1. Varying Sentence Structure

2. Basic Simplicity vs Style
Read the paragraph below and note its basic simplicity.
I love living in the city. I have a wonderful view of the entire city. I have an apartment. I can see the Golden Gate Bridge. I can see many cargo ships pass under the bridge each day. I like the restaurants in San Francisco. I can find wonderful food from just about every country. I don’t like the traffic in the city…

3. Basic Simplicity vs Style
Read the paragraph below and note its basic simplicity.
I love living in the city. I have a wonderful view of the entire city. I have an apartment. I can see the Golden Gate Bridge. I can see many cargo ships pass under the bridge each day. I like the restaurants in San Francisco. I can find wonderful food from just about every country. I don’t like the traffic in the city…

4. More Varied and Sophisticated
I love living in the Sunshine State’s city of San Francisco. With a wonderful view of the entire cityscape from my apartment window, I can even see the Golden Gate Bridge. Hearing the passing cargo ships reminds me of the city’s vibrancy. Because there is a variety of restaurants, I also like San Francisco’s culinary scene. However, I don’t like the traffic in the city…

5. Other ways to start sentences
With an adverb/adverb phrase
With an –ing phrase
With a prepositional phrase
With an appositive
With an infinitive

6. Tells who, what, when, where, to what extent
Adverb/Adverb phrase
Tells who, what, when, where, to what extent
When I go to college, I will study
pediatrics.
Quietly, the fox approached the den.
After I finish work, I will meet friends.
As long as we have known each
other, we have liked video gaming.

7. Gerund: -ing phrase
Listening to my iPod is the best way to relax after school.
Going to camp this summer will keep me busy.
Buying a car will drain my savings account.

8. Prepositional phrase
Phrase to help reveal relationships among words (at, before, on, of , through, over, around, with, on, until)
Before noon on Saturdays, I can call
overseas for a discounted rate.
With a smile I accepted my diploma.
On the counter you will find dessert.

9. Appositive
Noun or noun phrase that names the person, place, or thing right next to it.
A large cockroach with hairy legs, the
insect crawled across the table.

10. Appositive cont’d
The worst disaster area in the house, the laundry room is a volcano of dirty clothes. A silent enemy, cancer is a tragic disease.

11. Infinitive phrase “to” + a verb (phrase)
To keep a healthy body, I go to the
gym.
To go to Harvard is her dream.
To postpone the trial is a judicious
decision.

12. Practice Re-write the following sentence in TWO of the forms below:
The football game on TV kept me up late last night so I wasn’t able to finish my homework.
With an adverb/adverb phrase
With an –ing phrase
With a prepositional phrase
With an appositive
With an infinitive

13. PRACTICE 2 Re-write the following sentence in three ways:
The article reveals the author’s disdainful tone toward the exploitive cosmetics ad, which suggests that physical beauty equals success.
Appositive
-ing phrase
One other method of your choice

14. Careful with modifier problem:
Critically biting, the ad is destroyed by the author who cites its exploitive nature.
Suggesting that beauty equals success, the author challenges the ad’s exploitive approach to cosmetics.