Download Sentence fluency

Adding VARITEY and STYLE to your WRITING:
SENTENCE FLUENCY
Why do I need fluency?
 Experienced writers use a variety of
sentences to make their writing interesting
and lively. Too many simple sentences, for
example, will sound choppy and immature
while too many long sentences will be
difficult to read and hard to understand.
The Simple Sentence
 A simple sentence, also called an
independent clause, contains a subject and a
verb, and it expresses a complete thought.
 In the following simple sentences, subjects
are in yellow, and verbs are in green.
Simple Sentence Examples
 A. Some students like to study in the
mornings.
B. Juan and Bryce play football every
afternoon.
C. Alicia goes to the library and studies every
day.
 Note that sentence B contains a compound
subject, and sentence C contains a compound
verb.
Spicing Up the Simple
Sentence with a SEMICOLON
 ; is used between two Complete Sentences of
common topics. The first word of the second
sentence is NOT capitalized unless it is a
proper noun or the word I.
 Ex. Chocolate is my favorite candy; I could
eat a pound of it a day!
 Ex. Melissa confusedly walked around the
store; she could not locate the pickles.
 NOT: The tree in my back yard is dying; Birds
have wings.
Where should the ; go?
 Jenks Middle School is a great place to go to
school the teachers, staff, and students are all
very helpful.
 Halloween is my favorite holiday because of
the costumes I will probably dress up as a
super hero this year.
 Tomorrow the weather might be dangerous
the meteorologist is forecasting possible
tornadoes
Spicing up the simple
sentence with an appositive
 An appositive is a noun or phrase that
renames/describes another noun offset by
commas.
Appositive Examples
 Ex. Jimmy, my dog, ate his rawhide chew.
 Ex. The kid plays with an XBOX, a game
console.
 Ex. We drove to Austin, the capital of Texas.
 Ex. Mrs. Rock, one of our assistant principals,
used to teach Language Arts.
 What noun is being re-named or described?
How can I create an
appositive?
 Bess is a character in the poem “The
Highwayman.” She sacrificed herself for love.
 Rikki Tikki Tavi was victorious over three
snakes. He defeated Karait, Nag, and
Nagaina.
 In the story “Seventh Grade,” Victor wanted
to impress a girl named Teresa.
The Compound Sentence
 A compound sentence contains two 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.)
 Coordinators are always preceded by a comma.
 In the following compound sentences, subjects
are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the
coordinators and the commas that precede them
are in red.
Examples of Compound
Sentences
 A. I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend
tried to speak English.
B. Cale played football, so Maria went
shopping.
C. Aiden practiced his trumpet, for he was
alone at his house.
, conjunction
fanboys
 , for
 , and
 , nor
 , but
 , or
 , yet
 , so
The Complex Sentence
 A complex sentence has an independent
clause joined by one or more dependent
clauses. A complex sentence always has a
subordinator such as because, since, after,
although, or when.
 In the following complex sentences, subjects
are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the
subordinators and their commas (when
required) are in red.
Examples of Complex
Sentences
 A. When he handed in his homework, he
forgot to give the teacher the last page.
B. The teacher returned the homework after
she noticed the error.
C. The students are studying because they
have a test tomorrow.
D. After they finished studying, Juan and
Michelle went to the movies.
E. Juan and Michelle went to the movies after
they finished studying.
When do I use a comma?
 When a complex sentence begins with a
subordinator such as sentences A and D, a
comma is required at the end of the
dependent clause.
 When the independent clause begins the
sentence with subordinators in the middle as
in sentences B, C, and E, no comma is
required.
 If a comma is placed before the subordinators
in sentences B, C, and E, it is wrong.
AAAWWUUBBIS Words
 Some of the most common subordinating






conjunctions can be remembered by using
AAAWWUUBBIS
Although, After, AS
While, When
Unless, Until
Because, Before
If
Since