Sentence Patterns

20 or so sentence types to borrow,

steal, and modify.*Thanks to Longknife and Sullivan’s The Art of Styling Sentences for these patterns

Compound Sentences

Pattern 1

Sentence 1; sentence 2.

Pattern 1

I love sushi; I hate bacon.

Pattern 1b

1 sentence, [conjunction] 1

sentence.

Pattern 1b

I love sushi, but I hate bacon.

FANBOYSforandnorbutoryetso

Pattern 1c

1 sent; 1 sent; 1sent.

Pattern 1c

Bananas mystify; they surprise us; they make us question everything.

Pattern 2

Subject + verb [Direct Object/Subject Compliment] ;

Subject [omitted verb] Direct Object.

Pattern 2

Michael preferred to email people; Jane

to text.

In traditional playing cards, hearts represent the clergy;

diamonds the merchants; spades the peasants; clubs the nobility.

Pattern 2

General statement: specific example.

Pattern 3

Full sentence : full sentence.

Hawaii exceeded her expectations: the breezes were softer and the beaches were whiter.

Pattern 3

The empty coffin in the center of the crypt had a single horrifying

meaning: Dracula was in search of fresh blood.

Pattern 3

Sentences with Series

Series without a conjunctionA, B, C

Pattern 4

I have come to you without sin, without guile, without evil, without a witness

against me.--Book of the Dead

Pattern 4

A and B and C.A or B or C.

Pattern 4a

To be a better player you have to study and practice and play the game.

Pattern 4a

Text

Pattern 5

Series of balanced pairs

A and B, C and D, E and F.

Text

Pattern 5

Great artists are often seen in pairs: Michelangelo and da Vinci, Gaugin and van

Gogh, Monet and Cézanne.

Text

Pattern 5

Tension is everywhere--kids at odds with parents, teachers, other kids and

themselves; confused about life and love, popularity and principles, vitriol and

virtue. --Susan Faust

Text

Pattern 6

Introductory series of appositives

Appositive, appositive, appositive-- summary word S V.

Text

Pattern 6

The students, the teachers, the parents--all enjoyed the

field trip.

Text

Pattern 6

A car crash harnesses elements of eroticism, aggression, desire, speed, drama, kinesthetic

factors, the stylization of motion, consumer goods, status--all in one event.

J.G. Ballard

Text

Pattern 7

An internal series of appositives or modifiers

-- --S or modifier, modifier, modifier V ( )

Text

Pattern 7

They learned the qualities of sportsmanship--cooperation, practice, and dedication--by carefully studying the coach’s example.

Text

Pattern 7a

A single appositive or pair

S -- or ( appositive -- or ) V.

Text

Pattern 7a

That smell--his mother’s chili--reminded him of his happy childhood.

Text

Pattern 8

Dependent clauses in a pair or series

If...,if...,if..., then S V.When...,when...,when..., S V.S V that..., that..., that...

Text

Pattern 8

When I was just learning to swim, when I was afraid of the water, when I was sure I would drown, my parents threw me into the pool.

Repetitions

S V key term [--or ,] repeated key

term.

Pattern 9

Text

Pattern 9

We live in our own individual worlds---our inner worlds, the worlds of the mind.

S V key term repeated in same part of sentence.

Pattern 9a

His greatest discoveries, his greatest successes, his greatest influence on

society came to Edison only after repeated failure.

Pattern 9a

Text

Pattern 10

Emphatic appositive at the end after a commaS V word: the appositive (2nd naming)

Text

Pattern 10

The vampire feared only two things: the sun and Twilight fans.

Text

Pattern 10

In perpetuating a revolution, there are two requirements: someone or something to revolt against

and someone to show up and do the revolting.Woody Allen

Text

Pattern 10a

It’s not surprising then that many sociologists believe we are a nation of substance abusers--drinkers, smokers, overeaters, and pill poppers. Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz

Text

Modifiers

TextS, modifier , V

Pattern 11

S-- modifier -- VS (modifier) V

Text

Pattern 11

Research on the computer--using resources such as Wikipedia--makes writing papers easier.

Text

Pattern 11a

S-- Full Sentence -- V

S (Full Sentence) V

Text

Pattern 11a

They were being careful but American ingenuity--our nation is one of the world’s leaders in land mine

technology--has made even looking for landmines a dangerous propisition.

--Jon Carroll

Pattern 12

Participial phrase , S V.

S V , participial phrase.

-ing-edirregular

Pattern 12

Having won the lottery, the lady paid cash for the

Ferrari.

Pattern 12

The lady paid cash for the Ferrari, having won the

lottery.

Don’t dangle participles!

A Single Modifier out of place for emphasis

Pattern 13

Modifier, S V.

Modifier can be in other positions

Delighted, Anna picked up the $20 bill from the sidewalk.

Pattern 13

Sea Monsters, unfortunately, are not actually real.

Pattern 13

Inversions

Prepositional Phrase before S and V

Pattern 14

Prep phrase, S V (or V S)

From an evolutionary point of view, man has stopped moving, if he ever did

move.--Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pattern 14

Rule of thumb: comma after 5

words

Text

Pattern 15

InversionObject or subject compliment

S V.

Text

Pattern 15

InversionOverrated the Heisman Trophey may be, but it remains the gaol of all college football players.

InversionObject or compliment or modifier

V S.

Pattern 15a

InversionDown the aisle and through the

crowd pranced the evil supervillain.

Pattern 15a

Text

Big Mix of Patterns

Text

Pattern 16

Not only S V, but also S V.Just as S V, so too S V.The more S V, the more S V.If not clause, at least S V.

Text

Pattern 16

“Not only do I knock them out, but I [also] pick the

round.--Muhammad Ali

Text

Pattern 16

Neither his teacher’s lectures nor his mother complaining

all the time, stopped him from acting like a fool.

Yikes! Not parallel!

Text

Pattern 16

Neither his teacher’s lectures nor his mother’s complaints,

stopped him from acting like a fool.

Better! Now it is!

Text

Pattern 16a

This, not thatNot this, but that.

A paired construction for contrast

Text

Pattern 16a

When we are happy we are good, but when we are good we

are not always happy.--Oscar Wilde

Text

Pattern 17

Dependent clause as a subject or object or compliment

S [dependent clause] V. S V [dependent clause].

Text

Pattern 17

That he was a werewolf became obvious when he started eating all the villagers.

Text

Pattern 17

Ann never discovered why her husband turned into a zombie.

Text

Pattern 18

Absolute Constructions

Absolute Construction, S V.S, absolute construction, V.

Can use either -- or () here.

Text

Pattern 18

His UFO broken beyond repair, ET decided to enslave Earth.

Absolute

Text

Pattern 18

Because his UFO was broken beyond repair, ET decided to enslave Earth.

Dependent

Text

Pattern 18

His UFO was broken beyond repair, so ET decided to enslave Earth.

Independent

Text

Pattern 18

She sat back on the bed, her head bowed, her lips moving feverishly, her eyes rising only to scan the walls.

--Anne Rice Interview with a Vampire

Short sentence or question.

Pattern 19

You might think that if you were good looking, funny, and well-

dressed, you’d be guaranteed a role on a reality TV show. You’d

be wrong.

Pattern 19

Text

Pattern 20

Purposeful fragment

Text

Pattern 20

My mom wanted me to wait until next week to see The Dark Knight Rises. Hah!