TYPES OF SENTENCE STRUCTURE:
1. subject verb
1a. s v ; however, s v
1b. s v , but s v; s v
1c. s v; s v; s v .
2. s v do or sc ; s do or sc
3. independent clause : independent clause.
general statement (idea) : specific statement (example).
Example:
Little Red Riding Hood lied: wolves don't eat grandmothers; they eat elk, bison, and deer.
No one, however, would deny that George Patton did what generals were
primarily expected to do: he won battles.
4. a series without a conclusion
a, b, c
a and b and c
a, b, and c
5. a and b, c and d, e and f (paired items)
6. an introductory series of appositives
appositive, appositive, appositive--summary word s v
Example:
The petty, the fallen, the cowardly--each played a role on the stage of Cervantes' vast human drama.
7. an internal series of appositives or modifiers
s appos. appos. appos. v
Example:
The necessary qualities for political life --guile, ruthlessness, and garrulity--he learned by carefully studying his
father's life.
7a. s appositive v
Example:
A sudden explosion--artillery fire--signaled the beginning of a barrage.
A familiar smell, fresh blood, assailed his jungle-trained nostrils.
8. dependent clauses in a pair or in a series (at beginning or end of
sentence)
If....., if......, if......, then s v
When......, when......, when..... s v
s v that....., that........
Example:
When he smelled the pungent odor of pine, when he heard the chatter of jays interrupting the silence,
when he saw the startled doe, the hunter knew he had reached the center of the forest.
9. repetition of a key term
s v key term or repeated key term
s v key term -- repeated key term
s v key term, repeated key term
Example:
She was a good mother, providing a good home for her good children.
He was a cruel brute of a man--brutal to his family and even more brutal to his friends.
9a. variation: same word repeated in parallel structure
s v repeated key word in same position of the sentence
Example:
The government is of the people, by the people, and for the people.
10. emphatic appositive at end, after a colon
s v word: the appositive (the second naming).
Example:
Anyone left abandoned on a desert should avoid two dangers: cactus needles and rattlesnakes
10 a. a variation: appositive
s v word -- the appositive (echoed idea or second meaning)
Example:
The relatively few salmon that make it to the spawning grounds have another old tradition to deal with --male
supremacy.
11. interrupting modifier between s and v
s, modifier, v
s -- modifier -- v
s (modifier that whispers) v
Example:
A small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, can make millions think.
11a. a full sentence as an interrupting modifier
s (a full sentence) v
s --a full sentence -- v
Example:
Juliet's famous question--early in the balcony scene she asks, "Wherefore art thou, Romeo?"
--is often misunderstood; she meant not "where" but "why."
12. introductory or concluding participles
participial phrase , s v
s v , participial phrase
Example:
Guarding us with their powerful guns, the heavily armed soldiers at the Rio
conference looked ominous.
The heavily armed soldiers guarding us with their powerful guns at the Rio
conference looked ominous.
13. a single modifier out of place for emphasis
Modifier , s v
Example:
Frantically, the young mother called for help.
The general demanded absolute obedience, instant and unquestioning.
14. prepositional phrase before s v
Example:
Into the arena rushed the brave bulls to defy death and the matador.
Into the valley of death rode the six hundred
15. object or complement before s v
Example:
His kind of sarcasm I do not like.
Up went the steps, band went the door, round whirled the wheels, and off they
rattled. (Charles Dickens, THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP)
15a. complete inversion of normal pattern
object or complement or modifier v s
Example:
Down and the street and through the mist stumbled the unfamiliar figure.
16. paired construction
Not only s v , but also s v
Just as s v , so too s v
The more s , the more s v
Example:
The more the Texas Ranger searched through the Hill Country, the more elusive the trail of train robbers became.
16a. a paired construction for contrast only
A " this, not that" or "not this but that" construction
Example:
Genius, not stupidity, has limits.
The judge asked for acquittal --not conviction.
I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail.
17. dependent clause as a subject or object or complement
s (dependent clause as subject) v
s v (dependent clause as object or complement)
Example:
How he could fail is a mystery to me.
He became what he aspired to be.
18. absolute construction (nouns plus participle) anywhere in sentence
absolute construction , s v
s, absolute construction , v
Example:
His blanket being torn, Linus cried on Charlie Brown's shoulder.
The storm, its fury abated, lights the way.
19. the short simple sentence for relief or dramatic effect
sv
Example:
But then it happened.
Jesus wept.
The buck stops here.
20. A short question for dramatic effect
(Interrogative word) auxiliary verb s v ?
interrogative word standing alone ?
question based solely on intonation ?
auxiliary verb s v ?
Examples:
Why did he go?
What?
James flunked modern dance?
Have you guessed?
20 a. the deliberate fragment
Example:
Now, on with the story.
Fair enough.
All to no avail.
But how?
A Few Names of Other SENTENCE STYLES:
A.The segregating style of serial structure "One ring is always bigger
than three. One rider, one aerialist, is always greater than six."
B.The freight-train sentence in serial structure--paratactic "In a week or
two, all would be changed, all (or almost all) lost; the girls would wear
makeup, the horse would wear gold, the ring would be painted, the bark
would be clean for the feet of the horse, the girl's feet would be clean
for the slippers that she'd wear. All, all would be lost."
C.The triadic sentence in serial structure "Out of its wild disorder comes
order; from its rank smell rises the good aroma of courage and daring; out
of its preliminary shabbiness come the final splendor."
D.The centered sentence in hierarchic structure "The last time I visited
New York, it seems to have suffered a personality change, as though it had
a brain tumor as yet undetected."
E. The periodic sentence (5 words or fewer): I had to stop.