Category Archives: Sintext

05.31.13
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Sentence Structure- Exercise

It’s recap time!

In terms of structure, sentences can be classified in four ways:

Simple —- One independent clause 

Compound —- At least two independent clauses

Complex —- An independent clause and at least one dependent clause

Compound-complex —- Two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause

This exercise will give you practice in identifying these four sentence structures.

The sentences in this exercise have been adapted from poems in two books by Shel Silverstein: Where the Sidewalk Ends (HarperCollins, 1974) and Falling Up (HarperCollins, 1996).

Identify each of the following sentences as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

1) I made an airplane out of stone.

2) I put a piece of cantaloupe underneath the microscope.

3) Oaties stay oaty, and Wheat Chex stay floaty, and nothing can take the puff out of Puffed Rice.

4) While fishing in the blue lagoon, I caught a lovely silver fish.

5) They say if you step on a crack, you will break your mother’s back.

6) My voice was raspy, rough, and cracked.

7) I opened my eyes and looked up at the rain, and it dripped in my head and flowed into my brain.

8) They say that once in Zanzibar a boy stuck out his tongue so far that it reached the heavens and touched a star, which burned him rather badly.

9) I’m going to Camp Wonderful beside Lake Paradise across from Blissful Mountain in the Valley of the Nice.

10) I joke with the bats and have intimate chats with the cooties who crawl through my hair.

11) The animals snarled and screeched and growled and whinnied and whimpered and hooted and howled and gobbled up the whole ice cream stand.

12) The antlers of a standing moose, as everybody knows, are just the perfect place to hang your wet and drippy clothes.

13) We’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow, and we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go.

14) If I had a brontosaurus, I would name him Horace or Morris.

15) I am writing these poems from inside a lion, and it’s rather dark in here.

16) A piece of sky broke off and fell through the crack in the ceiling right into my soup.

17) The grungy, grumpy, grouchy Giant grew tired of his frowny pout and hired me and Lee to lift the corners of his crumblin’ mouth.

18) If you were only one inch tall, you’d ride a worm to school.

19) The traffic light simply would not turn green, so the people stopped to wait as the traffic rolled and the wind blew cold, and the hour grew dark and late.

Answer: 1) simple sentence 2) simple sentence 3) compound sentence 4) complex sentence 5) complex sentence 6) simple sentence 7) compound sentence 8) complex sentence 9) simple sentence 10) complex sentence 11) simple sentence 12) complex sentence 13) compound-complex sentence 14) complex sentence 15) compound sentence 16) simple sentence 17) simple sentence 18) complex sentence 19) compound-complex sentence

05.31.13
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Exercises On Ellipsis

Use of Auxiliaries in Ellipsis

Fill in all the gaps. Add the short form construction using the words and so to each of the following affirmative statements. Use the subjects shown in brackets. For example:
He is lucky. (I)
He is lucky, and so am I.

She likes chocolate. (you)
She likes chocolate, and so do you.

They can swim well. (we)
They can swim well, and so can we.
1. We are thirsty. (they)
We are thirsty, and .
2. You have been helpful. (she)
You have been helpful, and .3. I swam to the island. (he)
I swam to the island, and .

4. He was riding a horse. (you)
He was riding a horse, and .

5. They can understand Dutch. (we)
They can understand Dutch, and .

6. She enjoyed the trip. (I)
She enjoyed the trip, and .

7. You should study hard. (they)
You should study hard, and .

8. He reads a great deal. (she)
He reads a great deal, and .

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Add the short form construction using the words and neither to each of the following negative statements. Use the subjects shown in brackets. For example:
He is not angry. (we)
He is not angry, and neither are we.

They didn’t visit you. (I)
They didn’t visit you, and neither did I.

I couldn’t understand it. (she)
I couldn’t understand it, and neither could she.

 

1. You haven’t finished supper. (she)
You haven’t finished supper, and .2. He couldn’t tell the time. (they)
He couldn’t tell the time, and .3. She is not planning to go. (we)
She is not planning to go, and .

