1. Sentence Variety: Sentence Types and Patterns
Grammar Boot Camp
Sentence Variety:
Sentence Types and Patterns
Adapted from

2. Your Mission: To Study Sentence Types To Study Sentence Patterns
To Write with Varied Syntax

3. Phrases/ Clauses
Phrase: Group of related words, missing a subject and/or verb
Clause: Group of words containing both a subject and a verb
Independent Clause: Stands Alone
Dependent Clause: Does NOT Stand Alone
Also known as Subordinate Clause
Usually has a subordinating conjunction

4. Common Subordinating Conjunctions
Before
After
When
Although
While
Because If
That
Since B A W I T S

5. Phrase/ Clause Practice
Identify the following as phrases, dependent clauses, or independent clauses.
In the middle of the room.
When the girl ate breakfast.
She loves puppies.
Because he ate play-dough.
He threw up. P DC IC DC IC

6. Overview
Patterns of independent and dependent clauses create 4 types of sentences
Four Sentence Types:
Simple Sentence (1 IC)
Compound Sentence (2 ICs)
Complex Sentence (1 IC, 1 DC)
Compound/Complex Sentence (2 ICs, 1 DC)

7. Simple Sentence Pattern: IC. Examples: 1. My dog is named Joey.
2. I have another dog named Gracie.
3. Joey is a grumpy old man.
4. Gracie is very mischievous.

8. Compound Sentences (2 ICs)

9. Compound Sentence : a Pattern: IC , for IC.
and
nor
but Coordinating Conjunctions or
yet so
Example: Gracie chews my shoes, and Joey licks the walls.
FANBOYS!

10. Compound Sentence: A More examples…
Gracie fell down the heater vent, but she wasn’t hurt.
Joey hates shadows, so he tries to lick them away.
Gracie’s favorite toy is her stuffed pig, but she also plays with her toy frog.

11. Compound Sentence : B Pattern: IC; IC.
Example: Gracie ate a rock; she had to have emergency surgery.

12. Compound Sentence : c Pattern: IC ; therefore , IC.
however
moreover Conjunctive Adverbs
furthermore
Example: Gracie loves to play with Joey; however, Joey gets easily annoyed with Gracie.

13. Easy Identification…
Look for the FANBOYS!
Where does the comma go?

14. Complex Sentences (DC + IC)

15. Complex Sentence : a Pattern: DC, IC.
Example: When Gracie got caught under my dresser, I had a hard time getting her out.

16. Complex Sentence : b Pattern: IC DC.
Example: I never refer to Joey by his real name because it is really long.

17. Easy Identification…
Look for the BA WAWBITS!
Where does the comma go?

18. Compound-Complex Sentences

19. Compound/Complex Sentence : a
Pattern: IC , for IC DC.
and
nor
but Coordinating Conjunctions or
yet so
Example: Gracie tries her best to play with Joey, but he hates it when she bothers him.

20. Compound/Complex Sentence : b
Pattern: IC DC , for IC.
and
nor
but Coordinating Conjunctions or
yet so
Example: Joey will play with Gracie if he’s in a good mood, but he’s seldom in a good mood.

21. Compound/Complex Sentence : c
Pattern: DC, IC , for IC.
and
nor
but Coordinating Conjunctions or
yet so
Example: Since Joey is so old, he doesn’t have much energy, but sometimes he still acts like a puppy.

22. Easy Identification…
Look for BOTH a FANBOYS and a BA WAWBITS!

23. Now It’s Your Turn:
Identify the sentence type (simple, compound, complex, compound/complex) for each item below:
I was scared when Gracie fell in the heater vent.
Joey can be very difficult, but I still love him because he has been such a loyal dog.
Gracie escaped from my condo one day, but she came back quickly.
I am happy that I have two dogs.

24. Answer key:
Complex
Compound-Complex
Compound

25. How well do you understand?

26. Congratulations!
You are now a master of the four grammatical sentence types! (And you know a lot about Ms. Ratliff’s dogs.)