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RATIONALE:
An important characteristic of any college studentnot just an English majoris
the ability to write well. Effective writing must be cogent and coherent, but what
truly makes competent writing excellent is style.
One of the challenges this semester will be to take your writing from competent
to excellent, to move it up to the next level. We will use many strategies to
improve your writing style, and of these strategies, using a variety of sentence
patterns is one the most effective ways to improve your writing.
Throughout the semester, you will not only learn and practice new sentence
patterns, but you will also incorporate these patterns into your writing.
The Plan:
We will work on one sentence pattern each week with the goal of completing all
fifteen by the end of first semester. However, you know what Burns said about
the best laid plans of mice and men (If you dont, find out!)
Therefore, be prepared to be flexible. Sometimes we may skip a week, or we
may do two in one week. We may not even go in order. I will give you plenty of
notice about due dates.
I will also review the rules for most patterns. Please ask for help or ask me to
check your sentences if youre not sure youre doing them correctly.
Requirements:
Write 12 sentences for each pattern.
TEN of the twelve sentences must focus on one major literary work
novel, play or epic poem. Use a different work for each pattern. Two of the
sentences can be fun, but they still have to follow the pattern.
Grading:
The sentences will be graded on following the pattern, using it appropriately, and
focusing on one literary work.
S V ; S V.
Models:
The cry for freedom stops at no border; it echoes endlessly in the hearts of all
men.
The vicuna is a gentle animal living in the central Andes; his fleece often
becomes the fabric of expensive coats.
Models:
The Eskimo lives in an igloo; the American Indian, in a teepee.
A red light means stop; a green light, go.
The Russian ballerina wears a tutu; the Malaysian dancer, a brightly colored
sarong.
(independent clause)
This pattern is exactly like #1 and #2 in structure; it is a compound; however, it is very different in
content as the colon implies. The colon signals the reader that something important or
explanatory follows.
Models:
Darwins Origin of Species forcible states a harsh truth: only the fittest
survive.
The empty coffin in the center of the crypt had a single horrifying meaning:
Dracula had left his tomb to stalk the village streets in search of fresh blood.
Creative writing is a little like biological creation: the offspring is sometimes
quite different from the parent.
Dont use this pattern unless the second independent clause in some way
amplifies and explains the first.
PATTERN #4
Series without a conjunction
(a series in any part of the sentence)
A,B,C
This pattern is the simplest form of the series. The items making up the series are separated by
commas, and in this special pattern there is no conjunction linking the final two items. Omitting
this conjunction in the series here is effective, for it gives your sentence a quick, staccato sound,
a sound of crispness and liveliness. Remember that tone and sound fluency are important
considerations here.
Models:
The United States has a government of the people, by the people, for the
people.
The goals of the ecology-awareness movement are clear: breathable air,
drinkable water, livable space, viable soil, unpolluted oceans.
Shortly after midnight in a serene, enchanting, mysterious performance, the
night-blooming cereus gradually begins to bloom.
Models:
Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, Lancelot and Guinevere were all
famous lovers in literature.
Lorenzo had that paradoxical character of the Renaissance manidealist and
materialist, artist and debauchee, angel and devil.
Jane Austen depicts with gentle satire the foibles and weaknesses,
eccentricities and ambitions, triumphs and defeats of the human species.
PATTERN #6
Single appositive
S , appositive , V
commas = ordinary
dashes = dramatic
parentheses = whisper
Models:
His father, the minister, performed the ceremony.
A familiar smellfresh bloodassailed his jungle trained nostrils.
The Elizabethan concept of artifice (craftsmanship well-executed and
therefore admirable) made the word artificial a compliment, not a criticism.
Models:
Most contemporary philosophies echo ideas from one man: Plato.
Anyone left abandoned on a desert island should avoid two dangers: cactus
needles and rattlesnakes.
Were those twins my children, Id make one thing perfectly clear to them: the
curfew hour.
Models:
The trees, the earth, the hills, the green water of the lakesall told their
stories.
To struggle, to exist, and to create his own soulthis is mans great task.
Love, hate, fear, anger, ambitionhow many are the emotions that direct our
daydreams?
An old photograph, a haunting fragrance, a sudden view of a half-forgotten
scenesomething unexpectedly triggers our nostalgia for the past.
Models:
Any famous detectiveSherlock Holmes, Nero Wolfe or Dick Tracywould
be an excellent model?
Young Beauregardhandsome, dashing, and debonairkept all the young
ladies breathless.
All the sciencesphysical, biological, and socialshare in the search fro
truth.
Two dashes
Is it a complete sentence without the interrupter?
Parallel structure
PATTERN #10
Interrupting Modifiers between subject and verb
S , modifier , V .
S modifier V .
S (whispering modifier) V .
Models:
A small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, can make millions think.
He jumped at the chance (too impetuously really) to shoot the rapids in a
kayak.
Her joyous laughterdelightful to all who knew herno one will ever forget.
PATTERN #12
Dependent clauses as subject or object or complement
S V.
(dependent clause as subject)
S V.
(dependent clause as object or complement)
Models:
How he could fail is a mystery to me.
He became what he had long aspired to be.
Why many highly literate people continue to watch insipid situation
comedies on television constantly amazes writers, producers, even directors.
Who, whom, which, that, what, why, where, when are the words that
introduce these clauses.
If , if , if , then S V .
When , when , S V .
Save this pattern for special places. It can be effective at the end of a single paragraph to
summarize the major points, in structuring a thesis statement, or in the introductory or concluding
paragraphs to bring together main points of a composition in a single sentence.
Models:
Whether one needs fantasy or whether one needs stark realism, the theater
can become a Mecca.
If you promise not to keep your socks under the bed, if you agree to help me
with the dishes every evening and take out the garbage every morning, if you
really will love, honor, and cherish, then I might marry you.
In Biology 101 Stella learned that a hummingbird does not really hum, that a
screech owl actually whistles, and that storks prefer to wade in water rather
than fly around carrying tiny babies.
Models:
He was a cruel brute of a man, brutal to his family and even more brutal to his
friends.
We all inhabit a mysterious, inorganic worldthe inner world, the world of the
mind.
Be sure that the attached phrase with the repeated key term is not a complete
sentence; if it is, you will inadvertently create a comma splice.
S V or S V ADJ or SV DO or SV SC
V S or ADJ V S or DO V S or SC V S
Models:
Down the street and through the mist stumbled the unfamiliar figure.
From his years of suffering came eventual understanding and compassion.
Westward fly their dreams.