The Art of Styling SentencesCh. 1

Mr. Ward

English 2/H

What exactly is a sentence? A sentence expresses a complete thought and

contains a subject-verb combination. Most sentences have two parts: the subject,

which is a noun or pronoun, and the verb. Sometimes a sentence can be a single word:

What? Nonsense! Jump.

What, and Nonsense communicate a complete thought. Jump has an unspoken “you” as the subject.

AKA, the “you- understood”

Subject ll Verb Let’s break up some simple sentences into

their parts, using vertical lines to separate different parts.

Throughout the slides, Subjects will be underlined once, Verbs twice

Fish ll swim.

Koalas ll eat.

With descriptive words (modifiers) added: The bright yellow fish ll swims swiftly and beautifully.

The cute koalas in the trees ll eat eucalyptus leaves.

Most Common Sentence Patterns Name Task

Declarative: A sentence may make a statement.

Interrogative: May it also ask a question?

Imperative: Use it to give an order.

Exclamatory: What great emotion it can express!

When you add descriptive words, the sentences get longer. Some sentence have phrases—a group of words that have no subject-verb combinations and usually act as a modifier. There are several kinds of

phrases. Prepositional phrase: begin with a preposition (in,

on, at, under, and so on) (for example, in the park , on the table, over the door)

Participle phrase: begin with the present and the past participle (for example, leading the pack, grown in the summer)

Infinitive phrase: begins with the infinitive (to plus the verb) (to play tennis, to stop the project)

You might also expand the basic sentence with clauses –a group of words containing a subject-verb combination that can express a complete thought, but may not: Independent clause:

makes a complete statement

communicates an idea by itself

Dependent clause:

modifies part of another clause

does not communicate a complete thought

may be a part of another clause

Independent and dependent clauses can be combined to form various types of sentences. The most common types of

sentences are: Simple: makes a complete sentence is an independent clause has only one subject-verb combination

Compound: makes two or more statements has two or more independent clauses has two or more subject-verb combinations

Complex: has an independent clause has one or more dependent clauses functioning as modifiers

Compound complex: has two or more independent clauses has two or more subject-verb combinations has one or more dependent clauses functioning as

modifiers

Subject and verbs Sometimes there will be more than one

subject that will come before the (ll) line. There might also be more than one verb as

well. Note that between each Subject Verb combo, you

will need a new (ll) line. John and David ll raced cars but drove safely.

Sentences can have something extra, but still have one pair of vertical lines. With transitive verbs (verbs that describe an action the subject performs) you need a direct object (DO). A DO receives the action of the verb an answer the questions

“What?” or “Whom?” Examples: DO

Jason ll lost his skateboard.

DO DO

Tamara ll forgot her books but passed the test.

Certain verbs, listed below, are linking verbs and may have a subject compliment –a noun, pronoun, or an adjective—that renames or describes the subject. Being verbs am, are, is, was, were,

be, being been

Verbs of sensation feel, taste, hear, etc.

Other linking verbs appear, become, seem

The following sentences illustrate the S-V combination with one or more subject complements. Examples:

SC

Princess Diana ll was an idol to many.

SC

English class ll is the highlight of my day.

Subject Compliment (SC)

Flea markets ll may be ________ or _______, ________ or _________, ________ or __________.

You can add modifiers to any part of the sentence or phrases. We will mark main clauses by putting a (ll)

between the Subject and Verb, and dependent clauses will have (l) between subjects and verbs.

We will put brackets […] around dependant clauses.

Dependant and Independent clauses. Long or short sentences ll can sometimes

communicate effectively the most difficult ideas in the world. (Simple sentence, compound verb)

Sterling silver [that l may cost $800 a place setting] and small kitchen appliances like can openers or toasters [that l are considered too basic] ll are no longer popular wedding gifts. (Complex sentence with 2 dependent clauses)

Now lets break a whole sentence into its parts. When making a mechanical analysis of any sentence use the following labels to identify the various parts. S—subject P—preposition

V—verb M—modifier

SC—subject compliment IO—indirect object

C—conjunction OC—object compliment

O—object of preposition DO—direct object

object of infinitive

Illustration of the sentence analysis

M M M S V M

The Rundown, dirty shoes appeared unbelievably

SC P M O

incongruous on the model.

Write an original sentence using the same parts as the last sentence.

M M M S V M SC P M O