Writing Effective Sentences Study Guide
1.
Insert ADJECTIVES into your sentences- Words that describe nouns, and they answer the
questions:
 What kind?
 Which one?
 How many?
 How much?
a. Example- I undoubtedly revere my outstanding mother-in-law because she exhibits extremely
admirable qualities every day of her life.
2.
Insert ADVERBS into your sentences- Words that describe action verbs, adjectives or
other adverbs, and they answer the questions:
 When?
 Where?
 How?
 To What Extent?
 Many end in =LY
a.
3.
Change ordinary verbs into strong ACTION VERBS- Words that express physical or
mental action.
a.
4.
Example- I undoubtedly revere my outstanding mother-in-law because she exhibits
extremely admirable qualities every day of her life.
Example- I undoubtedly revere my outstanding mother-in-law because she exhibits
extremely admirable qualities every day of her life.
Create COMPOUND SENTENCES by combining simple sentences.
 Join simple sentences by a comma and a conjunction (and, but, or, nor , for , yet, so)
 Join simple sentences with a semicolon (;)
a.
Example- Exhibiting extremely admirable qualities every day of her life, my outstanding
mother-in-law, Virginia Hess, is the woman that I admire, and I strive emulate her daily.
5. Insert APPOSITIVE PHRASES into your sentences- A phrase that follows a noun that
gives RENAMES the noun. (Be careful that you aren’t writing a participial or clause.)
a.
6.
Example- Exhibiting extremely admirable qualities every day of her life, my outstanding
mother-in-law, Virginia Hess, is the woman that I admire.
Insert transitional words, phrases, and sentences within and between your paragraphs.
(See list on How Do I Organize My Essay notes).
7. Insert PARTICIPIAL PHRASES into your sentences- A phrase where the first word ends
in –ING or –ED and the phrase acts like an adjective, describing a noun.
a.
8.
Example- Exhibiting extremely admirable qualities every day of her life, my outstanding
mother-in-law is undoubtedly the woman I admire.
Create COMPLEX SENTENCES- Includes a complete sentence with a subordinate clause
(words that cannot stand alone) attached to it.
a.
ADJECTIVE CLAUSE- a group of words that begins with WHO, WHICH, OR THAT
and that describe a noun

Example- My outstanding mother-in-law, who is an extremely admirable person, is a
person that I revere because she exhibits exemplary qualities every day of her life,
and I strive to emulate her daily.
b. ADVERB CLAUSE- a group of words that begins with words such as AFTER,
ALTHOUGH, BECAUSE, IF, WHERE, OR WHEN (there are other subordinating
conjunctions too), and they act like adverbs, telling when, where, how, or to what extent.
c.

When these are used at the beginnings of sentences, they are separated from the main
part of the sentence with a comma.

Example- Because my mother-in-law, Virginia Hess, exhibits admirable qualities
every day of her life, I revere her because she exhibits exemplary qualities every day
of her life, and I strive to emulate her daily.
NOUN CLAUSE- a group of words begins with the words THAT, WHAT, WHAT, OR
WHO, WHOEVER and the group of words acts as the NOUN in the sentence.

9.
Example- Whoever exhibits admirable qualities every day of his or her life is
someone I revere. That person is my mother-in-law, Virginia Hess, and I strive to
emulate her daily.
Vary SENTENCE BEGINNINGS using adjectives, adverbs, phrases, and clauses.

Separate the words, phrases, and clauses with a comma from the rest of the
sentence.

Example- Undoubtedly, I admire my mother –in- law.

Example- Exhibiting extremely admirable qualities every day of her life, my
outstanding mother-in-law is undoubtedly the woman I admire.

Example- Because my mother-in-law, Virginia Hess, exhibits admirable qualities
every day of her life, I revere her because she exhibits exemplary qualities every day
of her life, and I strive to emulate her daily.