Download Mohon- Corrected Style Workshop Sheet

Style Workshop
Types of Sentences
Independent clauses can stand alone as sentences. Dependent clauses need another clause to form a
complete sentence.

Simple: Contains one independent clause and no dependent clauses.
Example: Becky rode a blue bike.

Compound: A sentence with multiple independent clauses but no dependent clauses
Example: Becky rode a blue bike, and she fell off it.

Complex: A sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
Example: Becky rode a blue bike to the store.

Complex-Compound: A sentence with multiple independent clauses and at least one dependent
clause.
Example: Becky rode a blue bike and she fell off it, but she brushed herself off and rode to the store.
When you write, you will want to include a variety of sentences and sentence structures to keep the
writing from being monotonous which can bore a reader. Inexperienced writers often only use simple
sentences while more sophisticated writers use a variety of sentence structures.
“To Be” Verbs: is, are, was, were, be, been, am
Example with “to be” verb: Becky was going to the store when she fell off her bike.
Example with “to be” verb eliminated: Becky fell off her blue bike on the way to the store.
Keep an eye out for your use of “to be” verbs. Often these verbs aren’t active and fail to provide a clear
description for your reader. Enter the various forms of “to be” one at a time into the “Find” box to locate
and evaluate your use of these terms.
Prepositions: to, onto, into, at, in, on, since, for, by, from – to, from – until, during, within, under,
underneath, beneath, below, near, by, next to, between, among, opposite (when talking about a
location), of, about, above, across, against, ahead of, along, among, around, beside, between, in
front of, outside, inside, near, off, out of, through, toward, under, within.
Example: On a cloudy day Becky rode her blue bike under the bridge to the store but she fell
off into a puddle and got mud on her yellow slacks. (5 total prepositions in one sentence!)
Example eliminating some of the prepositions: The sky was cloudy when Becky rode her blue
bike to the store. She fell into a puddle and soiled her yellow slacks. (Note this sentence was
revised by breaking the sentence into two sentences.)
Explanation of rules come from Purdue OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Style Workshop
Use a variety of prepositions in your prose, but don’t add too many to any one sentence. Doing so will
make the sentences more complicated to read. Limit your use of prepositions per sentence to 2-3.
Activity
First, you will want to know how many sentences total you have in your paper:
.
Examine your essay and tabulate how many of each type of sentence exists in your paper.
Your Essay
Average in your paper
in percentiles
Divide your answer by
the total number of
sentences in your essay.
Then multiply by 100.
Class Average
Professional essay
Simple
Compound
Complex
Compound Complex
Examine your essay and highlight each occurrence of a “to be” verb. Record your findings.
Total number of “to be” verbs.
Total number of other verbs.
Examine your essay and highlight (in a different color) each preposition you find. Record your findings.
Total Number of
Prepositions
Sentence with the most
prepositions
Sentence with the least
Prepositions
With Track Changes on, go through your essay and begin editing your work. To turn on Track Changes,
Go to “REVIEW” and select “Track Changes”. Doing this will allow you to see the changes you made
when you have finished editing your work. When you are finished save your draft in a separate file, print
both your original draft and the draft with your tracked changes on.
Explanation of rules come from Purdue OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/