Word Order Creates Sentence Patterns
created by The Writing
Center at UNC-Chapel Hill
Simple Sentences
What this
handout is about
This
handout gives an overview of the English simple sentence pattern. Go to the SentencePatterns posting for information on how to understand sentence patterns by identifying
subjects, verbs, and clause connectors.
Always analyze your writing style and improve it by using a variety of
sentence patterns.
Four Basic Sentence Patterns
Every
sentence pattern follows a different way to combine clauses. When you are
drafting your own papers or when you’re revising them for sentence variety, try
to determine how many of these patterns you use. If you favor one particular
pattern, your writing might be kind of boring if every sentence has exactly the
same pattern. If you find this is true, try to revise a few sentences using a
different pattern.
NOTE: Because
nouns can fill so many positions in a sentence, it’s easier to analyze sentence
patterns if you find the verbs and find the
connectors. The most common connectors are listed below with the
sentence patterns that use them.
In
the descriptions below, S=Subject and V=Verb, and options for arranging the
clauses in each sentence pattern given in parentheses. Connecting words and the
associated punctuation are highlighted in brown. Notice how the punctuation
changes with each arrangement.
Pattern 1: Simple Sentence
One
independent clause (SV.)
Mr. Potato Head eats monkeys.
I refuse.
I refuse.
Stop the bus!
I love dogs.
Try this: Look for sentences in your own
text that have only one clause. Mark them with a certain color so they stand
out.
To
learn more about sentence structure, move on to the next type of sentences
structure by clicking here: compound sentences.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout (just click print) and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout (just click print) and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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© 2010-2014 by The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill.
Content of this posting create by UNC-CH Writing Center and it is available at http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/sentence-patterns/
phone: (919) 962-7710 • email: writing_center@unc.edu
IF IT'S TIME-SENSITIVE, DON'T EMAIL. CALL US!
© 2010-2014 by The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill.
Content of this posting create by UNC-CH Writing Center and it is available at http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/sentence-patterns/
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