(tips for adding variety to boring sentences)

Sentences

Why use variety in your sentences?

• Sentence variety is necessary for a number of reasons:

* Sentence variety makes your writing more interesting to read!

* Sentence variety adds style to your writing!

* Sentence variety will help develop your writing skills!

Six Sassy Sentence types:

1. Two-adjective beginnings2. “-ing” at beginning or end3. “-ly” beginnings4. Informative interrupters

(appositives)5. Balanced sentences6. Dependent clauses

1. Two-Adjective Beginnings:

•Tall, handsome lifeguards flirt wildly with the pretty girls.

•Rickety and dilapidated, the old schoolhouse didn’t stand a chance in an earthquake.

Now you try:

2. “-ing” at beginning

•Running like the wind, Forrest Gump made national headline news.

•Saving the best for last, Lisa finally ate her Reese’s peanut butter cup.

Now you try:

“-ing” at end•He trudged along the hot desert for days, wishing he had brought more water.

•Sandy gave the homeless man all the money she had, hoping that her small act of kindness might bring him some comfort.

Now you try:

3. “-ly” at beginning

•Cheerfully, she answered the phone for her mother.

•Slowly opening the door, the servant tried not to wake his master.

Now you try:

4. Informative Interrupters

•The fish, a slimy mass of flesh, felt the alligator’s giant teeth sink into him as he struggled to swim away.

•The child, face covered with chocolate doughnut, asked his mother if he could have some milk.

Now you try:

5. Balanced Sentences•He runs onto the baseball field, spins

around second base, and looks back at the academy.

•Choosing a Christmas tree, putting up Christmas lights, and baking Christmas cookies are all included in my December traditions.

Now you try:

6. Dependent Clauses

•Because it rained, the garden party was postponed.

•Since the road construction is complete, Jim can make it home in only ten minutes.

Now you try:

For variety in your writing, begin an occasional sentence with a prepositional phrase.

A prepositional phrase is a group of words containing a preposition and its object (a noun or pronoun).

1 – Charles left the room without a word.2 – Without a word, Charles left the room.

1 – A fat yellow cat lay sleeping on the narrow sill.2 – On the narrow sill, a fat yellow cat lay sleeping.

Note the slight shift in emphasis that results from beginning with a prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases that begin sentences are usually followed by commas. However, short prepositional phrases need not be.

A compound predicate is useful in combining short sentences.

1 – He serves elaborate meals.2 – He never uses a recipe.3 – He serves elaborate meals yet never uses a recipe.

4 – Aviators rarely get nosebleeds.5 – They often suffer from backaches.6 – Aviators rarely get nosebleeds but often suffer from backaches

Sentences 1 and 2 are combined by yet and no comma proceeds yet.Sentences 4 and 5 are joined by but and no comma proceeds but.

Now you try it! Combine the following four pairs of short sentences into four sentences with compound predicates. Use and, but, or, and yet.

1 – She love him.2 – She cannot live without him.

3 – The cat loves to watch television.4 – She sits right in front of the screen.

5 – The fuchsia is a showy houseplant. 6 – It droops terribly when it gets dry.

7 – These statistics are very interesting. 8 – They prove that your theory is true.

Created by Anita Mattos and Melissa Hilton

2002(Resources include Barry Noden’s Image Grammar

and The Write Source, 2000.)