Sentence Construction

An essay is created by a series of paragraphs, all concerned with a particular topic.
A paragraph is built with a series of sentences.

There are many different forms of a sentence:

Simple Sentence:      The cat sat on the mat.
Double Sentence:      The cat sat on the mat and watched the mouse.
Multiple Sentence:    The cat sat on the mat and watched the mouse and swished its tail.
Complex Sentence:   The cat, which was striped, sat on the mat.
Double Complex:      The cat, which was striped, sat on the mat and watched the mouse.
Multiple Complex:    The cat, which was striped, sat on the mat and watched the mouse
                                     and swished its tail. 

Which kind of sentence  you to choose to use will depend on the effect you want to communicate to your reader. Varying the sentence construction in a paragraph also helps to encourage the reader to read more of what you are writing.

 A sentence is created  by the use of     Clauses.

What is a Clause?

A clause is a group of words containing a  Finite Verb.

A verb is a word that shows the action in a sentence.
 [You could say that a verb is a "doing" or a "being" word  - I put it this way because, many people forget about words like  "are". For example, in a sentence like "You are happy", the word "are" is a verb (from the verb "to be" -people often forget that simply "being" is, actually, an action)].

However, look at the verb  "run", in the following:

Running down the road.

There is action there in the word "running", and it is a form of verb;   but,   it is not an example of a finite verb . 

However, if I write:

The boy was running down the road.

Then "was running" is a finite verb. Why? Because the reader is told who was performing  the action: in other words, the verb has a Subject.

              The Subject of a verb is the person or thing that performs the action



Each clause  contains only one finite verb. So by discovering how many finite verbs there are in a sentence,  we can know how many clauses there are in that sentence.

For example:

I saw the boy who was riding the black bicycle.

The finite verbs are  "saw" (subject : I) and  "was riding" (subject: who - relative pronoun standing in place of "boy)

Let's put this another way:

Here are  two sentences:

a)  I saw the boy.             b) He was riding the black bicycle

Each sentence makes one simple point.

However,
these two sentences can be made into one sentence  by turning them into clauses using the relative pronoun "who" :

c) I saw the boy who was riding the black bicycle;

Now the one sentence has become more interesting, since, by using two clauses, we are able to emphasise one of the points as more important:  the fact that I saw the boy is more important than the fact that he was riding a black bicycle.

So, already we can understand one reason why the use of Clauses in a sentence is  necessary. They allow the reader to understand  the related emphasis of information in a sentence.

                          The use of clauses helps the comprehension of the reader.

Now, there are two kinds of Clauses.

Main Clauses    and  

Subordinate Clauses. (Do not be put off by the word "subordinate"; it simply means "supporting").

The MAIN Clause
                               is the core of every sentence: it contains the most important information of the sentence.

 Every sentence must have at least one Main Clause.

So, if there is only one finite verb in a sentence, there can only be one clause in that sentence and , therefore, that clause  must be a Main clause.

Sentences which consist of  one main clause and nothing else are Simple sentences (see above).

[You can join two main clauses with a conjunction *. In that case, you have a sentence composed of two main clauses, which makes the sentence a  Double sentence (see above).]

You can string as many main clauses as you like in a sentence, all joined by a conjunction, and  - as long as there is no other kind of clause present - you have created a Multiple sentence (see above)..

Note: * A conjunction is a word that joins two similar things together (two nouns, two adjectives, two main clauses, etc) It cannot join two different things together. Words like "and" or "but" are conjunctions. A conjunction will not join a Main Clause with a Subordinate clause.

Here is our example of a multiple sentence again (the finite verbs have been underlined):

The cat sat on the mat and watched the mouse and swished its tail.

Simple, Double and Mutiple sentences are fine if  everything you want to say has the same importance. However, if you want to  emphasise something as the major point in a sentence but need to qualify it in some way to the reader, then you will need to use a combination of Main clause(s) and Subordinate Clause(s). In this way you will begin to write in a more complex way: persuasively, descriptively, and with more sophisticated ideas and nuances to help your reader understand you more clearly.  You will have noticed that little children,  when they begin to use language, only use simple sentences often linking them with "and". This is because, when we are very young, everything has the same importance to us: it is only when we develop intellectually that we begin to sort out what is more important - and our use of language  and sentence construction will demonstrate that fact.

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES  play a supporting role in a sentence. Sentences which include subordinate clauses are called complex sentences.