4. We didn’t wait long. (he)
We didn’t wait long, and .

5. He has not been feeling well. (I)
He has not been feeling well, and .

6. She cannot run fast. (they)
She cannot run fast, and .

7. We do not own a canary. (he)
We do not own a canary, and .

8. You won’t be needing an umbrella. (we)
You won’t be needing an umbrella, and .

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05.31.13
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Ellipsis

Ellipsis

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An ellipsis [ … ] proves to be a handy device when you’re quoting material and you want to omit some words. The ellipsis consists of three evenly spaced dots (periods) with spaces between the ellipsis and surrounding letters or other marks. Let’s take the sentence,

“The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes from the Caribbean who were visiting the U.S.” and leave out “from the Caribbean who were”:

The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes … visiting the U.S.

If the omission comes after the end of a sentence, the ellipsis will be placed after the period, making a total of four dots. … See how that works? Notice that there is no space between the period and the last character of the sentence.

The ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in the flow of a sentence and is especially useful in quoted speech:

Juan thought and thought … and then thought some more.
“I’m wondering …” Juan said, bemused.

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Ellipsis means leaving words out.

1)      Instead of repeating a noun phrase (the guard), we can use a pronoun or we can leave the pronoun out.

2)      Instead of repeating a verb phrase(take), we can use a substitution form or leave the substitution form out as in 2

1. The guard looked over and he smiled

—    The guard looked over and smiled

2.She could take the money, but she won’t do it

—  She could take the money, but she won’t.

In compound sentences, we usually leave out a repeated subject, a repeated subject and auxiliary or a repeated subject and verb. Examples:

—  She was shouting and_ _ throwing things—  Should we bring our bags or__ _leave them here?

—  We sat and _ talked.

—  He came, but _left early.

ellipsis holestein

05.31.13
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Exercises on Subject Complement & Object Complement

In the last posts on complements, two types of complements are discussed:

One is subject complements, which follow a linking verb and provide additional information about the subject of the sentence.

Another is object complements, which follow a direct object and provide additional information about the direct object.

This exercise will give you practice in identifying subject complements and object complements in sentences. Each of the following sentences contains a complement. Identify the complement in each sentence, and note whether it is a subject complement or an object complement.

Khaz is extremely intelligent.

I find Amal intelligent.

Beyla’s hair dye turned the water turquoise.

After our fight on the first day of school, Babat became my friend for life.

Migha and Babat painted the ceiling pink.

You’re driving me angry.

Bidin is a great dancer.

Hazmira named her iguana Babat.

Known as “the father of the Texas blues,” Blind Lemon Jefferson was a popular entertainer in the 1920s.

The gift Beyla gave Amal was a cardigan.

05.31.13
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Types of Sentence Structure

 

Types of Sentence Structure

Remember that every clause is, in a sense, a miniature sentence. A simple sentences contains only a single clause, while a compound sentence, a complex sentence, or a compound-complex sentence contains at least two clauses.

Sentence_types

The Simple Sentence                        

The most basic type of sentence is the simple sentence, which contains only one clause. A simple sentence can be as short as one word:

ioEsgG

Examples of simple sentences:

a)      Some students like to study in the mornings.

b)      Juan and Arturo play football every afternoon.

c)       Alicia goes to the library and studies every day.

Simple sentence can contain compound subjects or compound verbs.

a)      Hazmira and Batrisya fight at the shooting venue.

b)      Batrisya goes to TSL library and studies every day.

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Compound sentence

A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinator. The independent clauses can be joined in three ways

a)      Coordinating conjunctions. = for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS)

b)      Conjunctive adverbs = also, besides, furthermore, however, on the other hand, otherwise, for example, accordingly

c)       Semicolon

Examples of Compound Sentences:

a)      America is a rich country, yet it has many poor people.

b)      The student did not come to class regularly; therefore, he is barred from taking the final exam

c)       My older brother studies law; my younger brother studies medicine.

ComplexSentence

Complex Sentence

A complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. A complex sentence always has a subordinator such as because, since, after, although, or when or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which.

Examples of Complex Sentences:

In the following complex sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the subordinators and their commas (when required) are in red.

Click to view !!

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