6 Sentence Patterns To Add Variety to Your Writing
Vary Your Sentence Openings
To create sentence variety and to clarify the relationship of your ideas, use various sentence
openings that modify the sentence preceding it.
1. -ing phrase opener (present participle phrase)
Looking rather pale, Mr. Caine obviously had a grave illness.
Fighting for his life, the swimmer struggled to shore as waves crashed into him.
Spewing out black smoke, the old Model T Ford chugged up the hill.
Pattern:
-ing phrase, complete sentence.
-ing phrase, subject + predicate.
Hint: -ing phrase should tell reader what the subject is doing, shows subject's action.
2. -ed phrase opener (past participle phrase)
Baffled by what had happened, Francis sat in silence with a dumb look on his face.
Bothered by the ants, Larry brought out the industrial can of RAID ant spray.
Caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the boy pleaded innocence with his mom.
Pattern:
-ed phrase, complete sentence.
-ed phrase, subject + predicate.
Hint: Many past participles are irregular forms. For example: 'catch' becomes 'caught' as a past
participle. See your handbook for irregular verbs.
3. -ly opener (adverb)
Quickly, the professor closed the door to the classroom.
Callously, advertisers portray women in a variety of stereotypical roles.
Interestingly, advertisers both flatter and insult women in their campaigns.
Pattern:
-ly word, complete sentence.
-ly word, subject + predicate.
4. prepositional phrase opener
In the magazine, one can find various ethnic and gender stereotypes.
On page four, the reader is insulted by the trite and shallow editorial.
Under the bridge, the troll waited for the English professor.
Pattern:
prepositional phrase, complete sentence.
prepositional phrase, subject + predicate.
Hint: Common prepositions and an explanation of prepositions and prepositional phrases can be
found in your handbook.
5. to openers (infinitive phrase)
To get to work on time, Jim sped down the highway at 80 miles per hour.
To experience nature, one should walk in the woods rather than read a book.
To visualize a concept or theory, a student may want to "map" ideas in his or her notebook.
Patterm:
To phrase, complete sentence.
To phrase, subject + predicate.
Use an Appositive
Use an appositive to add additional information.
6. Appositive
Dr. Jones, a psychologist for Mercy Hospital, was on-call 24 hours a day.
The anchor introduced a bumper, a short video tease of upcoming news, to the audience.
The farmer decided to use LSNA, a legal pesticide, to eradicate the bugs.
Pattern: An appositive modifies a noun; therefore, it follows the noun it modifies or
explains/defines in more detail.