1. Sentence Variety By
Alfred Taylor

2. Sentence Variety
Please practice utilizing these nine sentence patterns throughout the semester. Good sentence variety keeps writing from becoming dull.
Understanding these sentence patterns will improve your ability to communicate.

3. Sentence Variety Spock drank a Pepsi.
#1 Simple Sentence
Spock drank a Pepsi.
Alfred bought a diamond ring for his lovely wife Thuy.

4. Alfred bought a diamond ring for his
Sentence Variety
Both of the sentences are simple sentences because they each only have one clause. The second may have more adjectives and adverbs, but it is still a simple sentence.
Sub Verb Art Adj Do/ noun prep PN
Alfred bought a diamond ring for his
Adv Adj Ido / Proper Noun
lovely wife Thuy.

5. Sentence Variety #2 Compound Subject / Verb / Object
A compound sentence has two subjects or two verbs or both.
Kirk and Spock drank Pepsi.
Spock slurped and gulped his drink.
Spock drank Pepsi and Diet Pepsi.
Note: There are no commas in these sentences

6. Sentence Variety
Sentences utilizing a compound subject, verb, or object are still simple sentences because they only have one clause. A clause is a phrase that contains both a subject and a verb. It is possible to have a sentence that has a compound subject, verb, and object.
Kirk and Spock ate and drank pizza and Pepsi.

7. Sentence Variety
Please don’t confuse a sentence with a compound verb with a compound sentence.
Compound Verb
Spock drank Pepsi and belched loudly.
Compound Sentence
Spock drank Pepsi, and he belched loudly.
A compound sentence must have a subject on both sides of the coordinating conjunction.

8. #3 Compound or Coordinate Sentence
Sentence Variety
#3 Compound or Coordinate Sentence
A compound sentence uses one of the seven coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet) and connects two complete simple sentences. Each half of the sentence is equally important to the meaning of the sentence. The coordinating conjunction must be proceeded by a comma.

9. Sentence Variety
The seven coordinating conjunctions are also known as FONYBAS words. If These words are written out, the first letter of each one spells FONYBAS.
For Or
Nor
Yet
But
And So

10. Sentence Variety
Joining two simple sentences together with a semicolon does not create a strong sentence; however, it does create a sentence that is awkward and difficult to understand. This type of sentence may have worked in High School, but college instructors expect well developed sentences.
I hate semicolons!

11. Sentence Variety The chicken got well; we had salad.
These two sentences seem to be completely unrelated when joined with a semicolon.
The chicken got well, so we had salad.
When joined with a coordinating conjunction, the sentence’s meaning is more clear.

12. Sentence Variety
Each time the coordinating conjunction is changed the meaning also changes.
The chicken got well, for we had salad. The chicken got well, yet we had salad. The chicken got well, but we had salad.
The chicken got well, and we had salad.
The chicken got well, so we had salad.

13. Sentence Variety sub verb art obj C.C. Sub verb obj.
Spock drank a Pepsi, and he enjoyed it.
This is a compound sentence because it has a complete sentence on both sides of the coordinating conjunction, the sentences make sense together, and the coordinating conjunction makes sense with the sentences.

14. Sentence Variety Spock drank a Pepsi, or he enjoyed it.
Spock drank a Pepsi, nor he enjoyed it.
These are examples of faulty coordination since the coordinating conjunction does not make sense with the sentences it is connecting.

15. Sentence Variety
Spock drank a Pepsi, so computers hate people who have poor usage skills.
This is another example of faulty coordination because these two sentences don’t make any logical sense together.

16. Sentence Variety #4 Expletive Sentence
An expletive construction consists of “there” or “it” plus a form of the verb “be.”
There was a man from Orlando.
It is a good day to study English.

17. Sentence Variety Forms of “Be” I am You are He/She/It Is I was
You were
He/She/It was
I will be
We/They are
We/They will be
I/You/They have been

18. Sentence Variety
Expletive sentences should be used sparingly. They tend to be wordy and they have weak subjects and verbs.
There was a man who drank Pepsi.
The subject of this sentence is “there,” and the verb is “was.” Both of these are weak words. Avoid using “be” verbs whenever possible.

