Download English Sentence Patterns

English Sentence Patterns
Instructor Dave Badtke
Office Hours: 11:00-12:20, Tues & Thurs in Room 717 and after 3:15 in Room 701
(707)334-4882
Online Reference: www.Badtke.com or www.QCounty.com (follow link to Solano College classes)[email protected]
English Sentence Patterns:
The following table lists most of the patterns you need in order to write complete, interesting and logical sentences in English. By the end
of the semester you should be able to identify each concept, be able to use the concept in one or more sentences, and be able to teach the
concept to me or to one of your fellow students.
Sentence Pattern Rubric:
Pattern
Explanation
Sentence
o A simple declarative sentence consists of at least a subject and verb.
o It expresses a complete idea.
o Example: I work.
o Note: A verb alone can also be a sentence when it’s a command, e.g.,
Study!
o Every sentence must have at least one verb.
Verb
o Identify a verb by finding that word that can change its time or tense.
o Example: work is a verb because I can also write, I worked or I will
work. (For more on verbs see Verb Tenses online.)
Active sentence
o An active sentence is one in which you know who’s doing what.
o Example: Sam works. This is active because Sam is the one who is
working.
Passive sentence
o A passive sentence does not tell you who is doing the action.
o Example: Work is happening. In this case we don’t know who is
working, only that it’s happening.
o Note: avoid passive voice unless you don’t know who did the action.
Even then, Someone hit my car, which is active, may work better than,
My car was hit, which is passive.
Multiple subjects o A sentence can have more than one subject associated with a verb.
and verbs
o Example: Sam and Samantha work.
o A sentence can have more than one verb associated with a subject.
o Example: Sam works and studies.
o A sentence can have multiple subjects and verbs.
o Example: Sam and Samantha work and study.
o Note: Remember that when there’s more than one subject associated
with a verb, the verb takes its plural form.
Clause
o A clause is another word for a sentence.
o Note: So why do we need this? As we’ll see, a clause is useful when we’re
talking about combining sentences using conjunctions and connecting
words like who, which and that.
Phrase
o A phrase does not contain a verb.
o Example: Working at the movie theater. Notice that you cannot change
the time or tense of working.
Conjunction
o A conjunction is used to combine clauses in independent, dependent or
transitional ways.
o Example: 1) Sam works, but Samantha studies. But is a coordinating
conjunction. 2) While Sam works, Samantha studies. While is a
subordinating conjunction. 3) Sam works; meanwhile, Samantha
studies. Meanwhile is a transitional word or adverbial conjunction.
This can also be written as, Sam works. Meanwhile, Samantha studies.
Coordinating
o A coordinating conjunction combines two independent clauses,
Conjunctions
emphasizing each equally.
o There are seven coordinating conjunctions or FANBOYS: For; And;
Nor; But; Or; Yet; So.
o Example: See the conjunction worksheet for usage.
o Note: And is a coordinating conjunction that allows us in speech to
avoid logical problems. Sam yelled at John, and John hit Sam. Better
would be Sam yelled at John, so John hit Sam, which expresses the
logical relationship between the clauses. As a result, go and hunting
and replace it in all cases where logic rather than addition needs to be
expressed.
Identify
Use
Teach
Subordinating
Conjunctions
Transition words
Nouns modified
with adjectives
Nouns
modified with
prepositional
phrases
Nouns modified
with noun
phrases
Nouns modified
with adjective
clauses
o While a subordinating conjunction combines two independent clauses,
the clause associated with the subordinating conjunction is made
dependent on the other clause, is subordinated to the other clause.
o Example: The above sentence is an example using the subordinating
conjunction while. See the conjunction worksheet for usage.
o Note: Because subordinating conjunctions create a need for resolution,
they add logical momentum to your writing. They are also particularly
useful when creating topic sentences and theses. (For more on this see
Essay Patterns.)
o Transition words express logical relationships between ideas. Since idea
switching is significant in a paper, you want to use them sparingly and
strategically.
o Example: Since transition words like furthermore, therefore, similarly
and finally tend to bring the reader to a full, logical stop before
proceeding, they should not be overused. However, not using them at
all can make logical transitions in your paper harder to follow.
o Note: When a transition is used within a sentence, it is set off with a
semicolon, e.g., He went; however, he didn’t want to go. For this to
work properly, the logical shift needs to be restricted to the sentence.
As a result, you won’t frequently find this construction in published
writing.
o Nouns can be modified with adjectives.
o Example: Hungry Samantha ate the red apple.
o Note: When there are multiple adjectives, they are not separated
by commas when they accumulate, which is to say when one is
subordinate to another, e.g., the white frame house is old. You can test
whether this is correct by reversing the adjectives. Clearly, the frame
white house is old has a different meaning. A weaker test is to use and
between the adjectives, but since we use and so often, this test may
leave you wondering what’s right.
o Prepositions like in, on, near, of, with, about, at, to, for, and from can
be used in phrases to modify nouns.
o Example: The old white house was in the country.
o Note: Adjectives and prepositional phrases can be combined to create
complex descriptions, e.g., The old white house in the country far from
the ancient, colonial town was hard to find.
o Noun phrases, also called appositives, are nouns and their modifiers that
are placed next to nouns to modify them.
o Example: Solano College, a welcoming place, a school close to Suisun,
an institution with thousands of students, will be good for your
learning life.
o Note: the adjective apposite means appropriate and relevant, hence the
term appositive for a noun phrase, which must be placed next to the
noun it’s modifying to avoid confusion. E.g., “The man rode Lightning
into Valentine, a slow old horse” is confusing. “The man rode
Lightning, a slow old horse, into Valentine” makes clear that Valentine
is a place.
o Who, which and that create adjective clauses that modify nouns.
o Example. The man who ate the pie, which my wife made, that tasted
terrible later died.
o Note: In the above example note that who represents the man, which
represents the pie as does that. However, which is nonrestrictive,
meaning that it’s not critical to the meaning, whereas that is restrictive.
o Note: Whom can only be used as an object pronoun, e.g., The man,
whom my wife hates, to whom she gave the pie, died after eating it.
Nouns modified
with verbal
phrases
Parallel phrasing
o A verb’s past participle, present participle or infinitive form can be used
to create a phrase modifying a noun.
o Example (past participle): Jack, found by the search party, lived.
o Example (present participle): Finding Jack, the search party saved his
life.
o Example (infinitive): To find Jack, the search party looked far and wide.
o Note: Make sure that your modifier is associated with the correct noun.
To get this wrong is to create a dangling modifier.
o When using modifying phrases and clauses, pick a form and stick to it
throughout, paying careful attention to subjects and verbs as well.
o Example: Sam went to the store, to the bank, to the cleaners and then to
the library before he went home. (For excellent examples of parallelism
see any of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches or essays.)