AAAWWUBBISComplex Sentences

What do you notice?

If this were a movie, I’d probably have to kill off my father in the first scene.

- Paul Acampora, Defining Dulcie (2006)

If…If this were a rap song, …If my life were a country song, …If my life were a video game, …If this were a TV show, …If this were a comedy, …If this were a reality show, …If my life were a car, …If this were a football game, …

“If I Had a Million Dollars” by the Bare Naked Ladies YouTube video

AAAWWUBBISfterlthoughshenhilentileforeecausefince

AAAWWUBBIS

AAAWWUBBIS at the beginning of a sentence requires a comma

AAAWWUBBIS

sentence sentence, .

= complex sentence

AAAWWUBBIS at the beginning of a sentence requires a comma + another sentenceA

AAWWUBBIS

sentence . = fragment

What do you notice?

As it drew within a few feet of me, it opened its mouth.

(Describing a live shark approaching the author.)- Peter Benchley, Shark Life (2007)

What do you notice?Although the women’s faces are shown from the front, their noses appear in profile to the left. (Describing how Picasso painted people abstractly.)- Claire d’Harcourt, Masterpieces Up Close (2006)

What do you notice?

When you are a kid, you think you are going to remember everything.

- Esme Raji Codell, Sing a Song of Tuna Fish(2006)

What do you notice?

Before the players begin drills, they must warm up properly.

- Jeff Savage, Play-by-Play Football (2003)

What do you notice?

If I stand in a room and no one sees me, it’s like I was never there at all.

- Neal Shusterman, The Schwa Was Here (2006)

What do you notice?

If I stand in a room and no one sees me, it’s like I was never there at all.

- Neal Shusterman, The Schwa Was Here (2006)

AAAWWUBBIS in the middle of a sentence does not require a comma

AAAWWUBBIS

Sentence sentence .

= complex sentence

What do you notice?

I would need patience and motivation because the process is very long and challenging.

Introductory Phrases also take AAAWWUBBIS + a comma.

AAAWWUBBIS

phrase sentence, .

≠ complex sentence= simple sentence

What do you notice?After reading twelve pages, she looked to the end to see how many more pages there were to go: more than two hundred.- E. L. Konigsburg, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967)

What do you notice?

Until the sixteenth century, couples could be married outside a church and without a priest.- Claire d’Harcourt, Masterpieces Up Close (2006)

Uncombining Sentenceswith AAAWWUBBIS

Because his burden of garbage was large and precarious, he could not look down at the path and had to go by the feel of dirt under his sneakers.

- Lynne Rae Perkins, Criss Cross (2005)

Uncombining Sentenceswith AAAWWUBBIS

If Rowanne said something important, something he needed to know, he didn’t want to miss it.- Lynne Rae Perkins, Criss Cross (2005)

Combining Sentenceswith AAAWWUBBIS

He ate dinner. Then he headed out to see Phil. Phil was at his house.

Hector put on his shirt. Hector slung the guitar over his shoulder. The guitar belonged to him. Hector was surprised at how well he had turned out. Rowanne was surprised at how well he had turned

out.

Combining Sentenceswith AAAWWUBBIS

After he ate dinner, he headed out to Phil’s house. When Hector put on his shirt and slung his guitar over his shoulder, he and Rowanne were both surprised at how well he had turned out.

- Lynne Rae Perkins, Criss Cross (2005)