The Variety of
Sentences
Brooklyn Technical High School
Freshman Composition
Mr. Williams
Learning Objective:
To recognize and use a variety of sentences in composition
CCS: W.9.4: To use appropriate style and voice with an emphasis
on experimentation with sentence variety
Motivational Activity: Read two paragraphs about the city
of Vancouver.
1. For the first five sentences in each paragraph, identify the subject
and predicate. And if any of the following parts of sentence
appear, then identify the direct object, indirect object, predicate
nominative, and/or predicate adjective.
2. Explain what makes the two paragraphs different.
Writing Exercise: Using one of the following sentences to
focus and control the descriptive details you select, draft a
paragraph. Place the sentence in the paragraph
wherever it will have the greatest emphasis.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
I couldn’t believe what I had just seen.
The music stopped.
I started to sweat.
She had convinced me.
It was my turn to step forward.
Now I understand.
Sentence Classification
Sentences are classified by purpose.
Declarative sentences make a statement
with a period.
The lock on the front door is broken.
Interrogative sentences ask a question and
end with question marks.
What is the capital of New Mexico?
Sentence Classification
Sentences are classified by purpose.
Imperative sentences make a request or
give a command.
It’s an emergency! Call 9-1-1!
Exclamatory sentences show excitement
and express strong feelings.
Ouch! That really hurt!
Sentence Classification
1. The school is five blocks from here
2. The umpire called a strike
3. Where did you park the car
4. His hard work earned him a promotion
5. Anita ran errands during most of the day
6. Why did Earl leave the party so early
7. Debbie Allen is a choreographer
8. What a wonderful day we had yesterday
9. Please hold my umbrella for a minute
10. The pear tree grew well in our backyard
11. Leave your classroom quickly
Sentence Variety
Subordination: Give one idea less emphasis than
another in a sentence. Introduce an idea with
either a subordinating conjunction or pronoun
(before a dependent clause). Deemphasize one
idea while highlighting another idea.
Melissa was reading a detective story while the
President’s report on the debt-ceiling was
televised.
The President’s report on the debt-ceiling was
televised while Melissa was reading a detective
story.
Sentence Variety
Subordination: Give one idea less emphasis than
another in a sentence. Introduce an idea with
either a subordinating conjunction or pronoun
(before a dependent clause). Deemphasize one
idea while highlighting another idea.
When she was thirty years old, she took her first
flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
When she took her first flight across the Atlantic
Ocean, she was thirty years old.
Sentence Variety
Parallelism: Balance a word with a word, a phrase
with a phrase, or a clause with a clause
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative
will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a
moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to
find a plot in it will be shot.” – Mark Twain
In the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln
proclaimed his hope that “government of the
people, by the people, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth.”
Sentence Variety
Passive and Active Voices: Since the subject of a
sentence is automatically emphasized, the active
voice further emphasizes the doer of the action
while the passive voice downplays the doer of the
action. Active voices are more vivid and vigorous.
High winds pushed our sailboat onto the rocks.
Our sailboat was pushed onto the rocks.
It has been decided that only one student in the
class can pass.
I have decided that only one student in the class
can pass.
Sentence Variety
Coordination: Combine sentences with
coordinating conjunctions to give each idea equal
emphasis. This can make for an easier read.
Lorena Ochoa selected her club. She lined up her
shot. She chipped the ball to within a foot of the
pin.
Lorena Ochoa selected her club, lined up her shot,
and chipped the ball within a foot of the pin.
Sentence Variety
Periodic and Loose Sentences: Place the most
important idea at the beginning in a loose
sentence or at the end in a periodic sentence.
Generally, the end of a sentence is most emphatic,
so writers use them to create suspense. Loose
sentences resemble the way most people talk, as
we state a main idea and then support it.
On the afternoon of the first day of spring, when the
gutters were still heaped high with Monday’s snow
but the sky itself had been swept clean, we put on
our galoshes and walked up the sunny side of Fifth
Avenue to Central Park. – John Updike
Sentence Variety
Periodic and Loose Sentences: Place the most
important idea at the beginning in a loose
sentence or at the end in a periodic sentence.
Generally, the end of a sentence is most emphatic,
so writers use them to create suspense. Loose
sentences resemble the way most people talk, as
we state a main idea and then support it.
We put on our galoshes and walked up the sunny
side of Fifth Avenue to Central Park on the
afternoon of the first day of spring, when the gutters
were still heaped high with Monday’s snow but the
sky itself had been swept clean.
Sentence Variety
Dramatically Short Sentences: Especially when
preceded by a long and involved sentence,
dramatically short sentences help emphasize a
point.
The qualities that Barbie promote (slimness, youth,
and beauty) allow no tolerance of grey hair,
wrinkles, sloping posture, or failing eyesight and
hearing. Barbie’s perfect body is eternal. -Danielle
Kuykendall
Sentence Variety
Dramatically Short Sentences: Especially when
preceded by a long and involved sentence,
dramatically short sentences help emphasize a
point.
The executive suite on the thirty-fourth floor of the
Columbia Broadcasting System skyscraper in
Manhattan is a tasteful blend of dark wood
paneling, expensive abstract painting, thick
carpets, and pleasing colors. It has the quiet look
of power.
Re-Writing Exercise: Applying what you’ve learned about
sentence variety and emphasis to focus and control the
descriptive details you select, revise your paragraph.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
I couldn’t believe what I had just seen.
The music stopped.
I started to sweat.
She had convinced me.
It was my turn to step forward.
Now I understand.
The Variety of Sentences
We can’t write every sentence the same way.
We can’t expect people to read our writing if
we do. We can’t keep using the same types of
sentences over and over again. We can’t do
this because it drives readers crazy! It also
makes the writing hard to understand. Why?
Because readers start paying more attention to
the repetition of the sounds than they do to the
meaning of the sentences. Sentence variety,
an important aspect of good writing, should not
be used for its own sake but should express
ideas precisely and emphasize the most
important ideas within each sentence.
-Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc.
- Models for Writers