1. How to write better sentences and “kill off” the comma splice.
DIE, COMMA SPLICE, DIE!
How to write better sentences and “kill off” the comma splice.

2. What is a sentence in English? aka. What is the anatomy of a sentence?
A sentence is a group of words with a verb. It starts with a capital letter and ends with a stop, such as a full stop, a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!).
These are the ONLY three ways to finish writing a sentence.

3. What is a group of words without a verb?
This is called a phrase.
Examples:
William Shakespeare, the greatest playwright.
As the students were eating.
Not allowing bubble gum at school.
School Rules.
Sultan, the dog.

4. What does a sentence have to consist of ?
A sentence MUST consist of the following:
It MUST have a subject and
It MUST have a verb
It MUST have a predicate.
E.g., The students (subject = who or what?) applauded the speaker. (predicate)
Everything in the sentence from the verb on is the predicate.

5. What is a clause? (not claws!)
A sentence consists of one or more clauses.
This is an example of one clause: The students applauded the speaker.
Why is it one clause?
Because it only has one verb. What is the verb in the above sentence? _______

6. What is a sentence with only one clause called?
It is called a simple sentence. The word “simple” in terms of sentence construction means one verb and one clause only. It can also be called “an independent clause.” It is called independent because it doesn’t need anything else around it to make sense; it can make sense on its own.

7. Furthermore, ……. Sentences can (but don’t have to, contain) objects.
For example:
The students applauded the speaker.
The students = subject
Applauded = verb
The speaker = object
If you add the verb to the object, then Applauded the speaker = predicate.

8. Use this code to analyse sentences.
Bracket the subject ( )
Underline the verb ______
Bracket the object ( )
Square bracket the predicate.[ ]

9. Try the following exercises now.
Revise new learning:
The students. (Is this a sentence? If not, why not? What is it? ____________
The students applauded.
The students applauded the speaker.

10. Try the following now, using the given code.
The students opened their laptops.
The students loved the hamburgers.
The students clapped.
The students disagreed with the teacher.
The Spanish students love Glendowie College.
The Year 9 ALP students are working very hard this year.
The ALP classes will soon perform in the Night of the Notables.
The Night of the Notables is a fantastic event for parents.
Parents love to see their sons/daughters in the Night of the Notables.
The Social Sciences teachers will grade the performance.

11. Please use distributed worksheet.
Here is a home-learning activity to reinforce your in-class learning today
Please use distributed worksheet.

12. What happens if I don’t want to use just simple sentences
What happens if I don’t want to use just simple sentences? How do I join two sentences together? How do I vary my sentence structures?
Rule 1: Join sentences by using one of the following co-ordinating conjunctions:
(and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet)
They are the “glue” to get two or more sentences to stick or adhere to each other

13. What happens when I use a comma?
A comma is NOT one of the three stops. (. ! ?)
A comma is not a co-ordinating conjunction (and, etc)
A comma cannot therefore join sentences together. It is too WEAK a join. And we all know what happens to objects that are weakly glued together; they break apart easily.

14. Rule 2
When you don’t want to use a connecting word, you can use a semicolon.
But use it sparingly because it is generally only used for writing a sentence in which you want to use or emphasise a balance or a contrast: e.g.,
“I came; I saw; I conquered.” Julius Caesar
Saturday was sunny; Sunday was cloudy.

15. When do I use however correctly?
However is used when you write a sentence but you want to start the next sentence with a contrasting idea, e.g.,
Saturday was sunny. However, Sunday was overcast.
However should never be used to join sentences together.

16. Join the following sentences by using the appropriate co-ordinating conjunctions

17. More fine-grained analysis ….
We have learned how to analyse a sentence into its component parts: subject, object, predicate, verb.
Now, we can start to analyse sentences in a more fine-grained way.
When we analyse a sentence according to the parts of speech it has in it, we call this parsing.

18. Analyse the following sentences
1. The boy climbed a tree.
What is the subject of the sentence?
What is the predicate of the sentence?
What is the definite article?
What is the indefinite article?

19. Analyse this next sentence
The boy climbed a tree quickly.
What word is the adverb?
Why is that word the adverb?
3. The swarthy boy climbed a tree quickly.
What word is the adjective?
Why is it an adjective?

20. Analyse this sentence
The swarthy boy climbed the tall tree quickly and saw the valley.
What word is the co-ordinating conjunction?
Where does the second clause start?
What is the verb in the second clause?
What type of sentence is the one above? Simple or compound.

21. There are three different types of sentences in English
A simple sentence which has one verb.
The boy climbed the tree.
A complex sentence which has more than one verb and the clauses are joined by relative conjunctions.
The boy climbed the tree while he was crying.
A compound sentence which has more than one verb and the clauses are joined by co-ordinating conjunctions.
The boy climbed the tree and saw the valley.