Page 226 - Grammar for Great Writing B

Appendix 1 Building Greater Sentences

Being a good writer involves many skills, such as being able to write with correct
grammar, vary your vocabulary, and state ideas concisely. A good writer also learns to
create longer, more detailed sentences from simple ideas. Study the short sentences
below.
Jim Thorpe won two medals.
The medals were Olympic medals.
They were gold medals.
He won them in 1912.
He was not allowed to keep the medals.

Notice that every sentence has an important piece of information. A good writer would
not write all these sentences separately. Instead, the most important information from
each sentence can be used to create one longer, coherent sentence.

Read the sentences again; this time, the important information has been circled.

Jim Thorpe won two medals.

The medals were Olympic medals.

They were gold medals.

He won them in 1912.

He was not allowed to keep the medals.

Here are some strategies for taking the circled information and creating a new sentence.
1. Create time phrases to introduce or end a sentence: in 1912
2. Find the key nouns: Jim Thorpe, medals
3. Find key adjectives: two, Olympic, gold
4. Create noun phrases: two + Olympic + gold + medals
5. Connect main ideas with conjunctions: won medals + but not allowed to keep them

Now read this improved, longer sentence:

In 1912, Jim Thorpe won two Olympic gold medals, but he was not allowed to keep them.

Here are some additional strategies for building better sentences.
1. Use coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, yet, for, so) to connect related ideas
equally.
2. Use subordinating conjunctions, such as after, while, since, and because to connect
related ideas when one idea is more important than the other.
3. Use clauses with relative pronouns, such as who, which, that, and whose to
describe or define a noun or noun phrase.
4. Use pronouns to refer to previously mentioned information.

216 Appendix 1

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
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