Download Sentence structure drills

Print out this lesson and set of drills. Try to master them on your
own first. Only then should you seek help from me or an instructor
on duty at the WRC. I apologize for the length (if you are paying by
the page) but improving sentence structure requires both knowledge
and practice.
Sentence structure drills:
To learn how to control sentence structure, the student needs to learn the basic
parts of the sentence. Those basic parts are clauses (main and dependant) and phrases.
Read the following tutorials on basic grammar points and complete the following drills in
order to practice identifying the parts of sentences and practice putting them together into
complete and logical sentences. There is a specific order to the exercises to help you
develop your basic sentence structure skills.
Remember that there is further explanation and examples in your text book. All
of these concepts can be found in your grammar handbook (like Simon and Schuster,
Little Brown, etc.) or college writing textbook (Saint Martin’s Guide, English Skills with
Readings, etc.). You also can check one of these types of books out at the WRC.
Clauses and phrases:
A clause is a group of words containing both a subject and a verb. A verb is the
action of the sentence. A subject is the person or thing (noun or pronoun) that does the
action. This action can be just “being” as in the case of the verb “to be.” Some
instructors call this the “linking verb.” For example, in the sentence, “I was at the store,”
“I” is the subject and “was” is the verb. A clause can be either independent (main clause)
or dependant (requiring a main clause to be complete. In the case of “because I went to
the store,” the conjunction “because makes it a dependant clause because it can not stand
on its own as a complete sentence.
Be careful with things that look like verbs, but aren’t verbs. There needs to be a
subject and verb for it to be the verb of a sentence. Things that look like verbs, like
“walking to the store” that aren’t actually verbs (there is no actual subject there) are not
verbs at all. This is in fact a phrase.
A phrase is a group of words that has no subject verb pairing. Some of these are
prepositional phrases that contain a preposition. A preposition is a (usually short) word
that shows relationship in time, space or logic like “under,” “over,” “in,” “around,” or
“to.” A phrase can also be a verb phrase that contains something that resembles a verb,
like an infinitive (to+ verb), or participle (-ing or –ed form), but not an actual
subject/verb.
Exercise 1: Identify the phrases as either verb phrases or prepositional phrases. If it
starts with a preposition, it’s a prepositional phrase. If it starts with a form of a
verb, like an infinitive or participle, then it is a verb phrase.
1)
On the beach
____________
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
2)
Under the porch
____________
3)
Walking for exercise
____________
4)
For another minute
____________
5)
To boldly go
____________
6)
Down the road
____________
7)
To do something good
____________
8)
Printed in error
____________
9)
On the other hand
____________
10)
For fun
____________
Exercise 2: Underline the clause or clauses in each sentence and circle the phrases.
1)
In the morning, the man’s nephew walks to work.
2)
My friend Desiree goes to the store every day after work.
3)
Since he was alone Alex took his favorite book on his walk in the woods.
4)
Mike, before getting in the car, threw his jacket in the back seat.
5)
In front of the house, Lola sat on the brick wall beneath the tree.
6)
Running from the police, the bank robber tripped on the sidewalk.
7)
The glamour model looked at the camera with a strange look.
8)
)Amazing the crow with a dazzling flurry, the magician pulled a rabbit out of his
hat.
9)
Because he had a hot dog for lunch, Manuel had a light meal for dinner.
10)
After she caught her meal, the red-tailed hawk landed on the pole.
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
Transitions versus conjunctions:
Transitions are words that direct the flow of ideas from sentence to sentence. A
transition can appear in front of a clause and it is still a complete sentence. A transition
like “thus,” “however,” “hence,” “then,” or “next” does not make a clause dependant.
The clause, “Therefore, I like doughnuts,” is still a main clause and can stand on its own
as a short but complete sentence.
On the other hand, a conjunction makes a clause dependant. There are two types
of clause: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions. Coordinating
conjunctions can be remembered by the word “FANBOYS,” which stands for “for,”
“and,” “nor,” “but,” “or,” “yet” and “so.” Subordinating conjunctions are other
conjunctions like “because,” “since,” “when,” “while,” “though,” or “although.” If you
put one of these on the front of a clause, like “But I like doughnuts,” it is a dependant
clause and cannot stand on its own as a sentence. Do note that many prepositions (like
“while” in the list above), if they are put on the front of a clause then act as (and are)
subordinating conjunctions.
