Today’s
agenda-
· Begin sentence combining
· Poem presentations
·
Begin “Roses
Sing on New Snow”
Wednesday
·
Explain midterm
recommendations
·
Continue sentence
combining
·
Continue “Roses
Sing on New Snow”
Thursday/Friday
·
Midterm recommendations
I will do half the class Thursday and half
Friday.
I will go alphabetically through the class
** Two-week Spring Break**
The week we come back from Spring Break- upcoming test on “Roses
Sing on New Snow” with “ “
SENTENCE COMBINING – culmination of all of
sentence work
culmination
–
using all the sentence knowledge that we have accumulated so far
put
it all into practice
Next
level of work for sentence writing –
IDIOM
“where the rubber hits the road”- practical work, real-life
SENTENCES:
*simple SV SSV
SVV SSVV Imperative
Interrogative
*compound SV, SOBA SV.
SV; SV.
SV; TRANS, SV.
*complex - adverb clauses
- noun clauses
- adjective
clauses
You
have to know these. You must be able to write and say them.
MY
ADVICE- Practice these styles. Follow the patterns.
If
you follow these patterns, your writing will probably be ok.
If
you don’t follow these patterns, your writing will likely be substandard.
When
you are writing , use these styles. Stick to these styles.
Practice
regularly.
Sentence
combining
-very
effective way to get better at sentence writing
-practical,
useful
IMO
(in my opinion)- the best way to get better at sentence writing
-at
all levels – absolute beginner, beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert
start
at very basic level----- very high university-level exercises
Based
on the sentence styles- simple, compound, complex
foundation
of all writing and speaking in English
sentence
combining – puts all of this knowledge into use
William
Strong – university professor – taught university students how to be better
writers, not ESL EAL, mostly native English speakers
GOAL-
LEARN TO WRITE
o higher-level
sentences
o more
prestigious English ‘prestige English”- sounds professional and competent
o prestige
English- sounds high-level
o maybe
even beautiful, elegant, stylish writing
o sounds
good, reads well, smooth and beautiful to read
***
Sentence combining books are available if you dig for them. I keep my eyes open
for sentence combining exercise books.
I
have amassed a small collection of sentence combining books over the years.
VPL-
most are missing
Amazon
Used
book stores
BTW
I have mountains of sentence combining exercises. I would happy to give you
some.
BASIC
IDEA OF SENTENCE COMBINING
Sentence
combining – taking several short sentences and combine the most important parts
of the sentences into one sentence
Easy
example of sentence combining -
a. Bill
felt hungry.
b. Bill
had no lunch today.
COMBINE
a and b into one sentence
What
kind of sentence would be best? simple compound
complex
a. Bill
felt hungry.
b. Bill
had no lunch today. because –
complex, adv cl
POSSIBLE
SOLUTIONS
Bill
felt hungry because Bill he had no lunch today.
Because
Bill had no lunch today, he felt hungry.
Bill
had no lunch today so that he felt hungry. COMPLEX – adv cl
Bill
had no lunch today, so he felt hungry.
COMPOUND , SOBA
Bill
had no lunch today; therefore, he felt hungry.
COMPOUND ;
Bill
who had no lunch today felt hungry. COMPLEX- adjective clause
Bill
who felt hungry had no lunch today. COMPLEX- adjectice clause
Bill
had no lunch today. Bill felt hungry. 2 SIMPLES
Bill
had no lunch today and felt hungry. OK SIMPLE
SVV
Nine differeent to express the same meaning.
This is a worthwhile goal.
Many options- many varieties/variations to
choose from if we have the knowledge.
The knowledge: SIMPLE, COMPOUND, COMPLEX
Stick to the basics. Get back to basics.
The goal is to write a rich variety of
sentences. We can do that by sticking to the basics.
GOALS of sentence
combining
-sentences that are
dense with information, but not too much information (tricky balance)
-sentences that are
as compact as possible (short, few words as possible), not too short (another
tricky balance)
*** balancing
competing interests/impulses- lots of information, compact sentences
- VERY CHALLENGING
We are up for the
challenge!
*PERSONAL ANECDOTE*
My first year in
university-
I learned how to
write well by working with style books.
