Sentence combining practice g11

■ DirectionsCombine each cluster so that the new information which is underlined in the first few items forms a series.. ■ DirectionsCombine each cluster so that the new information whic

Grade 11

Compound Sentences 1

Compound Elements 2

Items in a Series 3

Modifiers Before a Noun 4

Coordinate and Compound Adjectives 5

Set-off Adjectives and Other Modifiers 6

Other Set-off Elements 7

Elements Set Off for Contrast 8

Appositives 9

Possessive Apostrophes 10

Adjective Phrases 11

Verbal Phrases as Adjectives 12

Adverbs and Phrases Acting as Adverbs 13

Essential Adjective Clauses with That and Who 14

Essential Adjective Clauses with Whom and Whose 15

Subject-Verb Agreement 16

Nonessential Adjective Clauses 17

Adverb Clauses I 18

Adverb Clauses II 19

Adverb Clauses III 20

Conjunctive Adverbs 21

But, However, Although, and Despite 22

Correlative Conjunctions 23

Noun Clauses I 24

Noun Clauses II 25

Verbal Phrases as Nouns 26

Absolute Phrases 27

Descriptive Writing I: The Vertebra 28

Descriptive Writing II: First Car 29

Narrative Writing I: Blackout 30

Narrative Writing II: The Cradle 31

Expository Writing I: Keeping Warm 32

Expository Writing II: The Polygraph 33

Persuasive Writing I: The Polygraph: Cons 34

Persuasive Writing II: The Polygraph: Pros 35

Sentence combining (S-C) is a way to warm up before the game In the writing game, as in most other games, things tend to happen at once All at the same time you’re trying to think of what

to say, how to express it, how to spell the words, how to punctuate the sentences, and where to

go next In this game, too, it helps if you’ve practiced each skill separately.

Combining sentences slows you down and gives you time to experiment The words are already there, and your task is simply to combine sentences meaningfully You don’t have to worry about what you’ll write in the following sentence or where to go next.

Getting Started

There are two kinds of sentence-combining exercises in this book: signaled and unsignaled.

Signaled exercises give you specific suggestions on how to combine groups of sentences, called

clusters Unsignaled (or open) sentence clusters encourage you to experiment on your own.

1 UnderliningCertain information may be repeated in two or more sentences in a cluster Underlining shows you the words that are new The new information should be added to the new sentence.

a The woman turned and smiled.

b The woman was in the booth.

These sentences could be rewritten so that the repeated information (the part of b that isn’t

underlined) is left out The new information is added to the following sentence:

The woman in the booth turned and smiled.

Now try this cluster:

a The woman in the booth turned and smiled.

b The booth was near the front.

2 Brackets When you combine two or more sentences, you may occasionally have to change slightly the form of a word; you may have to add a punctuation mark; you may have to include a signal word—or you may have to do two of these things, or all three of them In signaled exercises an important clue to the change is suggested in brackets In the following cluster we’ve included in brackets the punctuation mark and the change in form.

a He walked to the window.

b He brushed the hair from his eyes [, + ing]

He walked to the window, brushing the hair from his eyes.

when we add the hyphen Note also the signal word and, telling how to incorporate c.

a She enjoyed a morning jog.

b The jog was three miles [-]

c She enjoyed a quick shower [and]

She enjoyed a three-mile morning jog and a quick shower.

Punctuation marks occur singly or in pairs A pair of marks, such as [— .—], shows you

one way to embed information in the middle of a sentence Study the cluster below.

a Deborah was much in demand at parties.

b Deborah was a gifted guitarist [— —]

Deborah—a gifted guitarist—was much in demand at parties.

In the next cluster a signal word in the brackets suggests another way of combining

sen-tences Try it.

a Ralph pushed the dish away.

b Ralph hated chicken livers [, who ]

3 Capital Letters The CAPITAL LETTERS used in the third form of signaling spell out the

neutral word SOMETHING This word is often found in the first sentence of a cluster It

shows where the following sentence or part of that sentence should go.

a He tried SOMETHING.

b He would lift the manhole cover [to]

He tried to lift the manhole cover.

a Martha asked SOMETHING.

b I was feeling some way [how]

Martha asked how I was feeling.

Here are two more clusters to try Recheck the examples if you’re puzzled.

Unsignaled (or open) exercises invite you to try all sorts of combinations until you find the

one you like best For example, see how many different combinations you can make from this

sentence cluster.

a Toni was ill.

b Her parents were concerned.

1 Toni was ill, and her parents were concerned.

2 Because Toni was ill, her parents were concerned.

3 Toni’s illness concerned her parents.

4 Toni’s parents were concerned about her illness.

5 Toni’s illness

6 Toni’s parents

7 Of concern to Toni’s parents was the fact that

You could probably come up with more versions When doing unsignaled exercises, try

whisper-ing different versions to yourself, or work with a friend or a group to try out various

possibili-ties Listen to your friends, and listen even more carefully to your own voice.

