The Art of Syling Sentences

Question 1

Pattern 1:

Answer 1

Compound Sentence: Semicolon, no Conjunction

Gloria, try on these jeans; they seem to be your size.

Question 2

Pattern 1a

Answer 2

Use a conjunctive adverb (connector).

She exercised every day and cut back on her food; however, she didn’t lose any weight.

Question 3

Pattern 1b

Answer 3

Use one of the coordinating conjunctions. FANBOYS

The rain kept falling; Joan saw the roof begin to leak, and she put out a bucket to catch the water.

Question 4

Pattern 1c

Answer 4

Use two or more semicolons.

John got an A; Jennie also got an A; unfortunately George got a C

Question 5

Pattern 2

Answer 5

Compound sentence with elliptical construction.

The mother and son each had a goal; hers, educational; his, recreational.

Question 6

Pattern 3

Answer 6

Compound sentence with explanatory statement (colon)

Darwin’s The Origin of Species forcibly states a harsh truth: Only the fittest survive.

Question 7

Pattern 4

Answer 7

A series without a conjunction.

The US has a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Question 8

Pattern 4a

Answer 8

A or B or C/ A and B and C

Looking down from the Empire State Building, Jeannie felt thrilled and amazed–and scared.

Question 9

Pattern 5

Answer 9

A series of balanced pairs

The textbook clearly showed the distinctions between prose and poetry, denotation and connotation, deduction and induction.

Question 10

Pattern 6

Answer 10

An introductory series of appositives, using a dash

The depressed, the stressed, the lonely, the fearful–all have trouble coping with problems.

Question 11

Pattern 7

Answer 11

An internal series of appositives using dashes or parentheses

He learned the necessary qualities for political life–guile, ruthlessness, and garrulity–by carefully studying his father’s life.

Question 12

Pattern 7a

Answer 12

A single appositive or pair

His wife (once a famous Philadelphia model) now owns a well-known boutique in the Bahamas.

Question 13

Pattern 8

Answer 13

Dependent clauses in a pair or in a series

I kown she was right, her reasons were convincing and I’d be better off if I did it, but I still didn’t want to move to Canada.

Question 14

Pattern 9

Answer 14

Repetition of a key term. use dash or comma before repetition

Privacy, of course, has the advantage of, well, privacy.

Question 15

Pattern 9a

Answer 15

Repeated key word in the same position of the sentence

She has an incredibly satisfying life, satisfying, because of her career and satisfying because of her family.

Question 16

Pattern 10

Answer 16

Emphatic appositive at end, after a colon

In perpetrating a revolution, there are 2 requirements: someone to revolt against and some to actually show up for the revolting.

Question 17

Pattern 10a

Answer 17

Single or pair or series after a dash

Those big burgers taste great but they have lots of calories–over 1,000.

Question 18

Pattern 11

Answer 18

Interrupting modifier between S and V

Sometimes children from other classes, those presumably not so intellectually gifted, would tease and taunt us.

Question 19

Pattern 11a

Answer 19

Statement or question or exclamation as interrupting modifier

If you’r having trouble with your conclusion–and this is not an uncommon occurrence–it may be because of problems with your essay itself.

Question 20

Pattern 12

Answer 20

Introductory or concluding participles

Running in and out of the sun, you met what seemed total obscurity inside.

Question 21

Pattern 13

Answer 21

A single modifier out of place for emphasis

Extradited, he got similar adulation, as he passed through Concord, New Hampshire.

Question 22

Pattern 14

Answer 22

Prepositional phrase before S and V

If you chart genealogy in a horizontal manner, you discover such curiosities as the fact that Jimmy Carter and Nixon are sixth cousins.

Question 23

Pattern 15

Answer 23

Object or complement before S n’ V

Corded and crisp and pinafored, the five of us seated ourselves one by one at the counter.

Question 24

Pattern 15a

Answer 24

Inversion of normal pattern. object or complement or modifier SnV

Young and beautiful the new CEO may be, but she has the credentials and skill to be effective.

Question 25

Pattern 16

Answer 25

Paired constructions: S V, but also S V (also maybe omitted)

Not only do I knock them out, but I also pick the round.

Question 26

Pattern 16a

Answer 26

Paired construction for contrast only

A “this, not that” or “not this, but that” construction

I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail.

Question 27

Pattern 17

Answer 27

Dependent clause in a sentence slot as subject or object or complement

And so my fellow Americans, ask not [what your country can do for you]; [DO] ask [what you can..][obj of preposition]

Question 28

Pattern 18

Answer 28

absolute construction (noun plus participle) anywhere in sentence

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

Question 29

Pattern 19

Answer 29

Short, simple sentence

All efforts failed.

Question 30

Pattern 19a

Answer 30

A short question for effect

Can we change?

Question 31

Pattern 20

Answer 31

deliberate fragment

What a price to pay!