The Sentence

这是一篇关于The Sentence的思维导图Imperative sentence: express a command/request

The Sentence

• Complete Sentences and Sentence fragments
  • A Complete Sentence(an independent clause)
    • A complete sentence contains a subject, a predicate, and conveys a complete thought.
    • Subject: who or what the sentence is about; who or what is doing the action. [noun/pronoun]
    • Predicate: what the subject does or is; [the verb (action or state) and all that follows]
  • Sentence Fragmentsor Incomplete Sentences
    • A fragment is a a word group that lacks a subject or a verb and/or fails to express a complete thought.
      • 1. Missing-Subject Fragments
      • 2. Sentence Fragments Without a Verb
      • 3. Dependent Clause Fragments
      • 4. Added-Detail Fragments附加细节不完整句
      • 5. -ing Fragments
      • 6. -to Fragments
      • 7. Descriptive phrases
• Types of Sentences
  • Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, and Exclamatory Sentences
    • According to Use Declarative sentence: make a statement Interrogative sentence: ask a question Imperative sentence: express a command/request Exclamatory sentence: express a strong feeling/emotion
  • Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex Sentences
    • Simple: Sentences consist of a subject and a verb to form an independent clause.
    • Compound: Sentences consist of two or more independent clauses joined by a conjunction or semicolon. Each of these clauses could form a sentence alone.
    • Complex: Sentences consist of an independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
    • Compound-complex: Sentences consist of at least two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.
  • Loose, Periodic, Convoluted, and Centered Sentences
  • Parallel Constructions and Balanced Sentences
  • Short and Long Sentences
• Effective Sentences
  • Variety
    • Beginning: vary sentence openings
    • Structure: vary sentence patterns
    • Length: vary sentence length
  • Conciseness
    • Omit unnecessary words and expressions
      • A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
    • Change clauses into phrases
    • Avoid unnecessary repetition
    • Use the active voice
      • The active voice is more concise than the passive.
    • Put statements in positive form
    • Use Predicate Adjectives
    • Do not state what sentence structure itself makes clear
    • Use Ellipses
    • Use Parallelism
    • Change sentence structures
  • Emphasis
    • Partial emphasis
      • Emphasis within the sentences (only to a word, or a group of words, within the sentence)
    • Total emphasis
      • Emphatic sentences (the entire sentence)
    • ① The Short Sentence ② The Inverted Sentence ③ The Imperative Sentence ④ The Interrupted Sentence ⑤ The Periodic Sentence ⑥ The Rhetorical Question ⑦ Negative-Positive Restatementences
  • Coherence
    • What makes a sentence incoherent:
      • Faulty parallel constructions
      • Pronouns with ambiguous reference
      • Dangling or misplaced modifiers
      • Confusing shifts in person, number, voice, tense and mood.
  • Unity
    • Complete
    • Relevant / To the point
• Run-On Sentences
  • A run-on sentence consists of two complete thoughts run together without adequate punctuation to signal the break between them.
    • Fused sentences
      • Fused sentences have no punctuation to mark the break between the two thoughts.
    • Comma Splice / Comma Fault
      • Comma faults (also called comma splices) are the most common kind of run-on sentences.
    • Four Ways to Correct Run-On Sentences
      • Method 1: Period and a Capital Letter
      • Method 2: Comma and a Joining Word
      • Method 3: Semicolon
        • A semicolon can be used with a transitional word and a comma to join two complete thoughts.
      • Method 4: Use subordination.