sentence expansion

Site:	Plateforme pédagogique de l'Université Sétif2
Cours:	Hadj TAYEB_written expression_L1(First Year )
Livre:	sentence expansion

Imprimé par:	Visiteur anonyme
Date:	Monday 6 May 2024, 02:36

Description

this bookis intended to teach how you expand sentences by providing more information in senetnces that lack some details.

Table des matières

1. clauses

1. clauses

8. Sentence Expansion
9. A sentence base is the minimum required for a sentence. The most basic sentence contains a noun phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP). Sentence Bases
10. Brent moved. NP + VP Sentence Base
11. Sentence Base We can also add the following optional third elements to the clause: an object (O) a complement (C) and/or an adverbial (AV). We add these elements to the clause to make a more informative sentence
12. Sentence Base Object Brent met Olivia .
13. Sentence Base Complement Olivia was a year older .
14. Sentence Base Adverbial Brent fell in love the first time he saw her .
15. Sentence Expansion 1. Coordination 2. Subordination
16. Sentence Expansion Coordination means “ being of equal structural rank.” Coordination occurs when we use a coordinator (or, and, but, nor, yet, so) to connect parts of a sentence together.
17. Sentence Expansion We can use coordination to connect words or phrases: 1. Brent was happy but nervous. 2. He was happy with having met a beautiful girl but nervous because of his personality.
18. Sentence Expansion We can use coordinated elements in the subject or the predicate. Her beauty and popularity was too much to resist. The opportunity was new and exciting.
19. Sentence Expansion Subordination means ‘being of lower structural rank.’ Words that are added to the bare sentence base are said to be subordinate because they are grammatically secondary to the main elements.
20. Sentence Expansion Subordinating elements modify the meaning of the sentence base. We call theses subordinating elements modifiers . Modifiers are absolutely essential to writing effectively because they provide vital, substantial, and specific information.

1.1. subordination

21. Sentence Expansion Subordination 1. Relative Clauses 2. Appositive Phrases 3. Adverbial Clauses 4. Participial Phrases 5. Absolute Phrases
22. Sentence Expansion 1. Relative Clauses Relative clauses enable the writer to embed a complete subject/predicate into a noun phrase. Relative = relationship Relative Clauses are introduced by either a relative pronoun (that, who, or which) or a relative adverb (where, when, why)
23. Sentence Expansion 1. Relative Clauses Example: 1. Brent cautiously took Olivia out on a date. 2. The date consisted of dinner and a movie. What is the relationship between these two sentences? How can we make the relationship more clear?
24. Sentence Expansion 1. Relative Clauses Combining the sentences requires the use of a relative clause: Brent cautiously took Olivia out on a date which consisted of dinner and a movie.
25. Sentence Expansion 2. Appositive Phrases An appositive phrase is a reduced sentence headed by a noun, functioning, just like a relative clause, to define or restrict the noun by adding definition-like details to it. Appositive phrases rename nouns or noun phrases.
26. Sentence Expansion 2. Appositive Phrases Example: Brent cautiously took Olivia on a date which consisted of dinner and a movie. Brent was an extremely nervous boy when around girls.
27. Sentence Expansion 2. Appositive Phrases ‘ Appositive’ simply means being ‘positioned’ next to something, generally a noun. Therefore, the most common and expected sentence position for the appositive phrase is immediately after the noun it expands. Brent, an extremely nervous boy when around girls, took Olivia on a date which consisted of dinner and a movie.

1.2. Expanding With Adjectives and Adverbs

Descriptive words in writing add details to a scene or action by making the imagery in it more precise for the reader to visualize. For example, sentences with a person waiting patiently or nervously for something to happen probably lead to very different paragraphs or stories. Maybe it's significant in a mystery novel that something happens by a stone wall rather than a clapboard wall.

Descriptors can also add layers of meaning to a scene, or set up metaphors, with just one word. A character with Victorian sensibilities gives the reader a very different feeling than one with punk attitudes.

1.3. Expanding With Prepositional Phrases

This sentence-expanding exercise will give you practice in applying the principles and guidlines in the way how you cab expans the sentence with prepositional phrases.

Excercise

Expand each sentence below by adding one or more prepositional phrases that answer the question(s) in parenthesis.

