Sentence+Combining

=** Exercise #1 **=


 * Revise these paragraphs using compound and complex sentences.**

Paragraph 1: It was a dark and stormy night. The wind was high. The trees waved and crashed against the barn. I looked around me and saw that I wasn’t alone. A man stood behind me. He was tall. He was mean. He had a knife. It was shining in the moonlight. It was long and slender. He reached back. He stabbed with it. I jumped out of the way. I ran away.

Paragraph 1 Revision: It was a dark and stormy night. The wind was high and the trees waved and crashed against the barn. I looked around me and saw I wasn't alone. A tall mean man stood behind me. He had a long slender knife that was shining in the moonlight. Reaching back he stabbed with it. I jumped out of the way and ran.

Paragraph 2: Tom prefers baseball to basketball. Baseball seems more interesting to Tom. Tom feels baseball is a gentleman’s sport. Baseball is more structured than basketball. Baseball requires athletes to use more skill than aggression when playing. Tom respects baseball players the most because of this.

Paragraph 2 Revision: Tom prefers baseball to basketball because it seems more interesting to him. Tom feels baseball is more of a gentleman's sport because it is more structured than basketball. Tom respects baseball players more because they use more skill than aggression when playing.

= Exercise #2 = 1. I always order cheese fries because they're my favorite. 2. Bob was my boyfriend in high school and we dated for about eight months before I met Mike. 3. The sycamore tree fell on the house because of the high winds, but my grandmother wasn't hurt. 4. My Golden Retriever's name is George and he loves to play Frisbee and swim. 5. My parents gave me a car and that is why I'm able to afford to go to college but I still I work part-time at Wal-Mart as a cashier. //and, but, or, so, yet, nor// 6. Some students stay on the sidewalks and some students cut across the grass. 7. Students have to park far from their classrooms so they are often late for class. 8. Trash cans have been placed all over campus but students still throw garbage on the ground. 9. The administration promised to improve dining hall service yet the quality of the food is actually worse this year. 10. These students do not respect the feelings of others nor do they don't respect themselves. 11. We must stand up for our rights today or we may find ourselves with no rights at all.
 * Combine each set of short sentences and fragments into one sentence.**
 * Combine these six pairs of sentences using the coordinating conjunctions listed below. Use each conjunction only one time.**

//unless, because, even though, while, although, though// 12. Some students stay on the sidewalks while some students cut across the grass. 13. Students are often late for class because they have to park far from their classrooms. 14. Trash cans have been placed all over campus even though students still throw garbage on the ground. 15. The administration promised to improve dining hall service though the quality of the food is actually worse this year. 16. These students do not respect the feelings of others although they do seem to respect themselves. 17.We must stand up for our rights today unless we may find ourselves with no rights at all.
 * Combine the same sentences above using the subordinating conjunctions listed below. Again, use each conjunction only one time.**

= Exercise #3 = Make a single sentence from each of the groups of sentences below. You must include all of the information which is given, but you may change the form of any word or the arrangement of the sentences. You should delete redundant words or phrases, and you may add prepositions and conjunctions.

"Example": l. The students were diligent. 2. The students followed their professor's instructions. 3. The students wrote in their journals. 4. The students wrote every day.

"Single sentence": Diligently following their professor's instructions, the students wrote in their journals every day.

"Exercises": A. l. We caught two bass. 2. We hauled them in briskly. 3. We hauled them in as though they were mackerel. 4. We pulled them over the side of the boat. 5. We did not use a landing net. 6. Our manner was businesslike. 7. We stunned them with a blow on the back of the head.

After we caught two bass and not using a landing net hauled them in briskly and businesslike as though they were mackerel we stunned them with a blow on the back of the head.

-- E.B. White B. l. The doctor's eye roved across the landscape. 2. His eye detected a figure. 3. His eye was quick. 4. The figure was in black. 5. The figure passed through the gate. 6. The gate led to the field. 7. The gate led down toward the pond.

