SENTENCE TYPES There are three sorts of sentences - simple, compound and complex. Sentences need to have a subject and a predicate. Subject - the noun or pronoun that does the action of the verb. The subject tells us who or what the sentence is about. Predicate - the part of the sentence which says something about its subject. My English teacher subject cracks weak jokes predicate To find the subject of a sentence: underline the verb (doing word) ask yourself who or what did the action? of that verb. 1. The simple sentence contains only one verb. It has one subject and one predicate My name is Cheryl. I was born in England. Cats purr. Dogs bark. The big black dog chased the cat. 2. The compound sentence contains two or more simple sentences that are joined by conjunctions or by certain sorts of punctuation marks. My name is Cheryl and I was born in England. My name is Cheryl, I told you. 3. The complex sentence contains a simple sentence that has at least one clause. This woman whose name is Cheryl is here. 1
NOTE: A clause is a group of words that contains a verb. A clause may be a main or subordinate clause. A main clause can stand alone and make sense by itself. A subordinate clause adds further information to the main clause. When the children are asleep at night we sit in or lounge. John Brown, who has a pet rabbit, lives at 6 Clark Street. SENTENCE TYPE EXERCISES 2. Divide the following sentences into subject and predicate. a) Fire burns. b) The rain fell steadily on the tin roof. c) My favourite game is soccer. d) Crowds of people gathered near the fence. e) With the empty trays, the waitress returned to the kitchen. 3. Join these simple sentences into compound sentences: a) The queue was long. I decided to wait. b) He applied for many jobs. He did not receive an interview for one. c) The full-forward marked the ball. He kicked a goal. d) Tina is my friend. She lives next door. e) Their house is small. They have no car. They seem to be happy. f) I was going down the stair. I lost my balance. I broke my arm. g) The food is great. The rooms are poor. Bring your own sleeping bag. h) I read in bed. I fall asleep. i) You must be cautious when buying a used car. It is easy to be taken in by an unscrupulous salesperson. j) The students had a problem. They will not ask the teacher for help. 2
SENTENCE PROBLEMS - Sentence Fragments, Run-on Sentences, Ambiguous Sentences Sentence Fragments Sentence fragments is a group of words that does not express a complete clear thought or does not contain a subject and predicate. Usually sentence fragments are parts of sentences which have been broken off and left on their own. a) A semicolon. Looks like full stop. With a comma sitting underneath it. b) In theory, commas are supposed to help make sense. Of a sentence and to give the reader a chance to breathe. Corrected the sentences read: a) A semicolon looks like a full stop with a comma sitting underneath it. b) In theory, commas are supposed to help make sense of a sentence and to give the reader a chance to breathe. Sometimes sentences are corrected by reversing the order of the two fragments. To read your sentence aloud and notice where you pause. A good way of working out where to put the comma is. becomes A good way of working out where to put the comma is to read your sentence aloud and notice where you pause. Run-on Sentences Run-on sentences are exactly the opposite to sentence fragments. While sentence fragments do not express a complete thought, the run-on sentence contains several complete thoughts punctuated as though they were a single sentence. Run-on sentences are not difficult to correct and can be corrected in three ways. The purse containing the gold coins was placed on the table it remained unnoticed for several hours. 1. Make two complete sentences. - The purse containing the gold coins was placed on the table. It remained unnoticed for several hours. 2. By placing commas appropriately and using a suitable conjunction (joining word). - The purse containing the gold coins was placed on the table, but it remained 3
unnoticed for several hours. 3. By using a relative pronoun (who, which, that) or subordinating conjunction (since, when, although, however) - The purse containing the gold coins, which was placed on the table, remained unnoticed for several hours. or Although the purse containing the gold coins was placed on the table, it remained unnoticed for several hours. Ambiguous Sentences All sentences should have one clear meaning. When there are two or more possible meanings in a sentence (or a piece of writing) we say that it is ambiguous. An ambiguous statement has two possible meanings - one meaning is intended, the second meaning is unintended. Ambiguity is not always easy to spot. The astronaut boarded his spaceship wearing a blue spacesuit (who was wearing the blue spacesuit? The astronaut or the space ship?) To avoid the ambiguity you can do the following: 1. The astronaut who boarded his spaceship was wearing a blue spacesuit. 2. Wearing a blue spacesuit, the astronaut boarded his spaceship. 4
