***Zoom shuts off our meeting automatically after 45 minutes. I didn't have time to say goodbye. See you all next week, I hope. Al
This
is the intermediate/advanced sentence structure tutorial.
We
will get started at 5:00.
Agenda:
·
Welcome/Introduction
·
Overview of the next eight
weeks.
Proposed schedule for each week.
·
Overview of clauses- main and subordinate
clauses
·
NEXT WEEK Overview of four
sentence types
·
NEXT WEEK Begin simple
sentences
Wherever
we finish this week, we will pick up with next week.
WELCOME/INTRODUCTION
Al
Haley
English
teacher at South Hill. I have taught here since 1993.
In
SHEC, I teach English Foundations 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, English 10,11,12
Before
that, I was at UBC.
Before
that, I taught in Japan.
8-week
practical guide to improving your sentence structure
practical
– useful in daily writing- school, life, work
This
will be aimed at students from around EF6 level up to Grade 12. The goal will
be to get your sentence structure equal to the expectations of teachers of
higher level classes, including postsecondary (college and university).
This
will not be a creative writing class; this will be nuts and bolts
highly-structured practical sentence structure.
You
can use the models I will teach as a jumping off point to developing your own
writing styles.
Mostly,
it will be me talking.
If
that sounds ok with you, stick around.
Everything
I put on this screen will go on my blog. My blog is here:
haleyshec.blogspot.com
I
will post these notes under the heading “Sentence Tutorial Week 1”, “Sentence
Tutorial Week 2”, etc.
Write it down: haleyshec.blogspot.com
Please
check it make sure it work for you.
You
can check my blog any time.
There
will be no homework for this tutorial.
There
will be no tests.
You
can do as much work or as little work as you like.
You
attend the tutorials if you are able. If you have to miss a week, no problem.
You can check the blog for what you missed.
I
am planning to teach for 40m. That is the limit that Zoom will allow.
If
you have questions, you can ask them at any time. Don’t be shy to interrupt me.
It is no problem at all.
OVERVIEW
OF NEXT EIGHT WEEKS
Week
1 “The Building Blocks / Simple but
Powerful”
CLAUSES-
Independent clauses
Dependent clauses
OVERVIEW OF THE FOUR SENTENCE TYPES
BEGIN SIMPLE SENTENCES
Week
2 “The Seesaw”
CONTINUE SIMPLE SENTENCES
COMPOUND SENTENCES
a. basic compound sentences
b. precise compound sentences
Week
3 “The Lever”
COMPLEX SENTENCES- adverb clauses
a. basic adverb clauses
b. precise adverb clauses
Week
4 “The Big Idea”
COMPLEX SENTENCES- noun clauses
a. basic noun clauses
b. precise noun clauses
Week
5 “The Diamond in the Ring”
COMPLEX SENTENCES- adjective clauses
a. basic adjective clauses
b. precise adjective clauses
Week
6 “Putting It All Together”
SENTENCE COMBINING STRATEGIES
a. basic structures
b. precise structures
Week
7 “Putting It All Together” Continued
SENTENCE COMBINING STRATEGIES CONTINUED
a. basic structures
b. precise structures
Week
8 “Staying on Course”
COMMON PITFALLS
a. run-on sentences
b. sentence fragments
***
***
REMINDER:
Everything that appears on this screen will be put on the blog. I will update
the blog right after the tuturial.
You
do not have to take notes although some people like to take notes during a
class.
CLAUSES
“Clauses”
It’s
all about clauses.
All
of your sentence writing in English can be thought of as assembling clauses
together.
clause
– group of words with a subject and verb
subject
– main noun or pronoun in a sentence
verb-
action word, word of being
Jun is watching a sentence
tutorial tonight.
S V
SV-Subject
Verb
Two
kinds of clauses:
1.
Independent clause/ Main clause
2.
Dependent clauses/ Subordinate
clause
Independent
clause is also called a main clause.
Dependent
clause is also called a subordinate clause.