19. Sentence Variety #5 Infinitive phrase
An infinitive phrase consists of “To” plus a verb.
To go into space was Captain Kirk’s Dream.
If a word interrupts the infinitive phrase, it is called a split infinitive.
To boldly go where no man has gone before.

20. Sentence Variety #6 Appositive
An appositive renames a noun in a sentence, usually the subject of the sentence. This helps to make the significance of the noun more clear. An appositive is usually separated from the sentence by a comma.
A monster-dog, a two-hundred pound
German Shepherd, stole my lunch.

21. Sentence Variety
There are two types of appositives, essential or restrictive and nonessential or nonrestrictive.
A nonrestrictive appositive may be removed from the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence. To indicate that it can be removed, it is set apart with commas.

22. Sentence Variety
If a restrictive or essential appositive is removed, the meaning of the sentence will change. Since a restrictive appositive is essential to the meaning of the sentence, it is not separated by commas.

23. Sentence Variety Students who use debit cards eat more fast food.
Missy a lazy dog chased three parked cars.
Cars with bad spark plugs get poor gas mileage.
Anna a good student studied English all night.

24. Restrictive or Essential Nonrestrictive or Nonessential
Sentence Variety
Students who use debit cards eat more fast food.
Restrictive or Essential
Missy a lazy dog chased three parked cars.
Nonrestrictive or Nonessential
Cars with bad spark plugs get poor gas mileage.
Anna a good student studied English all night.

25. Sentence Variety
We will discuss restrictive and nonrestrictive modifiers in greater detail later in the semester.

26. #7 Subordinate or Complex Sentence
Sentence Variety
#7 Subordinate or Complex Sentence
Complex sentences consist of a dependent clause and an independent clause. The independent clause is the important part of the sentence. The subordinate clause is only additional information. There are many varieties of this sentence. A comma separates the dependent clause from the independent clause when the dependant clause precedes the independent clause.

27. Sentence Variety
Dependent clauses are created by placing either a subordinating word or a relative pronoun in front of a sentence.
independent clause
Spock drank a Pepsi.
dependent clause
When Spock drank a Pepsi.

28. Sentence Variety Common subordinating words include:
as because If after
since provided before where
unless whether while once
when although so that until
though whenever than as if
Common relative pronouns include:
which what who that
whom whatever whoever

29. Sentence Variety When Spock drank a Pepsi.
This is a dependent clause because it doesn’t express a complete thought and must rely upon an independent clause to give it meaning. When Spock drank a Pepsi, what happened?

30. Sentence Variety dependent clause independent clause
When Spock drank a Pepsi, he slapped Mr. Sulu.
When the dependent clause comes first, separate the clauses with a comma.
Independent clause dependent clause
Spock drank a Pepsi when he slapped Mr. Sulu.
When the independent clause comes first, no comma is necessary.

31. #8 Prepositional Phrase
Sentence Variety
#8 Prepositional Phrase
A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with an object. A preposition is a word with some meaning of position, time, or other abstract relation. Words like above, below, near, far, from, of, to, after, before, and until are all prepositions.

32. Sentence Variety After lunch, the Universe exploded.
In this example, after is the preposition, and lunch is the object of the preposition. The noun or pronoun that follows the preposition is object of the preposition that makes up the prepositional phrase.

33. Sentence Variety #9 Conjunctive Adverb
Two independent clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb. Each independent clause must be a sentence with a subject and a verb. A semicolon precedes the conjunctive adverb and a comma follows it.
We saw a Star Trek double feature; hence,we were labeled “Trekies” by our coworkers.

34. Sentence Variety Common Conjunctive Adverbs
Accordingly
Also
Anyway
Besides
Certainly
Consequently
Finally
Furthermore
Hence
However
Incidentally
Indeed
Instead
Likewise
Meanwhile
Moreover
Nevertheless

35. Sentence Variety
A writer should only use a conjunctive adverb when she wants to get her reader’s attention. Conjunctive adverbs force the reader to pause and pay attention to the sentence; however, if conjunctive adverbs are overused, they lose their impact upon the reader.

36. Sentence Variety
Please practice with these sentence patterns whenever writing a essay. Understanding how and when to use these types of sentences will improve the coherence of your writing.

37. Sentence Variety
The End