Skill-Building Sentences

Instructions: For each of the challenges below, you must write a sentence that follows the rules specified by the challenge. The links take you to Web pages that can help you figure out what I’m asking you to do. Each Web site is one that I think you might find useful for other things—I didn’t pick them at random.

Start at the top of the list, and complete as many of the sentence challenges as you wish, in order, without skipping any. Stop when you reach the number of challenges you wish to complete.

For instance, if you just wanted five points, you might do questions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and then stop there. If you wanted 20 points, you would need to complete sentences 1 through 20, without skipping any of them.

Rules

1. Some sentences are more difficult than others. As tempting as it might be, don’t skip any of them! If you do, I’ll stop scoring at that point, and none of the sentences below the skipped one will count.

2. Edit your sentences carefully: They need to be grammatically correct for you to receive points! Also, remember this: I picked most of these challenges because people regularly make mistakes related to them. Make sure you know what the rules are for each sentence. Double-check.

3. All of your sentences have to be original writing by you. (Turn in honest work!)

For each grammatically correct sentence that satisfies its challenge, 1 point will be added to your summary exercise score. If your original score was not passing (less than 73), you cannot raise your score above 73. If your original score was above 73, you cannot add more than 15 points through these challenges. If your original score is higher than 85, it’s possible for your total to go above 100.

You need to submit your sentences by January 19 to receive credit for them. This is not a fast assignment: Give yourself time to do each sentence correctly.

Sentence Challenges

1. In a simple sentence, tell me one thing you did today. 2. In a compound sentence, tell me what your major is and what one of your ambitions is. 3. In a complex sentence, identify the circumstances under which you would be most likely

to (a) recommend the death penalty for a criminal, or (b) approve the release of a known criminal back to society (choose one).

4. Correctly use the word although in a sentence about one of your previous English classes. (Hint: Although is a subordinate conjunction.)

5. In a single sentence, tell me about the most interesting day you’ve had in the last week, using parallelism to create a compound predicate with at least three predicates. (Example: I ate Doritos, climbed the Alps, and found a new way to skin a cat.)

6. In a single sentence, describe the most impressive or interesting person you’ve ever met, using parallelism to list three or more appositive phrases to help you describe that person. (Example: My basketweaving class is taught by Professor Burton, an expert swordsman, accomplished explorer, speaker of nineteen languages, film star, recording artist, and terrible baker of cookies.)

7. In a single sentence, describe the strangest person you know, using three or more parallel relative clauses. (Example: I share a room with Frank, who likes to meditate while hanging from the ceiling, who likes to smoke lettuce leaves “because they’re still legal,” who once decided to shoot a documentary film of me sleeping, and who refuses to laugh because he thinks it’s cruel to animals.)

Here’s a brief digression you may skip: At about this point in the list, students sometimes ask me why I’m emphasizing parallelism so much. Last term, someone asked me, “Do you just really like parallelism or something?” Here’s an answer: If you get the concept of parallelism and can pull it off, you can craft incredibly complex sentences of almost infinite length without grammatical derailment. Good writers use parallelism far more often than readers may realize because it’s a handy way to pack lots of ideas into a short space while helping the reader follow all of them. Simply put, focusing on parallelism is hands-down the best way I’ve found to improve student grammar. Back to the list…

8. Use a colon (:)correctly in a sentence designed to make me laugh. (Warning: Colons are

horribly misused. Here’s a handy reminder: Colons are like periods – they can only go where you could have put a period. Imagine replacing all of your colons with periods. If they make sense that way, then the colons are probably correct.)

9. Use a semicolon (;) correctly in a sentence joining two independent clauses about a hobby you enjoy.

10. Use several semicolons correctly in a sentence describing a meal you had recently. Use the semicolons as “super-commas” as described on this site.

11. Using a speaker tag, correctly integrate, punctuate, and attribute a quote from one of the Web sites I’ve linked to in this document. See pages 51 and 759-761 in our textbook for help doing this correctly, and to see what I mean by terms like integrate.

12. Do #11 again, but use a different quote and a different source. Also, instead of using a speaker tag, set up your quote by correctly using a colon.

13. Use chiasmus or antimetabole in a sentence in which you describe your attitude toward a specific event that happened to you in the past year. (You may need to use a semicolon to pull off this off in a single sentence.) Here are two other sites with help and examples: the Handbook of Rhetorical Devices and this article on antimetabole in campaign speeches.

14. Correctly use the word however in a single sentence about something you do on the Internet. (Hint: However is not a conjunction. It’s a connecting adverb. Almost every time I see the word however in a student paper, it’s part of a run-on sentence. It is, these days, the word most responsible for grammatical errors in student writing. Check your work twice on this one!)

15. In a single sentence, explain what Cal Newport means when he says natural intelligence plays almost no role in a person’s success at school. (Your sentence may use a colon or semicolon, or parallelism, in order to cram in multiple ideas, as long as it is grammatically correct when you are done.)

