Sentence Variety

WRITE THE FOLLOWING NEW TERMS IN THE GRAMMAR SECTION OF YOUR NOTEBOOK:

SENTENCES CAN BE:

SIMPLE SENTENCES COMPOUND

SENTENCES COMPLEX

SENTENCES

WHAT ARE

SIMPLE SENTENCES? COMPOUND SENTENCES?

COMPLEX SENTENCES?

Sentence Variety

SIMPLE SENTENCES:

Simple sentence, also called an independent clause, contains a subject and a verb, and it expresses a complete thought.

SIMPLE SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

In the following simple sentences, subjects are in yellow, and verbs are in green.  

Some students like to study in the mornings.

Juan and Arturo play football every afternoon.

Alicia goes to the library and studies every day.

SIMPLE SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

CHECK YOUR WRITING:

UNDERLINE ANY SIMPLE SENTENCES YOU HAVE

BEGINNING WITH NOUN: “School is wicked fun.”

BEGINNING WITH PRONOUN: “My dog threw up on the carpet.”

BEGINNING WITH ARTICLE:“The car is in front of the

cat.”

SIMPLE SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

ADD VARIETY TO YOUR WRITING BY BEGINNING WITH A PHRASE ( a group of words that clarify a sentence)

BEGIN WITH A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

“ On Tuesday, I like to play tennis.”

BEGIN WITH A VERBAL (-ING OR –ED ENDING)

“Thinking about sushi, I went to a Japanese restaurant.”

SIMPLE SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

COMPOUND SENTENCES:

A compound sentence contains two sentences (independent clauses) joined by a coordinator.

The coordinators are as follows: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

(Helpful hint: The first letter of each of the coordinators spells FANBOYS.)

COMPOUNDSENTENC

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Sentence Variety

COMPOUND SENTENCES:

The first letter of each of the coordinators spells FANBOYS

What are the

coordinator words? F A N B O Y S

COMPOUNDSENTENC

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Sentence Variety

Except for very short sentences, coordinators are always preceded by a comma.

I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English. 

Alejandro played football, so Maria went shopping. 

COMPOUNDSENTENC

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Sentence Variety

In these examples, the subjects are in yellow, the coordinators are in red, and the verbs are in green.

I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English. 

Alejandro played football, so Maria went shopping. 

I ran inside the house, for the storm was becoming stronger.

COMPOUNDSENTENC

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Sentence Variety

YOU TRY: ADD VARIETY BY COMBINING OR ADDING A SECOND SENTENCE TO A PREVIOUS ONE

USE ONE OF OUR COORDINATORS

“I like to swim, yet I would rather play tennis.”

“ Would you like to play Nintendo, or should we go play football?”

COMPOUNDSENTENC

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Sentence Variety

COMPLEX SENTENCES:

Complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses.

You know about

independent clauses! What is a DEPENDENT CLAUSE?

COMPLEX SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

DEPENDENT CLAUSES:

Dependent clauses look like mini-sentences.

Dependent clauses need to be attached to a full sentence to be correct / make sense

COMPLEX SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

DEPENDENT CLAUSES:

Where is the “mini-sentence in this dependent clause?

“When he saw his friend”

Why isn’t the above dependent clause correct? Does it make sense?

How could you fix it?

COMPLEX SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

Can you find the independent clause (complete-main sentence) in the following sentences?

When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page. 

The teacher returned the homework after she noticed the error. 

The students are studying because they have a test tomorrow.

COMPLEX SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

A complex sentence always has a subordinator such as because, since, after, although, when or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which.

“I want to live in Italy because I love to eat pizza”

“After the play finished, we went to eat pizza”

“I can’t stand health nuts who don’t eat pizza.”

COMPLEX SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

DON’T FORGET! If you BEGIN with dependent clause, you put a comma after it, before starting the main sentence/independent clause.

When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page. 

After our teacher returned the homework, she noticed an error. 

(If you start with main/independent clause = no comma!)

The students are studying because they have a test tomorrow.

COMPLEX SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

LAST POINT! You can insert a dependent clause in THREE places.

BEFORE starting the main sentence/independent clause:

When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page. 

COMPLEX SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

LAST POINT! You can insert a dependent clause in THREE places.

After writing the main sentence/independent clause:

He forgot to give the teacher the last page when handed in his homework.

COMPLEX SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

LAST POINT! You can insert a dependent clause in THREE places.

You can even put a dependent clause IN THE MIDDLE of the main sentence:

The sleepy boy, when he handed in his homework, forgot to give the teacher the last page.

COMPLEX SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

You try! Re-write 3 of your sentences, putting a dependent clause in the BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END of your main sentence.

After calling his friend, the sleepy boy quickly went to bed.

The sleepy boy, after calling his friend, quickly went to bed.

The sleepy boy quickly went to bed after calling his friend,.

COMPLEX SENTENCE

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Sentence Variety

TRY TO COMBINE ALL OUR TRICKS INTO ONE SUPER SENTENCE: A COMPOUND SENTENCE (ending with a semi-colon), AND A COMPLEX SENTENCE!

“There are so many wonderful ways to make pizza and I love the great sauces; whenever we go Italy, I always order the biggest pizza in the restaurant!

SUPER COMPLEX SENTENCE

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