Building Blocks of Language II

Sentence Structure and Usage

Now that we’ve reviewed the building blocks, let’s take a look at how effective writers use the parts of speech to construct clear and compelling sentences.

At the most basic level, a sentence is a group of words that contains at least one independent clause and expresses a complete idea. It has a subject and a predicate and can stand on its own.

Step one is access. Early exposure to a wide variety of texts not only hones vocabulary and language skills but also gives students an opportunity to choose their own material and develop personal preferences.

• A subject is what (or whom) the sentence is about.
• The predicate conveys information about the subject.

Simple sentences have only one verb and contain only one main idea.

Example: The dog barks.

Complex sentences have one main clause and at least one subordinate clause.

Example: The dog is hungry because I did not feed him this morning.

Compound-complex sentences consist of more than one main clause and at least one subordinate clause. It is the combination of a compound sentence and a complex sentence.

Example: The dog is barking because he is hungry, but I can’t feed him now.

Learning to avoid common pitfalls of problematic structure will help developing writers catch problems during the writing process. Many times these problems stem from the transition from oral to written language. Fragments and run-on sentences are commonplace (and acceptable) in informal speaking but point to inexperience (or carelessness) in written forms.

Fragments lack a verb, a subject, or both. A fragment may also be a clause beginning with a subordinating word or phrase (i.e. dependent clause) that is not attached to an independent clause. Sentence fragments are easily revised by adding the missing verb and/or subject, or by connecting the dependent clause with an independent clause.

Example: It’s important that students learn correct structure. Because fragments are distracting to a reader.

Revised: It’s important that students learn correct structure because fragments are distracting to a reader.

Or: Sentence fragments are distracting to a reader, so it’s important for students to learn correct structure.

Run-on sentences result when two independent clauses are joined without a conjunction or without punctuation. A comma splice results when two independent clauses are mistakenly connected with a comma instead of being separated into two sentences or joined with a conjunction or a semicolon.

Example: Students need to learn correct structure, fragments distract a reader.

Revised: Students need to learn correct structure; fragments distract a reader.

Or: Students need to learn correct structure as fragments distract a reader.

In addition to structural mishaps, students should consistently review their writing for usage problems such as consistent verb tense, correct word order, and correct use of verbals.

A verbal is a noun or adjective formed from a verb. Writers sometimes make mistakes by using a verbal in place of a verb or by confusing different types of verbals. The three most common verbals are the participle, the gerund, and the infinitive.

• A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective and most often ends in -ing or -ed, as in “The barking dog was hungry.”
• A gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun, as in “Knitting is a wonderful hobby.”
• An infinitive is a verbal consisting of the word “to” plus the base form of a verb that functions as a noun, adjective, or adverb, as in “She always wanted to learn to fly.”

Putting It All Together

Effective communication begins with a clear central idea and builds outward and upward to a strong conclusion. Experienced writers know that organizational outlines will help them collect and compose their thoughts.

The first step for developing writers is to compose paragraphs that establish and support a central idea with a topic sentence at or near the beginning of the paragraph. The topic sentence is the most general sentence in a paragraph as it introduces an overall idea that you want to discuss later in the paragraph.

Let’s say we wanted to write a paragraph about Austin, Texas. We might begin with the following topic sentence: Austin is a great place to live.

Once the topic sentence is clear and concise, supporting sentences with simple facts, details, and explanations should follow. Say we add the following: The mix of politics and music creates a very diverse community. People don’t always agree with one another, but they listen and try to be open-minded. The governor once said that a “song sounds sweeter when everyone sings.”

Supporting sentences leads to a concluding statement that summarizes the points and offers the “reverse” of the topic sentence, such as, Cultural diversity in an atmosphere that encourages free expression makes living in Austin a unique experience.

Let’s take a look at how this paragraph looks when we put it together:

    Austin is a great place to live. It’s not only the “live music capital of the world” but also the state capital of Texas. The mix of politics and music creates a very diverse community. People don’t always agree with one another, but they listen and try to be open-minded. Governor Perry once said, “A song sounds sweeter when everyone sings.” Cultural diversity in an atmosphere that encourages free expression makes living in Austin a unique experience.

You may have noticed that the first sentence of our example paragraph was indented. All paragraphs in the English language should use this format. You may want to remind students to keep a running checklist of format issues, common punctuation, and capitalization errors to avoid as they write and revise.

• Use appropriate ending punctuation (period, exclamation point, question mark).
• Use commas in series, greetings, and closures (Dear President Bush,).
• Use correct internal punctuation, including commas, colons, semicolons, and hyphens.
• Use apostrophes correctly in contractions (can’t, won’t, haven’t, it’s, etc.) and in singular and plural possessives (Mom’s purse; the kittens’ toy).
• Use quotation marks with the names of articles and essays, and to attribute quotes within a given context.
• Capitalize proper nouns such as names, days of the week, titles, months, institutions, holidays, magazines, newspapers, organizations, and the pronoun I.
• Check spelling for commonly misspelled contractions, compounds, and homonyms (capital, capitol). Use rules (i before e…) to review paragraphs during and after writing.

Review

• Every sentence contains a subject (what or whom the sentence is about) and a predicate that conveys information about the subject.
• Simple sentences have only one verb and contain only one main idea.
• Complex sentences have two or more verbs, consist of two or more clauses, and contain more than one main idea.
• Compound-complex sentences consist of more than one main clause and at least one subordinate clause.
• Fragments lack a verb, a subject, or both, or may be a dependent clause which is not connected to an independent clause.
• Run-on sentences result when two independent clauses are joined without a conjunction or without punctuation.
• A comma splice results when two independent clauses are mistakenly connected with a comma instead of being separated into two sentences or joined with a conjunction or a semicolon.
• A verbal is a noun or adjective formed from a verb and includes participles, gerunds, and infinitives.
• Effective paragraphs begin with a topic sentence that is followed by supporting sentences that lead to a conclusion or closing statement.
• Students must review sentence structure, verb tense, pronoun/noun agreement, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling during the entirety of the writing process to confirm proper grammar and usage.