5 minute read
Sentences
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Sentence – a set of words that contains a subject and a predicate and conveys a statement, command, question, or an exclamation.
Sentence Parts
Subject – what/who the sentence is about
Pluto patiently waited to be admitted back to being a planet.
Predicate – what the subject does
Pluto patiently waited to be admitted back to being a planet.
Declarative – a sentence that makes a statement (ends with a period mark)
The solar system is about 4.57 billion years old.
Imperative – a sentence that makes a command (ends with a period mark)
Turn the light on now.
Interrogative – a sentence that asks a question (ends with a question mark)
Who would not want to watch sci fi movies?
Exclamatory – a sentence that expresses great emotion, passion, excitement (ends with an exclamation mark)
There are more stars in space than there are grains of sand!
Simple Sentence: A sentence that is just one independent clause.
Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
Compound Sentence: A sentence with multiple independent clauses, but no dependent clauses - connected by FANBOYS (coordinating conjunctions) or a semicolon (;).
Megatron was neutral in the beginning, but then he turned evil.
Complex Sentence: A sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
When the Martian thought of his survival plan, he had to include a source of water.
Complex-Compound Sentence: A sentence with multiple independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.
When the martian thought of his survival plan, he had to include a source of water, but he had to be careful of how much water he used daily.
Loose Sentence: A sentence that contains an independent clause plus a subordinate construction (either a clause or phrase) with your main point at the beginning.
Being alone in space changes your life, no matter how long you are up there or how much entertainment you have.
Periodic Sentence: A sentence in which the independent clause is given at the end of the sentence in order to create interest or generate suspense with the main point coming at the end.
No matter how long you are in space, it is going to change your life.
Parallel Structure: A sentence using the same pattern of two or more verbs or ideas that match in tense or structure to show that they are of equal importance and to help the reader comprehend what is being written - this sentence requires symmetry.
Greek mythology included astrology, stating that stars were memorials to heroes and beasts.
Parallel Structure: A sentence using the same pattern of two or more verbs or ideas that match in tense or structure to show that they are of equal importance and to help the reader comprehend what is being written - this sentence requires symmetry.
Greek mythology included astrology, stating that stars were memorials to heroes and beasts.
Balanced Sentence: A sentence where phrases or clauses at the beginning and the end parallel each other by virtue of their likeness of structure, meaning, or length - this sentence requires symmetry.
NASA sends new rockets into space, and the rockets back home.
Chiasmus: A sentence that includes a repetition of ideas (words, phrases, or clauses) in inverted (reversed) order - this sentence requires symmetry.
The Greeks studied astrology and we would not have gotten far without them.
Asyndeton: A sentence that leaves out conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses for a rhetorical purpose.
Stars are typically characterized by brightness, size, and temperature.
Polysyndeton: A sentence that uses multiple conjunctions in close proximity to each other between words, phrases, or clauses for a rhetorical purpose.
In space there are stars, and planets, and black holes, and other great things.
Anaphora: A sentence that features the purposeful repetition of a word, words, or a phrase at the beginning of several successive clauses in order to place emphasis and draw attention.
Many can agree that humans cannot know everything about space, because to know everything about space requires light years of information, and we are not capable of knowing everything about space with little technology.
Epistrophe: A sentence featuring several phrases or clauses ending with the same word or words.
For most people, stars can be a religious symbol, and for others it can be a guidance symbol, but overall stars can be a positive symbol.
Run-On/Rambling/Fused Sentence – a sentence construction error where two or more independent clauses are connected incorrectly without punctuation.
There are so many sci-fi movies and TV shows that are good to watch they have really good animation. [WRONG] There are so many sci-fi movies and TV shows that are good to watch BECAUSE they have really good animation. [RIGHT]
Comma Splice – a sentence construction error where two or more independent clauses are connected incorrectly using commas
Native Americans and other indeginous people, used the stars, for astrology and based their beliefs off of the stars. [WRONG] Native Americans and other indeginous people used the stars for astrology, basing their beliefs off of the stars. [RIGHT]
Fragment – incomplete sentence pieces that are not connected to or do not form an independent clause
Hottest planet. [WRONG] Hottest planet in the solar system is Venus [RIGHT]
Misplaced/Dangling Modifiers – modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that add description; a misplaced modifier describes the wrong part of a sentence and a dangling modifier is missing the part it’s supposed
to modify The Whirlpool Galaxy being spiral identified as first celestial object. [WRONG] The Whirlpool Galaxy was the first celestial object identified as being spiral shaped. [RIGHT]
Double Negative – combining two or more negative words in a sentence in a way that is supposed to produce a positive force
