidewalk. 3. Paul lives down the block and his family is friends with Marco s family. 4. Marco and Paul run track together. 5. Whenever they see the school, Marco and Paul start racing towards it; Paul usually wins. 6. But, today, Marco pulled ahead and beat Paul by only a second. Directions: For each sentence, decide whether it is declarative, interrogative, imperative, or exclamatory. Write your answer on the line provided. 7. How do you get to the park? 8. Don t open the door. 9. James doesn t want to go to school. 10. Why did she leave? 11. He asked me where you went. 12. Her voice is so beautiful! 13. His shirt is really bright. 14. She wants to ask a question. 15. When can we leave? 259
CCS: L.6.1e TIP 10: Use precise language whenever possible. A general word or phrase usually describes a group of things. A precise word usually describes one thing within a group. For example, spider is general, and tarantula is more precise. Specific words and phrases can make writing clearer and more interesting. They communicate your message more accurately and powerfully than general words do. TIP 11: Use verbs that have a punch. English is a wonderful language for writing. We have borrowed words from so many other languages that we have an exact word for almost every meaning. This is important because it allows us to say exactly what we mean in one word or a few words rather than many. This is especially true when it comes to verbs (words that show action). Choosing hardworking verbs is a key to good writing. Look at some examples of verbs that can give the reader an exact mental image. They can make your writing sparkle. In the example below, a dull, lifeless verb is replaced with more precise and exciting verbs. The snowflakes blew around. The snowflakes whirled, skipped, and danced. What s the Good Word? Here are a few tips about word choice: Develop a large vocabulary, but don t use big, important-sounding words just to impress readers. Avoid redundancy (using two words together that mean the same thing), such as free gift or round circle. Don t use a word unless you know what it means. When in doubt, look it up! Watch out for problem words that sound the same but mean different things, such as their, there, and they re. Use a dictionary or thesaurus to help you select just the right word to make your point. Take advantage of all the word choices English offers. Your writing will be more interesting to read, and it will be more fun to write, too. 260
CCS: L.6.3a, L.6.3b Practice Activity 4 Directions: Read the following passage. Visiting a Cave 1 We went to the cave on a hot day, getting there in a car. When we walked from the parking lot to the cave s entrance, I started sweating. I was happy to go down into the cave, and I didn t want to leave when it was time to go. 2 The ballroom where they held the dances was impressive. I liked the Jungle Room even better. It s a room where dripping rock formations make it seem like you re in the jungle. There s also an area called the Stage Curtain, which our guide told us was a 70-million-year-old rock wall that s 70 feet tall and 60 feet wide. It s made of dripstone, which is a type of rock that forms after a long time from dripping water that contains minerals. 3 We saw several streams that run through the cave. We were shown where parts of the movie The Adventures of Tom Sawyer were made. We took a riverboat ride on the Meramec River. The boat ride was scenic. The boat ride brought us back out into the heat. I wished I were back in the cave. 1. Revise the following sentence adding vivid details that describe the weather. We went to the cave on a hot day, getting there in a car. 2. Describe the overall tone of the passage. Is it formal? Informal? How do you know? 3. The sentences in Paragraph 3 are choppy and begin in similar ways. Rewrite the paragraph by combining sentences and changing the way the sentences begin. 261
CCS: L.6.1e Practice Activity 5 Directions: Read the following memo. Then complete Numbers 1 and 2. MEMO TO: Florencio Jimenez FROM: Danielle Jones DATE: December 1, 2012 SUBJECT: New Product Ideas Each designer must create five new ideas for toys for the company president s visit on Monday, December 12. The toys have got to be designed for children ages 5 to 8. Possible ideas for designers to consider are jungle gym activities, electronic board games, and life-like stuffed animals. Each designer should have detailed drawings of their ideas. Designers should work with the researchers also to make a list of the toys sold by other companies that would compete with their new designs. The president is not happy with the sales figures for the latest toy, Slimy Booger Beads. She expects the new ideas to sell enough to make up for the beads poor performance. The meeting with the president is at 10:00 a.m. Designs gotta be approved by the design director before being shown to the president. 1. Describe the tone of this memo. 262 2. Underline the two sentences that are not written in Standard English. Revise each sentence on the lines below. Use Standard English. Lesson Practice begins on the following page.