There are three types of subordinate clauses:
1) Adjectival clauses. These perform the same job of work in a sentence that an adjective does. The tell us more about anoun in the previous clause.

Just like adjectives, Adjectival clauses answer the question "Which?"

[I rode the bike] (which was black.)    [ ] indicate Main clauses; ( ) indicate subordinate clauses.

In the above sentence, the most important statement [Main clause] "I rode the bike"

The subordinate clause  relates to "bike". It answers the question "which bike?" (Not the red one,nor the blue one, nor the green one; but the black one). Therefore it is an Adjectival Clause.

2) Adverbial clauses do the same job of work that adverbs do: they tell us "when", where", "in what manner/how", an action in another clause was performed,

(When the heat was less fierce),[I rode my bike.]
(Where there was no traffic),[I rode my bike]

3) Noun  clauses  do the same job of work in a sentence that nouns do: they can act as a subject or an object of a verb in the Main clause.

[I knew] (that he was lying.)    " I knew" is the main clause: "that he was lying" is the object of  "knew" - it is what I knew.

(That he was truthful) [ was a lie.]  "That he was untruthful " is the subject of "was"

Through the use of Simple , Double, Multiple and the various Complex sentences with their subordinate clauses; we are able to write paragraphs which are lively, full of interest, and which help the reader to evaluate what is of greater importance and what is of lesser importance  in each paragraph. To be able to make this distinction is invaluable when you wish to read a passage and abstract from it only the essential information.

H.I.P.F.W.E.

[This is an aside from the strand in  the current blog that I am writing. However, recently, I have been asked if I can give advice about writing an essay. What follows is a slightly potted version of the course I used to give my English students on this topic.. I hope it may prove helpful still.]


                      Holliday's Infallible Plan For Writing Essays..................H.I.P.F.W.E.

1.     An essay is a piece of writing which clearly and logically conveys the writer's ideas and thoughts to the reader. Most people will remember from their schooldays that they were told that before starting  an essay they should make a plan of what they want to say. If they are honest, they will remember that what they actually were advised to do was to start by making some notes. Usually  , this consisted of a few phrases which sort of referred to some ideas floating around in their head on the subject that they had been set. Having spent a few minutes doing  that,  they then remember that their teacher had told them that there were three sections to an essay: 1) An opening paragraph that explains what the essay is to be about (usually a rehash of the essay's title)  2) The middle bit in which they put down what they thought was the required answer, and 3) A final bit where they summed up their conclusion (This part usually started with the words "Thus we can see that.....") . Following this "plan", they then wrote the essay (probably the night before it was due) and , if they were conscientious pupils, checked it for spelling, copied it out neatly, drew a line under it at the end (often with a little Smiley) and handed it in.

                 This is exactly what should NOT be done if the aim is to write a planned essay
                                                which will achieve a passing grade.

What follows will show you how to produce a planned essay which will achieve  a higher grade because it is clear, logical and consists of several paragraphs, each of which  contains a Topic Sentence and supporting sentences which illustrate, develop, clarify the topic sentence of that paragraph. Each paragraph will link logically from the preceding paragraph and  to the following paragraph. The first paragraph will not be introductory ("In this essay, I am going to explain...") but will go straight into the first topic you wish to discuss. The last paragraph will not be a repeat of he points you have made in the preceding paragraphs but will be the final point you wish to make written in such a manner that the reader feels that your argument has concluded

Think of the essay as a stream that has to be forded by  using a series of stepping stones that lead you from one bank to the other. Each stepping stone is a paragraph and the reader moves from one paragraph to the next just as the walker moves from one stepping stone to the next until the end of the crossing is achieved.

2.    What is a paragraph?
        A paragraph consists of a group of sentences that are concerned with a particular topic. One of these sentences is the topic sentence. The other sentences in the paragraph will support the topic sentence through illustration, development  through explanation and expansion, clarification of the idea in the topic sentence.  When you scan an essay, you should be able to pick out the topic sentence of each paragraph and, by noting these, be able to follow the argument that is developed throughout the essay. These topic sentences give the reader the bones of the essay's argument: they provide the structure of the essay. The reader may not agree with the argument of your essay, but,  at least,  he or she can take on board what  you think. In this way, the essence of writing has been achieved; the essence of all writing is communication. If you can achieve that, then  you are a writer. How good a writer you are in the eyes of others will depend on things like tone, appropriate vocabulary, intelligence: we cannot all reach the power of Shakespeare, the wit of Wilde, the force of Shaw; but we can make our views clear through the planning of our essay.

