Advanced Sentence Patterns

PATTERN 1: COMPOUND SENTENCE: SEMICOLON, NO CONJUNCTION

(two short, related sentences joined)

S V ; S V

SIMPLE EXAMPLES:
Caesar, try on this toga; it seems to be your size.

Hard work is only one side of the equation; talent is the other.

Some people dream of being something; others stay awake and are.

Human beings are related to the monkey; only a monkey, however, would admit the
relationship.

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:
“E.T., don’t phone home; it’s too expensive.” –El Paso Herald-Post

“Singapore has 11,910 people per square mile; Mongolia has only three.” – Conde Nast
Traveler

“By day, there’s the constant threat of collision; by night, armed robbers scatter nails or
block the road with rocks.” – Constance Bond, Smithsonian, May 1992

“Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.” – Aesop

PATTERN 2: COMPOUND SENTENCE WITH ELLIPTICAL CONSTRUCTION

(comma indicates the omitted verb)

S V DO SC ; S , DO or SC

SIMPLE EXAMPLES:
The Christian Church and communism each have a goal: one is spiritual; the other,
material.

For many students the new math crusade of the 1950’s was a disaster; for others, a
godsend.

A red light means stop; a green light, go.

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:
“Thought is the blossom; language[,] the bud; action [,] the fruit,” –Ralph Waldo
Emerson
NOTE: The brackets indicate that the commas do not appear in the original sentence.

“Washington, D.C., has 92 police officers per 10,000 people; New Jersey, 41; West
Virginia, 16.” –Conde Nast Traveler, August 1992

PATTERN 3: COMPOUND SENTENCE WITH EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

(clauses separated with a colon)

General Statement (idea) : specific statement (example)

(an independent clause) (an independent clause)

SIMPLE EXAMPLES:
Remember what the old saying prudently advises: Be careful what you wish for because
you may actually get it.

A lizard never worries about losing its tail: it can always grow another.

No one, however, would deny that George Patton did what generals were primarily
expected to do: he won battles.

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:
“Sociologists continue to be vexed by the pathology of urban violence: Why is it so
random, so fierce, so easily triggered?” –Edward Ayers

“Old cars and children have several things in common: Both are a responsibility and have
to be fed often or they break down.” – Claudia Glenn Downing, Lear’s

PATTERN 4: A SERIES WITHOUT A CONJUNCTION

(a series in any part of the sentence)

A,B,C .

SIMPLE EXAMPLES:
The coach is loud, profane, demonstrative; he has been trapped, caught, humiliated.

With wisdom, patience, virtue, Queen Victoria directed the course of nineteenth-century
England.

Since unification in Berlin, walls have come down, barriers have been broken, bonds
have been formed.
PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:
“And [the film star] looks every inch in the actor: painted, powdered, affected, vain,
insecure, unreal, quite frightening, grotesque.” –Dundan Fallowell, European Travel and
Life, September 1990

“Our priorities run to safety over style, value over flash, comfort over speed.” – Caroline
Miller, Lear, April 1993

“Oil booms are short-lived, speculative, ruinous to those who rely on them.” – Paul
Burke, Texas Monthly

PATTERN 5: A SERIES OF BALANCED PAIRS

(note the rhythm)

A and B , C and D , E and F .

(may be in any slot in the sentence)

SIMPLE EXAMPLES:
The actual herb in special vinegars-thyme and basil, rosemary and garlic, hot pepper and
chive-float in beautifully designed bottles.

Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, Lancelot and Guinevere
were all famous lover in literature.

Eager yet fearful, confident but somewhat suspicious, Jason eyed the barber who would
give him his first haircut.

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:
“Before Uriah Heep I have step by step abandoned the name and reputation, peace and
quiet, house and home.” – Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

“It’s amazing how lifeless elements like stone and wood, nails and plaster, glass and
metal take on a soul after you turn them into a house.” Jane Porcino, Modern Maturity,
April 1993

“God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, surfeit and hunger.”
- Heraclitus

PATTERN 6: AN INTRODUCTORY SERIES OF APPOSITIVES

(with a dash and a summarizing subject)

Appositive, appositive, appositive--- summary word S V .