Example
The cat jumped and pounced. (What did the cat jump off of? What did the cat pounce on?)
The cat jumped off the stove and pounced on the gerbil.

There are countless ways to expand each sentence; You will find sample answers below.

The students laughed.(What did the students laugh at?)
The man tripped.(What did the man trip over?)
Visitors arrived yesterday.(Where were the visitors from?)
The candles flickered.(Where were the candles?)
Gus hid the candy bar.(Where did Gus hide the candy bar?)
Last night I watched a YouTube video.(What was the video about?)
Sid sat.(Where did he sit? With whom did he sit?)
The teacher spoke.(Who did the teacher speak to? What did she speak about?)
The spaceship landed.(Where was the spaceship from? Where did it land?)
Jenny stood, raised her Super Soaker water gun, and aimed it.
(Where did she stand? What did she aim at?)

Answers

Here are sample answers to the sentence-expanding exercise. Keep in mind that countless versions of each sentence are possible.

The students laughed at the monkey on a scooter.
The man tripped over his own feet.
Visitors from the Bizarro world arrived yesterday.
The candles on the handles of my bicycle flickered.
Gus hid the candy bar in a dirty sock.
Last night I watched a YouTube video about green kangaroos.
Sid sat in a tub of Jell-O with his cat.
The teacher spoke to the principal about a pay raise.
The spaceship from Pluto landed in the desert.
Jenny stood on the roof of the garage, raised her Super Soaker water gun, and aimed it at her little brother below.

If you had any problems completing this exercise, review the guidelines and examples on the pages indicated at the beginning of this article.

1.4. expanding with Appositives in Sentences

Appositives have been referred to by some as strange animals because they are nouns or pronouns, but they act as adjectives since they rename or describe nouns and pronouns. Nevertheless, they are some of the most powerful building blocks available to a writer. Take a look below at an example of an appositive.

example: Carlos, a classmate, decided to take a break.

Remember, appositives are nouns or pronouns that rename another noun or pronoun. Classmate is another name for Carlos.

Now, let's look at an appositive phrase. One way to identify appositive phrases is to know that they categorize, rename, or expand on something in a sentence.

example: A fabulous guard, Jesse can also play forward on the basketball team.

In the example above, the appositive phrase begins the sentence and introduces the reader to the subject of the sentence Jesse. Jesse is not just Jesse, though, she is a fabulous guard! Using the appositive phrase a fabulous guard expands your reader’s knowledge about Jesse.

Another way that you can put appositives to work for you is using them when you write poetry or song lyrics. Appositive phrases are particularly useful in poetry and lyric writing because of their very nature. They fine-tune the subject by providing more details, helping your audience “see” what you are saying. Note the examples that follow.

1.5. expanding with Appositives in Sentences

example: Carlos, a classmate, decided to take a break.

Remember, appositives are nouns or pronouns that rename another noun or pronoun. Classmate is another name for Carlos.

Now, let's look at an appositive phrase. One way to identify appositive phrases is to know that they categorize, rename, or expand on something in a sentence.

example: A fabulous guard, Jesse can also play forward on the basketball team.

1.6. Expanding With Prepositional Phrases

This sentence-expanding exercise will give you practice in applying the principles and guidlines in the way how you cab expans the sentence with prepositional phrases.

Excercise

The students laughed.(What did the students laugh at?)
The man tripped.(What did the man trip over?)
Visitors arrived yesterday.(Where were the visitors from?)
The candles flickered.(Where were the candles?)
Gus hid the candy bar.(Where did Gus hide the candy bar?)
Last night I watched a YouTube video.(What was the video about?)
Sid sat.(Where did he sit? With whom did he sit?)
The teacher spoke.(Who did the teacher speak to? What did she speak about?)
The spaceship landed.(Where was the spaceship from? Where did it land?)
Jenny stood, raised her Super Soaker water gun, and aimed it.
(Where did she stand? What did she aim at?)

Answers

Here are sample answers to the sentence-expanding exercise. Keep in mind that countless versions of each sentence are possible.