The doctor's eye roved across the landscape quickly detecting a black figure passing through a gate that led down to the pond in the field.

--D.H. Lawrence

C. l. Mrs. Lang saw herself as a counselor. 2. Mrs. Lang saw herself as wise and helpful. 3. She appeared on her neighbor's doorstep. 4. She appeared at the first hint of trouble. 5. She was armed with a treasure-trove of cliches. 6. She was armed with a repertory of sad looks. 7. She was armed with a jar of fig preserves.

Mrs. Lung saw herself as a wise and helpful counselor as she appeared on her neighbor's doorstep at the first hint of trouble armed with a treasure-trove of cliches, repertory of sad looks, and a jar of fig preserves.

D. l. Two men dozed. 2. The two men were young. 3. The two men were in the class. 4. They succumbed to fatigue. 5. They succumbed to boredom. 6. They succumbed to the stuffiness of the classroom. 7. The classroom was crowded. 8. They barely heard the voice of the instructor. 9. The instructor detailed with enthusiasm. 10. The instructor detailed the horrors of the Black Death.

As she two young men dozed in class succumbed to fatigue, boredom, and the stuffiness of the crowded classroom they barely hears the voice of the instructor who detailed the horrors of the Black Death with enthusiasm.

E. l. There is a spider. 2. The spider is bulbous at the abdomen. 3. The spider is drab in color. 4. The spider is in the bathroom. 5. The spider has a web. 6. The web is six inches in diameter. 7. The web is in the corner. 8. The corner is behind the toilet. 9. The web is torn. 10. An earwig is trapped in the web. 11. Corpses are on the floor beneath the web. 12. The corpses are the spider's kill. 13. Most of the corpses are sow bugs. 14. Three of the corpses are spiders. 15. Two of the corpses are moths. 16. The moths' corpses are wingless.

There is a spider in the corner of the bathroom who has a bulbous abdomen, is drab in color, and who has a six inch torn web behind the toilet with an earwig trapped in it and on the floor beneath the web are corpses of the spider's kill, which include mostly of snow bugs, three spiders, and two wingless moths.

-- Annie Dillard

F. l. He ran upstairs. 2. He took blankets from a bed. 3. He put blankets before the fire. 4. The blankets were warm. 5. Then he removed her clothing. 6. Her clothing was saturated. 7. Her clothing was earthy-smelling. 8. He rubbed her leg. 9. He rubbed her with a towel. 10. He wrapped her in the blanket. 11. She was naked.

After he ran upstairs taking blankets from the bed and putting them before the fire, he removed her saturated eathy-smelling clothing, then rubbed her leg with a towel and wrapped her naked body with the warm blanket.

-- D.H. Lawrence

G l. Then he motioned. 2. He motioned to the driver. 3. The driver was to go on. 4. The car moved slowly. 5. The car moved along. 6. The driver avoided holes. 7. The holes had been made by wart hogs. 8. The driver drove around the mud castles. 9. The mud castles had been built by ants.

As he motioned the driver to go on the car moved along slowly avoiding holes that had been made by wart hogs and around mud castles that had been built by ants.

-- Ernest Hemingway

H. l. Corporal Max Klinger is a character on "M.A.S.H." 2. "M.A.S.H." is a television series. 3. "M.A.S.H." is popular. 4. Corporal Klinger is aptly named. 5. He is named for a playwright. 6. The playwright is Maximilian Klinger. 7. Maximilian Klinger was a German. 8. Maximilian Klinger lived in the eighteenth century. 9. Maximilian Klinger wrote a play. 10. His play was entitled "Sturm und Drang." 11. "Sturm und Drang" means "Storm and Stress." 12. "Sturm und Drang" became the name of a movement. 13. The movement was literary. 14. The movement was "avant-garde."

Corporal Max Klinger is a character on the popular television series "M.A.S.H" who's aptly named for the German eighteenth century playwright Maximilian Klinger who wrote a play entitled "Strorm und Drang." which means "Storm and Stress." and became the name of the literary and "avant-garde" movement.