What is a good sentence? How do we know one when we see one? What can we learn from good sentences? Can we become better readers and writers by stopping occasionally to notice sentences and to examine them? We address these questions here by examining sentences from all types of sources.
I teach English as a second language in a two-year college. My first teaching job was in the U.S. Peace Corps. Constructive uses of the Internet always attract my attention, especially uses to promote learning and understanding.
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[Note: If you have not completed the first step in our review, proceed to the items included under Saturday, 04 October 2008 and then return here.]
This is the second step in our review of sentence types, subject-verb combinations, and clause structure, so read carefully the paragraph that appears here. Items related to the sentences in this paragraph appear in other posts with today's date (7 OCT 2008). The paragraph itself appears on page 88 of Peace is Every Step, written by Thich Nhat Hanh and published by Bantam Books in 1991. So proceed to read this paragraph carefully.
You know that elderly people are very sad when they have to live separately from their children and grandchildren. This is one of the things in the West that I do not like. In my country, aged people have the right to live with the younger people. It is the grandparents who tell fairy tales to the children. When they get old, their skin is cold and wrinkled, and it is a great joy for them to hold their grandchild, so warm and tender. When a person grows old, his deepest hope is to have a grandchild to hold in his arms. He hopes for it day and night, and when he hears that his daughter or daughter-in-law is pregnant, he is so happy. Nowadays the elderly have to go to a home where they live only among other aged people. Just once a week they receive a short visit, and afterwards they feel even sadder. We have to find ways for old and young people to live together again. It will make all of us very happy. (Hanh, 1991, p. 88)
If you feel you understand the paragraph sufficiently, go on to the following items that relate to the paragraph. If you think you need to read the paragraph again, do that before going ahead.
This is the first item.
Look closely at the sentences in the paragraph from Peace is Every Step, choose one simple sentence that forms the SVO structure, post it here in a comment, explain why that sentence is simple, identify the subject-verb combination, and explain the clause structure.
This is the second item.
Look closely at the sentences in the paragraph from Peace is Every Step, choose one sentence with a clause combination of 2+0, post it here in a comment, explain why that sentence is compound, identify each clause, identify the subject-verb combinations, explain the structure of each clause, and identify the coordinator(s).
This is the third item.
Look closely at the sentences in the paragraph from Peace is Every Step, choose one sentence with a clause combination of 1+1, post it here in a comment, explain why that sentence is complex, identify each clause, identify the subject-verb combinations, explain the structure of each clause, and explain the function of the dependent clause.
This is the fourth item.
Look closely at the sentences in the paragraph from Peace is Every Step, choose one sentence with a clause combination of 1+1 with a clause structure of SVC in both clauses, post it here in a comment, explain why that sentence is complex, identify each clause, identify the subject-verb combinations, explain the structure of each clause, and explain the function of the dependent clause.
This is the fifth item.
Look closely at the sentences in the paragraph from Peace is Every Step, choose one sentence with a clause combination of 1+2, post it here in a comment, explain why that sentence is complex, identify each clause, identify the subject-verb combinations, explain the structure of each clause, and identify the function of each dependent clause.
This is the sixth item.
Look closely at the sentences in the paragraph from Peace is Every Step, choose one sentence with a clause combination of 2+1, post it here in a comment, explain why that sentence is compound-complex, identify each clause, identify the subject-verb combinations, explain the structure of each clause, and explain the function of the dependent clause.
This is a bonus item.
Look closely at the sentences in the paragraph from Peace is Every Step, choose one sentence with a clause combination of 2+2, post it here in a comment, explain why that sentence is compound-complex, identify each clause, identify the subject-verb combinations, explain the structure of each clause, and explain the function of the dependent clause.
To begin our review of sentence types, subject-verb combinations, and clause structure, read carefully the paragraph that appears here. Questions related to the sentences in this paragraph appear in other posts with today's date. The paragraph itself appears on page 12 of The Pen Commandments: A Guide for the Beginning Writer, written by Steven Frank and published by Anchor Books in 2003. So proceed to read the paragraph carefully.
What did you do today that you didn’t do yesterday? Did you wear mismatched shoes just for the fun of it? Did you sleep with your feet at the head of the bed and your head at the foot? Most likely you began your day with breakfast as usual. I know I began mine with a twenty-minute run with my dog Lucy, a shower, a shave, and a cup of coffee from the same mug I used the day before. Most of us are creatures of habit. We live by the clock, we learn by rote, we’re led by routine. It explains why we’re so starved for variety, and no one wants it more than your reader. (Frank, 2003, p. 12)
If you feel you understand the paragraph sufficiently, go on to the following items that relate to the paragraph. If you think you need to read the paragraph again, do that before going ahead.
This is the first item.
Look closely at the sentences in the paragraph from The Pen Commandments, choose one simple sentence that forms the SVC structure, post it here in a comment, explain why that sentence is simple, identify the subject-verb combination, and explain the clause structure.
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