Grammar Unit 17 – Writing Clear Sentences  Coordination  Subordination  Parallel Structure  Sentence Fragments  Run-ons

“The order of ideas in a sentence or paragraph should be such that the reader need not rearrange them in his mind.” - Robert Graves, British poet and novelist  Why does writing need to be clear and organized?  Why does the order of ideas in writing matter?

Coordination  Coordinate ideas: equally important ideas in a sentence.  To show that the ideas are coordinate, you join them together with:  a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet)  or with another connective  Tells your reader how the ideas are related  “And” links equal and similar ideas  “But” links equal and contrasting ideas  Almost no rain fell last spring. All the corn is stunted.  Almost no rain fell last spring, so all the corn is stunted.

Subordination  To make the main ideas stand out in your writing, you need to downplay, or subordinate, the less important ones.  You can do this by putting the idea into a subordinate clause  Elaborates on the thought expressed in the independent clause  Subordinating conjunctions  Can use with an adverb clause, look at page 439 for examples  Can use with an adjective clause (who, whom, whose, which, that, or where)  Walter didn’t make the team this year. He still practices every day.  Although Walter didn’t make the team this year, he still practices every day.  Maria, who likes disaster movies, saw the movie Titanic three times.

Parallel Structure  Makes your sentences smoother and clearer  Use the same grammatical form to express equal, or parallel, ideas  Pair a noun with a noun, a phrase with a phrase, a clause with a clause, and an infinitive with an infinitive.  Used to link coordinate ideas  Mrs. Silva prefers exercising and to paint.  Mrs. Silva prefers to exercise and to paint.  To outline a research paper is as crucial as writing the paper.  Outlining a research paper is as crucial as writing the paper.

Fragments  A sentence should express a complete thought.  The meaning of a fragment you have written may seem clear to you because you know that information you have left out.  Sitting at the window and watching the storm.  They sat at the window and watched the storm.  While Jerry and his family waited for the storm to pass.  While Jerry and his family waited for the storm to pass, they kept each other company in the kitchen.

Let’s see where we all stand with this  Complete the Diagnostic Preview on page 434  I will use this to see what we need to focus on for tomorrow  Stop where you are, we are going to correct these in class  Circle the questions you got wrong and write the numbers at the top of your paper  Please turn it on on your way out of class

Homework:  Revising Paragraphs for Clarity handout – both sides  Keep making entries in your journal and making notecards (30 due on 2/28)  Bring grammar book tomorrow