Introduction

It’s important to have variety in your sentence length and structure. This quote from Gary Provost illustrates why:

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader’s ear. Don’t just write words. Write music.^[1]

You can also listen to the difference in the video below:

In order to create this variety, you need to know how sentences work and how to create them. In this outcome we will identify the parts of sentences and learn how they fit together to create music in writing.

---

Basic Parts of a Sentence

Every sentence has a subject and a predicate. The subject of a sentence is the noun, pronoun, or phrase or clause the sentence is about:

• Einstein’s general theory of relativity has been subjected to many tests of validity over the years.
• Although a majority of caffeine drinkers think of it as a stimulant, heavy users of caffeine say the substance relaxes them.
• In a secure landfill, the soil on top and the cover block storm water intrusion into the landfill. (compound subject)

The predicate is the rest of the sentence after the subject:

• The pressure in a pressured water reactor varies from system to system.
• The pressure is maintained at about 2250 pounds per square inch to prevent steam from forming.
• The pressure is then lowered to form steam at about 600 pounds per square inch.
• In contrast, a boiling water reactor operates at constant pressure.

A predicate can include the verb, a direct object, and an indirect object.

Direct Object

A direct object—a noun, pronoun, phrase, or clause acting as a noun—takes the action of the main verb. A direct object can be identified by putting what?, which?, or whom? in its place.

• The housing assembly of a mechanical pencil contains the mechanical workings of the pencil.
  • The action (contains) is directly happening to the object (workings).
• Lavoisier used curved glass discs fastened together at their rims, with wine filling the space between, to focus the sun’s rays to attain temperatures of 3000° F.
  • The action (used) is directly happening to the object (discs).
• A 20 percent fluctuation in average global temperature could reduce biological activity, shift weather patterns, and ruin agriculture. (compound direct object)
  • The actions are directly happening to multiple objects: reduce activity, shift patterns, and ruin agriculture.
• On Mariners 6 and 7, the two-axis scan platforms provided much more capability and flexibility for the scientific payload than those of Mariner 4. (compound direct object)
  • The action (provided) is directly happening to multiple objects (capability and flexibility).

Indirect Object

An indirect object—a noun, pronoun, phrase, or clause acting as a noun—receives the action expressed in the sentence. It can be identified by inserting to or for.

• The company is designing senior citizens a new walkway to the park area.
  • The company is not designing new models of senior citizens; they are designing a new walkway for senior citizens. Thus, senior citizens is the indirect object of this sentence.
  • Walkway is the direct object of this sentence, since it is the thing being designed.
• Please send the personnel office a resume so we can further review your candidacy.
  • You are not being asked to send the office somewhere; you’re being asked to send a resume to the office. Thus, the personnel office is the indirect object of this sentence.
  • Resume is the direct object of this sentence, since it is the thing you should send.

Phrases and Clauses

Phrases and clauses are groups of words that act as a unit and perform a single function within a sentence. A phrase may have a partial subject or verb but not both; a dependent clause has both a subject and a verb (but is not a complete sentence). Here are a few examples (not all phrases are highlighted because some are embedded in others):

Phrases	Clauses
Electricity has to do with those physical phenomena involving electrical charges and their effects when in motion and when at rest.(involving electrical charges and their effects is also a phrase.)	Electricity manifests itself as a force of attraction, independent of gravitational and short-range nuclear attraction, when two oppositely charged bodies are brought close to one another.
In 1833, Faraday’s experimentation with electrolysis indicated a natural unit of electrical charge, thus pointing to a discrete rather than continuous charge. (to a discrete rather than continuous charge is also a phrase.)	Since the frequency is the speed of sound divided by the wavelength, a shorter wavelength means a higher wavelength.
The symbol that denotes a connection to the grounding conductor is three parallel horizontal lines, each of the lower ones being shorter than the one above it.	Nuclear units planned or in construction have a total capacity of 186,998 KW, which, if current plans hold, will bring nuclear capacity to about 22% of all electrical capacity by 1995. (if current plans hold is a clause within a clause)

There are two types of clauses: dependent and independent. A dependent clauses is dependent on something else: it cannot stand on its own. An independent clause, on the other hand, is free to stand by itself.

So how can you tell if a clause is dependent or independent? Let’s take a look at the clauses from the table above:

• when two oppositely charged bodies are brought close to one another
• Since the frequency is the speed of sound divided by the wavelength
• which, if current plans hold, will bring nuclear capacity to about 22% of all electrical capacity by 1995

All of these clauses are dependent clauses. We can tell because of the words when, since, and which. Words like since, when, and because turn an independent clause into a dependent clause. For example “I was a little girl in 1995” is an independent clause, but “Because I was a little girl in 1995” is a dependent clause. This class of word includes the following:

after	although	as	as far as	as if	as long as	as soon as
as though	because	before	even if	even though	every time	if
in order that	since	so	so that	than	though	unless
until	when	whenever	where	whereas	wherever	while

Common Sentence Structures

Basic Sentence Patterns

Subject + verb

The simplest of sentence patterns is composed of a subject and verb without a direct object or subject complement. It uses an intransitive verb, that is, a verb requiring no direct object:

• Control rods remain inside the fuel assembly of the reactor.
• The development of wind power practically ceased until the early 1970s.
• The cross-member exposed to abnormal stress eventually broke.
• Only two types of charge exist in nature.