The students laughed at the monkey on a scooter.
The man tripped over his own feet.
Visitors from the Bizarro world arrived yesterday.
The candles on the handles of my bicycle flickered.
Gus hid the candy bar in a dirty sock.
Last night I watched a YouTube video about green kangaroos.
Sid sat in a tub of Jell-O with his cat.
The teacher spoke to the principal about a pay raise.
The spaceship from Pluto landed in the desert.
Jenny stood on the roof of the garage, raised her Super Soaker water gun, and aimed it at her little brother below.

If you had any problems completing this exercise, review the guidelines and examples on the pages indicated at the beginning of this article.

1.7. Revising Sentences With Absolute Phrases

Absolute phrases are useful constructions for adding details to an entire sentence—details that often describe one aspect of someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the sentence. Here we'll practice revising sentences with absolute phrases

Practice Questions

Rewrite each sentence or set of sentences below according to the guidelines in parentheses. When you're done, compare your revised sentences with those following. Keep in mind that more than one correct response is possible.

(Combine the two sentences below: turn the second sentence into an absolute phrase and place it in front of the first sentence.)
- The storks circled above us.
- Their slender bodies were sleek and black against the orange sky.
(Combine the two sentences below: turn the second sentence into an absolute phrase and place it after the first sentence.)
- On the tops of the hills, the grass stands at its tallest and greenest.
- Its new seed plumes rise through a dead crop of last year's withered spears.
(Create two absolute phrases by eliminating the words in bold.)
- Odysseus comes to shore, and the skin is torn from his hands, andthe sea water is gushing from his mouth and nostrils.
(Combine the three sentences below: turn the second and third sentences into absolute phrases, and position them at the start of the sentence to establish a clear cause-effect relationship.)
- Norton vowed never to marry again.
- His first marriage ended in divorce.
- His second marriage ended in despair.
(Omit when, and turn the main clause—in bold—into an absolute phrase.)
- When the double giant Ferris wheel circles, the swaying seats are more frightening than a jet plane flying through a monsoon.

(Combine the following four sentences into a single sentence with a present participial phrase and two absolute phrases.)
- All afternoon the caravan passed by.
- The caravan shimmered in the winter light.
- Its numberless facets were gleaming.
- The hundreds of wagon wheels were turning in the dust in slow and endless motion.
(Combine the following five sentences into a single sentence with a present participial phrase and three absolute phrases.)
- Six boys came over the hill.
- The boys were running hard.
- Their heads were down.
- Their forearms were working.
- Their breaths were whistling.
(Begin your new sentence with "The buildings sit empty," and turn the rest of the sentence into an absolute phrase.)
- Jagged pieces of glass stick out of the frames of the hundreds of broken windows in the buildings that sit empty.
(Combine these sentences by replacing the period with a comma and eliminating the word in bold.)
- Proud of my freedom and bumhood, I stood in the doorway of the boxcar, rocking with the motion of the train.
- My ears were full of the rushing wind and the clattering wheels.

(Combine these three sentences by turning the first sentence into an absolute phrase and the third into a subordinate clause beginning with "where.")
- His hair was wet from the showers.
- He walked in the icy air to Luke's Luncheonette.
- There he ate three hamburgers in a booth with three juniors.

Compare your revised sentences with the sample combinations below.

Answers to Practice Exercises

Here are the sentences that served as models for the exercises above. Keep in mind that more than one correct response is possible.

Their slender bodies sleek and black against the orange sky, the storks circled above us.
On the tops of the hills, the grass stands at its tallest and greenest, its new seed plumes rising through a dead crop of last year's withered spears.
Odysseus comes to shore, the skin torn from his hands, the sea water gushing from his mouth and nostrils.
His first marriage having ended in divorce and his second in despair, Norton vowed never to marry again.
The double giant Ferris wheel circles, the swaying seats more frightening than a jet plane flying through a monsoon.
All afternoon the caravan passed by, shimmering in the winter light, its numberless facets gleaming and the hundreds of wagon wheels turning in the dust in slow and endless motion.
Six boys came over the hill, running hard, their heads down, their forearms working, their breaths whistling.
The buildings sit empty, jagged pieces of glass sticking out of the frames of the hundreds of broken windows.
Proud of my freedom and bumhood, I stood in the doorway of the boxcar, rocking with the motion of the train, my ears full of the rushing wind and the clattering wheels.

10. His hair wet from the showers, he walked in the icy air to Luke's Luncheonette, where he ate three hamburgers in a booth with three juniors.