H.I.P.F.W.E
(When you start to use  this method of planning your essay, please remember that
    a) you cannot write the essay overnight using this method: the planning of anything takes time. [I used to tell my students to take the stages day by day throughout a week (which was usually the length of time they had to produce an essay for homework)]
   b)If you consistently use  this method, you will discover that the standard of your essays is rising. You will even find that, as you become familiar with this method, certain stages take less and less time to complete; Eventually, you will be planning your essays automatically, until you reach a point in time when you never remember where or how you learned to write an essay: you just have no moire trepidation about doing it!)


stage 1
Provide yourself with no distraction: no tv, no cellphone, no facebook, no -what are they called?- "i-somethings" (it's a culture that utterly confuses me!)
Concentrate on the title or subject of your essay. Then, on a piece of foolscap, jot down anything that comes into your head that is prompted by the subject of your task, no matter how irrelevant it might at first seem. Do not write sentences: put down phrases, odd words that come into your mind, a snatch of song, a phrase of poetry, anything; but, above all, DETAILS. Do not make generalisations: just as a painter or a photographer or a cinéaste (film maker) observes closely what he is recording, so you must notice the little things; Jot down odd phrases and words from different languages (like cinéaste!), idioms, etc and let your mind follow these paths. Do not stop until the entire sheet of foolscap is completely covered.
Now you may pause, make a coffee, turn on the cellphone, play music, whatever. The first stage is over and you leave the essay alone for a few hours - or the next day!

stage 2
When you return to your page of jottings and look at it again, you may find more ideas  flowing and you should add them to your list. When you are ready to start on Stage 2, look through your list. You will see that certain items you have jotted down are associated one with another. Group these things together in separate lists.  Some of these lists might be quite lengthy: some may only consist of one or two things. With the latter, see if you can think of other details that could be added to them; but, if none occur to you, then put them to one side as "not to be used this time".
Now, take each of your other lists in turn and, for each list, write a  simple sentence* that encapsulates what that group is about.  At this stage, it does not matter how banal this sentence is ( Something as straightforward and obvious as "The sun was shining" is quite good enough!), for each of these is going to be developed, eventually, into the topic sentence  for that group.
Take each group in turn and turn  every item in that group into a simple sentence. So, if you had thirteen items in that group, you will now have  fourteen simple sentences (because you also have the topic sentence that you created for that group)
When you have done this for every group, you have completed stage 2.

[If you are having trouble with the terms in bold print, I will include a glossary either at the end of this post or in a separate post that will follow.]


stage  3
This is the central stage of HIPFWE. It is also the most demanding and takes the most time to complete. This is where you transfrom each of the groups of simple sentences into a paragraph.

Take one of your groups. You have a series of simple sentences, one of which is the topic sentence. First, put the sentences into what you think is the most logical order. Having done this, see which of these sentences can be combined, either into various forms of complex sentences; or, possibly, double or multiple sentences. Try and create a variety of sentence construction a) to involve the reader's attention or b) to create a build-up of tension or to reflect he complexity of the situation you are creating.
 Decide where you will place the Topic Sentence. Sometimes it is good (for example in an explanatory or informational essay) to place it as the opening sentence of the pragraph; sometimes (in narrative essays, for example), it can be placed at the end of the paragraph to effect. But it can go anywhere that you think is most suitable in the paragraph.
Look at the vocabulary you are using. Choice of words affects the tone of a passage. Do not use repetitive vocabulary,but, at the same time, do not feel you have to show off your grasp of a wide vocabulary; Remember, always, that you are trying to communicate clearly with, and involve . your reader .
Check your use of punctuation : remember that punctuation is there to help the reader find his or her way though the sentences, so don't just put in a comma every time you take a breath. There are rules that govern punctuation and, despite living in the age of computer speak, we should obey those rules ........unless we really do not want to communicate!