16. In a single sentence, explain why Newport’s observation might be important to these sentence exercises.

17. In a sentence, explain what cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham thinks we need to know about reading comprehension.

18. In a sentence, based on your understanding of Willingham, describe a strategy you could use to strengthen your own reading comprehension skills (even if they’re already pretty good).

19. In a single sentence, answer this question: What does Grammar Girl mean by the term “self-plagiarism” and does UCR enforce this rule?

20. In a single sentence that uses a participial phrase, identify the academic integrity rule that you think is most likely to be a surprise to students.

21. Write a sentence with a participial phrase in which you describe what you’ve learned about dangling modifiers from these sources: Grammar Girl, Hemicyon, and eNotes. (Note: The examples at eNotes are hilarious. But no one there explains what dangling modifier means, so read the others first.)

22. Write a sentence about something fantastic, mythological, or supernatural, using three or more parallel absolute phrases.

23. Write a sentence in which you use parallel structure to describe something you used to do but no longer do, something you do now but didn’t previously do, and something you plan to do in the future. Make sure all of your verb tenses are correct!

24. Correctly use the correlative conjunction not only … but also in a sentence about one of your parents or siblings.

25. Correctly use the so … that or so much … that pattern in a sentence about one of your friends.

26. Write a sentence about a company, band, musical group, or team with which you’re familiar, and in the same sentence (which may be compound, complex, parallel, or semicoloned), tell us something about the group’s members, fans, opponents, or listeners. Make sure all of your pronouns are correctly handled! (Check the section on pronoun agreement in the grammar handbook section of our textbook, starting on page H-13. Parts G-2a and G-2b might be particularly helpful for checking your work.)

27. Write a sentence about something you saw on television or in a recent film, using some form of zeugma in your sentence. (There are a lot of variations on zeugma. Read through the examples on the page I’ve linked to and find one that makes sense to you, and then try that pattern.)

28. Correctly use the word overlook (or overlooked) in a sentence about something you’ve seen a character do on TV or read about a character doing in a book.

29. Is the correct expression for all intensive purposes, for all intense and purposes, or for all intents and purposes? Use the correct expression in a sentence that also uses the word effect correctly. The Eggcorn Database is a useful resource for figuring out these sorts of puzzles, if you can figure out how to read the entries correctly.

30. Use the word than correctly in a sentence about the relationship between enjoyment and learning, or the relationship between enjoyment and health. (Note: Be careful with this one. People often mix up than and then, and I often see sentences with than in them fall apart grammatically in other ways.)

31. Use anadiplosis to describe the path you hope your future will take. (Hint: You may need to use semicolons to make this work as a single sentence.)

32. Use the word enormity correctly in a sentence about something that bothers you. 33. Use distinctio correctly in a sentence that evaluates a movie you’ve seen, game you’ve

played, or book you’ve read. (You may need to use a semicolon to pull this off in a single sentence.)

34. Use apophasis correctly in a sentence about the same movie, game, or book. 35. Use the word literally correctly in a sentence about something you once witnessed.36. Use the word comprised correctly in a sentence about a team or group to which you once

belonged. (Note: Comprised is not simply a synonym for composed and cannot be swapped freely with it. Look up how to use it correctly.)

37. Use dashes to set off a parenthetical comment in the middle of a sentence about the most dangerous thing you’ve ever done (that you’re willing to write about!). Note on punctuation: The dash and hyphen are different. Look up how to use a dash in the grammar handbook part of our textbook, starting on page H-73.

38. Use the word except correctly in a sentence about how you felt when you learned you were admitted to a college or university.

39. By now, you are probably tired of this assignment. Here’s a chance to vent! Use a simile in a sentence about this assignment. Don’t be shy. Really unload on it! (Example: Doing this homework was like getting a colonscopy and a root canal at the same time without anesthetics.)

40. Is the correct expression couldn’t care less or could care less? Use the correct expression in a sentence in which you also use the expression used to or supposed to.

41. Use the verb include (or included or includes) in a sentence about the hobbies or pastimes of one of your friends.

42. Use the word imply (or implied or implies) in a sentence about a conversation you recently had.

43. Use the word factor correctly in a sentence about the causes or effects of a phenomenon you’re interested in.

44. Use the word aspect correctly in a sentence about the same phenomenon you wrote about for sentence 43.

45. Use the verb increase (or increased or increases) in a sentence about the same phenomenon you wrote about for sentences 43 and 44.

46. Use the word principle in a sentence about something you learned (or didn’t learn) in high school. (Note: Be careful. There’s a huge difference between principle and principal.)

47. Use the word adverse correctly in a sentence about a tough decision you once made. (Note: This word is frequently confused with another word very much like it.)

48. Use the word insure (or insured or insures) correctly in a sentence about overconfidence. (Note: This word is frequently confused with another word very much like it.)

49. Use the word complementary correctly in a sentence about customer service you’ve seen or experienced. (Note: This word is frequently confused with another word very much like it.)

50. Use discrete correctly in a sentence about life in the dorms. (Note: This word is frequently confused with another word very much like it.)