Just to be clear, you can put a transition on the front of a clause and it will still be
independent, meaning the sentence can stand on its own. A conjunction, subordinating or
coordinating, will make the simple sentence incomplete. That means though they may
sound similar in meaning, they are actually completely different animals. “But” is a
conjunction that makes the clause “But I like Alice,” incomplete. “However” technically
means the same thing, but the clause “However, I like Alice,” is a complete sentence.
This is why you should practice the difference between transitions and conjunctions.
Exercise 3: First, decide if the following words are transitions or conjunctions. Use
a dictionary to check your answers:
1)
However
____________
2)
But
____________
3)
Besides
____________
4)
If
____________
5)
Before
____________
6)
Furthermore
____________
7)
Whereas
____________
8)
Consequently
____________
9)
Unless
____________
10)
For instance
____________
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
11)
Whenever
____________
12)
Excluding
____________
13)
Except
____________
14)
Still
____________
15)
While
____________
Answers: 1 T, 2 CC, 3 T, 4 SC, 5 SC, 6 T, 7 SC, 8 T, 9 SC, 10 T, 11 SC, 12 T, 13 T, 14
T, 15 SC.
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
Exercise 4: Identify each clause below as either a main clause (MC) or dependant
clause (DC) depending on whether it has a transition or conjunction. Main clauses
have a subject and verb and can stand on their own as a complete sentence.
Dependant clauses cannot stand on their own, so require a main clause to be
complete. There may be a few phrases sprinkled in to make things interesting.
Ignore the phrases for your answers.
1)
after Doug put on his shoes
____________
2)
he walked to the store
____________
3)
and bought a bottle of prop wash
____________
4)
even though the man was alone
____________
5)
he likes pasta
____________
6)
however he hated the stromboli
____________
7)
but he liked the pizza
____________
8)
at the party, before the game, after she got dressed
____________
9)
struggling for air, he ran as fast as he could
____________
10)
thus he finished his masterpiece
____________
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
Fragments:
Fragments are incomplete sentences. Editors and instructors mark them
“frag,” and they are considered a severe grammar errors and are typical of writers who
need more work on their writing before reacing the technical “college level.” To be a
complete sentence, a group of words must have one (and only one) main clause that can
stand on its own. It cannot be mererly a group of phrases and/or dependant clauses.
There must be one main clause there.
Exercise 5: Identify the following as fragments or complete sentences. Don’t
consider length. Find main clauses by looking for subject and verb combinations
that can stand on their own. If it is a main clause, it can stand on its own. Pay close
attention to conjunctions versus transitions in determining if a clause is dependant
or not.
1)
Arnold the talking pig.
____________
2)
Andrew smokes.
____________
3)
There are two parties at the beach.
____________
4)
He likes tacos.
____________
5)
Since he likes tacos.
____________
6)
However, he likes tacos.
____________
7)
Yet, he likes tacos.
____________
8)
Running as fast as he could.
____________
9)
Spanning the globe, to gain as much information as possible, the greatest
news organization ever built.
10)
____________
Although she had the book, she did not prepare for class.
____________
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
Repairing fragments:
Fragments can be fixed by either making them complete, or by adding a main
clause. For some fragments, the student can merely change a conjunction into a
transition to make the dependant clause complete. For other fragments, where there is no
clause (dependant or main), the student will have to either add a main clause, or else
attach the fragment to another sentence before or after.
Exercise 6: Repair the following fragments. There may be main clauses sprinkled
throughout to make it interesting.
1)
Going to practice one day.
2)
Smiling all the while, since he had a new car.
3)
However the wrestler was angry.
4)
The rest of the group paying for the ticket and watching the movie.
5)
Another time, because I can’t do it right now.
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
6)
If Fred watched TV.
7)
Since the beginning of time.
8)
After running the race, because he was tired. He sat on the ground.
9)
Unless the bill is paid.
10)
Once the parade was over. But the street was littered.
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
Fused sentences:
The fused sentence error is where the student “fuses” or sticks together two
complete sentences together into one sentence construction. This is another significant
grammar error that suggests a student needs more work on sentence structure. Editors
and instructors mark them as “FS.” A fused sentence is the same as the older term “Runon.” Grammarians no longer use this term because the technical error itself has no
relationship to sentence length or how long it seems to “run.” Also, a comma splice is a
specific type of fused sentence where the two complete sentences are put together with a
comma. These are sometimes marked as “CS.”
