Compound Sentences (Coordination) versus Complex Sentences (Subordination)

Good writing requires a mixture of all four kinds of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. An essay or composition with only short, simple sentences is boring and ineffective, as is writing that uses too many compound sentences. Writing with complex sentences that use subordination is generally considered more mature, interesting, and effective in style.

 

Practice III Compare the two models. The first model is an example of over coordination, or writing with too many compound sentences. In the second model, some of the coordination has been replaced by subordination – complex sentences.

 

The People’s Princess

 

Diana, Princess of Wales, was born in Norfolk, England, in 1961, and she died in Paris, France, in 1997. People around the world were fascinated by the transformation of this shy kindergarten teacher into an independent, self-assured young woman. Her sudden death in a car crash while being chased by photographers prompted worldwide discussion and grief.

Diana Spencer was born to a wealthy, upper-class English family, and she was educated in private schools in England and Switzerland. She loved children, so she became a kindergarten teacher. She led a quiet life in London, but then she met Charles, Prince of Wales, and her life changed dramatically. She and Charles married in 1982, and her life as the wife of the future king of England began. She gave birth to two sons, and became active in charity work. Diana’s life should have been a happy one, but it was not to be. She and Charles began having marital problems, and they separated in 1992, and they agreed to divorce in 1996.

Diana worked very hard at her job as princess, and she supported many causes, especially those related to children and AIDS victims. She lived for only a short time, but she touched people all over the world because of her beauty, her compassion fir others, and her style.

 

 

The People’s Princess

 

Diana, Princess of Wales, was born in Norfolk, England, in 1961, and she died in Paris, France, in 1997. People around the world were fascinated by the transformation of this shy kindergarten teacher into an independent, self-assured young woman. Her sudden death in a car crash while being chased by photographers prompted worldwide discussion and grief.

Diana Spencer was born to a wealthy, upper-class English family, and she was educated in private schools in England and Switzerland. Because she loved children, she became a kindergarten teacher, leading a quiet life in London. However, when she met Charles, Prince of Wales, and her life changed dramatically. After she and Charles married in 1982, her life as the wife of the future king of England began. She gave birth to two sons, and became active in charity work. Diana’s life should have been a happy one, but it was not to be. She and Charles began having marital problems, separating in 1992 and agreeing to divorce in 1996.

Diana, who worked very hard at her job as princess, supported many causes, especially those related to children and AIDS victims. Even though she lived for only a short time, she touched people all over the world because of her beauty, her compassion fir others, and her style.

 

Practice IV Change the following compound sentences to complex sentences by subordinating one of the clauses. Use the subordination given. Be sure to add the subordinator to the correct clauses so that the resulting sentence is logical.

Example

It was raining, so I took an umbrella to work. (because)

Not logical: It was raining because I took an umbrella to work.

Logical: I took an umbrella to work because it was raining.

 

1. In the former Soviet Union, men and women had access to equal education and job opportunities, for that reflected the Soviet philosophy. (since)

2. The 1937 Soviet constitution declared that women and men had equal rights and responsibilities, and women joined the workforce. (after)

3. Also, millions of Russian men were away in the military during World War II, so Russian women filled their places at work. (because)

4. Soviet women worked full time at their jobs, but they also had the primary responsibility for taking care of the family. (although)

 

 

Practice V Use what you have learned about the four kinds of sentences to improve these paragraphs, which contains too many short, simple sentences. Use different methods of combining the sentences.

Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication, or body language, is used everywhere in the world. It is a very powerful means of communication. It communicates much more than spoken words. One example of nonverbal communication is what occurs between parents and child. Parents smile at their child. They communicate love, acceptance, and reassurance. The child feels comfortable and safe. The smile signifies approval. The child is happy and well-adjusted.

Another example of such communication is the image a person projects in public. A woman is walking alone on an unfamiliar and possibly dangerous street. She wants to appear confident. She would walk briskly. She may be tired. She should walk with her shoulders straight and her head held high. Her easy should be focused straight ahaead. Someone is looking at her. She should return the glance without hesitation. In contrast a nervous woman will appear afraid. She walks slowly with her shoulders drooping and hr eyes looking downward. Indeed, body language can express more than spoken language. It is a very strong method of communication. People use their body signals carelessly. They can sometimes be misinterpreted.

 

 

Unit 2

Sentence Problems

 

1. Parallelism is an important element in English writing, especially when you are listing and comparing and contrasting items or ideas. Parallelism means that each item in a list or comparison follows the same grammatical pattern. Iu you are writing a lost adn the first item in your list is a noun, write all of the following items as nouns, too. If the first item is an infinitive verb phrase, make all the others infinitive verb phrases and so on.