Subject + verb + direct object

Another common sentence pattern uses the direct object:

• Silicon conducts electricity in an unusual way.
• The anti-reflective coating on the the silicon cell reduces reflection from 32 to 22 percent.

Subject + verb + indirect object + direct object

The sentence pattern with the indirect object and direct object is similar to the preceding pattern:

• I am writing her about a number of problems that I have had with my computer.
• Austin, Texas, has recently built its citizens a system of bike lanes.

Sentence Types

Simple Sentences

A simple sentence is one that contains a subject and a verb and no other independent or dependent clause.

• One of the tubes is attached to the manometer part of the instrument indicating the pressure of the air within the cuff.
• There are basically two types of stethoscopes.
  • In this sentence, the subject and verb are inverted; that is, the verb comes before the subject. However, it is still classified as a simple sentence.
• To measure blood pressure, a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope are needed.
  • This sentence has a compound subject—that is, there are two subjects—but it is still classified as a simple sentence.

Command sentences are a subtype of simple sentences. These sentences are unique because they don’t actually have a subject:

• Clean the dishes.
• Make sure to take good notes today.
• After completing the reading, answer the following questions.

In each of these sentences, there is an implied subject: you. These sentences are instructing the reader to complete a task. Command sentences are the only sentences in English that are complete without a subject.

Compound Predicates

A predicate is everything in the verb part of the sentence after the subject (unless the sentence uses inverted word order). A compound predicate is two or more predicates joined by a coordinating conjunction. Traditionally, the conjunction in a sentence consisting of just two compound predicates is not punctuated.

• Another library media specialist has been using Accelerated Reader for ten years and has seen great results.
• This cell phone app lets users share pictures instantly with followers and categorize photos with hashtags.

Compound Sentences

A compound sentence is made up of two or more independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor, but, yet, for) and a comma, an adverbial conjunction and a semicolon, or just a semicolon.

• In sphygmomanometers, too narrow a cuff can result in erroneously high readings, and too wide a cuff can result in erroneously low readings.
• Some cuff hook together; others wrap or snap into place.

Sentence Punctuation Patterns

While there are infinite possibilities for sentence construction, let’s take a look at some of the most common punctuation patterns in sentences. In order to do this, let’s first look at this passage about Queen Elizabeth I. You don’t need to pay attention to the words: just look at the punctuation.

Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on March 24, 1603. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two and a half years after Elizabeth’s birth. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, the childless Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.

Elizabeth’s reign is known as the Elizabethan era. The period is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights (such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe) and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers (such as Francis Drake). Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor in an era when government was ramshackle and limited, and when monarchs in neighboring countries faced internal problems that jeopardized their thrones. After the short reigns of Elizabeth’s half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity.

Now let’s look at the passage with the words removed:

____________________________________________________________________, ____. ____________________________, __________, ______________________________________. _________________, ___________________________________________________.

__________________________________. ________________________________________, ___________ (____________________________________) ____________________________________ (________________). ________________, _______________________________________________. _________________________________________________________________________________, __________________________________________________________________. ________________________, __________________________________________________.

As you can see, this passage has a fairly simple punctuation structure. It simply uses periods, commas, and parentheses. These three marks are the most common punctuation you will see. Some other common sentence patterns include the following:

• ________; ________.
  • Elizabeth was baptized on 10 September; Archbishop Thomas Cranmer stood as one of her godparents.
• ________; however, ________.
  • The English took the defeat of the armada as a symbol of God’s favor; however, this victory was not a turning point in the war.
• ________: ____, ____, and ____.
  • The period is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by several well-known playwrights: William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Francis Beaumont.

Parallel Structure

What exactly is parallel structure? It’s simply the practice of using the same structures or forms multiple times: making sure the parts are parallel to each other. Parallel structure can be applied to a single sentence, a paragraph, or even multiple paragraphs. Compare the two following sentences:

• Yara loves running, to swim, and biking.
• Yara loves running, swimming, and biking.

Was the second sentence easier to comprehend than the first? The second sentence uses parallelism—all three verbs are gerunds, whereas in the first sentence two are gerunds and one is an infinitive. While the first sentence is technically correct, it’s easy to trip up over the mismatching items. The application of parallelism improves writing style and readability, and it makes sentences easier to process.

Compare the following examples:

• Lacking parallelism: “She likes cooking, jogging, and to read.”
  • Parallel: “She likes cooking, jogging, and reading.”
  • Parallel: “She likes to cook, jog, and read.”
• Lacking parallelism: “He likes to swim and running.”
  • Parallel: “He likes to swim and to run.”
  • Parallel: “He likes swimming and running.”

Once again, the examples above combine gerunds and infinitives. To make them parallel, the sentences should be rewritten with just gerunds or just infinitives. Note that the first nonparallel example, while inelegantly worded, is grammatically correct: “cooking,” “jogging,” and “to read” are all grammatically valid conclusions to “She likes.”

• Lacking parallelism: “The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and down the alley sprinted.”
• Grammatical but not employing parallelism: “The dog ran across the yard and jumped over the fence, and down the alley he sprinted.”
• Parallel: “The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and sprinted down the alley.”

The nonparallel example above is not grammatically correct: “down the alley sprinted” is not a grammatically valid conclusion to “The dog.” The second example, which does not attempt to employ parallelism in its conclusion, is grammatically valid; “down the alley he sprinted” is an entirely separate clause.

---