Sentence Variety

1. Sentence Variety Parallelism or Parallel Structure Review & Practice Unit Test

2. Parallelism or Parallel Structure Parallelism or Parallel Structure is an effective way to add smoothness and power to your writing. Parallelism is a balance of two or more similar words, phrases, or clauses. 1- She likes dancing, swimming, and to jog. 2- She likes dancing, swimming, and jogging. Dancing, swimming, and jogging are parallel. They are each ing verbs, used here as nouns, and express parallel ideas. 1- The cable runs across the roof, the north wall where it runs down. 2- The cable runs across the roof and down the north wall. Across the roof and down the north wall are parallel prepositional phrases, each consisting of a preposition and its object. 1- He admires people with strong convictions and who think for themselves. 2- He admires people who have strong convictions and who think for themselves. In sentence #2, who have strong convictions and who think for themselves are parallel clauses beginning with the word who.

3. Sometimes two entire sentences can be parallel 1- In a democracy we are all equal before the law. 2- In a dictatorship we are all equal before the law. In what ways are these two sentences parallel? Certain special constructions require parallel structure: 1 – The fruit is bothtastyandfresh. 2 – He eitherloves youorhates you. 3- Paul not onlyplays golfbut alsoswims like a pro. 4- I would rathersing in the chorusthanperform a solo. Each construction has two parts: both/and, (n)either/(n)or, not only/but also, and rather/than. The words, phrases, and clauses that follow each pair MUST ALSO be parallel: tasty/fresh, loves you/hates you, plays golf/swims like a pro, and sing in the chorus/perform a solo.

4. Rewrite each of the following sentences using parallel structure to accent parallel ideas: 1 – Teresa is a gifted woman – a chemist, does carpentry, and she can cook. 2- The classroom was spacious and it had air-conditioning. 3- Chia, my dog, is overweight and moves clumsily. 4- He is an affectionate boyfriend, a dutiful son, and kind to his pets. 5- She is a woman of great talent and who is compassionate. 6- Jane is the funniest woman I know: she has the most style of any woman I know 7- Joe would rather work on a farm than spending time in an office.

5. Now, write one sentence that is parallel to each sentence below, creating pairs of parallel sentences. 1- On Friday night, she dressed in silk and sipped champagne. 2- The child in me wants to run away from problems 3- The survivors were people who saw disaster as a challenge. 4- “Work hard and keep your mouth shut” is my mother’s formula for success. 5- The home team charged enthusiastically onto the field..

6. Review and Practice • Mixing short and long sentences. • Adding an occasional question, command, or exclamation. • Beginning with an adverb: Unfortunately, the outfielder dropped the fly ball. • Beginning with a prepositional phrase: With great style, the pitcher delivered a curve. • Joining ideas with a compound predicate: The fans roared and banged their seats. • Joining ideas with an ing modifier: Diving chin first into the ground, Johnson caught the ball.

7. Review and Practice • Joining ideas with a past participle modifier: Frustrated by the call, the batter kicked dirt onto home plate. • Joining ideas with an appositive: Peanuts, the cause of much messiness, should not be sold at games. • Joining ideas with relative clauses: Box seats which are hard to get for important games, are frequently bought up by corporations. • Use of parallel structure: The batter swung, missed, and struck out. • Mixing coordination and subordination: • The fans hissed (,but : :however) the • umpire paid no attention. • (Although) T(t)he fans hissed, (although) the • umpire paid no attention.

8. Now, take a few minutes to look over your notes You will have a quiz over Sentence Variety shortly

9. Sentence Variety Test Revise and rewrite these paragraphs, using sentence variety in each. Vary the length and pattern of the sentences and vary the beginnings of some sentences. Join two sentences in any way you wish, adding appropriate connecting words or dropping unnecessary words. Punctuate correctly. #1: Our beagle loves to hunt. Someone opens the back door for her. She barrels down porch steps into the yard. She runs back and forth across the lawn in ecstasy. Her nose cruises the wet grass for smells. These are smells of cats, rabbit smells, and other presences too subtle for human detection. She sniffs. She spins her tail in quick circles. It spins clockwise first. Then it spins counterclockwise. These two activities always occur together. They are sniffing and spinning. They seem to propel her along.

10. Sentence Variety Test Revise and rewrite these paragraphs, using sentence variety in each. Vary the length and pattern of the sentences and vary the beginnings of some sentences. Join two sentences in any way you wish, adding appropriate connecting words or dropping unnecessary words. Punctuate correctly. #2: A man reaped America’s first fortune. He was John Jacob Astor. He was a German immigrant. He made his initial money trading Indian furs. He was lowborn, uneducated. Astor never learned to speak English properly. He carried on his business to the end in an accent. The accent was redolent of the Hamburg gutters.

11. Sentence Variety Test Revise and rewrite these paragraphs, using sentence variety in each. Vary the length and pattern of the sentences and vary the beginnings of some sentences. Join two sentences in any way you wish, adding appropriate connecting words or dropping unnecessary words. Punctuate correctly. #The Government Printing Office in Washington D.C., is a source of much useful information. Few people know about it. It is the official publishing house for the federal government. The GPO publishes pamphlets and books on a vast number of subjects. These subjects range from the dangers of X-rays from home TV sets to the identification of mushrooms. About 27,000 publications are offered through the Superintendent of Documents. Many of them are inexpensive. There is no charge at all for some of them.