Improving Your Sentences: Recognizing and Correcting Common Sentence Problems

1. Sentence Unit SPI 0601.1.5 Identify the correct use of conjunctions (i.e., coordinating and subordinating) and interjections within context. SPI 0601.1.7 Identify within context a variety of appropriate sentence-combining techniques (i.e., comma used with coordinating conjunctions, introductory words, appositives, interrupters). SPI 0601.1.8 Select the most appropriate method to correct a run-on sentence (i.e., conjunctions, semicolons, and periods to join or separate elements). SPI 0601.1.12 Identify the correct use of commas (i.e., compound sentences, coordinating conjunctions, introductory words, appositives, interrupters) within context.

2. Sentences A sentence is a word or group of words having a complete thought. Sentences state, ask, command, or exclaim something. Sentences begin with capital letters and end with punctuation marks.

3. Easy Grammar • page 425 - Recognizing Sentences, Fragments, and Run-ons • page 427 - Recognizing Sentences, Fragments, and Run-ons

4. Lesson 1Sentence Problems In this lesson you will learn how to recognize three sentence problems: choppy sentences run-on sentences stringy sentences

5. Sentence Problem 1 Choppy sentences are sentences that are too short. Study the next three examples. Choppy Sentences

6. Choppy Sentences • Choppy Johnson County is located on the Eastern Continental Divide. It is in the extreme northeastern corner of the state. The state is Tennessee. • Corrected Johnson County is located on the Eastern Continental Divide in the extreme northeastern corner of Tennessee.

7. Choppy Sentences • Choppy Johnson County is shaped like an ancient arrowhead. It is pointing in a northeastern direction. Johnson County borders two states. Virginia is to the north. North Carolina is to the east.

8. Choppy Sentences • Corrected Johnson County is shaped like an ancient arrowhead pointing in a northeastern direction. Virginia is to the north and North Carolina is to the east of the county.

9. Choppy Sentences • Choppy Mountain City is the county seat. It is located in the center of the county. It is in a large valley. The valley is between the Iron and Stone Mountain Ranges. The Doe Mountain Range is to the southwest. The Dry Run Range is also to the southwest. The Forge Mountain Range is to the northeast. • Corrected Mountain City is the county seat. It is located in the center of the county in a large valley between the Iron and Stone Mountain Ranges. The Doe and Dry Run Ranges are to the southwest of Mountain City, and the Forge Mountain Range is to the northeast.

10. Choppy Sentences When several short sentences come together they force the reader to go slowly. This makes the writing seem more "elementary" than it truly is.

11. Run-On Sentences Sentence Problem 2 A run-on is when two or more sentences are combined without connecting words or punctuation.

12. Run-On Sentences Brain Pop - Movie on run-on sentences http://www.brainpop.com/english/grammar/runonsentences/

13. Run-On Sentence You are looking at the side of our school most commonly known as the Donnelly Street side this portion of our school was built in 1951.

14. Corrected by Making 2 Sentences You are looking at the side of our school most commonly known as the Donnelly Street side. This portion of our school was built in 1951.

15. Run-On Sentence The county has 249,600 acres or 273 square miles of land the extreme dimension of Johnson County is 24 miles.

16. Corrected by Adding a Conjunction The county has 249,600 acres or 273 square miles of land, and the extreme dimension of Johnson County is 24 miles.

17. Run-On Sentence Johnson County has many springs and creeks the five major streams include Doe, Roan, Laurel Fork, Beaverdam, and Forge.

18. Corrected by Making a Dependent Clause While Johnson County has many springs and creeks; the five major streams include Doe, Roan, Laurel Fork, Beaverdam, and Forge.

19. Stringy Sentences Sentence Problem 3 A stringy sentence is when too many clauses are connected with words such as and, but, so, and because, forming one very long sentence. Stringy sentences are so long the reader forgets the beginning of the sentence before reaching the end.

20. Stringy Sentence Watauga Lake is in the south of Johnson County, and it is 1,960 feet above sea level, so this makes Watauga Lake the highest lake in the Tennessee Valley Authority System, and there are 106 miles of shoreline, and Watauga Lake is 19 miles across.  

21. Corrected Watauga Lake is in the south of Johnson County. It is 1,960 feet above sea level. This makes Watauga Lake the highest lake in the Tennessee Valley Authority System. There are 106 miles of shoreline.  Watauga Lake is 19 miles across.    

