English 102 2019

SENTENCES
WHAT IS A SENTENCE?

A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. To express the complete meaning,
a sentence must have a subject and a predicate.

The subject (noun or pronoun) of a sentence tells who or what is being discussed in the sentence or
who or what is performing the action of the sentence.

The predicate (verb or verb phrase) of a sentence may convey the action or state of being expressed
about the subject.

If a word group lacks a subject and/or predicate and does not express a complete thought, it is called
a sentence fragment. Fragment may occur when:

Dependent clause or an incomplete thought is treated as complete sentence. This can be fixed
by combining it with another sentence to make a complete thought or by removing the
dependent marker.
It describes something, but there is no subject-verb relationship.
Examples:

SENTENCE FRAGMENTS REVISED SENTENCES

Remembering his New Year’s Mark remembers his New Year’s
resolution. resolution.
 Since their trip was very successful,
they plan to have it again next
Since their trip was very successful.
month.
 Their trip was very successful.
 I forgot her birthday.
Because I forgot her birthday.  Because I forgot her birthday, Anna
never wants to see my face anymore.
**********

SENTENCE TYPES

Sentences can be classified according to purpose and structure.

SENTENCE TYPE PURPOSE EXAMPLES

 Exercise does remarkable things for

Makes a statement/ states an
your health.
1. Declarative idea
 The most commonly cited reason why
Ends with a period (.)
Asians don’t exercise is lack of time.

 How did Eman get fitter faster than

Asks a question. expected?
2. Interrogative
Ends with a question mark (?)  Do you have strength-training
workout?

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Gives a command or request  Follow the instructions of your personal

3. Imperative or instruction or order or trainer to get better results.
direction.  Please stretch carefully.

Expresses a strong feeling or

conveys a sense of emphasis
 You can do it!
4. Exclamatory or passion.
 Couch potatoes, arise!
Ends with an exclamation
mark (!)

SENTENCE TYPE STRUCTURE EXAMPLES

Consist of one Independent  I love you.

1. Simple
Clause.  The girl is on fire.

 Limbering up is important for

everyone, but overweight exercisers
should stay away from stretches that
strain the lower back such as the
Consist of two or more
classic toe-touching drill.
Independent clauses joined by
 Limbering up is important for
coordinating conjunctions.
everyone, overweight exercisers
2. Compound should stay away from stretches that
Patterns:
strain the lower back such as the
1. IC+(,)+Coordinator+IC+(.)
classic toe-touching drill.
2. IC+(;)+IC+(.)
 Limbering up is important for
3. IC+(;)+Coordinator+IC+(.)
everyone; but overweight exercisers
should stay away from stretches that
strain the lower back such as the
classic toe-touching drill.

Consists of one independent

clause and at least one
dependent clause which is
introduced by subordinating
conjunctions.
 Because the ball hit Tom, he cried.
Patterns:
3. Complex  Tom cried because the ball hit him.
1. *Dependent marker+
Dependent Clause + (,) +
Independent Clause + (.)
2. Independent Clause +
*Dependent marker +
Dependent Clause + (.)

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It contains of two or more

 Tom cried because the ball hit him,
Independent Clauses and at
4. Compound-Complex and I apologize immediately.
least 1 or more Dependent
Clauses.

**********

COMMON SENTENCE FAULTS

SENTENCE FAULTS PRINCIPLES FAULTY SENTENCE REVISED SENTENCE

ACHIEVING SENTENCE UNITY

1. Their trip was very

successful.
Since their trip was very 2. Since their trip was
successful. very successful, they
It refers to a word group that plan to have it again
lacks a subject or a verb and next month.
Sentence Fragment does not express a complete
(SF) thought.
 Make sure there is a
clear subject-verb
relationship. 1. I forgot her birthday.
Because I forgot her
2. She got mad, because
birthday.
I forgot her birthday.

Professor Dela Cruz Professor Dela Cruz

It happens when a word always arrives late and always arrives late, ye
group does not relate to he expects everyone else he expects everyone else
another or when a word to arrive on time. to arrive on time.
group twists or turns away
from the main idea.
 Establish a clear
relationship between
Zigzag Sentence (ZS)
the two clauses by
using the appropriate
coordinating and
subordinating 1. Because Mark makes
conjunctions. a lot of money, he
 Move the unrelated Mark makes a lot of likes his job.
thoughts to a new money he likes his job. 2. Mark likes his job
sentence. because he makes a
lot of money.