PARAGRAPHS A paragraph is one short, organised part of a whole, longer piece of writing. Paragraphs a) help the writer to organise thoughts. b) help the reader to understand the meaning more clearly. c) usually contain one sentence, the topic sentence, which is a summary of the rest of the paragraph. This sentence usually comes at the beginning of the paragraph. Activities 1. Select the topic sentence from each of the following paragraphs. The Beatles: The Beatles did not become famous overnight, as many people suppose. They worked hard to become successful. John Lennon organised a musical group while still in his teens. This was many years before 1963. Actually, he met Paul McCartney in 1958. They worked together as the Nurk Twins. In 1959, George Harrison and Pete Best, a drummer, joined the two. The group had a lot of different names. First they were the Quarrymen Skiffle Group. Then they became the Moondogs and then the Moonshiners. Finally they adopted the famous name, the Beatles, to advertise their strong 4/4 beat. They could not make a decent living in England, however. They went to Germany and worked in Hamburg. At this time they were earning $45 a week. Brian Epstein was the earliest true Beatle fan. He ran the record department of his father s furniture business. In October 1961, he sold two hundred copies of the record, My Bonnie. He sought out the Beatles. He later said, I sensed that something was happening, something terribly exciting. I knew they could be one of the biggest theatre attractions in the world. Brian Epstein began to manage the Beatles in January 1962. He had them adopt new clothes. He insisted on a special haircut. This became famous as a Beatle trademark. The Beatles were enjoyed by people at all ages and on all levels. The composer Ned Rorem said they brought back a sense of excitement to music. He called their arrival one of the most healthy events in music since 1950. 5
2. Everybody can write good paragraphs, but always remember the following: a) Before writing your paragraph, you must plan it carefully. b) One paragraph should lead naturally on to the next. This flow-on is achieved with the use of linking words. The linking words are the first words in the first sentence (usually the topic sentence) of the next paragraph. Here is a short extract about the famous ballet dances, Rudolf Nureyev and Dame Margot Fonteyn. The linking words which the writer has used are in bold and they show a relationship between the paragraphs. In the 1960s Rudolf Nureyev left his native Russia. He began to dance in England. He teamed with Margot Fonteyn in Romeo and Juliet, a ballet version of the Shakespeare play which is quite different from West Side Story. During this production something unusual occurred. You may have been to a play in your school. Maybe you have seen a play elsewhere, too. At the end, the audience applauds the actors. The appearance of the actors at the end is called the curtain call. A good performance may have four or five of even six curtain calls. The number of curtain calls rarely goes beyond six. At the end of this particular performance of Romeo and Juliet the audience applauded. The dancers naturally appeared for a curtain call. They left the stage. The audience kept applauding. The dancers came back, flushed and happy. They bowed gracefully and smiled. They left the stage again. But the audience would not stop applauding. The dancers came out again and again. There was a feeling of excitement in the theatre. Shouts of approval filled the air. The applause lasted for forty minutes. The dancers had to make forty-three curtain calls! The audience and the dancers eventually became tired out, and the last curtain call was finally made. Otherwise Margot and her partner might still be there! 3. Here are some linking words: after, suddenly, during the second day, before, nevertheless, shortly afterwards, the next moment, quietly, consequently Write a short story using at least three of the above linking words to show the relationship between the paragraphs. WRITING PARAGRAPHS - HOW IT IS DONE 6
Read this story and we ll work out together how the paragraphs develop: The Gorilla Man Paragraph 1 Beginning of story. Introduces the chief person. Gets the story going. (John is an out-of-work acrobat.) Paragraph 2-4 Development of the story. para.2 - New point (the gorilla dies). para.3 - John s decision. (He will take its place!) para. 4 - John and the job. (He is successful.) Paragraph 5 Climax of the story (the peak of excitement or interest). John is in the lion s cage. Paragraph 6 Conclusion (explaining, finished the story). Brief, unexpected, it makes us laugh (The lion is a man.) John had been out of work for nearly a year Nobody wanted him. His talents were very special, because he had once been a famous acrobat. This is what he wanted to do again - to swing high in the air and hold crowds spell-bound with his extraordinary agility. Now all he could do was tramp wearily from one place to another, always hoping that something would turn up for him. Then he read in the newspaper that the gorilla at the local zoo had died. Here was an opportunity. The gorilla s acrobat feats had always been one of the best attractions at the zoo where parents and children laughed and applauded his antics everyday. John hurried to the manager s office at the zoo and pleaded to be allowed to dress in the gorilla s skill and take his place in the cage. He promised he could perform better than any real gorilla. The manager was finally persuaded because the gorilla was certainly a favourite figure to draw crowds to the zoo and his replacement would be a costly and slow matter. Clad in skins John entered the cage and soon his antics were drawing crowds around his cage. He climbed high, balanced on bars, sprang about the cage, gobbled bananas, and beat his hairy chest as he roared magnificently. One day, when he sprang higher than usual, he lost his balance and fell, not back into his own den, but over into the next den - that of the lion! There he lay trembling in an agony of fear. The lion approached, stealthily, with glaring eyes and swinging tail. It opened its mouth. John s nerve broke. He screamed, Help! Help! The lion exclaimed, Shut up, you fool, or we ll both be out of work tomorrow! 7