User:Mosborne Ashs School Nz/Temp/Yr 9 Sharpen Up Your Sentences.odt

Sharpen Up Your Sentences!

Using sentences well is one of the most important skills in writing. Often we get so caught up in the process of getting our ideas onto the page that we forget about the way we are using sentences. Having a variety of different sentence lengths and styles makes our writing much more interesting to read.

Task 1.

Varying Sentence Length.

Turn these shorter sentences into one longer one, by using punctuation and conjunctions (and, but etc.)


 * 1) “The jet climbed quickly from the runway. There was a loud explosion. One engine seemed to fall from the wing.”
 * 2) “I went to the Dentist the other week. I had been having toothache for about a week. The Dentist pulled out the offending tooth.”
 * 3) “Our cat had kittens. Unfortunately one of them died. We buried it in the garden.”
 * 4) “It was my first ride on a horse. It was called Sonny Boy. It bit me.”
 * 5) “I had no idea. My parents seemed perfectly normal. How was I to know they were really aliens in disguise?”

Task 2.

Run-on Sentences.

Run-on sentences occur when two sentences are joined together without punctuation or a conjunction (joining word.) Correct these Run-on sentences:


 * 1) “A group of netball players visited McDonalds on the square they were hungry and spent a long time deciding what to eat.”
 * 2) “I picked up the aardvark and threw it before it landed in the neighbours’ swimming pool I could see it trying to fly.”
 * 3) “Billy remembered he had to pick up his costume before he could go to the fancy dress party he wasn’t sure but he thought he would probably go as Big Bird or Oscar the Grouch.”
 * 4) “Everyone was amazed when in the middle of the English lesson the teacher exploded she had apparently been drinking too much Coca-Cola.”

Task 3.

Keeping Your Ideas Clear.

Even if you get the punctuation and spelling right, you still have to check that your sentences make sense. Change these sentences so that they don’t sound quite so unusual. (You may have to change the sentence around, take out words, or add in new ones.)


 * 1) “Maria and I looked at the lovely roses laughing and chatting.”
 * 2) “Mr. Jones mowed his lawn wearing a bathing suit.”
 * 3) “Mr. Danos took a drink from the water fountain perspiring from the heat.”
 * 4) “The girl picked up the phone screaming hysterically.”
 * 5) “John planted the tree with itchy eyes.”

Task 4.

Long Sentences.

These are long sentences. Use punctuation to break them up into more interesting, shorter sentences. Try to vary the length of your new sentences. (Again, you may need to take words out, or add in new ones for your new sentences to make sense.)


 * 1) “You won’t be surprised by the speed and style of the new scooter delivery service if you’ve been to Simon’s Soho restaurant where rice robots put together the price coded sushi and a 60 metre conveyor belt carries it temptingly past the eyes of punters.”


 * 1) “Kurt Cobain was the first great rock star of the nineties, and the only one so far, when I first heard Nirvana’s ‘On a Plain’ in late 1991 I instantly knew what I had been waiting for had happened: here was a group as good as Joy Division, better than the Sex Pistols.”