Back up and running!

After months of not being able to login to my WordPress, it seems I’m back. How exciting! Now I can write all those blogs I’ve wanted to write for the last three months. Three months for goodness sake. Well that hiatus is now in the past. Over. Finished. Le Fin.

It’s been a busy few months. I got another distinction in my MA in Professional Writing, putting me at five for five, and I’ve just finished the research module and readied myself to write the Sentences book over the next few months.

I spent a week in Palestine to help me get a grip on life in the West Bank for the Sesame Street book. The dipped my toe into the world of publishing and book markets at the London Book Fair.

Now, it’s head down for the last six weeks of the teaching semester before a summer of writing. I really can’t wait for that. Proper writing time interrupted only by a week’s internship at Pearlfisher branding agency in London.

What I’ll do this time next year when Sentences and Sesame Street first drafts are finished. No MA and no proposals to write. Goodness, I’ll not know what to do with the time. If I’m lucky I’ll hang myself upside down in the burning oil that is teaching Advanced Grammar — something to look forward to!

20 Sentence Patterns You Can’t Ignore

I’ve been working and researching sentences almost daily, now, for over a year. Yes I’m a word-nerd, but there you have it.

In my travels, one of the best books I’ve had the pleasure of reading was The Art of Styling Sentences.

And during one of my late-night sentence surfs, I stumbled across this cracking summary, which I have lifted directly from the lovely people at Oxford Tutorials because I think it’s so incredibly useful.

Twenty Sentence Patterns

1. Compound construction with semi-colon—to condense; to unify

Talent is only one half of it; hard work is the other.

2. Compound construction with ellipsis (omitting a repeated verb ) and comma — to create rhythm or balance

A red light means stop; a green light, go.

3. Compound construction with a colon—to create interest

Dawkins’ God Delusion is educational: it teaches bad logic.

4. A series without a conjunction—to create smooth flow

King Henry won loyalty with his courage, faith and humility.

5. A series of balanced pairs—to create rhythm

He abandoned God and family, faith and honour, house and home.

6. Introductory series of appositives—to expand points succinctly

Vanity, greed, revenge—which was the book’s main theme?

7. Internal series of appositives—to convey information quickly

Some predators—lions, wolves, tigers—have been hunted almost to extinction.

8. Dependent clauses: paired or in series—to summarize main points

“Whether you eat, or whether you drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

St. Paul (1 Cor. 10:31)

9. Repetition of key terms—to create emphasis or intensity

“Never give in… never—in nothing great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”
      Winston Churchill

10. Appositive at end, after colon or dash—to build to a climax

Students must conquer a two-headed monster—laziness and boredom.

11. Modifier between subject and verb—to add interest

The tiniest dot—all you once were—marks the beginning of life.

12. Introductory or concluding participles—for variety

Driven by greed, Scrooge almost lost his soul. Awaking to the light, the fugitive resumed his flight.

13. A single modifier out of place anywhere—for emphasis

Occasionally, my parents will argue.       

14. Prepositional phrase before subject-verb—for emphasis

     “By their own follies they perished, the fools.” Homer

15. Object or complement before subject-verb—for emphasis

“Famous and wealthy an English teacher will never be.”

16. Paired constructions—to make comparisons or contrasts

“As slavery divided North and South, so did the Indian Wars divide the East and West.”

17. Dependent clause as subject, object or complement—for variety

{How that could happen} is a complete mystery.  We couldn’t see {who it was}.  The result was {what he predicted].

18. Absolute construction (noun or pronoun with a participle) —to add interest and variety

{God willing}, we will arrive tomorrow.  The students, {their minds disciplined}, persevered.  We are doing well, {all things considered}. 

19. A short sentence for effect—to summarize or provide transition

“Jesus wept.” (Jn. 11:35)  “I came, I saw, I conquered.” J. Caesar

20. Deliberate fragment—for dramatic effect

But how?  Never!  Next stop—eternity!  What a price to pay!
What a mistake!  Absolute power corrupting once more. 

Extraposition and Inversion: Glam-sounding Simple Things

Sentence patterns are very predictable in English, and, whether you’re a native-speaker or not, it’s easy to get into a rut with the way you approach writing.

These are two little guys that have a lot to give, simply by being cheeky and getting into places they wouldn’t ordinarily be.

Inversion

To break away from the expectations of sentence patterns, you can invert. Here, the verb comes before the subject (i.e. use the question form for the main verb) and a prepositional phrase helps to emphasise the verb.

            High up in the sky flew the plane

            Out came the sunshine.

            Along the street came a car, battered and red.

After negative adverbials (usually used with perfect and/or modals (can/could) and usually in comparison (explicit or implied))

Never have I been more excited.

Not only had she learnt to walk very early, but she had also started talking before her first birthday.

Rarely have I asked for help.

Seldom can I say I’m worried about life.

Extraposition

Very simply, the subject gives up its place at the beginning of the sentence and goes on a short break to the end of the sentence.

            The twins are in first place = In first place are the twins.

            At the deep end of the pool were the older kids = The older kids were at the deep end of the pool.

When extraposition is introduced by ‘it’ they are actually fairly natural:

It’s a good idea to have a spare pen = To have a spare pen is a good idea.

You’re more likely to hear the first version, though, aren’t you — so extraposition is a rather glam-sounding thing that you never realised you did.

Starting a sentence with a ‘that’ noun-clause can be considered rather awkward, so is usually introduced with ‘it is’:

That the world will come to an end is inevitable. = It is inevitable that the world will come to an end.

Just another tool for you to stick in your toolbox before you get writing.