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.