Experiment and Enjoy

The purpose of these sentence-combining sheets is to help you learn to enjoy writing—to help

you find your own things to say and your own voice in which to say them The signals are

mere-ly a first step toward that goal You will find that in most exercises onmere-ly the first few clusters will

be signaled Signaling will then be phased out, except for an occasional hint at a tough spot This

will allow you to start slowly each time, and if you become puzzled later on, you can go back

and look again at how you did an exercise before.

For a review of sentence-combining hints and for further practice, turn to Unit 8 in your

text-book As you work with these sheets, experiment and enjoy Listen to the sentences your friends

offer, and offer them your own And listen closely to your own voice You already know more

than you think you do.

■ Directions

Use a comma plus a coordinating conjunction to join the sentences in each cluster

A simple way to combine sentences is to use a coordinating conjunction The coordinating

conjunc-tions are and, but, or, nor, for, and yet.

b.She couldn‘t turn [, but]

c. It was flooded [for]

She found the right road, but she couldn‘t turn, for it was flooded.

Key Information

■ Directions

Use the coordinating conjunctions and, or, but, and yet to combine the sentences in each

clus-ter Include only the new information (which is underlined in the first few items) from

sen-tence b (and, in items 5 and 10, from sensen-tence c as well).

Sometimes we combine sentences that share information One way to avoid repeating the shared

information is by using compound elements

a The tenants declared a workday.

b The tenants cleaned up the grounds [and]

The tenants declared a workday and cleaned up the grounds.

Key Information

■ Directions

Combine each cluster so that the new information (which is underlined in the first few items)

forms a series Connect the last two items in the series with the coordinating conjunction and, but, or or.

all [, or]

Three or more items in a series require punctuation, usually a comma The last two items are usuallyconnected with a coordinating conjunction, which is always preceded by a comma

a Lynne folded the letter.

b Lynne sealed it in an envelope [,]

c Lynne searched the drawer for a stamp [, and]

Lynne folded the letter, sealed it in an envelope, and searched the drawer for a stamp.

Key Information

checkups

hospitaliza-tion

for work

leaving for work

leaving for work

before leaving for work

■ Directions

Combine each cluster so that the new information (which is underlined in the first few items)

is used as a modifier before a noun

Placing an adjective, a noun, a pronoun, or a participle before a noun often condenses information

very effectively

a The politician was greeted by the crowd.

b The politician was youthful.

c The crowd was enthusiastic.

The youthful politician was greeted by the enthusiastic crowd.

Key Information

■ Directions

Combine each cluster so that the new information (which is underlined in the first few items)

is incorporated as either a coordinate or a compound adjective

Coordinate adjectives modify the same word to an equal degree They are separated by commas or

a coordinating conjunction

a The box contained two puppies.

b The puppies were small and hungry [and or ,]

The box contained two small and hungry puppies.

The box contained two small, hungry puppies.

Most compound adjectives that appear before a noun should be hyphenated

a The vegetables were put into the pot.

b The vegetables were fresh frozen [-]

The fresh-frozen vegetables were put into the pot.

Key Information

■ Directions

Combine each cluster, setting off the modifiers Modifiers set off at the beginning or end of a

sentence need only one punctuation mark; those set off in the middle of a sentence need a pair

of marks

When adjectives and other modifiers provide nonessential information, they are set off from the

rest of the sentence by punctuation marks

a The rolls were heaped in a basket.

b The rolls were hot and yeasty.

The rolls—hot and yeasty—were heaped in a basket.

Hot and yeasty, the rolls were heaped in a basket.

Key Information

■ Directions

Combine each cluster, placing the new information directly after the word it renames.

Additional information set off at the end of a sentence requires only a single punctuation mark(except for parentheses) Information added in the middle of a sentence requires a pair ofmarks

Words other than nouns and pronouns can act like appositives, adding information about another

word In the first sentence, a verb plus a modifier (coughed, actually) adds information about another verb (laughed) In the second sentence, an adjective plus its modifiers adds information about another

adjective In the last sentence, a noun is repeated, not renamed, and information is added

a He laughed—coughed, actually—at my joke.

b She was a tough (some said ruthless) critic.

c He was still a kid: a grown-up and at times jaded kid, but nevertheless a kid.

Key Information

■ Directions

Combine each cluster by setting off the contrasting information Use a pair of marks (commas,

dashes, or parentheses), and add or, but, even, if, even if, or though to signal the contrast.

When two sentences in a cluster begin and end in a similar way but contain contrasting

informa-tion in the middle, they can be joined by compounding A pair of punctuainforma-tion marks must be used

to show where the compounding begins and ends Such sentences create special emphasis by

mak-ing a contrast

a He was a consistent winner.

b He was not always a magnanimous winner [, if ,]

He was a consistent, if not always magnanimous, winner.

