The Variety of

SentencesBrooklyn Technical High SchoolFreshman CompositionMr. Williams

Learning Objective: To recognize and use a variety of sentences in composition

CCS: W.9.4: To use appropriate style and voice with an emphasis on experimentation with sentence variety

Motivational Activity: Read two paragraphs about the city of Vancouver.

1. For the first five sentences in each paragraph, identify the subject and predicate. And if any of the following parts of sentence appear, then identify the direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative, and/or predicate adjective.

2. Explain what makes the two paragraphs different.

Writing Exercise: Using one of the following sentences to focus and control the descriptive details you select, draft a paragraph. Place the sentence in the paragraph wherever it will have the greatest emphasis.

1. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen.2. The music stopped.3. I started to sweat.4. She had convinced me.5. It was my turn to step forward.6. Now I understand.

Sentence ClassificationSentences are classified by purpose.

Declarative sentences make a statement with a period.

The lock on the front door is broken.

Interrogative sentences ask a question and end with question marks.

What is the capital of New Mexico?

Sentence ClassificationSentences are classified by purpose.

Imperative sentences make a request or give a command.

It’s an emergency! Call 9-1-1!

Exclamatory sentences show excitement and express strong feelings.

Ouch! That really hurt!

Sentence Classification1. The school is five blocks from here

2. The umpire called a strike

3. Where did you park the car

4. His hard work earned him a promotion

5. Anita ran errands during most of the day

6. Why did Earl leave the party so early

7. Debbie Allen is a choreographer

8. What a wonderful day we had yesterday

9. Please hold my umbrella for a minute

10.The pear tree grew well in our backyard

11.Leave your classroom quickly

Sentence Variety

Subordination: Give one idea less emphasis than another in a sentence. Introduce an idea with either a subordinating conjunction or pronoun (before a dependent clause). Deemphasize one idea while highlighting another idea.

Melissa was reading a detective story while the President’s report on the debt-ceiling was televised.

The President’s report on the debt-ceiling was televised while Melissa was reading a detective story.

Sentence Variety

Subordination: Give one idea less emphasis than another in a sentence. Introduce an idea with either a subordinating conjunction or pronoun (before a dependent clause). Deemphasize one idea while highlighting another idea.

When she was thirty years old, she took her first flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

When she took her first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, she was thirty years old.

Sentence Variety

Parallelism: Balance a word with a word, a phrase with a phrase, or a clause with a clausePersons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” – Mark Twain

In the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln proclaimed his hope that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Sentence Variety

Passive and Active Voices: Since the subject of a sentence is automatically emphasized, the active voice further emphasizes the doer of the action while the passive voice downplays the doer of the action. Active voices are more vivid and vigorous.High winds pushed our sailboat onto the rocks.Our sailboat was pushed onto the rocks.

It has been decided that only one student in the class can pass.I have decided that only one student in the class can pass.

Sentence Variety

Coordination: Combine sentences with coordinating conjunctions to give each idea equal emphasis. This can make for an easier read.

Lorena Ochoa selected her club. She lined up her shot. She chipped the ball to within a foot of the pin.

Lorena Ochoa selected her club, lined up her shot, and chipped the ball within a foot of the pin.

Sentence Variety

Periodic and Loose Sentences: Place the most important idea at the beginning in a loose sentence or at the end in a periodic sentence. Generally, the end of a sentence is most emphatic, so writers use them to create suspense. Loose sentences resemble the way most people talk, as we state a main idea and then support it.On the afternoon of the first day of spring, when the gutters were still heaped high with Monday’s snow but the sky itself had been swept clean, we put on our galoshes and walked up the sunny side of Fifth Avenue to Central Park. – John Updike

Sentence Variety

Periodic and Loose Sentences: Place the most important idea at the beginning in a loose sentence or at the end in a periodic sentence. Generally, the end of a sentence is most emphatic, so writers use them to create suspense. Loose sentences resemble the way most people talk, as we state a main idea and then support it.We put on our galoshes and walked up the sunny side of Fifth Avenue to Central Park on the afternoon of the first day of spring, when the gutters were still heaped high with Monday’s snow but the sky itself had been swept clean.

Sentence Variety

Dramatically Short Sentences: Especially when preceded by a long and involved sentence, dramatically short sentences help emphasize a point.

The qualities that Barbie promote (slimness, youth, and beauty) allow no tolerance of grey hair, wrinkles, sloping posture, or failing eyesight and hearing. Barbie’s perfect body is eternal. -Danielle Kuykendall

Sentence Variety

Dramatically Short Sentences: Especially when preceded by a long and involved sentence, dramatically short sentences help emphasize a point.

The executive suite on the thirty-fourth floor of the Columbia Broadcasting System skyscraper in Manhattan is a tasteful blend of dark wood paneling, expensive abstract painting, thick carpets, and pleasing colors. It has the quiet look of power.

Re-Writing Exercise: Applying what you’ve learned about sentence variety and emphasis to focus and control the descriptive details you select, revise your paragraph.

1. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen.2. The music stopped.3. I started to sweat.4. She had convinced me.5. It was my turn to step forward.6. Now I understand.

The Variety of

SentencesWe can’t write every sentence the same way. We can’t expect people to read our writing if we do. We can’t keep using the same types of sentences over and over again. We can’t do this because it drives readers crazy! It also makes the writing hard to understand. Why? Because readers start paying more attention to the repetition of the sounds than they do to the meaning of the sentences. Sentence variety, an important aspect of good writing, should not be used for its own sake but should express ideas precisely and emphasize the most important ideas within each sentence.

-Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc.- Models for Writers