Notice how the rule of parallelism is followed in the second sentence in each of the following sets.

My English conversation class is made up of Chinese, Spaniards, and some are from Bosnia. – Not parallel

My English conversation class is made up of Chinese, Spaniards, and Bosnians. – Parallel

The language skills of the students in the evening classes are the same as the day classes. – Not parallel

 

The language skills of the students in the evening classes are the same as the language skills of the students the day classes. – Parallel

The students who do well attend class, they do their homework, and practice speaking in English. – Not parallel

The students who do well attend class, do their homework, and practice speaking in English. – Parallel

 

Words, phrases, and clauses that sre joined by and, or, and but are written in parallel form. Notice the parallel structures joined by coordinators in the following sentences:

 

The Federal Air Pollution Control Administration regulates automobile exhuasts, and the Federal Aviation Administration makes similar regulations for aircraft.

 

The states regulates the noise created by motor vehicles but not by commercial aircraft.

 

Pesticides cannot be sold if they have an adverse effect on humans, on animal life, or on the environment.

 

Use parallel forms with the correlative conjunctions both... and, either... or, neither... nor, not only... but also.

Correlative conjunctions are placed directly before the elements they join in the sentence.

 

A new law provides the means for both regulating pesticides and ordering their remival if they are dangerious.

Air pollutants may come either from the ocean as natural contaminants given off by sea life or from the internal combustion engines of automobiles.

If neither industry nor public works toward reducing problems, future generations will suffer.

At the present time, air pollution is controlled through laws passed not only to reduce the pollutants as their sources but also to set up acceptable standards of air quality.

 

Practice 1 Write seven original sentences in parallel form, using the coordinating conjunctions and the correlative conjunctions on the topic of your research.

1. Sentence Fragments are incomplete sentences or parts of sentences. Remeber that a complete sentence must contain at least one main or independent clause.

 

Study the following examples of sentence fragments and the suggested methods for correcting them

A. Because some students work part-time while taking a full load of courses.

 

Problem: This is a dependent clause

To correct: Attach it to an independent clause

 

Because some students work part-time while taking a full load of courses, they have very little free time.

 

B. For example, the increase in the cost of renting an apartment.

 

Problem: There is no verb

To correct: Rewrite the sentence so that it has a verb.

 

For example, the cost of renting an apartment increased.

 

C. Feeling lonely and failing most of his classes.

Problem: This is a participial phrase.

To correct: (a) Add a subject and change the participles to verbs, or

(b) attach the phrase to an independent clause.

 

(a) He felt lonely and failed most of his classes.

(b) Feeling lonely and failing most of his classes, the student wisely decided to make an appointment with his counselor.

 

Practice 2 Read and correct the following sentences if necessary

 

1. The desire of all humankind to live in peace and freedom, for example.

2. Second, the fact that men are physically stronger than women.

3. For example, many students have part-time jobs.

4. Although paople want to believe that all men are created equal.

5. Working during the motning and attending classes duting the afternoon.

6. The nuclear accident that occured in Belarus in 1986, the worst nuclear accident in history.

7. The first hint of the tragedy came two days after the accident occured.

8. When raditaion monitors in Sweden indicated an increase in radiation levels over Scandinavia.

9. Radiation escaping into the atmosphere, drifting west over other countries, and causing crops and diary products to become contaminated.

10. Opponents of nuclear power plants pointing to the Chernobyl disaster and the near-disaster at a U.S. plant in Pennsylvania.

 

ALWAYS CHECK YOUR OWN WRITING FOR SENTENCE FRAGMENTS.

 

1. Choppy Sentences are sentences that are too short. Although short senetnces can be effective, overuse of them is considered poor style in academic writing. Choppy sentences are easy to correct. Just combine two or three short sentences to make one compound or complex sentence.

 

1. If the sentence express equal ideas, use coordination to combine them.

Wind is an enduring source of power. Water is also an unlimited energy source. Dams produce hydraulic power. They have existed for a long time. Windmills are relatively new.

 

Both wind and water are enduring sources of power. Dams have produced hydraulic power. for a long time, but windmills are relatively new.

 

2. If the sentences express unequal ideas, use subordination to combine them.

We must find new sources of energy. Natural sources of energy are dwindling. Solar energy is a promising new source of energy. Solar energy is energy from the sun.

 

We must find new sources of energy because natural sources of energy are dwindling. Solar energy, which is energy from the sun, is a promising new source.

 

Practice 3 Improve the following choppy sentences by combining them to make either compound, comlex, or compound-complex sentences.

