Sentence Composing

Sentence Composing First you have to learn something, and then you can go out and do it. ---Mies van der Rohe

APPOSITIVE PHRASE • Appositives are noun phrases that identify adjacent nouns or pronouns. They can occur as sentence openers, subject-verb splits, or sentence closers. • Example: • My mother, a hard worker, finally retired from her job.

Sentence Openers • One of eleven brothers and sisters, Harriet was a moody, willful child. • The appositive is…. • The subject of the sentence is… • What’s the verb?

Subject-Verb Splits • Poppa, a good quiet man, spent the last hours before our parting moving aimlessly about the yard, keeping to himself and avoiding me. • -- Gordon Parks, “My Mother’s Dream for Me”

Sentence Closers • The boy looked at them, big black ugly insects. • --Doris Lessing, African Stories • The appositive phrase is.. • The subject of the sentence is… • The verb of the sentence is…

Participial Phrases • Participles describe nouns or pronouns. • Present participles always end in ing. • Past participles usually end in ed.

Present Participles • STANDING there in the middle of the street, Marty suddenly thought of Halloween, of the winter and snowballs, of the schoolyard. • ---- Murray Heyert, “The New Kid”

Past Participles • Her hair, BRAIDED and WRAPPED around her head, made an ash-blonde crown. • ---- John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Sentence Openers • Whistling, he let the escalator waft him into the still night air. --- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Subject-VerbSplits • Eckels, balanced on the narrow path, aimed his rifle playfully. • --- Ray Bradbury, A Sound of Thunder”

Sentence Closers • The entire crowd in the saloon gathered about me now, urging me to drink. • She called to him, excited. • Where are the participles? • What are the subjects? • What are the verbs?

Absolute Phrase • Absolutes are almost complete sentences. • As a test, you can make any absolute a sentence by adding was or were. • An Absolute is usually written with a participle + a noun. • Example: • His hands raw, he reached a flat place at the top. • His hands were raw, he reached a flat place at the top.

Sentence Openers • His hands raw, he reached a flat place at the top. • --- Richard Connell, “The Most Dangerous Game”

Sentence Closers • She screamed for Klaus – shrieked for him – and Klaus came on the dead run, his work boots whitened by the half-full pail of milk he had spilled on them. • “…his work boots were whitened by the…” • ---- Stephen King, The Two Dead Girls

Subject-Verb Splits • High in the air, a little figure, his hands thrust in his short jacket pockets, stood staring out to sea. • “…his hands werethrust in his …” • --- Katherine Mansfield, The Voyage

The Adjective Clause • Adjective clauses are sentence parts that describe whatever is mentioned to the left of them in the same sentence. • Most begin with the words: who, which, whose, or where. • They can occur as subject-verb splits, or sentence closers.

Subject-Verb Splits • Keeton, who overtopped Norris by five inches and outweighed him by a hundred pounds, gave the deputy a harsh little shake and then did let go. • Stephen King, Needful Things

Sentence Closers • I loved school with a desperate passion, which became more intense when I began to realize what a monumental struggle it was for my parents and brothers and sisters to keep me there. • --- Eugenia Collier, Sweet Potato Pie

…more adjective clauses • Even his eyes, which had been young, looked old. --- John Steinbeck,The Red Pony • I began to wonder what God thought about Westley, who certainly hadn’t seen Jesus either, but who was now sitting proudly on the platform swinging his knickerbockered legs and running down at me. ---Langston Hughes, The Big Sea

Adverbial Clause • Adverbial Clauses are sentence parts that tell more about the rest of the sentence in which they appear. • They usually tell why, how, when or under what condition something was done. • Most begin with the words after, if, because, although, when, as, before, until, for or since (subordinators).

Sentence Openers • After he got himself under control, he apologized. • Although they lived in style, they felt always an anxiety in the house. • --- Stephen King • --- D. H. Lawrence

Subject-Verb Splits • Uncle Hammer, as he had every day since he had arrived, wore sharply creased pants, a vest over a snow-white shirt, and shoes that shone like midnight. (Tells when he dressed neatly). • --- Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Sentence Closers • Alfred quietly slipped out the back door and waited until Henry left.(Tells when Alfred waited) • Bert seemed a little sheepish as he followed the other members to their seats at the front of the room.(Tells when Bert seemed sheepish) • Robert Lipsyte, The Contender • John Steinbeck, The Red Pony

The Infinitive Phrase • An infinitive phrase will begin with an infinitive [to + simple form of the verb] and include objects and/or modifiers. • Examples: • To smash a spider… • To lick the grease from his shiny fingers despite the disapproving glances of his girlfriend Gloria…

More infinitive phrases… • To finish her shift without spilling another pizza into a customer’s lapis Michelle’s only goal. • Q: How does this infinitive phrase function in the sentence? • Lakesha hopes to win the approval of her mother by switching her major form fine arts to pre-med. • Q: How does this infinitive phrase function in the sentence?

The Gerund Phrase • A gerund phrase will being with a gerund, an ingword, and might include other modifiers and/or objects. • Gerund phrases always function as nouns. • Example: • Eating ice cream on a windy day can be a messy experience if you have long, untamed hair.

More Gerund Phrases…. -- Jamming too much clothing into a washing machine will result in disaster. -- A more disastrous activity for long-haired people is blowing giant bubble gum bubbles with the care windows down.

English 10th Grade • THE END! • THE END!

Sentence Composing