Vinny Cloutman

Professor Suk
Education Field Experience EDUC 230-01
Fall 2015
Review Activity
Examples of Good and Bad Writing
Bad Writing:
The New York Giants were a good football team. In 2014 they drafted a wide
receiver. His name was Odell Beckham. He had a hamstring injury from his
college playing days and did not play until week 5 of the 2015 season. When
he started playing, he did very well. He had many receiving yards and
touchdowns. He was the offensive rookie of the year.

7
5
1
1

sentences
simple sentences
compound sentence
complex sentences

Better Writing:
In 2014, the New York Giants were a good football team heading into the NFL
draft. They drafted a wide receiver named Odell Beckham; he had a lingering
hamstring injury from his college days. Odell had to sit out for the first 4
games of the season. When he finally got to see game time action, he played
very well. He was the offensive rookie of the year thanks to his many
receiving yards and touchdowns.

5
1
1
3

sentences
simple sentence
compound sentence
complex sentences

The two passages share the same information about Odell Beckham, but the
better one is written with emphasis on variation of sentence type. Without
having to add information, use fancy words or do anything grammatically
brilliant, it is easy to feel and see the difference in the quality of the two
passages. Now, to begin this review, take this paragraph and identify the
sentence types used. Find where I use appositives, direct objects and
prepositions. Then define the terms listed below.
Simple sentence: Contains one independent clause.
Compound sentence: Contains two independent clauses connected with a
coordinating conjunction.

Cloutman,
Complex sentence: One independent clause and one or more dependent
clauses.
Dependent clause: A group of words with a subject and verb but an
incomplete thought.
Independent clause: A complete sentence containing subject, predicate
and optionally a direct object or prepositional phrase.
Identify the Subject, predicate, preposition and direct object:
One underline for subject, two for predicate, cross out preposition and circle
direct object.
1. Damien took out his anger on Sam while professor Suk wasnt
watching.
2. PJ came to class with kendama.
3. Conrad blew everyone away with his magic trick.
4. Justin had a lot to contribute to the class.
5. Although the work is hard, we all like education field experience.
Add commas or a semicolon to correct the sentence:
1. It takes a while but when class is over we all go home.
2. I studied hard nobody believed me and I passed.
3. Next time pay me all my money I have run out of forgiveness.
4. I forgot to mention this to all of you I am a police officer.
5. Lets do our best despite the mistakes I believe in us.