1. Gasoline became expensive. Autimobile manufacturers began to produce smaller cars. Smaller cars use less gasoline.

2. The computer has undoubtedly benefited humanity. The computer has also created problems for humanity.

3. Government and private agencies have spent billions of dollars advertising the dangers of smoking. The number of smokers is still increasing.

 

EXAMINE YOUR OWN WRITING CAREFULLY. DO YOU USE TOO MANY SHORT SENTENCES? IF YOU DO, PRACTICE COMBINING THEM.

 

4. Stringy Sentences are sentences with too many independent clauses, usually connected with and, but, so, and because. It often results from writing the way you speak, going on and on like a string without an end.

There is no rule limiting the number of independent clauses allowed in one sentence, but two is a good maximum. To correct a stringy sentence, divide it and/or recombine the clauses.

 

Many students attend classes all morning, and then they work all afternoon, and they also have to study at night, so they are usually exhausted by the weekend. – Stringy senetence

 

Many students attend classes all morning, and then they work all afternoon. Since they also have to study at night, they are usually exhausted by the weekend. – C orrected

 

Practice 4 Improve these stringy senetences

 

1. He enrolled in an advanced calculus classs, but he found it too difficult, so he dropped it.

2. The tidal wave ruined the crops, and it destroyed several villages, and it caused many deaths, so it was a real disaster.

3. The analysts worked many hours on the computer, but they couldn’t find the cause of the problem, so they finally gave up, and they went home.

4. Junk food is bad for your health, and it also contains no vitamins, and it damages your stomach, so people shouldn’t eat it.

5. The lack of rainfall has caused a severe water shortage, so peole have to conserve water every day, and they also have to think of new ways to reuse water, but the situation is improving.

 

Practice 5 Edit the following paragraph for errors in parallel structure and other sentence problems (Not every sentence has a problem)

 

America: Melting Pot or Salad Bowl?

 

The United States counts its population every ten years, and each census reveals that the racial and ethic mix is changing dramatically, so by the year 2060, the “average” American will not be descended from Europeans, but the majority of U.S. residents will trace their ancestry to Africa, Asia, the Hispanic world, the Pacific Islands, or the Middle East. Once the United States was a microcosm of European nationalities, today the United States is a microcosm of the world. The United States is no longer considered a “melting pot” society by many of its residents. Instead, many people prefer the term “salad bowl”. They use this term to describe American society. American society will soon be predominantly nonwhite. “Melting pot” implies that the different ethnic groups blend together into one homogeneous mixture, “salad bowl” implies that nationalities, like the ingredients in a mixed green salad, retain their cultural identities. Earlier generations of immigrants believed they had to learn English quickly not only to survive but also for success. Now, many immigrants groups do not feel the same need. Because there are many places in America where you can work, shop, get medical care, marry, divorce, and die without knowing English. For example, in Chinatown in San Francisco and New York. Also, Las Angeles has many Vietnamese immigrants and immigrants from Mexico. In addition, many immigrant groups want their children to know their own culture. Many Hispanics, for instance, want their children to learn both English and the Spanish language in school. They are fighting for the right to bilingual education in many communities. In many communities they are in the majority.

 

Unit 3

Punctuation

 

I. Commas

There are four main groups of commas: introducers, coordinators, inserters, and tags.

 

An introducer comma follows any element that comes in front of the first independent clauses in a sentence.

________________________________, INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.

 

The elements that can come in front of independent clauses are:

- words Ex. Therefore, I plan to quit smoking.

Nervously, I threw away my cigarettes.

- phrases Ex. As a result, I feel terrible right now.

After sixteen years of smoking, it is not easy to quit.

Having smoked for sixteen years, I find it difficult to quit.

- Dependent clauses Ex. Because I have a chronic cough, my doctor recommended that I quit immediately.

- Direct quotations Ex. “Stop smoking today,” she advised.

 

 

A coordinator comma links coordinate equal elements in a sentence together with a coordinating conjunction.

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE, coord. conj. INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.

yet,

so

 

Compound sentence Ex. She has a good job, yet she is always broke.

with 2 independent clauses Ex. They were tired, so they went to bed early.

 

Series of 3 or more items Ex. He doesn’t enjoy skiing, ice-skating, or sledding. (words or phrases) Cecille speaks English, Spanish, French, and Creole.

A nurse has to work at night, on weekend, and on holidays.

We ran into the airport, checked our luggage, raced to the boarding gate, gave the attendant our boarding passes, and collapsed in our seats.

An inserter comma is used before and after any element that is inserted into the middle of an independent clause

 

INDEPENDENT, ____________________, CLAUSE.

 

The elements that can be inserted into an independent clause are:

- words Ex. My uncle, however, refuses to quit smoking.

- phrases Ex. My father, on the other hand, has never smoked.

