20 Sentence Patterns

20 Sentence Patterns

Try these patterns to convey complex ideas and to bring variety to your writing. MEB

Compound constructions

Pattern 1: Compound Sentence: Semicolon, no conjunction (S V;S V)

Example: "Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything." Aesop

Pattern 2: Compound Sentence with elliptical construction(S V DO or SC: S, DO )

Example: "Thought is the blossom; language, the bud; action, the fruit." Emerson

Pattern 3: Compound Sentence with explanatory sentence (independent clause [idea]:independent. clause[example])

Example: "Old cars and young children have several things in common: Both are a responsibility and have to be fed often or they will break down." Lears's

Sentences with series

Pattern 4: A series without a conjunction in any part of a sentence (A,B,C)

Example: "Oil booms are short-lived, speculative, ruinous to those who rely on them." Texas Monthly

Pattern 5: A series of balanced pairs anywhere in a sentence (A and B, C and D, E and F)

Example: "Before Uriah Heep I have step by step abandoned name and reputation, peace and quiet, house and home." Dickens, David Copperfield

Pattern 6: An introductory series of appositives (with a dash and a summarizing subject (Appositive, appositive, appositive—summary word SV)

Example: "Shipwrecks, drownings, mutinies, scurvy, starvation—all were part of every Renaissance mariner's life." "Columbus," American Heritage

Pattern 7: An internal series of appositives or modifiers enclosed by a series of dashes or parentheses (S – or (modifier, modifier, modifier) or --V

Example: "The basic fencing moves (the advance, the retreat, the lunge) demand careful balance by both fencers." Waddell

Pattern 8: Dependent clauses in a pair or in a series (If . . . ,if. . .,if. . . .,then SV)

Example: "If your clothes are made of cotton or wool, if you wash them with soap instead of detergent, and if you hang them out to dry, you may not need a fabric softener." Consumer Reports

Repetitions

Pattern 9: Repetition of a key term (use –or , to punctuate)

Example: "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty—never give in except to conviction of honor and good sense." Churchill

Pattern 10: Emphatic appositive at end, after a colon (SV word: appositive)

Example: "Discover some members of Spain's unique wildlife that will amaze and inspire you: the elusive Spanish Wolf, the graceful Flamingo, the impressive Brown Bear, the majestic imperial Eagle, the amazing Spanish Lynx." Lookout

Modifiers

Pattern 11: Interrupting modifier between S and V (S, or –modifier, or – V)

Example: ". . . Mr. Elton, spruce, black, and smiling, was with them instantly."

Austen, Emma

Pattern 12: Introductory or concluding participles (participle phrase, S V or S V,

participle phrase

Example: "Wet-eyed and dumbstruck by his performance, I pulled a five dollar bill out of my wallet and dropped that into the paper bag." Fulghum

Pattern 13: A single modifier out of place for emphasis (Modifier, S V)

Example: "Frantic, the young mother ran out the door with her baby in her arms." Waddell

Inversions

Pattern 14 : Prepositional phrase before SV (Prepositional phrase, SV)

Example: "Into the valley of death, rode the six hundred." Tennyson

Pattern 15: Object or subject complement before S V (O or SC before S V)

Example: "Never before have we had so little time to do so much. F.D.Roosevelt

An assortment of patterns

Pattern 16: Paired constructions (Not only, S V, but also S V; Just as S V, so too S V)

Example: "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream: not only plan, but also believe." A. France

Pattern 17: Dependent clause as subject, object or SC (S(dependent clause V)

Example: "Why Leonardo rejected the technique we may never know." Armstrong

Pattern 18: Absolute construction (noun + participle) (anywhere, for example:

Absolute, SV)

Example: "The storm, its fury abated, lights the way." Murphy

Pattern 19: The short, simple sentence for dramatic impact (S V)

Example: "Call me Ishmael." Melville, Moby Dick

Pattern 20: The deliberate fragment (use in fiction and personal essays)

Example: "What a mistake!" Vitoux

From: Waddell, Esch and Walker's The Art of Styling Sentences with some additions by M. E. Bertolini