Sentences

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 The restaurant's customers loved the chocolate lava cake. Predicate – what the subject does The restaurant's customers loved the chocolate lava cake.

Sentence Types

Declarative – a sentence that makes a statement (ends with a period mark) Learning to cook pasta can be a great start to becoming a professional chef.

Imperative – a sentence that makes a command (ends with a period mark) Learn to cook pasta immediately.

Interrogative – a sentence that asks a question (ends with a question mark) Why should I learn to cook pasta?

Exclamatory – a sentence that expresses great emotion, passion, excitement (ends with an exclamation mark) This is the best pasta I have ever tasted!

Sentence Patterns

Simple Sentence: A sentence that is just one independent clause. I can cook an excellent steak.

Compound Sentence: A sentence with multiple independent clauses, but no dependent clauses - connected by FANBOYS (coordinating conjunctions) or a semicolon (;). Many dishes take lots of time to prepare, but they taste good when they are finished.

Complex Sentence: A sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. While you were at work, I cooked us an excellent dinner..

Complex-Compound Sentence: A sentence with multiple independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. Whether you plan ahead or not, most catering orders get done, but they can take up a lot of time.

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. Working in a restaurant is going to change your life, no matter how you cook or how long it takes you to cook.

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 you cook or how long it takes you to cook, working in a restaurant will 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. Bravo students tend to work hard, to stay awake at night, and to succeed where others fail.

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.

Bravo students spend their days turning old assignments in and taking new assignments home.

Chiasmus: A sentence that includes a repetition of ideas (words, phrases, or clauses) in inverted (reversed) order - this sentence requires symmetry. Chefs know how to make a restaurant what it is and it would be nothing without them.

Asyndeton: A sentence that leaves out conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses for a rhetorical purpose. Chefs typically exhibit knowledge, creativity, and excellence.

Polysyndeton: A sentence that uses multiple conjunctions in close proximity to each other between words, phrases, or clauses for a rhetorical purpose. Chefs typically exhibit knowledge and creativity and patience and, ultimately, excellence.

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. For so many chefs, culinary school can be the best time of their lives, while for others culinary school is the worst part of their lives, but most will agree that culinary school can feel like the longest part of their lives.

Epistrophe: A sentence featuring several phrases or clauses ending with the same word or words. Chefs so often spend their days talking while at work, their nights at work, their breaks thinking about work that it sometimes can feel like they live only for work.

Sentence Errors

Run-On/Rambling/Fused Sentence – a sentence construction error where two or more independent clauses are connected incorrectly without punctuation.

The bakers wanted to stop working on their cake they needed to start decorating other cakes they had no time. [WRONG] The bakers wanted to stop working on their cake BECAUSE they needed to start decorating other cakes AND they had no time. [RIGHT]

Comma Splice – a sentence construction error where two or more independent clauses are connected incorrectly using commas The bakers wanted to stop working on their cake, they needed to start decorating other cakes, they had no time. [WRONG] The bakers wanted to stop working on their cake. They needed to start decorating other cakes; they had no time. [RIGHT]

Fragment – incomplete sentence pieces that are not connected to or do not form an independent clause Because the chefs had no time. [WRONG] Because the chefs had no time, they had to work faster. [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

At the family barbeque, I gave a steak to my cousin that was medium rare. [WRONG] At the family barbeque, I gave a steak that was medium rare to my cousin. [RIGHT]

Double Negative – combining two or more negative words in a sentence in a way that is supposed to produce a positive force The chefs knew that it wouldn’t do them no good to waste time. [WRONG] The chefs knew that it would not do them any good to waste time. [RIGHT]