Key Information

■ Directions

Combine each cluster so that the appositive renames the noun at the end of the first sentence, asshown above Use a comma, a colon, a dash, or a pair of parentheses to set off each appositive

Combine each cluster by placing the appositive either before or within the main clause Set off

initial appositives with a comma Set off appositives within the main clause with a pair ofmarks

b Yuki is a tax auditor [( )]

An appositive is a noun or pronoun that is placed next to another noun or pronoun to rename it or

to give additional information about it

a We discussed two issues.

b One issue was the cost.

c One issue was the demand on our time [and]

We discussed two issues, the cost and the demand on our time.

Key Information

■ Directions

Combine each cluster so that the underlined word or phrase in sentence b (and, for items 9

and 10, in sentence c) becomes a possessive noun form with an apostrophe in sentence a.

Apostrophes are used in place of the letters that are omitted in contractions (has not becomes

hasn’t, for example) They are also used to show the possessive form of a noun (the talents of

Ralph becomes Ralph’s talents) The clusters below use the apostrophe only to form possessives.

a The dog got the attention.

b The dog belonged to Rita [’s]

c The attention was of the ladies and the men [’ + ’s]

Rita’s dog got the ladies’ and men’s attention.

Key Information

■ Directions

Combine each cluster so that the new information (which is underlined in a few sentences) is

embedded after the noun.

[and]

association

about

Most adjective phrases (prepositional phrases that modify a noun or a pronoun) come after theword they modify

a The choice offended the people.

b The choice was of music.

c The people were near the speakers.

The choice of music offended the people near the speakers.

■ Directions

Combine each cluster so that the new information (which is underlined in a few cases) is

embedded as a verbal phrase after the noun.

garage

workers

binding arbitration

council at an earlier meeting

[-ing]

plan

Certain verbal phrases—participial phrases and infinitive phrases—sometimes modify nouns In such

cases they are acting as adjectives

a The car belongs to the people.

b The car is parked in our driveway.

c The people are visiting our neighbors.

The car parked in our driveway belongs to the people visiting our neighbors.

a The need is apparent.

b The need is about starting afresh [to]

The need to start afresh is apparent.

Key Information

dis-tributed to groups of refugees

strips of red ribbon

■ Directions

Combine each cluster so that the new information (which is underlined in several cases) isembedded as an adverb modifier Try putting the modifier in different places

Adverbs, adverb phrases, and infinitive phrases acting as adverbs can all modify verbs By movingthem around, you can change the emphasis and rhythm of your sentence

a She removed the splinter.

b The removal was careful [-ly]

Carefully she removed the splinter.

She carefully removed the splinter.

She removed the splinter carefully.

Key Information

agenda

■ Directions

Use the relative pronoun that or who to combine each cluster Although a few clusters

are signaled to suggest that sentence b be made into the adjective clause, you should

experiment freely

When two sentences share a word or a phrase, one sentence can sometimes be made into an

adjective clause to modify that word or phrase in the other sentence

a The milk is sour.

b You just poured the milk.

The milk [that] you just poured is sour.

You just poured the milk that is sour.

Key Information

■ Directions

Use whom (or no introductory word) or whose to make sentence b an adjective clause

embedded in sentence a.

Whom and whose can also introduce an essential adjective clause.

a The senator hasn’t responded.

b I wrote to the senator [whom or no introductory word]

The senator to whom I wrote hasn’t responded.

The senator [whom] I wrote to hasn’t responded.

The relative pronoun whose is used as a possessive pronoun in an adjective clause.

a The woman felt proud.

b Her design had been chosen [whose]

The woman whose design had been chosen felt proud.

Key Information

■ Directions

deter-mine which form of the verb agrees with the subject Then combine the cluster so that the

Choosing the correct verb form is easy when the verb comes right after the subject When phrases

or clauses come between the subject and the verb, however, the correct verb form can be harder to

determine (though in either case the correct form is identical)

Subject Verb

A child enrolled in school for the first time and facing brand-new challenges needs reassurance.

Key Information

■ Directions

Use the relative pronoun who, whom, whose, or which to form each nonessential adjective

clause If it interrupts the main clause, set off the adjective clause with a pair of commas ordashes Otherwise use a single comma or dash

A nonessential adjective clause simply offers additional information It is not essential to the ing of the sentence, and it is set off from the rest of the sentence with commas, dashes or paren-thesis

mean-a Columbus was a relative latecomer to this continent.

b He is credited with discovering the Americas [, who ,]

Columbus, who is credited with discovering the Americas, was a relative latecomer to this continent Key Information

■ Directions

Combine each cluster so that sentence a is subordinated to sentence b (For items 9 and 10,

sentences a and b should be subordinated to sentence c.) Place the subordinate clause first,

fol-lowed by a comma Use the following subordinating conjunctions (that tell when and where):

after, before, while, when, until, where, as, as soon as, and wherever.

Independent clauses are made subordinate by the addition of subordinating conjunctions All

adverb clauses begin with a subordinating conjunction and modify a verb, an adjective, or an

adverb An adverb clause often tells when and where.

a He’d planned to sit [Where ,]

b Two women were now playing cards.

Where he’d planned to sit, two women were now playing cards.

Key Information