Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Building a Sentence “When the student is ready, the master appears.” Buddhist proverb

Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Believe it or not, you can take a two word sentence and turn it into a fifty word sentence by following a couple of easy steps.

Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Step one: Start with the simplest of sentences-- the simple sentence. Andres walked. (2)

Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Step two: Add an adjective and a prepositional phrase to your simple sentence. Young Andres walked to the grocery store.(7)

Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Step three: Add a dependent clause and make the sentence a complex sentence. While Andres’s mother baked a pie, young Andres walked to the grocery store. (13)

Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Step four: Add an independent clause and make the sentence a compound/complex sentence. While Andres’s mother baked a pie, young Andres walked to the grocery store, and he whistled a lively melody along the way.(22)

Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Step five: Now add an adjective phrase which provides more detail to your sentence. While Andres’s mother, the winner of several baking contests, baked a pie, young Andres walked to the grocery store, and he whistled a lively melody along the way. (28)

Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Step six: Add a relative phrase and add more detail to your sentence. While Andres’s mother, the winner of several baking contests, baked a pie, young Andres walked to the grocery store which was only a couple of miles away, and he whistled a lively melody along the way. (36)

Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Finally, add another appositive phrase adding even more detail to your sentence. While Andres’s mother, the winner of several baking contests, baked a pie, young Andres walked to the grocery store which was only a couple of miles away, and Andres, tired but happily looking forward to eating his Mom’s prize winning finger licking apple pie, whistled a lively melody along the way. (51)

Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Assignment: If you didn’t write a sentence while you were viewing the presentation, go back and do so now. View the next slide so you can see how the assignment should look like when you are done.

Created by José J. González, Jr. Spring Complete assignment: Andres walked. (2) Young Andres walked to the grocery store.(7) While Andres’s mother baked a pie, young Andres walked to the grocery store. (13) While Andres’s mother baked a pie, young Andres walked to the grocery store, and he whistled a lively melody along the way.(22) While Andres’s mother, the winner of several baking contests, baked a pie, young Andres walked to the grocery store, and he whistled a lively melody along the way. (28) While Andres’s mother, the winner of several baking contests, baked a pie, young Andres walked to the grocery store which was only a couple of miles away, and he whistled a lively melody along the way. (36) While Andres’s mother, the winner of several baking contests, baked a pie, young Andres walked to the grocery store which was only a couple of miles away, and Andres, tired but happily looking forward to eating his Mom’s prize winning finger licking apple pie, whistled a lively melody along the way. (51) If you didn’t write a sentence while you were viewing the presentation, go back and do so now. The following illustrates what the assignment should look like when you are done.