Transcript SAT 6: Improving sentences and paragraphs

SAT 6: IMPROVING
SENTENCES AND
PARAGRAPHS
IMPROVING SENTENCES AND
PARAGRAPHS
Recognize and write clear, effective, accurate
sentences
 How do parts of a sentence work together?
 How do sentences work together in a paragraph?


You will be required to show knowledge of
Altering structures within sentences
 Combining sentences
 Determine most effective sentences

IMPROVING SENTENCES

Look for common problem areas:



Noun/verb agreement, parallelism, placement of
modifiers, use of relative clauses
For multiple choice questions, you must read the
entire sentence before you look at the choices
Helpful to read more slowly than you normally do
PARALLELISM

Parallelism: Puts the contents of a sentence into
a recognizable patter.



Makes your sentence easier to understand
Balance a word with a word, phrase with a
phrase, clause with a clause
Similar Types of words; adjectives, prepositional
phrases, noun clauses,
PARALLELISM EXAMPLE




“On a hot day, I like to swimming or to sit in the
shade”
Error: The sentence does not flow because the
parts of the sentence are not parallel.
Revision “On a hot day, I like to swim or to sit in
the shade
Rationale: The revised sentence makes the
VERB Phrases parallel.
PRACTICE: IMPROVING SENTENCES

Sample Questions (page 165, #’s 1-8)
IMPROVING PARAGRAPHS


Utilize the information about improving
individual sentences
In addition; tackle wordiness
Wordiness: using unnecessary words and
phrases OR adding empty expressions to a
sentence.
 Empty Expressions: are redundant (repetitive)
and do not add anything to your sentence


“two in number”, “if you know what I mean”
REWRITING SENTENCES TO AVOID
WORDINESS




“Our favorite balloon were those that were red in
color”
Error: Wordiness- “Red in color”
Rationale: Since red is a type of color, both words
are not necessary
Revise: “Our favorite balloon was the red one”
PRACTICE AVOIDING WORDINESS

Practice: (page 171, #’s 1-10)
IMPROVING PARAGRAPHS

We would only be correcting sentences if we
simply avoided errors.

Therefore,

Need to actively improve sentences/paragraphs

Adding descriptive words that are NOT
redundant.
ADDING DESCRIPTIVE WORDS

ORIGINAL: “Our favorite balloons were red”

Possible revisions:


“When we spent a day at the circus, our favorite
balloons were red and star shaped”
“Red balloons decorated with silver sparkles
caught the sunshine the best, so we decided they
were our favorites”
ADDING DESCRIPTIVE WORDS




Be careful: You are not adding words just for the
sake of making the sentence longer!
Adding words to CLARIFY and/or DESCRIBE.
Clarify: Making clear the context or the meaning
of the sentence (who, what, where, when, why)
Describe: Using meaningful adjectives that
contribute to the sentences meaning/objective.
PRACTICE ADDING DESCRIPTIVE
WORDS

Practice (page 175, #’s 1-10)