When you are satisfied that you have transformed the group of simple sentences into a paragraph, turn to the next group and perform the same routine. Repeat for each of your groups.
Then, take a breath, pat yourself on the back  and relax for a while; You have not finished yet, but you are approaching the final stages!

stage 4

You now find yourself with a series of paragraphs. Now you need to decide which is the most logival order in which to place them. Once you have done this, read through all that you have written. You will probably find that whilst the thought line throughout what you have written is logical, the paragraphs seem a tad isolated from one another. You need to look at the final sentence of one paragraph and the first line of the following paragraph and make adjustments so that the one leads logically and smoothly to the next point you are making. Once this has been done, make a fair copy of your essay and leave it on your desk until tomorrow.

stage 5

Read your essay through with a fresh and critical eye. Check spelling and legibility (if anyone still hand-writes essays any more), for nothing is more infuriating for the reader than to have difficulty in deciphering handwriting. Make any small adjustments you feel are necessary. Is the tone  suitable? i.e. You are not using colloquial language (Language as we use it in speaking to one another) for a serious discoursive or informative piece.

And if you are satisfied: voilà, you're finished.!

If you use this method routinely for every essay that you write , then you will find that a) the time  you take to get through certain stages will diminish as you establish your routine; and b)the fluency of your thought and expression will gradually improve and your writing will always be clearly expressed and logical in its development of ideas.

Finally:

At the end of the sessions covering HIPFWE, I used to require the students to write the following in their notebooks:
"I promise that, from this moment on, I shall use HIPFWE for all my essays, no matter for what subject the essay is required."
This was followed by their signature and the signature of their witness (who sat at the next desk). I wanted them to write  and sign in blood, but Matron objected and I settled for red ink.
I hope this helps.

1953 (ii)

When I look back to my own schooldays -after almost fifty years as a teacher -  I realise just how much influence they had on my later life. Not intellectually, of course: anyone who has had dealings with me will know that I have no practical  manual talents. I know nothing about Physics and Chemistry (one of my chemistry teachers, after having explained  something at great length - and, possibly, very lucidly- regarded me with saddened eyes and exclaimed, "Holliday, you resemble a cow, staring over a five-barred gate.") I was thrown out of Biology, which may explain some of my future confusions; and any number of bank managers will testify to my complete failure to grasp  the basic factors of Maths. All of which is rather sad since, it appears, my education started when was about two and a half years old.

I do not remember it, of course; but I was told that just after the war (that is World War 2 for the younger of my readers; I was born in November 1942, about the time of El Alamein: I like to think that news of my birth was instrumental in causing grave misgivings to Hitler and his chances of ruling the world); my mother and I (my father having been sent off as a medical officer to various parts of the world) were living in Southampton. My mother went off to work in an office somewhere and, since a baby sitter  was impossible to find, used to hand me over, every morning, to a gtoup of Italian prisoners of war who looked after me and played with me until her return in the afternoon. Clearly, I did not learn any Italian from these encounters; but, equally clearly, they had a profound influence on later  interests. In any case, this baby-sitting could not have lasted for too long, because I know I went to some sort of Nursery school in Southampton. Two memories, totally unconnected, surface every so often. In the first, I am running though a world of grey, that consisted of grey concrete beneath my feet and a thick fog that surrounded me. I am in a playground and I know I am running towards the main building. In my memory, I never reach it........although clearly  I must have done, for my second memory is of being in a small room with a lot of other tots and grown ups. Someone is tying  tiny red boxing gloves on my hands and then I am lifteda central space, surrounded by laughter and cheers. I don't like it and I am crying. Did I hit  my opponent or did he hit me? I don't know. Probably not: I have always backed away from confrontation. And I have always detested boxing as a sport.

What schooling I had between then and five years old, I don't remember. I know  that my father was back from the war and that he and my mother and I were living with Grandma and Grandpa Frank at 44, Burniston Road in Hull.And then, after that , we moved to Bridlington, and I went to Cliff House School

