Writing tips - sentences

by Vivian Zabel

          I hosted the English Refresher 101 workshop with lessons and assignments to help writers remember or learn basic grammar concepts during the MuseIt Online Writing Conference.

         I decided that I should share some of the lessons and assignments with readers of the newsletter. Today's article is about sentences.

         We need to know several things to write good sentences. The first thing we need to know is what a sentence is.

What is a sentence?

         A sentence is a group of words (clauses) which have a complete thought. A clause is a group of words with a subject and verb that go together.

Clauses: a dependent clause (subordinate clause) is a group of words that has a subject and verb but not a complete thought. (a sentence fragment is a dependent clause).
An independent clause (main clause) is a group of words that has a subject and verb and forms a complete thought.

Simple sentence: one independent clause

                             Russel enjoys baseball.

Compound sentence: two or more independent clauses joined correctly with punctuation or a comma and a conjunction

                             March is a windy month in Oklahoma, but it often has bouts of winter weather.
                             March is a windy month in Oklahoma; it often has bouts of winter weather.
                             March is a windy month in Oklahoma: it often has bouts of winter weather.

Complex sentence: one independent clause and one or more dependent clause

                             When the wind blows, the temperatures seem colder.

Compound-complex sentence: two or more independent clauses joined correctly and one or more
                             dependent clauses

                             When the wind blows, the temperatures seem colder, and I don’t want to leave the house.


         We can use a variety of sentence types in writing to make the writing more interesting.

         Some sub-topics dealing with sentence structure include using sentence fragments and run-on sentences.

Stumbling over Sentence Fragments

         When sentences are not correct, are not finely tuned, the quality and clarity of communication is lost. One way to keep sentences from working is stumbling over sentence fragments. A sentence fragment is a group of words punctuated as a sentence but which doesn’t contain a complete thought.

         Let’s examine the following paragraph to discover some sentence fragments:

         Intrepid mountain climbers scaling a tall peak. Climb higher and higher. Up the frozen slopes. When they reach the top. They can look forward to an even more treacherous descent.

         All of the sentence-like-punctuated groups of words in the preceding are fragments except the last. We will keep the paragraph in mind as we look at some ways to correct sentence fragments.

         Sometimes a fragment lacks a subject. Therefore, adding a subject makes the fragment a sentence.

                    Fragment without a subject: Climb higher and higher.
                    Sentence: They climb higher and higher.

         Another way to correct a sentence fragment would be to connect the fragment with a sentence, rewording it if necessary.

                    Fragment without subject or verb: Up the frozen slopes.
                    Sentence: They climb higher and higher up the frozen slopes.

         At times a fragment lacks a verb, perhaps using a verbal or verb without a helping verb. The way to correct this type sentence fragment would be to add a verb or change a verbal to a verb.

                    Fragment without a verb: Intrepid mountain climbers scaling a tall peak.
                    Sentence by adding a helping verb: Intrepid mountain climbers are scaling a tall peak.
                    Sentence by changing a verbal to a verb: Intrepid mountain climbers scale a tall peak.

         At times, a fragment has a subject and verb but doesn’t contain a complete thought. To create a correct sentence, usually the fragment will need to be connected to a sentence.

                    Fragment lacking a complete thought: When they reach the top.
                    Sentence: When they reach the top, they can look forward to an even more treacherous descent.

         Now let’s see how the original paragraph filled with fragments can be a correctly formatted paragraph.

         Intrepid mountain climbers scale a tall peak. They climb higher and higher up the frozen slopes. When they reach the top, they can look forward to an even more treacherous descent.

         A side note, sometimes writers will use an occasional sentence fragment for effect, but only occasionally. The effect is easily recognized by the reader when this practice is used. Otherwise, avoiding the problem is best.

         Finally, once we conquer the problem, we have no more stumbles because of sentences fragments, which could be dangerous on steep, frozen slopes.

Running into Run-On Sentence

         Run-sentences halt a reader because he or she has to stop and decide what the writer means. Run-on sentences are compound sentences joined incorrectly. A run-on sentence interrupts the flow and meaning of what is written.

         All right, I see those confused looks. First of all, a compound sentence is two or more independent clauses joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction, by a semicolon, or by a colon.

         An independent clause or main clause is a group of words with a subject and verb which contains a complete thought.

Independent clause: The boy ran around the house, screaming at the top of his voice.
Dependent clause (not a complete thought}: Screaming at the top of his voice.

         A coordinating conjunction is a word such as and, but, or, nor, yet, or for that joins items of equal value. The conjunction may join subjects, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and/or clauses.

         Now let’s examine run-on sentence problems and how to correct them. The first run-on sentence which we’ll work with is as follows:

Run-on: Secretary of State William Seward bought Alaska from Russia the deal was mocked as “Seward’s Folly.”

         One way to correct the run-on uses an end mark and a capital letter to separate the independent (or main} clauses into separate sentences.

Separate sentences: Secretary of State William Seward bought Alaska from Russia. The deal was mocked as “Seward’s Folly.”

         Another way is to use a semicolon between clauses.

Semicolon: Secretary of State William Seward bought Alaska from Russia; the deal was mocked as “Seward’s Folly.” Note: both clauses must be closely related for this method to work.

         Using a comma and a coordinating conjunction between clauses also works.

Comma and coordinating conjunction: Secretary of State William Seward brought Alaska from Russia, but the deal was mocked as “Seward’s Folly.”

         A final way to correct a run-on sentence is to introduce one clause with a subordinating conjunction (creating a dependent or subordinate clause - a clause not making a complete thought) and use a comma before the new independent or main clause. This combination creates a complex sentence: the use of one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

Complex sentence: When Secretary of State William Seward brought Alaska from Russia, the deal was mocked as “Seward’s Folly.”

         A comma splice, another type of run-on sentence, can be corrected in the same ways. In a comma splice, the two independent clauses are joined only by a comma. The sample sentence will be the following:

Comma splice: The president of the company found himself in a quandary, the company was going bankrupt.

Separate sentences: The president of the company found himself in a quandary. The company was going bankrupt.

Semicolon: The president of the company found himself in a quandary; the company was going bankrupt.

Comma and coordinating conjunction: The president of the company found himself in a quandary, for the company was going bankrupt.

Complex sentence: Because the company was going bankrupt, the president of the company found himself in a quandary.

         Hopefully, the preceding information will help everyone better understand how to avoid run-on sentences. Running into them hurts comprehension.


Vivian Zabel