*main
clause/independent clause
– independent
person- take care of yourself, cook your own supper, wash your own clothes, not
depending on someone else, not dependant on other people, stand on your own
independent
clause – a group of words with a S & V that can be a sentence by itself
-does
not need another clause to be a sentence
independent
clause = simple sentence
*dependent
clause- needs another clause in order to be a sentence
dependent
person- needs help, depends on someone else to take care of you, need support:
child, infirm, elderly
A
dependent clause needs another clause (main clause) in order to be a sentence.
e.g.
If it
rains today.
SV
clause, not a sentence, subordinate clause, ½ sentence
FIXES:
If it rains today. It may/will
rain today.
If it
rains today, we won’t go for a walk.
Because
she was late.
SV
clause, not a sentence, subordinate clause, ½ sentence
FIXES:
Because she was late. She was
late.
Because
she was late, we had to postpone
the meeting.
Because
she was late.
**ok
for casual talking, not for school writing
For
school writing, we want to aim for a higher level.
REVIEW
independent
clause = main clause
dependent
clause = subordinate clause
independent-
take care of yourself
dependent-
need help
main
(independent) clause- group of words with a subject and verb, sentence by
itself, complete thought by itself
subordinate
(dependent) clause- group of words with a subject and verbs, not a sentence by
itself, not a complete thought
Examples
of a main clause:
We are going to the park today.
Example
of a subordinate clause:
Because
it is a sunny day. XXX NOT A
SENTENCE, FRAGMENT
We are going to the park today +
Because it is a sunny day.
JOIN
THEM TOGETHER:
We are
going to the park today because it is a sunny day.
Because
it is a sunny day today, we are going to the park.
HIGHER
LEVEL IDEA The main character had a conflict with her sister because
the sister was being dishonest about the past.
REVIEW
A
subordinate clause is not a sentence by itself. It must be attached to a main
clause. Alternatively, a subordinate clause can be changed into a main clause.
COMMON
ERROR- sentence fragment - frag
FIX:
ADD SOMETHING, OR TAKE SOMETHING AWAY
1.
If it rains today.
If it rains today, we
won’t go to the park. COMPLEX
We won’t go to the park if it rains
today. COMPLEX
2.
Because she was late.
She was
late. SIMPLE
Because Maria was late,
she was upset.
Maria was upset because she was
late. COMPLEX
EXTRA
INFORMATION:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/independent_and_dependent_clauses/index.html#:~:text=An%20independent%20clause%20is%20a,Shop%20for%20his%20chemistry%20quiz.&text=A%20dependent%20clause%20is%20a,not%20express%20a%20complete%20thought.
COPY
AND PASTE (CTRL+C and CTRL+V) from the blog
Feel
free to try these for homework if you like.
“Exercises-main
or subordinate”
Exercises- main and subordinate clauses
1.
The need is clear. MAIN CLAUSE
2.
if you insist SUBORDINATE CLAUSE
3.
whenever Heiman arrives
4.
so that you'll be ready
5.
provided that it is blue
6.
sit closer
7.
since you had the counselling
8.
are you confused
9.
where Nolan was going
10.
she was correct
11.
stop
laughing
12.
without
you, it's impossible
13.
sam is
14.
unless it
stops raining
15.
as long
as you are sure
16.
of course
they know
17.
even
though it wasn't the right one
18.
where is
the snake slithering
19.
because
you are clever
20.
if I were
as good-looking as you
Taken from Know More English, Prentice Hall
Canada, 1998
OVERVIEW
OF THE FOUR SENTENCE TYPES
“Intro
to Sentence Style” (EF6 folder)
SIMPLE SENTENCES
These are the
sentence types that I will be teaching you.
Some of this you
will already know. A lot of it will be new.
I will go deep
into the sentence types.
Four sentence
types:
SIMPLE
COMPOUND
COMPLEX
COMPOUND
COMPLEX - mix
of COMPOUND and COMPLEX
These are the foundations
for all of your writing.
When I write, I
use these sentence types.
-good for school,
college, work, life
SIMPLE SENTENCE
– one main clause
-clause = subject
+ verb
clause –
collection of words that has a subject and verb
main clause= independent
clause= simple sentence
Important basic
block for writing.
Everything is
based on the simple sentence.
FORMS OF SIMPLE
SENTENCES:
SV Subject Verb-
easiest kind of sentence
The dog is sleeping. SV
My car is red.