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1. If one eats sensibly

It happens when a pronoun and watches his
shifts its point of view calorie-intake, he
unnecessarily or when the should be able to
If one eats sensibly and
pronoun doesn’t agree with maintain his desired
Unnecessary Shift of watches your calorie-
its antecedent in person. weight.
Point of Views – intake, you should be
 Make sure the 2. If you eat sensibly
person (USPOV) able to maintain their
pronoun agrees to its and watch your
desired weight.
antecedent in person. calorie-intake, you
 Do not switch from should be able to
one point of view to maintain your
another. desired body.

Everybody is invited to Everybody is invited to

It happens when a pronoun submit their written submit his written
does not agree with its proposals. proposal.
Unnecessary Shift in antecedent in number.
Number (USN)  Make sure the
pronoun agrees to its One cannot change the One cannot change the
antecedent in past, but they can past, but he can change
number. change their future. his future.

It happens when there is a The ocean contains rich The ocean contains rich
shift back and forth between minerals that washed minerals that wash
present and past without a down from rivers and down from rivers and
reason. streams. streams.
 Avoid shifting from
one tense to another
Unnecessary Shift of
if the time frame for
Tense (UST)
each action or state is
the same. If you begin
writing in the present About noon the sky About noon the sky
tense, do not shift darkened, a breeze darkened, a breeze
suddenly to the past sprang up, and low sprang up, and low
or vice versa. rumble announces the rumble announced the
approaching storm. approaching storm.

It happens when the voice of

the verb in a sentence shifts The teachers must first The teacher must first
from active(the subject is the encode the grade using encode the grades using
doer of the action) to the computerized the computerized
Unnecessary Shift of
passive(the subject is the grading system then grading system, and
Voice (USV)
receiver of the action) or from submit the printed then they must submit
passive to active. grade sheets to the the printed grade sheets
 If the verb in the first registrar’s office. to the registrar’s office.
word group is written
in active form then

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transform the passive

to active voice.

We submitted the We submitted the

proposal, but it was not proposal, but the
approved by the president did not
president. approve it.

It happens when the mood of

1. I do not skip meals,
the verb in the sentence
but I avoid eating
shifts from one to another.
meals with big
Indicative Mood indicates
portions and I do not
factual condition or action; I do not skip meals, but
fill my whole plate
Unnecessary Shift of Imperative Mood expresses I avoid eating meals with
with food.
Mood (USM) a command; and big portions. Do not fill
2. Do not skip meals,
Subjunctive Mood expresses your whole plate with
avoid eating meals
conditional situations. food.
with big portion and
 Maintain the same
do not fill your
mood throughout the
whole plate with
sentence.
food.

It is an error of combining
two independent clauses by
inserting only a conjunction
All of the guests left the All of the guests left the
between them – leaving out
Run-On Sentence conference room but we conference room, but we
the necessary comma.
(ROS) stayed to talk to the stayed to talk to the
 Place a comma
resource speaker. resource speaker.
between the two
clauses before the
conjunction.

It is an error of joining two

independent clauses into a
compound sentence without
using any conjunction
All of the guests left the All of the guests left the
between them.
conference room we conference room; we
Fused Sentence (FS)  Place a semi-colon or
stayed to talk to the stayed to talk to the
a period between the
resource speaker. resource speaker.
two clauses.
 Use an appropriate
conjunction to
connect the two
clauses.