There is no point in living, according to my uncle, if you don’t do what you enjoy.

- nonrestrictive Ex. My aunt, his wife, died of lung cancer.

phrases and clauses My cousins, grieving over their mother’s death, resolved never to smoke.

My mother, who just celebrated her fiftieth birthday, enjoys an occasional cigarette.

- reporting verbs in Ex. “I’ve tried to quit dozens of times,

direct quotations

 

 

Practice 1. Add commas wherever they are necessary (Not all sentences need them, and some sentences need more than one)

1. The advertising industry which is one of the largest industries in the United States employs millions of people and spends billions of dollars.

2. A company that wants to be successful must spend a great deal of money to advertise its products.

3. Advertising is essential to the free enterprise system yet it can sometimes be very annoying.

4. Every minute of the day and night people are exposed to adds on television on billboards in the newspapers and in magazines.

5. You can’t even avoid advertising in privacy of your own car or your own home for advertisers have begun selling their products in those places too.

6. In the last few years advertising agencies have started to hire young people to hand out circulars on street corners and in parking lots.

7. You can often find these circulars stuck on your windshield thrust through the open windows of your car stuffed in your mailbox or simply scattered on your front doorstep.

8. Because Americans are exposed to so much advertising they have become immune to it.

9. As a result advertisers have to make louder commercials use brighter colours and hire sexier models to catch the public’s attention.

10. Many people object to commercials that use sex as a sales strategy.

11. Sexy commercials that sell everything from toothpaste to automobiles seem to imply that you will become sexier if you buy the product.

12. Sex is used in many cigarette and liquor ads for example.

13. The women in such ads are often dressed in revealing clothes and are surrounded by handsome men and the men in such ads are always extremely handsome and virile.

14. As everyone knows smoking and drinking do not make you sexy or virile.

15. On the contrary drinking makes you fat and smoking makes you sick.

16.Recently smoking was banned in most public places in the United States.

17. Many people opposed the law but it finnaly passed.

18. Smoking is now prohibited in hospitals airports stores offices and even some restaurants.

19. Many states however still allow smoking in bars.

20. Anti-smoking groups want to ban smoking in thoses places too.

 

 

SEMICOLONS

 

Semicolons (;) are used in three places:

1. Between two senetences that are closely connected in idea

 

Alice is going to Harvard; she is not going to Oxford.

Computer use is increasing; computer crime is, too.

The meeting adjourned at dawn; nothing had been accomplished.

 

2. Before conjunctive adverbs and some transitional phrases

Skiing is dangerous; nevertheless, millions of people ski.

I have never been to Europe; in fact, I have never been outside my country.

 

3. Between items in a series if items themselves contain commas

 

I cannot decide which car I like the best: the Ferrari, with its quick acceleration and sporty look; the midsize Ford Taurus, with its comfortable seats and easy of handling; or the compact Geo, with its economical fuel consumption.

 

Practice 2 Add semicolons and commas in the appropriate places

1. Grace works for a prestigious law firm she is thier top criminal lawer.

2. My favourite leisure-time activities are going to movies especially musicals reading novels especially stories of love and adventure listening to music both rock and classical and participating in sports particularly tennis and volleyball.

3. The future of our wild anumals is uncertain for example illegal shooting and chemical poisoning threaten the bald eagle.

4. Homework is boring therefore I never do it.

 

COLONS

A colon (:) can be used in five ways

 

1. To introduce a list

 

Libraries have two kinds of periodicals: bound periodicals and current periodicals.

I need the following groceries: eggs, milk, and coffee.

The causes of the US Civil War were as follows: the economic domination of the North, the slavery issue, and the issue of states’ rights versus federal intervention.

 

Note: Do not use a colon to introduce a list after the verb to be unless you use the following or

as folows

To me, the most important things in life are health, happiness, good friends, and a lot of money.

To me, the most important things in life are the following: health, happiness, good friends, and a lot of money.

 

2.To introduce a quotation langer than three lines. No quotation marks are used.

 

As Albert C.Baugh states in his book, The History of the English Language:

 

There is no such thing as uniformity in language. Not only does the speech of one community differ from that of another, but the speech of different individuals of a single community, even different members of the same family, is marked by individual peculiarities.

 

3. Use a colon between the main title and the subtitle of a book, article, or play

 

A popular book on nonverbal communication is Samovar and Porters’ Intercultural Communication: A Reader.

 

The name of an article from the New York Times is “Space Stations: Dreams or Reality?”

 

4.Use a colon between the numbers for hours andminutes when indictaing the time of day

 

She left the calss at 12:30

 

5.Use a colon after the salutation of a formal letter

 

Dear Professor Danielson:

 

Dear Sir or Madam:

 

Appendix