Chapter 8: 
Writing Effective Sentences
By Mrs. Anderson
Sentence Combining
•	Insert adjective, adverbs, or prepositional phrases:
•	The tired fans left the stadium.
•	The fans left quietly.
•	The tired fans left the stadium quietly.
•	Insert participial phrases:
•	The dogs yelped loudly. The dogs ran away.
•	Yelping loudly, the dogs ran away.
Sentence Combining
•	Insert appositive phrases:
•	The dog is a good pet.
•	The dog is man’s best friend.
•	The dog, man’s best friend, is a good pet
•	Use compound subjects or verbs
•	The cat has long whiskers.
•	The cat has sensitive eyes
•	The cat has long whiskers and sensitive eyes.
Sentence Combining
•	Write compound sentences, use and, but, or, nor, for, so in order to combine two independent clauses.  Ideas must be related.
•	I wore shorts.  It was raining outside.
•	I wore shorts, but it was raining outside.
•	The singer danced, and he sang clearly.
•	A wolf howled in the night, for she was lonely.
Sentence Combining
•	Write complex sentences by putting one idea into a subordinate clause. See pgs 416-419
•	Adjective clause:  The student turned in the paper, which had taken two weeks to write.
•	Adverb clause:  While writing on the board, Mr. Johnson explained theorems.
•	Noun clause:  The teacher decided that the class deserved an end of the year party.
Parallel Structure 
•	Express parallel ideas in the same grammatical form:
•	Match one part of speech with the same part of speech, a verbal with a verbal, a phrase with a phrase, and a clause with a clause.
•	The giraffe combines several traits: it is gangly, graceful, and dignified. (adjectives)
•	Having a new phone meant more to me than to my sister. (repeat preposition)
Varying Sentence Beginnings 
•	Begin your sentence with an
•	adverb, adjective,or a participle.
•	Instantly, I felt better.
•	Fat and greasy, the hamburger slid away.
•	Laughing, Frank hugged his mother.
•	Angered, Jim slammed the door to his room.
Varying Sentence Beginnings
•	Begin your sentence with a phrase: prepositional, participial, appositive, infinitive.
•	At the sound of the alarm, everyone fled.
•	Having read your essays, I am pleased.
•	A fluffy collie, her dog barked happily.
•	To learn to read better, you simply need to read.
Varying Sentence Beginnings 
•	Begin your sentence with a subordinate clause.
•	Because he was sick, Alfred missed the test.
•	Although you are my friend, I cannot take you.
•	While it is true that you here right now, you cannot prove it mathematically.
Varying Sentence Structure  
•	Vary the kinds of sentences:
•	Simple: one independent clause.
•	Compound: two independent clauses.
•	Complex: one independent clause, one or more subordinate clauses.
•	Compound-Complex: two independent clauses, one of more subordinate clauses.