Sentences:
Lessons 24-29
 To
make your writing more interesting, you
can combine related simple sentences to
create compound, complex, or even
compound-complex sentences.
 Use compound sentences to join two related
ideas that are of equal importance.
 Use complex sentences to join two related
ideas when one idea is more important than
the other. Put the more important idea in the
independent clause, and the less important
idea in the subordinate clause.
 Students
today worry about the future.
However, they still manage to have fun.


Compound: Students today worry about the
future, but they still manage to have fun.
Complex: Although students today worry about
the future, they still manage to have fun.
 Sentences
can be expanded by adding details
to make them clearer and more interesting.
Details are especially important in
descriptive writing.

EXAMPLE: The snow fell.
 All night, the soft snow fell silently.
 Details
added to sentences may answer these
questions: When? Where? How? How often? To
what degree? What kind? Which? How many?
Words, phrases, and clauses that act as
adjectives can be restrictive or non-restrictive.
 Restrictive elements contain information that is
necessary to the meaning of the sentence. They
often provide information that helps
differentiate the specific subject from the other
possible subjects. Restrictive elements are never
set off from the rest of the sentence by
punctuation.
 EXAMPLES:

The instructor who taught me to drive has a perfect
driving record.
 Singer-songwriters like Leonard Cohen do not come
along every day.

 Non-restrictive
elements are descriptive,
but not essential to the meaning of the
sentence. No necessary information is lost if
they are removed. Non-restrictive elements
often describe or rename a subject. Nonrestrictive elements are set off from the rest
of the sentence by commas, dashes, or
parenthesis.
 EXAMPLES:


Ms. Baggio, who taught me to drive, has a
perfect driving record.
Some singer-songwriters, like Leonard Cohen,
write poetry as well.

{Activity} Underline the non-restrictive clause
in each sentence that follows, and then add
commas where necessary.
The polar ice caps which are sheets of ice that
cover the North and South Pole are melting.
2. According to scientists, this is partly the result of
human activity especially the burning of fossil
fuels in cars and factories.
3. This phenomenon which is known as global
warming will raise sea levels and cause
widespread flooding.
4. Many low-lying areas such as Bangladesh may be
covered by water.
1.
Parallel Structure is using the same pattern of
words, phrases, or clauses to show that two or
more ideas have the same level of importance.
Sentences with parallel structure sound rhythmic
and balanced.
 Items in a list or series should be in parallel
structure.
 EXAMPLE:

I am fond of books, music, and films. (three nouns)
OR
 I am fond of reading books, listening to music, and
watching films. (three phrases) OR
 I am fond of books, I am fond of music, and I am fond
of music. (three clauses)

 In
sentences with correlative conjunctions,
such as not only . . . But also, either . . .
Or, neither . . . Nor, and both . . . And, the
words that follow each of the two
conjunctions must be parallel in structure.
 EXAMPLE:

Roberta Bondar was not only the first Canadian
woman, but also the first neurologist to fly in
the space shuttle.
 {Activity}
Fill in the blank in each sentence
with a parallel construction
1. I will never sign your petition___________
2. Sally is clever not only in math, __________
3. It will either rain ________________today.

Use parallel structures to link ideas or reinforce
an important point in advertisements, persuasive
writing, and oral presentations.

EXAMPLE: Vote for honesty. Vote for decency. Vote for
me.
{Activity} Rewrite the following passage, using
parallel sentence structure to reinforce the main
point.
 Canada needs a leader who is willing to listen,
but also willing to fight for what is right. In
addition, our next prime minister should be
someone with broad experience; she or he also
needs a common touch, though. The leader must
be a self-starter – but also a team player.

A sentence fragment is a word or group of
words, a phrase, or a subordinate clause that is
punctuated as a complete sentence. Sentence
fragments can be useful when used intentionally
to create a specific effect (e.g., when writing
dialogue, in advertising slogans, or as an answer
to a question). However, unintentional sentence
fragments should be avoided.
 Example:



Fragment: Try to exercise. Walking, running, or
swimming.
Corrected sentence: Try to exercise. You might enjoy
walking, running, or swimming.

A run-on sentence occurs when two or more
independent clauses are mistakenly joined together
without a co-ordinating conjunction or correct
punctuation.


A comma splice error occurs when two sentences are
separated only by a comma.


EXAMPLE: The trip was terrible the car broke down twice
and we had to have to towed.
EXAMPLE: The trip was terrible, the car broke down
twice and we had to have to towed.
There are several ways to correct both run-on
sentences and comma splice errors.

Correct:



The trip was terrible. The car broke down twice
The trip was terrible; the car broke down twice.
The trip was terrible because the car broke down twice.