BBI2421

General Writing Skills

Week 2:
Simple Sentence
Subject-Verb Agreement
Fragment
Parallelism

Phrase
A group of related words:
without a subject and a verb.
which makes sense but not complete sense.
e.g.:
1) The sun rises in the east.
2) Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
3) She wore a hat with blue trimming.
4) The accident on the bridge was not serious.
5) The girl with red hair is an artist.
(Taken from http://english---language.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-is-phrase.html)

Clause
A group of related words:
containing a subject and a verb.
expresses complete/incomplete thought
e.g.:
a) She snores. a sentence
b) When she sleeps not a sentence
*You will learn more about clauses in Week 4!

Sentence
A group of words that:
a) contains at least one subject and one
verb.
E.g.: Amni cries.
b) expresses a complete thought.
E.g.: Ammar is sending an email.

Types of Sentence
1. Simple Sentences
2.Compound Sentences
3.Complex Sentences
4.Compound-Complex Sentences

Simple Sentences
Independent clause
Expresses a complete thought

One subject-verb pair

Subject (S): who, what do something
Verb (V): action or condition

Sentence formula:
1) SV
2) SSV
3) SVV
4) SSVV

Simple Sentences (2)

1) SV
E.g.:
Some students like to study in the morning
The Star War movies were international hits.

2) SSV
E.g.:
Alif and Ammar play football every afternoon.
Young people and adults enjoyed the movies.

Simple Sentences (3)

3) SVV

E.g.:

Alya goes to the library and studies everyday.

The films entertained and thrilled audiences
everywhere.

4) SSVV
E.g.:

Amni and her mother are having breakfast and

chitchatting in the dining hall.
Luke Skywalker and his friends battled evil and
made us laugh at the same time.

Simple Sentences (4)

Remember!
*Simple sentences can be very short
(Alif laughed.)
*Simple sentences can be very long
(The tall, good-looking boy with the curly
blond hair laughed uproariously at his best
friends suggestion.)

Subject-Verb Agreement
(SVA)
A singular subject demands a singular
verb
1. My sister is married.
2. Donald Trump has five children.
3. The sun rises in the east .

Subject-Verb Agreement
(SVA-2)
A plural subject demands a plural verb
1. They have a lot in common.
2. Japan and Korea were hosts for 2002
FIFA World Cup.
3. Alya and Amni love baking.

Some Confusions in SVA

1) there + be verb (is/are/was/were)
subject follows be verb
E.g.:

There
There
There
There

is a student in the hall.

are three students in the hall.
was no reason for his action.
were many reasons for his success.

Some Confusions in SVA (2)

2) subject + prepositional phrase (PP)* +
verb
cross PP out!
E.g.:

One (of my sisters) is a singer.

The colour (of her eyes) changes when she is angry.
Six kinds (of rice) are available in the grocery store.
*PP: begins with a preposition (of, with, in, at, on) and ends
with a noun or pronoun

Some Confusions in SVA (3)

3) Words that are always singular
E.g.:

One (of my brothers) is a musician.

Neither (of my parents) is living.
Much (of my time) is spent in the library.
Each (of my brothers) wants his own car.
Either (of my sisters) is able to baby-sit for you
tonight.
Nothing ever happens in my life.
Is anyone home?

Some Confusions in SVA (4)

4) Words that are always plural
E.g.:
Both (of my parents) are teachers.
Several (of the teachers) speak my language.
Many (of my friends) work in the library.

Some Confusions in SVA (5)

5) singular/plural words
refer to noun in PP
E.g.:
Some (of the money) was missing. (singular)
Some (of the students) were missing (plural)
All (of my time) is spent in the library. (singular)
All (of my brothers) are singers. (plural)

Some Confusions in SVA (6)

Most (of the ice) was melted. (singular)
Most (of the ice cubes) were melted. (plural)
A lot (of the work) was too easy. (singular)
A lot (of the people) were angry. (plural)
None (of the furniture) is new. (singular)
None (of the apples) are fresh. (plural)

Fragment
1 subject + 1 verb = sentence
E.g.:

Ammar is an architect. (subject: Ammar, verb: is)

1 subject + 0 verb = fragment

E.g.:

Ammar an architect.

0 subject + 1 verb = fragment

E.g.:

Is an architect.

Parallel Structure/Parallelism

Parallelism is a similarity of
structure in a pair or series
of related words, phrases, or
clauses
(Taken from http://rhetoric.byu.edu/figures/p/parallelism.htm)

Parallel Structure/Parallelism (2)

1)Parallelism of Words
She loves baking, travelling, and reading.
(verb, verb, verb)
Lets compare!

She loves to bake, travelling, and reading.

(preposition-verb, gerund, gerund)

Parallel Structure/Parallelism (2)

2) Parallelism of Phrases
Singing a song or writing a poem is joyous.
(gerund-article-object of gerund, gerund-article-object of
gerund)
Lets compare!

Singing a song or poem writing is joyous.

(gerund-article-object of gerund, noun-gerund)

Parallel Structure/Parallelism (3)

3) Parallelism of Clauses
Viva is inexpensive; Myvi is spacious; and Preve is
powerful.
(noun-verb-adjective, noun-verb-adjective, nounverb-adjective)
Lets compare!

Viva is inexpensive; Myvi is very spacious; and Preve is

powerful.
(noun-verb-adjective, noun-verb-adverb-adjective, nounverb-adjective)