Cliff House School for Young Gentlemen and Ladies was run by two sisters, the Miss Potts. Miss Lucy Pott was the elder. Thin and scawny and with greying hair plaited into a coil over each ear, she ran the Lower class. Eventually , a young gentleman would graduate to the Senior class taught by Miss Jane, who was the complete antithesis to her sister: tall, slim and with jet balck hair, she made you think of Snow White. The school was in their home, a detached house with a big back garden on a  quiet avenue  not too far from the North beach of Bridlington and the path that led up the cliffs  to Danes Dyke ( up which Hentietta Maria had neen rowed when she returned from Holland with treasure to support her husband, Charles I, in his fight against Cromwell.).
 It was here that I learned the basics, especially how to do proper handwriting in ink, to spell, to enjoy words, to count, to learn my multiplication tables (OK until I got to eight  times seven, and then it was downhill all the way), and where I looked at maps of the world on which were a lot of countries coloured in red. It was here that I was given my Doctor Barnardo's saving box,  alittle cardboard cottage with hollyhocks round the door and a slot in the roof into which I put spare farthings and ha'pennies and pennies. On Dr Barnardo's Day, each young gentleman and lady, emptied the collected coins onto the oaken table and we had races to see who could pick up twelve pennies  the fastest, until all had been totalled and Miss Lucy would show us the total amount collected on the blackboard.
It was here that I learned to be a polite young gentleman, to use correct vocabulary. One hot Summer day, I came in from playtime in the garden and cried out,"Ouf! I'm sweating!", only to be gently remonstrated by Miss Lucy, 3Christopher, horses sweat: gentlemen perspire". I have never forgotten.
It was here, I first preformed. I sang  lustily in Singing lessons ("Christopher enjoys this" was  written, rather ruefully, on my report. I liked poetry and in concerts staged once a year by the young gentlemen and ladies in the Tea and Coffee Rooms of the Lounge Cinema, I duly performed poems by Walter de la Mare .My favourite poem was "The Listeners" which I performed with suitable gestures and gusto. And there was a poem, which has long disappeared from memory, about a linnet in a cage, which I pitied and released, that, apparantlly, reduced a rather emotional  matron in the  audience to tears..........not of laughter, I hope.
I could only have been at Cliff House Scool for a couple of years but I think they were probably the most valuable  years of my  life as a child. Schools like Cliff House disappeared and  are now probably regarded as relics of a former age, and laughed at, patronisingly. But I learned there that one should never lie ( I still cannot tell a lie - or if I do, then everyone will know from my gauche stuttering and scarlet face), that other people come first, that ladies should enter a room before a gentleman, should not carry heavy articles and should be respected at all times (well, I am not sure that the last point has been adhered to). It is a world captured in the books of Miss Read and which is now derided. But I felt safe there, and when I went onto  Moorfield Primary School, i was ahead of the other children in my year group.

Moorfield was  the primary school with two playgrounds (one for girls and one for boys) and two separate entrances (one for boys and one for girls. It was where I met Dorothy Woods, who lived just round the corner from St Anthony Road. She is important in my life in that she was the first girl that I ever kissed - well,  in truth, she kissed me, and I didn't like it much. Much more important people there were Mrs Ingle, Mr Penkethman and Miss Senior, the three teachers I had there. I thought they were wonderful and knew everything. No matter what you asked, they had an answer. Mr Penkethman put me in my first play. It was a Nativity and I played a little boy who arrived at  Jesus' birth  and was sad because I did not have a gift for him: a role I overplayed to its sentimental hilt. I was awful, but I loved being in front of an audience.
In those days, in a child's last year at a Primary school, there was the 11+ exam which decided whether a child went on to a Grammar School or to  a Secondary Modern School.  Grammar Schools led onto scholastic futures, Secondary Modern Schools were for children with more practical talents. Most ambitious parents wanted their children to go to Grammar schools. I was in Miss Senior's class and  knew that I had at least another year to go before I had to take the 11+ exam. However, one day, I arrived in her class and with three or four other boys was sent to another classroom to sit a series of tests. It did not mean very much to me; but, then, in the summer term, she called me to her desk at the front of the class, and told me that I had passed the 11+ and therefore had been selected for a grammar School education. Would I like to run home with this letter and tell my mother?  (How difficult to believe today that a child of ten would be allowed to leave school unaccompanied - the very fact speaks volumes about how the world has changed.)
I ran all the way, down the  fenced gunnel that separated the terraced houses from Bridlington Town Football club, turned right onto the top of Queensgate, dashed across the dual carriageway and along the road that went past the playing fields of the Secondary Modern School. I dived down  St Anthony Road to our house and pushed at the back door of Number 10. It was locked.
Disconsolate, I went and sat on the front doorstep. The door opened. My mother was coming out to go shopping and was surprised to see me. I gave her the letter and gabbled out what Miss Senior had told me. She hugged me and said "Let's ring Granny Frank in Hull"
Later, when my father came home, we read all the details that Miss Senior had given me. I had to make a choice from several schools in the East Yorkshire area, including Bridlington Grammar School. But I knew I did not want to go there. I had done my reading of Enid Blyton. Mallory Towers seemed a lot of fun. I knew where I wanted to go.
I wanted to go to Boarding School
I looked at the details and I decided on Archbishop Holgate's School in York. It sounded really  great.

And that was where I would be going to school in September 1953.