(The key to summarizing a work before the subject may be one of these: such, all , those,
this, many , each , which, what, these, something, someone. Sometimes this summary
word will be the subject, but other times it will merely modify the subject.)

SIMPLE EXAMPLES:
The petty, the wronged, the fallen the cowardly, the righteous, the deluded, the rapacious,
the unctuous-- each played a role on the stage of Cervantes’ vast human drama.

Vanity, greed, corruption-- which serves as the novel’s source of conflict?

An old photograph, a haunting fragrance, a sudden view of a half-forgotten scene--

something unexpectedly triggers our nostalgia for the past.

Chinese and Indians, Malays, Thais, Koreans, Vietnamese-- all of these ethnic groups vie
for your attention in Singapore.

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:
“Worry, doubt, self-disgust, fear, and despair-- these bow the head and turn the spirit
back to dust.” – Stanley Ullman, fifteenth century essayist

“Shipwrecks, drownings, mutinies, scurvy, starvation-- all were part of every

Renaissance marinier’s life.” – “Columbus,” American Heritage

PATTERN 7: AN INTERNAL SERIES OF APPOSITIVES OR MODIFIERS

(enclosed by a pair of dashes or parentheses)
__ __
OR appositive, appositive, appositive OR
S ( modifier, modifier, modifier ) V

SIMPLE EXAMPLES:
The basic fencing moves (the advance, the retreat, the lunge) demand careful balance by
both fencers.

Dozens of charmingly decorated casetas-- bright red with an occasional purple door or
plain white with banners and religious icons over the door-- spring up along Calle Juan
Carlos.

The much despised predators-- mountain lions, timer wolves, and grizzly bears-- have
been shot, trapped, and poisoned so relentlessly for so long that they have nearly
vanished from their old haunts.

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:
“When the matador takes the sword and muleta and advances toward his adversary, the
public-- aristocratic bull breeders in English tweeds, movie stars and politicians, wealthy
fans from Latin America-- is suddenly hushed; the ‘silence of Seville,’ the sound of
twelve thousand people being absolutely quiet, are unique, almost fearsome.” – William
Lyon, “Lord of the Ring,” Connoisseur, October 1991

PATTERN 7A: A VARIATION: A SINGLE APPOSITIVE OR A PAIR

__ __
OR OR
S . (APPOSITIVE) V .
OR OR
(USE TWO DASHES OR PARENTHESES OR COMMAS TO ENCLOSE THE
APPOSITIVE).

Remember: Dashes are dramatic; commas are ordinary; parentheses acts like whispers.

PATTERN 8: DEPENDENT CLAUSES IS A PAIR OR IN A SERIES

(at beginning or end of sentence)

If….., if….., if….., then S V.

When…., when …., when,…., S V.
S V that…., that…., that….

You may omit the third clause if you have just two.
This pattern is particularly helpful for
 The end of a single paragraph to summarize key points
 A thesis statement in which you have three or more parts
 An introductory or concluding paragraph in which you want to review the
main points of your essay.

SIMPLE EXAMPLES:
Because it may seem difficult at first, because it may sound awkward or forced, because
it often creates lengthy sentences where the thought gets lost, this pattern seems
forbidding to some writers, but it is not that hard; try it.

Whether one needs fantasy or whether one needs stark realism, the theater can become a
mirror of life.

Since he had little imagination and since he had even less talent, he was not hired for the
job.

Alison was convinced that her point of view was the right one, that she was entitled to act
on it, and that her parents would approve.
PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:
“If radio’ slim fingers can pluck music out of the night and toss it over the mountain and
sea; if the petal-white notes from a violin are blown across the desert and the city’s din, if
songs, like crimson roses are caught from the blue air-- why should mortals wonder if
God hears prayer?” Marvin Drake, Catholic Digest.