CONSIDER WORKING
THROUGH A GOOD STYLE BOOK
HIGHER-LEVEL
WRITING – for the future, college
The Elements of
Style Strunk and White CLASSIC
Style: Ten Levels in Clarity and Grace Williams
***
*These changed my writing world. The scales
fell from my eyes.
Dig! Keep looking!
BASIC SENTENCE
COMBINING PROCESS
Beginner-level
sentence combining – good for a little kid
Kai has a hat.
The hat is red.
The hat is for
baseball.
1. Start
with the KERNEL - usually first sentence
2. Choose
the important new elements in each following sentences
3. Combine
all of the element together into one sentence- simple, compound, complex
Kai has a hat.
KERNEL – centre, hub Usually the first sentence in an exercise
FIND JUST NEW
INFORMATION IN THE OTHER SENTENCES, AVOID REPETITION
The hat is red.
The hat is for
baseball.
Choose a sentence
style to connect all of the information:
Kai has a hat
red
baseball
SIMPLE? COMPOUND?
COMPLEX?
COMPOUND Kai has a
hat, and the hat is red. REPETITIVE, NOT A GOOD STYLE
ELEMENTS to be
combined
Kai has a hat
red
for baseball
Choose what kind of
sentence do you want to write to include all of these elements? simple compound
complex?
-gut reaction,
trust your instinct, feeling
You should have a
feeling about it.
Make the decision.
You have to decide.
ELEMENTS to be
combined
Kai has a hat
red
for baseball
*SIMPLE
Kai has a red hat
for baseball.
Kai has a red baseball
hat. MY CHOICE
*COMPOUND
Kai has a red hat,
and it is for baseball. SEEMS LIKE TOO MUCH FOR SUCH A BASIC IDEA, A BIT
OVERWRITTEN
Kai has a red hat;
in fact, it is for baseball. SEEMS OVERWRITTEN
We don’t need that
elaborate structure for such a simple idea.
*COMPLEX
Kai has a baseball
hat that is a red colour red. ADJ CL
Overwritten?
because since
SEEMS LIKE A LOT
Kai has a red hat
which is for baseball. Maybe he has several special hats.
Jun has a nice suit
which is for job interviews.
NOTE: prefix is the
beginning part of a word ‘un’ unkind ‘im’ impossible
suffix is the end
part of a word ‘tion’ education ‘ment’ employment
DETAILS OF THE
STRUCTURE
META- level, above,
higher level
Birdseye view of
sentences
Next level of
thinking about sentences
**
PROCESS:
1.Find the kernel.
2.Identify new
information.
3.Choose our
sentence style.
“Sentence Combining Sheet 1”
1.
aThe object looks long. KERNEL
bThe object looks thin.
cThe object measures
about 8 inches in length.
The elements to be combined:
The object looks long
thin
measures about 8 inches in length
SIMPLE? COMPOUND? COMPLEX?
-COMPOUND
The object looks long and thin, and it measures about 8
inches in length.
The object looks long and thin; it measures about 8 inches
in length.
The object looks long and thin; in addition, it measures
about 8 inches in length.
-SIMPLE
The object looks long, thin, and about 8 inches in length.
The object looks long, thin, and measures about 8
inches in length.
not parallel- adj adj verb
The object looks
long and thin and measures about 8 inches
in length.
*Some of you won’t like the two ‘and’s.
The long thin object measures about 8 inches in length.
The thin object is about 8 inches long. STRIPPED DOWN
VERSION
COMPLEX SENTENCE- ADJ CL
The object which looks long and thin measures
about 8 inches in length.
The object, which looks long and thin, measures
about 8 inches in length.
The object, which measures about 8 inches in length, looks long and thin.
The object measures about 8 inches in length that looks
long and thin.
MISPLACED MODIFIERS
The pen was bought by Mary that has a 1mm rolling ball.
He gave a table to his sister that has three legs.
The woman saw a cat who was riding a motorcycle.
Let’s try a few of Sheet 1
Email a few (2-3) to me by 7pm tonight. We’ll share them
tomorrow.
Poem presentations
1.
Speak more loudly than usual.
2.
Speak more slowly than usual.
3.
Make some eye contact.
4.
Face your audience.
“Roses Sing on New
Snow”
Let’s get into some chat groups, 4-5 people.
Discuss the thought questions.
Report out today and tomorrow.
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