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It is an error of combining
two independent clauses by
inserting only a comma
between them – leaving out
the necessary conjunction.
 Add a conjunction All of the guests left the All of the guests left the
after the comma to conference room, we conference room, but we
Comma Splice (CS)
connect the two stayed to talk to the stayed to talk to the
clauses. resource speaker. resource speaker.
 Delete the comma,
and then add the
needed punctuation
(semi-colon) and
appropriate
conjunctive adverb.
ACHIEVING SENTENCE COHERENCE

1. Jessie is an athletic
person; he likes
Jessie is an athletic hiking, swimming,
person; he likes hiking, and riding a bicycle.
swimming, and to ride a 2. Jessie is an athletic
bicycle. person; he likes to
It happens when the word hike, to swim, and to
groups in a pair or a series ride a bicycle.
are not in the same
Faulty Parallelism grammatical forms.
(FP)  Balance the items in
a pair or series so
that they have the
same structure.
Only few students can Only few students can
write research proposal write research proposal
efficiently, concisely, efficiently, concisely and
and with accuracy. accurately.

It happens when a modifier

used as introductory clause
or phrase is followed by a Having finished our Having finished our
Dangling Modifier word it does not intend to dance rehearsal, all the dance rehearsal, we
(DM) modify or to describe. lights in the studio were turned off the lights in
Dangling modifier may also turned off. the studio.
appear at the end. It is
usually in v-ing or v-ed form
(participial form).

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 Place the subject

right after the
introductory clause or
phrase.
 Place the subject
within the Walking downtown, we
introductory clause or Walking downtown, a
saw a passenger jeep
phrase. passenger jeep collided
collided with a cargo
with a cargo truck.
truck.

The mystery has been After five years, the

It modifies a word before it or
solved after five years of mystery of the missing
a word after it.
the missing red red handkerchief has
 Place the modifier as
Squinting Modifier handkerchief. been solved.
close as possible to
(SM)
what it describes
1. Mark said he would
avoiding a squinting
Mark said tonight he call me tonight.
direction.
would call me. 2. Tonight, Mark said
he would call me.
1. My father told me
over the phone to
My father told me to
feed the dog.
It happens when the modifier feed the dog over the
2. Over the phone, my
has an awkward placement phone.
father told me to
Misplaced Modifier in the sentence.
feed the dog.
(MM)  Place the modifier as
close as possible to
what it describes. Mark ordered a hot cup Mark ordered a cup of
of hazelnut coffee. hot hazelnut coffee.

1. When I installed the

new program on the
computer, the
When I installed the new
It happens when a pronoun computer crashed.
program on the
refers to more than one word 2. The computer
computer, it crashed.
or if the pronoun does not crashed, when I
Ambiguous Pronoun refer to any specific word in installed the new
Reference (APR) the sentence. program.
 Make sure the
pronoun refers to its Until Mark started
Mark used to hang
antecedent clearly. dating me, he used to
around with Lester until
hang around with
he started dating me.
Lester.

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It happens when the two

clauses are combined using a Alma is pretty good at Alma is pretty good at
wrong coordination or gymnastics and she gymnastics, but she
subordination. Coordinating prefers swimming. prefers swimming.
conjunctions give emphasis
to the ideas of equal
importance while
Subordinating conjunctions
Faulty Coordination establish relationship
and Subordination between the independent
(FC) or (FS) clause and the subordinate
clause.
Some scientists believe Some scientists believe
 Use the appropriate
cockroaches would cockroaches would
coordinating and
survive nuclear war and survive nuclear war
subordinating
cockroaches can tolerate because cockroaches
conjunctions to
much more radiation can tolerate much more
establish relationship
than humans. radiation than humans.
between the two
clauses.

ACHIEVING SENTENCE EMPHASIS

It happens when the
important ideas in the
sentence do not stand out.
 Place the important
ideas in an
independent clause.
 Give more space to
the important ideas.
 Repeat the keywords.
Less Emphatic (LE)  Establish a balanced
structure between
similar or opposite
elements.
 Use visual devises
such font face, size,
bold face, italics,
ALL-CAPITALS,
underline, and other
flashy effects.

It starts with the main idea

first and leaves the modifiers
and other details last.
 Place the important
Loose Sentence (LS) information near the
beginning of the
sentence in order to
achieve balance
structure.