“Yet, when we do something monumental, when we establish policy that shakes the
continent, when we overturn an unjust system, instead of feeling good all over and
shouting the accomplishment to the heavens, we bury it on the back page of flash it on
the Sunday TV news at 5:30 p.m.” Leon Metz, “On Books,” El Paso Herald Post,
September 25, 1992

“If your clothes are made of cotton or wool, if you wash them with soap instead of
detergent, and if you hang them on the line to dry, you may not need a fabric softener.”
Consumer Reports, February 1991

PATTERN 14: PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

BEFORE –V

Prepositional phrase S V (or V S) .

EXAMPLES:

Down the field and through the tacklers ran the Heisman trophy winner.

Despite his advanced degree in world trade and economics, the only job Chester could
get was making change in an Atlantic City casino.

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:

“In the past, restoring a frescoed wall involved little more than covering the crack and
dabbing fresh paint on the surface…..”—George Armstrong, Modern Maturity

“From his tongue flowed speech sweeter than honey.” –Homer, Iliad.
PATTERN 15: OBJECT OR COMPLEMENT
BEFORE S—V

Object or Subject complement S V

EXAMPLES:

Content he can remain with his money; true friends he will never have.

“Up went the steps, bang went the door, round whirled the wheels, and off they rattled.”
---Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLE:

“Never before have we had so little time to do so much.”---Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

“Fireside Chat,” February 1942

PATTERN 16: PAIRED CONSTRUCTIONS

Not only S V , but also S V .

(they also may be omitted)

Just as S V , so too S V .
(may be so also or simply so)
If not , at least * .

The more S V , the more S V .

(may be the less)

The former S V , the latter S V .

EXAMPLES:

Just as slavery divided North and South, so the Indian Wars of the nineteenth century
divided East and West.

The more I saw films by that director, the less I liked his work.
PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream: not only plan, but also
believe.”---Anatole France

“Just as good painting is almost always about more than it depicts, so does its historical
value extend beyond its subject.”---“The Winter Art Show,” American Heritage,
December 1990

PATTERN 17: DEPENDENT CLAUSE

(in a “sentence slot”)
AS SUBJECT OR OBJECT
OR COMPLEMENT

S [dependent clause as subject] V.

S V [dependent clause as object or comp.]

EXAMPLES:
He became [what he had long aspired to be].
(complement after became)

[How he could fail] is a mystery to me.

(subject of verb is)

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:

“And so my fellow Americans, ask not

[clause as DO]
[what your country can do for you];

[clause as DO]
ask [what you can do for your country ].”—John F. Kennedy

“[Why Leonardo rejected the technique] we may never know.”—George Armstrong,

Modern Maturity.
 PATTERN 18: ABSOLUTE CONSTRUCTION
(noun plus participle)
ANYWHERE IN SENTENCE

Absolute construction , S V .
S , absolute construction , V .

------ OR ------
( )

EXAMPLES:

We had our Memorial Day picnic after all, the rain having stopped before sunset.

What the dog reflects is his master’s true emotion, admitted or not.

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:

“The storm, its fury abated, lights the way.” ---John Cullen Murphy, “Prince Valiant,”
December 1992.

“Various legal requirements aside, a living trust is a truly personal instrument.” ---
Ameritrust Pamphlet

PATTERN 19: THE SHORT, SIMPLE SENTENCE FOR RELIEF OR

OR DRAMATIC EFFECT

S V .

EXAMPLES:

Well, I wonder. Days passed.

It was magical. But then it happened.

Don’t laugh. That’s okay.

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:

“Know thyself.”----Plutarch, Lives

“I came, I saw, I conquered.”-----Julius Caesar

 PATTERN 20: THE DELIBERATE FRAGMENT

Merely a part of a sentence

PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLES:

“What a mistake!”----Frederick Vitoux, European Travel and Life, December/January

1991

“A final anecdote.”----Frederick Vitoux, European Travel and Life, December/January

1991

“Running again.”---David Nevin, Smithsonian, May 1992