SV
FREE ADVICE:
Simple sentences are simple but powerful.
For anything
important that you want people to remember, say it in a simple sentence.
e.g. topic
sentence in a paragraph, thesis statement in an essay
SSV subject
subject verb
The dog
and the cat are sleeping. SSV
Doctors and nurses are struggling with Covid 19. SSV
North Vancouver and Chiba, Japan are sister cities. SSV
John and I share
a hobby: cooking.
SVV
The kids are running and are yelling. SVV
Mariko is working
part-time and studying at Langara. SVV
MORE ELABORATE:
Mariko is working
part-time days in Metrotown at a jewelry store and studying third-year biology at Langara in the evenings. SVV
(in Metrotown)
(at a jewelery store) – prepositional phrases
(at Langara) (in
the evenings)- prepositional phrases
NICE DIFFERENCE
THE WEIGHT OF THESE TWO SIMPLE SVV SENTENCES
1.
Mariko is working parttime and studying at Langara. SVV
2.
Mariko is working part-time days in
Metrotown at a jewelry store and studying
third-year biology at Langara in the evenings. SVV
Sarah lives in
Richmond but works in Delta. SVV
Derrick watched Top
Gun 2 but didn’t enjoy it. SVV
SSVV
You and I drink
coffee and talk.
IDIOM chew the
fat- talk casually, gossip
IDIOM shoot the breeze-
talk casually, gossip
My son and
I like to walk around the park and chew the fat. SSVV
SIMPLE SENTENCES
- no commas SV SSV SVV
SSVV
COMMON ERRORS
My son and
I like to walk around the park, and
chew the fat. XXX
My son,
and I, like to walk around the
park, and chew the fat. XXX
FIX
My son and
I like to walk around the park and chew the fat.
We walk and talk. No commas SVV SIMPLE SENTENCE
We walk, and
talk. XXX
We walk, and we
talk. COMPOUND
**WORDS IN A
SERIES , comma
We walk, talk, and laugh.
SIMPLE SVVV
She likes cats,
dogs, and fish.
cats, dogs, and
fish nouns in a series
She plays soccer,
runs, and lifts weights.
plays soccer,
runs, and lifts – verbs in a series
* DETAIL- Oxford
comma AAA, BBB, and CCC.
She likes dogs,
cats, and fish. Oxford comma, formal-looking, old-fashioned looking
She likes dogs,
cats and fish. modern looking, simpler
Your choice! The
Oxford comma makes the sentence clearer in meaning. It shows more separation
between the elements in the series.
She plays soccer,
runs, and lifts weights. Oxford comma
She plays soccer,
runs and lifts weights.
Next time you
read a book or an article, pay attention to how the writer uses commas.
We can understand
the writing at a deeper level.
Reading with
intention.
A couple more
kinds of simple sentences:
** Imperative – command - tell someone to do something
Close the door!
Stop making so
much noise!
Shut up!
Come in. Sit down. Watch out!
You sit down.
XXX sounds very aggressive
You Sit down.
POLITENESS
Sit down, please.
Please sit down.
Have a seat,
please.
Please have a
seat.
Useful models for
commas.
SLANG- CASUAL
Take a load off.
NOTE- MY ADVICE
Exclamation
points are often overused, especially in casual writing.
They have almost
no place in school writing, academic writing.
personal writing,
narrative writing – ok to use sparingly, very infrequently, rarely
Sit down! exclamation mark ! - shows energy, makes it sound loud
!! – overused
Watch out!
Watch out!!!!!
too much
MY ADVICE- avoid
them in school writing
Great.
Great!
Great!!! XXX Ok
for casual writing, not for serious school writing or business writing
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Incredible!
Be cautious of
using ! to show emphasis.
*Interrogative(a)
– question, interrogate(v)
The police interrogated
the criminal.
Is it going to
rain today?
How are you?
What time is it?
Is that your
phone?
REVIEW:
SIMPLE- SV SSV
SVV SSVV Imperative
Interrogative
HOMEWORK:
Write a few simple sentences using the styles that we just
covered:
SV SSV SVV
SSVV Imperative Interrogative
Try. Push yourself a bit. Try something new.
No comments:
Post a Comment