22. Stringy Sentence Johnson County has some rich farming land, and the most fertile land in the county is along the Little Doe and Roan Creeks, and Shady Valley also has some rich farming  land.

23. Corrected Johnson County has some rich farming land. The most fertile land in the county is along the Little Doe and Roan Creeks. Shady Valley also has some rich farming  land.

24. Practice with Dry Erase Boards Write choppy, run-on, or stringy to describe which sentence problem each sentence contains.

25. choppy, run-on, or stringy You can find 20 miles of the famous Appalachian Trail in Johnson County, and it comes into the county at  Watauga Lake and runs along the top of the Holston Mountain Range which is beautiful for hiking.

26. stringy

27. choppy, run-on, or stringy Johnson County is in the Appalachian Mountain chain. The elevations in the county range from 1800 to 5000 feet above sea level. The elevation of Mountain City is 2350 feet above sea level. Mountain City has a high elevation. It has the highest elevation of any city in Tennessee.

28. choppy

29. choppy, run-on, or stringy The highest point in Johnson County is Snake Mountain at an elevation of 5574 feet above sea level Snake Mountain is located in the Stone Mountain Range which parallels the eastern border of the county.

30. run-on

31. choppy, run-on, or stringy Two other prominent ranges run in a northeast to southwest direction through the county one is the Iron Mountain Range Holston Mountain Range is the other large range in the county.

32. run-on

33. choppy, run-on, or stringy The Iron Mountain Range enters the county at the northern boundary line. It is next to Virginia. It continues through Johnson County to Watauga Lake. It divides Carter and Johnson Counties. They are divided in the southwestern part of the county.

34. choppy

35. choppy, run-on, or stringy Three smaller ranges in our county are Dry Run, Doe, and Forge, and these are all between the Stone and Iron Mountain Ranges, and the Doe Mountain Range runs completely in Johnson County and is approximately 12 miles long.

36. stringy

37. choppy, run-on, or stringy Johnson County has 167 frost free days, and the hottest month of the year is July which has an average temperature of 70.2 degrees Fahrenheit, and December is the coldest month, and the average temperature in December is 35.2 degrees Fahrenheit.

38. stringy

39. choppy, run-on, or stringy Johnson County receives 55 inches of precipitation annually seventeen inches of this is in the form of snow. The coldest recorded temperature in Tennessee was on December 30, 1917 in Mountain City the temperature was minus 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

40. run-on

41. choppy, run-on, or stringy Johnson County receives a lot of precipitation. It receives 55 inches of precipitation annually. Seventeen inches of this is in the form of snow. The coldest recorded temperature in Tennessee was in Mountain City. It was on December 30, 1917. The temperature was very cold. It minus 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

42. choppy

43. Written Practice Number your paper from 1 -11. Write choppy, run-on, or stringy to describe which sentence problem each sentence contains.

44. choppy, run-on, or stringy 1. One of the earliest mined natural resources in this area was iron ore the early settlers used the iron to make weapons, tools, and utensils.

45. choppy, run-on, or stringy 2. The first iron works was built in 1793 by Hezekiah Boon, John McEylea, and Joseph Sands, and the business was not successful and was sold to Godfrey Carriger, Jr. for the taxes that were owed on it.  

46. choppy, run-on, or stringy 3. Joseph Gentry established an iron works. It was in 1797. He had a partner. His name was Lewis Wills. The iron works was on the Laurel.

47. choppy, run-on, or stringy 4. John Dugger had a brother named William, and William settled in the Dry Run community, and he founded a forge there, and his son had two sons, and they were William and Abel, and they operated the Cranberry Iron Works for many years.

48. choppy, run-on, or stringy 5. By 1820 eight iron works existed in what is now Johnson County with 106 men employed the profits were $20,700 with $44,750 worth of iron being produced.

49. choppy, run-on, or stringy 6. By 1836 there were two iron works on Roan Creek. By 1836 there were two iron works on the Little Doe Creek. By 1836 there were two iron works on Laurel Fork. By 1836 there was one iron works on Beaverdam Creek. By 1836 there was one iron works on Dry Run Creek.

50. choppy, run-on, or stringy 7. Mining brought railroads to the county in the late 1800’s, and the first railroad tracks were built in 1899 by the Virginia and Southwestern Railroad, and they would go from Elizabethton to Mountain City, so by 1910 the track was completed not only to Mountain City but on to Shouns.