Understanding the Format
You worked with specific grammatical elements as a review of basic structures. And you completed sentences with phrases that you created yourself. If you completed those previous parts successfully, you are ready to write original sentences of your own.
In this part of the writing program you will write short sentences using a given phrase. Each sentence you write should be in the form described. In the example sentences below, the indicated part of speech is in italics; note that it is not always the example phrase. Review the examples, but do not use the example sentences in your writing. If you are not sure how to proceed, look in the Answer Key for suggested ways of writing each sentence.
Example phrase: the young barber
| HOW TO USE THAT PHRASE | EXAMPLE SENTENCES | |
| A. | subject of the sentence | The young barber fell down. |
| B. | direct object | Mary likes the young barber. |
| C. | indirect object | She gave the young barber a big tip. |
| D. | object of a preposition | I got the bill from the young barber. |
| E. | in a clause beginning with because | We were quiet because the young barber was asleep. |
| F. | possessive -‘s | The young barber’s car needs to be repaired. |
| G. | with an irregular past tense verb | The young barber found a kitten. |
| H. | with an irregular present perfect tense verb | The young barber has lost his job. |
| I. | with a verb in the past tense after the phrase When he arrived | When he arrived, the young barber went right to work. |
| J. | with a verb in the present perfect tense with a present participle | The young barber has been sweeping up. |
| K. | with a verb in the future perfect tense | The young barber will have earned fifty dollars by noon. |
| L. | in a compound sentence with the conjunction and | The little girl picked out some candy, and the young barber placed it in a bag. |
| M. | in a compound sentence with the conjunction because | The boss was angry because the young barber was late again. |
| N. | antecedent of the relative pronoun whose | I met the young barber, whose girlfriend is an actress. |
| O. | antecedent of the relative pronoun that, who, or which | Here is a photo of the young barber that used to work downtown. |
| P. | antecedent of an elliptical relative pronoun | The woman thanked the young barber she liked so much. |
| Q. | subject of a passive present perfect tense verb | The young barber has been fired |
| R. | subject of a passive past tense verb | The young barber was shocked by the horrible news. |
| S. | after a conditional phrase, such as If he could hear me | If he could hear me, the young barber would wave. |
Writing According to the Format
Exercise 1 Write ten sentences similar to the examples in A-S. Next to the part of speech for each sentence you will see which example sentence is similar to your new sentence. Use the phrase the new waiter.
- subject of the sentence
- direct object
- indirect object
- object of the preposition for
- object of the preposition of
- with an irregular present perfect tense verb
- with a verb in the future perfect tense
- in a compound sentence with the conjunction and
- antecedent of the relative pronoun that or which
- antecedent of an elliptical relative pronoun
Exercise 2 Write ten sentences similar to the examples in A-S. Next to the part of speech for each sentence you will see which example sentence is similar to your new sentence. Use the phrase some old friends.
- subject of the sentence
- direct object
- object of the preposition to
- object of the preposition by
- possessive
- with an irregular past tense verb
- in a compound sentence with the conjunction because
- antecedent of the relative pronoun who
- subject of a passive past tense verb
- after the conditional phrase If she had loved me
Exercise 3. Write ten sentences similar to the examples in A-S. Next to the part of speech for each sentence you will see which example sentence is similar to your new sentence. Use the phrase the new boss.
- subject of the sentence (Compare to sample sentence A.)
- indirect object (Compare to sample sentence C.)
- in a clause beginning with because (Compare to sample sentence E.)
- object of the preposition for (Compare to sample sentence D.)
- object of the preposition from (Compare to sample sentence D.)
- in a compound sentence with the conjunction and (Compare to sample sentence L.)
- in a compound sentence with the conjunction because (Compare to sample sentence M.)
- subject of a passive present perfect tense verb (Compare to samplesentence Q.)
- subject of a passive past tense verb (Compare to sample sentence R.)
- after the conditional phrase If you had helped us (Compare to sample sentence S.)