ENGL000: Pre-College English

1.3: Sentences

• 1.3.1: The Basic Sentence

  • Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges: "The Sentence" Page

    As you have probably realized by now, writing effective sentences is crucial for writing effective paragraphs. But what makes a sentence effective? Read this lecture on the basic structure of a sentence and complete the practice activities, in which you identify subjects and verbs, revise clauses as complete sentences, and revise sentences to include proper punctuation. Once you have completed the practice, check your answers against the "The Sentence"  Answer Key.

• 1.3.2: Strategies for Variation

  • Handbook for Writers, v.1.0: "Chapter 16, Section 1: Using Varied Sentence Lengths and Styles"

    Now that you have mastered the basics, it’s time to practice using a variety of sentence types. Follow the link to a section about sentence style. You only need to read section 16.1, “Using Varied Sentence Lengths and Styles,” and complete the accompanying exercises. You should keep this material in mind for future assignments. After you have finished the exercises at the end of section 16.1, compare your answers with this guide to responding.
    

• 1.3.3: Sentence Types

  • Boundless Writing: "Chapter 4, Section 1: Introduction to English Grammar and Mechanics: Structure of a Sentence"

    Continue building your understanding of sentences by following this link to read the section of the page about the variety of sentence structures. Pay special attention to the information about simple, complex, and compound sentence structures. Be sure to take good notes by implementing the active reading strategies you learned in Subunit 1.1—you’ll need to understand the difference between these sentence types in order to complete the quiz at the end of this subunit!