Super-Smart Sentence Skills...

(or… the rules of writing sentence properly!)

Simple 1, 2, 3! Sentences…

The cat / sat / on the mat.

Compound sentences…

The cat / sat / on the mat / and the dog sat on the chair.

joined with “and”

Longer simple Sentences

They smiled as if they meant it. The plant died because it wasn't watered. The container has a hole in it the bottom.

Longer compound sentences

The girls walked out of the shop and laughedloudly as they headed for the car. An elderly man was admitted to hospital aftersuffering a heart attack and falling down his

stairs.

Adding extra detail to a sentence

Embedded clauses, e.g., subordinate clauses Adjectival clauses provide extra detail about the noun. Sentence 1. - The rodents were introduced by settlers.Sentence 2. - These rodents killed the native birds.

noun - The rodentsdetail- introduced by settlers killed the native birds.

The rodents , introduced by settlers, have killed the native birds.

This is a subordinate clause. It must be enclosed in the sentence by commas. It MUST be embedded immediately after the main noun / subject of the complex sentence.

Another “detailed” sentence... 1. Native trees can block people’s views. 2. Native trees can get in the way of property development. 3. Trees like these are sometimes poisoned.

Noun - Native trees extra information - block people’s views

- get in the way of property development - are sometimes poisoned.

“Native trees, that block people’s views and limit property development, are sometimes poisoned.”

This is a subordinate clause. It enclosed by commas... And embedded immediately after the main noun / subject sentence.

Modality

Modal verbs convey a range of judgments aboutthe likelihood of events.

There are nine modal verbs: "can", "could", "may", "might", "will", "would", "shall", "should", and "must".

She might be there.

You could get there by lunchtime if you hurry. You'll hit the roof. That must have hurt.

More modality...High modality Medium

modalityLow modality

musthas to ought to

shouldcanneed to will

maymightcouldwould

Modal nouns: "possibility", "probability", "obligation", "necessity", "requirement"

Modal adjectives: "possible", "probable", "obligatory", "necessary", "required", "determined"

Modal adverbs: "possibly", "probably", "perhaps", "maybe", "sometimes’, "always’ "definitely", "never", "certainly“

Write less... Say more!Write less... Say more!NominalisationNominalisation changes verbs and other words into nouns. It makes atext more compact and more specific. e.g., instead of saying…

"When your body reaches an abnormally low temperature, you will need to be taken to hospital",

use nominalisation: Hypothermia requires hospitalisation.

Instead of saying: "How farmers protected their livestock from the storm was the topic of the article",

use nominalisation: "Livestock protection was the topic of the article.“

Verb suffix Noun

ExploreSuperviseFarmStarRefuseBreakAmaze

-(a)tion-ion-ing-dom-al-age-ment

explorationsupervisionfarmingstardomrefusalbreakageamazement

“What do you call that part of the sentence?”Technical name Example...

The subject (main noun phrase) Mat usually does Rob's car on a Saturday afternoon…

Conjunctions (link two clauses) Until the two years is up....

Elements of an interpersonal nature (emotive language)

Amazingly, the back wall of the garage is OK.

Experiential (experience) elements such as prepositions

By the end, he’s sweating and puffing...

Adverbial elements of circumstance By 1840, many missionaries had settled…

Ellipsis(when part of a sentence is left out because it would otherwise repeat what is said elsewhere)

I'd like to eat that biscuit, but I won’t. (the second clause is elliptical, with "eat that biscuit" being omitted).

Conjunctions...

Cohesive techniques...

Cohesive techniques are usually repeated •phrases,

•catch-phrases, •groups of words…

•or, your thesis statement… which (like a stapler that holds your

pages together) “glues” your arguments and explanations together write through your extended written response – from the beginning to the

end!

Grammatical cohesive techniques...

Clarifying Showing cause/result Indicating time

in other wordsfor examplethat isnamelyin fact

sothereforeconsequentlydue to..., owing tobecause of this

thennextfinallymeanwhilepreviously

Sequencing ideas Adding information Condition/concession

firstly, first, second, third...at this pointto concludegiven the above pointsto get back to the point

tooin additionalsoagainsimilarly

in that casehoweverdespite thiseven soif not

Lexical (word) cohesion…

• Word associations - form links within texts.• Repetition• Synonyms; antonyms; hyponyms; hypernyms

"My dad bought a new car", "bought" can be replaced by "purchased" (synonym—similar meaning) "bought" can be replaced by "sold" (antonym—contrasting meaning) "car" can be replaced by "Ford" (hyponym—more specific meaning) "car" can be replaced by "vehicle" (hypernym—more general meaning)

• Collocation - words which typically occur together, making a text predictable.

Collocation??

• In fairy tales, the words "Once upon a time", "wicked stepmother", "wicked witch", and "lived happily ever after" collocate.

More collocation...• Collocational is intentionally broken (or ignored) when the

writer wants to be inventive.

Metaphors taken from Dylan Thomas’s After the Funeral…Some degree of expectancy

Unusual Well beyond expectations. We are forced to search for meanings

Humble handsMourning house

Skyward statue Crooked yearthreadbare whisperdamp wordround pain

References Crystal, D. (2003). The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Derewianka, B. (2005). A grammar companion. Newtown, NSW: PETA.