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 English 102 2019

It starts with the modifiers

and other details first and
ends with the main idea. It
has stronger emphasis than
loose sentences; however,
Periodic Sentence excessive use of periodic
(PS) sentences may result to
monotony.
 Place the modifiers at
the beginning in order
to create suspense or
establish element of
surprise.
ACHIEVING SENTENCE ECONOMY
It happens when the
sentence does not express its It was an unexpected
It was a surprise when
meaning in the fewest words surprise when a pair of
twins were born at 12
as possible. in making the baby twins was born at
midnight.
sentence concise, make sure 12 midnight.
it keeps its true meaning.
Wordy Sentence  Eliminate
(WS) redundancy.
 Avoid needless
expressions. It would appear that I
I miss him.
 Eliminate cluttered miss him.
words.
 Shorten flabby
phrases.

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 English 102 2019

ACTIVITY #1
ON IDENTIFYING SENTENCE FAULTS
Name: ________________________________ Score: ____________________
Schedule: ____________________________ Date: ___________________
Identify the errors in the following sentences. Write the corresponding letter of the
correct answer. If there are errors, rewrite the sentences to achieve sentence unity,
coherence, emphasis, and economy. If there is no error, simply write CS.

A. Sentence Fragment (SF)

B. Zigzag Sentence (ZS)
C. Unnecessary Shift in Point of View (USPOV)
D. Unnecessary Shift in Number (USN)
E. Unnecessary Shift in Tense (UST)
F. Unnecessary Shift in Voice (USV)
G. Unnecessary Shift in Mood (USM)
H. Run-On Sentence (ROS)
I. Fused Sentence (FS)
J. Comma Splice (CSp)
K. Faulty Parallelism (FP)
L. Dangling Modifier (DM)
M. Squinting Modifier (SM)
N. Misplaced Modifier (MM)
O. Ambiguous Pronoun Reference (APR)
P. Faulty Coordination and Subordination (FCO)/(FSU)
Q. Less Emphatic (LE)
R. Wordy Sentence (WS)
_____1. While driving along the freeway, the wild flowers.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____2. I bought an iron with an automatic shut-off and I was always forgetting to unplug it.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____3. A motorcycle was reported stolen by the San Carlos Police yesterday.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____4. I am the one who cooks the food to eat.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____5. I was nervous, upset and I felt embarrassed when my professor asked me to recite
the poem.

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___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____6. Eighty percent of the Filipino movies I saw are lousy and that leaves only a handful
that are even worth considering.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____7. Made of bricks and stones with wooden shutters, the excursionists rented a house in
Ilocos.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____8. The patient was referred to a doctor with respiratory problem.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____9. The party people who were gesturing wildly mobbed the guest singer.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____10. Reading science fiction novels.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____11. I was writing an essay when he had called.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____12. I do not want to attend the party because Emerald is going to be there
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____13. My friends made woven baskets. I am glad to see them at the department store.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____14. The auto mechanic worked all week rebuilding the engine and enjoyed it very much.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
_____15. I spend my free time reading contemporary American short stories; Robert, on the
other hand, is more interested in sports and ammunition magazines.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.

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ACTIVITY #2
ON SENTENCE CORRECTION
Name: ________________________________ Score: ____________________
Schedule: ____________________________ Date: ____________________
Rewrite the following sentences. Keep in mind that your sentences should be well
written and should have essentially the same meaning as the sentence given.
1. Walking downtown yesterday, a child, I noticed, watching for the light to change.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
2. Listening in the park, no unusual noises could be heard by Renzo.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
3. Many of the graduates congratulated him for his valedictory speech at the end of the
ceremony.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
4. Using the spell checker, a number of errors in her paper were eliminated by her.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
5. Atty. Janice Andrade was invited to our symposium; she talks about protection law.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
6. When you cross the street in the middle of the block, this is an example of jaywalking.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________.
7. To hike, biking, and driving are Roger’s favorite ways of getting around.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________.
8. If a person wants to succeed in work, they have to establish clear career goals.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________.
9. Take time to look over the photographs that are enclosed with your family.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
10. She found an apple pie on the table, which is freshly baked.

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 English 102 2019

___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________.
ACTIVITY #3
ON SENTENCE WRITING
Name: ________________________________ Score: ____________________
Schedule: ____________________________ Date: ____________________

Construct at least 15 sentences describing the person of your choice.

1. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

2. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

3. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

4. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

5. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

6. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

7. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

8. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

9. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

10. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

11. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

12. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

13. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

14. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

15. __________________________________________________________________________________________.

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