standcc

StrategiesforWritingCC-CIATohelpmeconstructgrammaticallycorrectadvancedsentences.
Constructcompletesentences.
Makesurethateachsentencethatyouwriteisacompletesentence.
Itmusthaveacompletethoughtandhaveasubjectandaverb(e.
g.
,"UsingonlymenforallrolesinShakespeare'splays,"isnotacompletethought.
Ithastobechangedtoacompletethought,suchas,"ItwasnecessarytouseonlymenforallrolesinShakespeare'splays.
").
Readyoursentencesaloudtomakesurethatyouarewritingacompletethought.
Askyourselfifthesentencessoundright.
Constructcompoundsentences.
Makeyoursentencesmoreinterestingbyusingcompoundsentences.
Compoundsentencesincludetwoindependentclauses,bothofwhicharesentencesthatcanstandalone(e.
g.
,"Thearmiesfoughtfor2weeks,buttherewasnoclearwinner.
").
Avoidusingshortsimplesentences(e.
g.
,"Thearmiesfoughtfor2weeks.
Therewasnoclearwinner.
").
Useconjunctionssuchasbut,and,andsotoconnectthetwoindependentclauses.
Constructcomplexsentences.
Makeyoursentencesmoreinterestingbyconstructingcomplexsentences.
Complexsentencesincludeanindependentclause,whichisacompletesentencethatcanstandalone,andadependentclause,whichcannotstandalone(e.
g.
,"NewdiseaseswereintroducedintheIndianpopulationafterColumbuscametotheNewWorld.
").
NewdiseaseswereintroducedintheIndianpopulationisacompletesentenceandcanstandalone,butafterColumbuscametotheNewWorldisnotacompletesentencethatcanstandalone.
).
Avoiduseofsimplesentences(e.
g.
,"ColumbuscametotheNewWorld.
HeintroducednewdiseasestotheIndianpopulations.
").
Useconjunctionssuchaswhen,after,before,etc.
toconnecttheclauses.
Includeonlyrelatedideas.
Avoidrun-onsentencesthathaveunrelatedideasinthem(e.
g.
,"TheshipsweretheNina,Pinta,andtheSantaMaria,butColumbusdidn'tknowtheworldwasround.
").
Makesurealltheideasinyoursentencesarerelatedtoamaintopic.
Ifnot,usetwosentences.
Agreementofsentenceparts.
Makesurethatthesubjectandtheverbagree.
Forexample,inthesentence"Useoftoolswereimportanttothecaveman,"thesubjectisuseoftoolsandtheverbshouldbewas,notwere.
"Useoftoolswasimportanttothecaveman.
"Makesurethatpronounsagree.
Forexample,inthesentence,"Everyonewashappybecausehe(shouldbethey)weregoingtogetmoney.
"Makesurethatarticles(i.
e.
,a,andan)agree.
Forexample,inthesentence"Anequalsocietybeginswithanequallyexcellentschools.
"LearningToolbox.
SteppingstoneTechnologyGrant.
JamesMadisonUniversity,MSC1903,Harrisonburg,VA22807.