Improving Sentence Structures for Academic Writing Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

To improve your academic writing skills, you must first understand possible problems with sentence structure so that you can not only recognize but write effective sentences. To understand sentences, you must first understand clauses, which make up sentences. An independent clause contains both a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a sentence. A dependent clause contains both a subject and a verb, but cannot stand alone as a sentence. Dependent clauses are introduced by subordinating conjunctions such as because, that, what, while, who, which, although, if, etc.

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There are three kinds of sentences:

    simple: a simple sentence consists of one main or independent clause. To be complete, a simple sentence must have at least one subject and one 39 verb 39. The man and his son 39 went 39 to the store and 39 bought 39 some milk. compound: a compound sentence has at least two main or independent clauses, connected by coordinating conjunctions such as and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.

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    The second clause should be separated from the first by a comma in front of the coordinating conjunction. complex: a complex sentence has one main or independent clause and one or more dependent or subordinate clauses. Dependent clauses can function in the sentence as nouns, adjectives or adverbs:

noun clauses function as nouns in the sentence and can be used as subjects, objects, predicate nominatives, and objects of prepositions. Object of preposition about adjective clauses start with a relative pronoun such as who, which, or that and function as adjectives. Note: use commas around the adjective clause to indicate that the information there is not essential to the sentence, i.e.

Absence of commas, on the other hand, indicates the information is essential to the sentence. Suggests that, of all the other bulls on the farm, the one in the pasture is being identified as belonging to joe the bull, which is in the pasture, belongs to joe. Suggests that there is only one bull on the farm, so the writer is giving non essential information by mentioning that it is in the pasture note: the word that is used to introduce an essential clause without commas , whereas which is used to introduce a non essential clause with commas. Some grammar textbooks suggest which can be used for either essential or non essential clauses. Your essays should be submitted on time, which is one way to be a successful student. Vague reference because the word which in this sentence refers to neither time nor essays.

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adverb clauses function as adverbs in the sentence, modifying verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. Conjunctions used include although, after, if, because, while, since, whether, etc. It usually lacks either a subject or a verb, or both, or contains only a dependent clause. Contains a subject and verb, but is a dependent clause a run on sentence is one in which two or more independent clauses are inappropriately joined. Remember that the length of a sentence does not determine whether it is a run on sentence: a sentence that is correctly punctuated and correctly joined can be extremely long.

Two types of run on sentences are fused sentences and sentences with comma splice errors. A comma splice refers to the error of placing only a comma between two complete sentences, without a connecting word such as and, but, or because. the experiment failed, it had been left unobserved for too long. To correct a fused sentence or a comma splice error, you can use either a period, semi colon, colon, coordinating conjunction, or subordinating conjunction. A comma splice also occurs when commas are used before conjunctive adverbs therefore, however, nevertheless, moreover, etc. He wasn rsquo t prepared to defend a client who was guilty however, he could be persuaded to accept a bribe. Note: when the conjunctive adverb is within the clause rather than at the beginning, place it between commas. He wasn rsquo t prepared to defend a client who was guilty he could be persuaded, however, to accept a bribe.

A loose sentence may result if you use too many ldquo and rdquo connectives when other conjunctions would convey a more precise meaning. What is the most accurate connection: john had a weight problem so he dropped out of school or because he dropped out of school? a loose sentence also results from weak sentence construction and the inclusion of many phrases and clauses in no particular order. In the event that we get the contract, we must be ready by june 1 with the necessary personnel and equipment to get the job done, so with this end in mind a staff meeting, which all group managers are expected to attend, is scheduled for february 12. A succession of short sentences, without transitions to link them to each other, results in choppy sentences.

Doug thought that he was prepared but he failed the examination which meant that he had to repeat the course before he could graduate which he didn rsquo t want to do because it would conflict with his summer job. Parts of a sentence which are in sequence must all follow the same grammatical or structural principle. This resource presents methods for adding sentence variety and complexity to writing that may sound repetitive or boring. Sections are divided into general tips for varying structure, a discussion of sentence types, and specific parts of speech which can aid in sentence variety. contributors: ryan weber, allen brizee these owl resources offer information and exercises on how to clarify sentences and specifically discuss sentence clauses, sentence fragments, sentence structure, and subject verb agreement. please use the navigation bar on the left or the links below to access the individual exercises. this resource provides exercises on the differences between independent and dependent clauses that you may print. This resource includes three exercises on fragments of increasing difficulty that ask you to identify and correct sentence fragments.

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You may print the exercises and correct the errors by filling in the blank with the appropriate ending. This exercise in this resource asks you to apply your knowledge about common errors in sentence structure: run ons, commas splices, and fused sentences. Print the exercise and fuse together sentences appropriately, avoiding run ons, comma splices, and fused sentences. This resource includes an exercise that asks you to identify the correct verb in a sentence that you may print. Learning to see the things kids can do so we can teach them to do the things they can't by steve peha smooth and expressive sentence fluency sometimes ya just gotta go with the flow at least that's the situation most readers find themselves in. Beginning with a capital letter, we wind our way over words and phrases until we’ve expressed a complete thought, and then we mark the endpoint with a period, question mark, or exclamation mark.

Readers read the same way: they follow the shape of each sentence from beginning to end trying to understand the single complete thought the writer is expressing. In order for readers to do that, your writing needs to flow smoothly from word to word, phrase to phrase, and sentence to sentence. The term sentence fluency refers to the way individual words and phrases sound together within a sentence, and how groups of sentences sound when read one after the other. We can’t do this because it drives readers crazy! it also makes the writing hard to understand. Why? because readers start paying more attention to the repetition of the sounds than they do to the meaning of the words. In chores, the writer does a pretty good job of varying the beginnings of her sentences.

Chores! chores! chores! chores are boring! scrubbing toilets, cleaning sinks, and washing bathtubs take up a lot of my time and are not fun at all. I think toilets are one of the hardest things to scrub in the bathroom because it is hard to get up around the rim. Sinks are one of the easiest things to clean in the bathroom because they have no rims and they are small. Bathtubs, ever washed one? they are big, they are deep, and it is hard to get up around the sides. Chores aren’t the worst but they’re definitely not the best! variety in sentence length and structure just as using sentences with different beginnings helps make your writing easier to read and understand, using sentences of different lengths and different structures helps, too. Take a look at the fourth paragraph of chores: bathtubs, ever washed one? they are big, they are deep, and it is hard to get up around the sides.