To be complete and correct, a sentence must have one, and only one, main
clause. There can be only one part of the sentence that can stand on its own. It can have
several dependant parts, but there needs to be only one main clause. If there is no main
clause, then it is a fragment. If there are two or more main clauses, then it is a fused
sentence.
Fused sentences can be repaired in three basic ways. First, the student can
simply divide the two sentences by putting a period on the first complete sentence and
capitalizing the first letter of the second complete part to make two sentences.
Next, the student can repair a fused sentence by making one of the
independent parts of the sentence subordinate to the other part. This can be done by
adding a conjunction to one of the clauses to make it dependant. For example, the
student can fix the fused sentence “The goat ate my homework, he was hungry” by
adding the conjunction “because.” The fixed sentence would read “The goat ate my
homework because he was hungry.” This can also be done by changing the subject/verb
combination to something dependant. For example, the student can fix the previous
example by changing it to “Being hungry, the goat ate my homework.”
Finally fused sentences can sometimes be repaired by using a semicolon. In
this usage, a semicolon can hold together two main clauses. Stylistically though,
semicolons are often abused. Computer grammar checkers suggest semicolons to
disguise student sentence structure problems without understanding the actual sentence.
To merit a semicolon, there needs to be some reason to bind the two main clauses
together. There needs to be either some interesting parallel structure between the two
clauses, or some other compelling reason to put the sentences together. The example “I
went to the store; the mail arrives at two,” is technically correct, since it is two main
clauses bound together with a semicolon, but it is stylistically inappropriate. There is not
enough connection between the clauses to merit using the semicolon. The semicolon
usage in Julius Caesar’s famous line, “I came; I saw; I conquered,” is stylistically
appropriate because of the poetic repetition. Note that some editors do accept commas
for this sentence because the main clauses are so short, but technically it’s begging for
semicolons.
Exercise 7: Repair the following fused sentences. To do so, check for subject and
verb combinations to find the clauses. Then determine if they are main or
dependant clauses. Correct sentences can contain only one main clause, but they
can also have several dependant clauses and/or phrases. The exercises below may
contain both dependant and main clauses as well as phrases, and not all are fused.
Do not “fix” correct sentences.
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
1)
He walks to school every morning, however he appreciates an occasional
ride.
2)
Smile she said, the photographer took the picture.
3)
Louise was a Native American, she came from the Maidu tribe.
4)
Johnny Depp made a good pirate, yet he was better in Cry-Baby.
5)
The new iPhone is a wonderful device, it gets Twitter.
6)
The robot welded the car, by the way it is more accurate than a human.
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
7)
The British claimed to have won the war of 1812, incidentally the United
States also did.
8)
Abraham Lincoln was our greatest president, he won the Civil War and freed
the slaves.
9)
Warren G. Harding was our worst president, consequently he was involved in
scandal.
10)
In the morning the garage door was stuck, however it was better by lunch.
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
Sentence structure in practice:
Exercise 8: Punctuate and capitalize the following paragraph logically.
After school, my friends and I would go to 7-11 to play
video games we had consoles at home, but it was good to get out
of the house however we sometimes came across some scary
people there once there was a tall, muscular man loitering outside
who had a tattoo on his face and a pit bull while we were leaving
he started following us as we walked faster, he would walk faster
and his dog was looking at us with a mean glare we stared to run
consequently he yelled, “Hey, guys, you dropped your keys!”
feeling a sense of relief we thanked him he is now a good friend.
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
Further work on sentence structure:
Exercise 9: First identify the type of sentence structure error by marking “frag” for
fragments, “fs” for fused sentences or “c” for correct sentences in the small space
provided. Then correct all errors, if applicable. Watch out for transitions versus
conjunctions.
1)
Straining, grasping for the goal, yet he has yet to ever make it.
__________
2)
Unable to proceed, the man gave up, he had had enough.
__________
3)
The cat left paw prints on my car, he’s in trouble.
__________
4)
Michele drives a Honda Accord, however Brandy drives a Chevy Camaro.
__________
5)
So, he ate his lunch in peace.
__________
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.
6)
And he donated all of his money to Haiti because he is such a giving person
__________
7)
Though he is the right person for the job.
__________
8)
To aim for the stars is what my students should strive for.
__________
9)
Thus he broke the speed limit so he could get home on time.
__________
10)
Burned to the core, the breakfast ruined beyond repair.
__________
 2010 John Pinson. Reproduction and use by permission only.