Sentences....writing with complexity...detail

Here are some notes that a few students and I did after school today.
I've updated the notes to add and change a few ideas.
We didn't talk about direct and indirect clauses per se.
We spoke about how to add detail and complexity to simple sentences.


Try to write with detail and complexity to improve your writing.
January 28, 2009


Sentence types:
Regular sentence noun and verb.
Miss R is. (state of being – verb to be: I am, you are, he/she is)
Mark rolls.
Bryan calls.

Simple Grade 8 student Mark rolls around on the black form chair.
Subject / predicate
Bryan calls his dad.
(what/who the sentence is about, what the subject does)

Each simple sentence is independent (or can be by itself). This is known as an independent clause.

Compound
Think of two (or more simple) independent clauses being put together by a word like and, or, while.....These JOINING words are known as conjunctions.
"("and," "but," "or," "nor," "for," "so," or "yet") "
Compound sentences can be rearranged too. See below.

Mark rolls around on the chair and Bryan calls his dad.
Mark rolls around on the chair but Bryan calls his dad.
Bryan calls his dad so Mark rolls around on the chair.
Bryan eats chocolate treats and Rhys leans on the stool while Mark spins.

These are also conjunctions. (They join an independent clause and a dependent clause. (eg. not a complete thought / idea or complete sentence on its own.)
"after," "although," "as," "because," "before," "how," "if," "once," "since," "than," "that," "though," "till," "until," "when," "where," "whether," and "while."

Complex - simple sentence: Miss R went to the store to pick up milk.
add some zing!!


(adverb)Coughing and sputtering weakly, Miss R., the fantastic super friendly teacher, went to the dusty, expensive convenience store to pick up 2 per cent bagged milk, while she is extremely sick.

A detailed sentence add adverbs (describes verbs) and adjectives (describes nouns) to make a more vibrant and lively sentence. A complex sentence can also be a compound sentence with two direct references to the subject (eg. Miss R went to the store to pick up milk, while she is sick. )

eg. Five senses: smell, touch/feel, sight, taste, hear

Another example:

Simple
My friend invited me to a party. I do not want to go.

Compound
My friend invited me to a party, but I do not want to go.

Complex
Although my friend invited me to a party, I do not want to go.

Detailed
Although my life-long best friend from Toronto invited me to a Halloween costume party, I seriously do not want to go.