Transcript but my roommate came in and saw me trying to cook his favorite recipe

Ever feel like
you’re not
getting
anywhere with
your
writing???
Sentence Type Basics
Mrs. Snyder
English 9
Three Sentence
Types
As much as any sane person
needs to know…
Terms We’ll Need:
 Subject
 Verb
 Clause
verb)
(group of words with a subject and a
 Independent
clause -strong, stands alone
 Dependent clause -subordinate-weak, needs
support
The Simple Sentence
A simple sentence has one independent clause
and no dependent clauses:

The student yawned.
Although a simple sentence cannot have a
dependent clause, it can have modifiers:
The
tall student sitting in the back in my algebra
class yawned loudly.
The basic sentence is ‘The student yawned’. The
other words are modifiers - they are descriptive
words.
A
simple sentence contains only one independent
clause, but it can have more than one subject or
verb:
 TWO
SUBJECTS: The student and his friend
yawned.
 TWO
VERBS : The student yawned and fell asleep.
 TWO
SUBJECTS: The student and his friend
yawned.
 TWO
VERBS : The student yawned and fell
asleep.
A sentence with all these elements will be long, but it is
still simple because it contains only one independent
clause:
The tall student sitting in the back in my
physics class yawned loudly.
Can you identify the ‘real’ sentence?
The tall student sitting in the back in
my physics class and his friend
yawned loudly and fell asleep.
The Compound Sentence
A compound sentence has two or more
independent clauses that are usually
joined by a coordinating conjunction:
 Henry
I
got a new job, so he has to move.
have a lot of homework, but I am not
going to have time to study tonight.
Notice the difference between a simple sentence
with a compound verb and a compound sentence
with two clauses:
SIMPLE
My house guests returned from a
long day of shopping and went
straight to bed.
COMPOUND My house guests returned home
from a long day of shopping, and
we decided to stay at home
instead of going out.
What is the difference?
Compound sentence with
coordinating conjunctions
Most compound sentences are formed with a
coordinating conjunction: and, or, but,
so, for, nor, yet. The last three occur
almost exclusively in writing, so they add a
level of formality:
 The experiment was deemed successful,
yet our results were unsatisfactory.
 The
students were unhappy with their
professor, for he often wasted their time in
class.
Compound sentence without
coordinating conjunctions
Yet, while most compound sentences are
formed with a coordinating conjunctions,
often good writers decide to eliminate the
conjunction and simply add a semicolon:
 The ambitious student initiated the
research; the teacher was pleased by her
efforts.
 The
students were unhappy with their
professor; he often wasted their time in
class.
Compound sentence without
coordinating conjunctions
When a transition leads a clause, it is usually
followed by a comma. If the transition lands
in the middle of a compound sentence, use
the semicolon, and then follow the transition
with a comma:
 The experiment was deemed successful;
unfortunately, our results were unsatisfactory.
 The
students were unhappy with their
professor; undeniably, he often wasted their
time in class.
The Complex Sentence
A complex sentence has an independent
clause with one or more dependent
clauses (independent clauses are in italics).
Note that introductory dependent clauses
must be followed by commas:
we got to the concert late, we had to
make our way to our seats in the dark.
 Since
 We
left class early so that we could attend
a special lecture.
Complex sentences should be
punctuated in one of two ways:
 INDEPENDENT CLAUSE dependent clause (no
comma)
We left class early so that we could attend a
special lecture.
Dependent clause, INDEPENDENT CLAUSE (comma)
So that we could attend a special lecture, we
left class early.
Comparing compound and
complex sentences
 interest,
variety, and coherence
 compound sentences differ from complex
sentences in one important way: In a compound
sentence, both clauses have equal importance; in
a complex sentence, the independent clause is
more important.
Compare these sentences:
 COMPOUND
John was tired, but he finished
his homework.
 COMPLEX Although John was tired, he
finished his homework.
 In
the first sentence, the writer is
communicating that both clauses are equally
important. In the second sentence, the writer
is saying that the subordinate clause ("John
was tired") is less important than the
independent clause ("he finished his
homework").
Long, rambling sentences
Writing that has too many strings of
independent clauses joined by coordinating
conjunctions can be tiresome and
frustrating for the reader.
These long rambling sentences leave the
reader out of breath and wondering which
information is important.
Long rambling sentences are also perceived
as informal because they duplicate
spoken language
Look at this paragraph with many independent
clauses joined with coordinating conjunctions:
I went home, but my roommate wasn't there,
so I started to cook dinner, but my roommate
came in and saw me trying to cook his favorite
recipe, but I didn't really know how to make it
well, and he got really angry, so I stopped
cooking, and he made dinner for us, and then
everything was all right.
The independent clauses are underlined, and the
coordinating conjunctions are in bold:
I went home, but my roommate wasn't there,
so I started to cook dinner, but my roommate
came in and saw me trying to cook his favorite
recipe, but I didn't really know how to make it
well, and he got really angry, so I stopped
cooking, and he made dinner for us, and then
everything was all right.
This is better! Notice how it makes use of a variety
of sentence structures.
When I went home, my roommate wasn't
there, so I started to cook dinner. Then, my
roommate came in and saw me trying to cook
his favorite recipe even though I didn't know
how to make it well. I stopped cooking
because he got really angry. In the end, he
made dinner for us, and everything was all
right.
Sometimes you can improve things by just
adding a few interesting phrases!
“I thought of this poem while I was
watching my dog play.”
Not a TERRIBLE sentence, really, but not
a very interesting one, either.
Sometimes you can improve things by just
adding a few interesting phrases!
“I thought of this poem while I was watching
my dog play.”
By creating an introductory participial phrase,
we improve things dramatically:
“Watching my dog play, I thought of a great
idea for a poem.”
Sometimes you can improve things by just
adding a few interesting phrases!
“I wrote this poem after I finished a
challenging basketball game.”
By creating an introductory participial phrase,
we improve things dramatically:
“Finishing a challenging basketball game, I
paused to write this poem.”
Sometimes you can improve things by just
adding a few interesting phrases!
“My mom wrote this poem for me. It’s about
childhood.”
What would you do to improve this?
Sometimes you can improve things by just
adding a few interesting phrases!
“My friend, Sabrina, wrote this poem for me.
She told me that her cat inspired her to write
it.”
What would you do to improve this?