(tips for adding variety to boring sentences)

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Ten Sassy
Sentences

• (tips for adding variety to boring sentences)

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Why use variety in your sentences?

• Sentence variety is necessary for a number of
  reasons

Sentence variety makes your writing more
interesting to read!
Sentence variety adds style to your writing!
Sentence variety will help develop your writing
skills!
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Ten Sassy Sentence types

• 1. Two-adjective beginnings
• 2. -ing at beginning or end
• 3. -ly beginnings
• 4. Informative interrupters (Appositives)
• 5. Balanced sentences/Parallel structure
• 6. Dependent clauses (start w/sub.conj.)
• 7. Past Participle beginnings.

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1. Start with with.
2. Use a semicolon.
3. Start with to verb. (Infinitive)

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1. Two-Adjective Beginnings

• Tall, handsome lifeguards flirt wildly with the
  pretty girls.
• Rickety and dilapidated, the old schoolhouse
  didnt stand a chance in an earthquake.

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Now you try
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2. -ing at beginning

• Running like the wind, Forrest Gump made national
  headline news.
• Saving the best for last, Lisa finally ate her
  Reeses peanut butter cup.

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Now you try
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-ing at end

• He trudged along the hot desert for days, wishing
  he had brought more water.
• Sandy gave the homeless man all the money she
  had, hoping that her small act of kindness might
  bring him some comfort.

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Now you try
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3. -ly at beginning

• Cheerfully, she answered the phone for her
  mother.
• Slowly opening the door, the servant tried not to
  wake his master.

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Now you try
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4. Informative Interrupters

• The fish, a slimy mass of flesh, felt the
  alligators giant teeth sink into him as he
  struggled to swim away.
• The child, face covered with chocolate doughnut,
  asked his mother if he could have some milk.

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Now you try
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5. Balanced Sentences

• He runs onto the baseball field, spins around
  second base, and looks back at the academy.
• Choosing a Christmas tree, putting up Christmas
  lights, and baking Christmas cookies are all
  included in my December traditions.

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Now you try
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6. Dependent Clauses

• Because it rained, the garden party was
  postponed.
• Since the road construction is complete, Jim can
  make it home in only ten minutes.

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Review Coordinating Conjunctions

• FANBOYS
• CCs used after a comma to join one independent
  clause to another and, but, or, for, nor, so,
  and
• yet.

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Subordinating Conjunctions

• Used to add pizazz to your sentence
• structure!
• After, although, as, as though, because, before,
  if, once, since, though, unless, until, when,
  whether, and while.

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Now you try
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7. Join Ideas with a Past Participle

• Some sentences can be joined with a past
  participle.
• 1 Judith is alarmed by the increase in meat
  prices.
• 2 Judith has become a vegetarian.
• 3 Alarmed by the increase in meat prices,
  Judith has become a vegetarian.
• The sentence has been made into a past
  participial modifier by dropping the helping verb
  is and the subject Judith. The past participial
  alarmed now introduces the new sentence.
• A comma sets off the past participial modifier
  from the word it modifies, Judith. In order to
  avoid confusion, the word referred to must
  directly follow the modifier.

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Lets look at some more . . .

• 1 The term paper was revised and rewritten.
• 2 It received an A.
• 3 Revised and rewritten, the term paper
  received an A.
• 1 Duffy was surprised by the interruption.
• 2 He lost his train of thought.
• 3 Surprised by the interruption, Duffy lost his
  train of thought.
• Now YOU try!

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• 1 My mother was married at the age of sixteen.
• 2 My mother never finished high school.
• 1 The citizens have started cleanup and
  consciousness-raising campaigns.
• 2 They are concerned about conditions in the
  ghetto.
• 1 The game will take place on Sunday.
• 2 It was rained out twice.
• 1 The manuscript is very hard to read.
• 2 It is written in longhand.
• 1 The tree is withered and yellow.
• 2 - It needs a thorough watering.

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Now you write the sentences . . .

• Write five sentences of your own that begin with
  past participial modifiers. If you wish, use the
  words in this past participial list
• Thrilled Angered Seen Honored
• Shocked Dressed Hidden Bent
• Awakened Lost Stuffed Found
• Examined Annoyed Pinched Rewired

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7 Sassy Sentences

• Advanced Info

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Use with at the beginning

• Example
• With the upcoming Christmas festivities, our
  family was super busy making cookies and trimming
  the tree.
• Example
• With a corncob pipe and a button nose, Frosty the
  Snowman was a jolly, happy soul.

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Now, you try!
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Semicolon Not just a wink )

• Full sentence before it.
• Full sentence after it.
• Example
• Rudolph the red nosed reindeer had a very shiny
  nose if you ever saw it, you would say it
  glowed.
• Dont break the sentence too early.

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Now, you try!
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Infinitive Phrase

• Start the sentence with the word, To.
• Then add a verb.
• Example
• To steal all the Whos presents, the Grinch
  dressed up like Santa Claus and went to all the
  houses in Whoville.

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Choose your favorite Holiday Movie

• A Christmas Story with Ralphie
• The Grinch
• Elf
• The Polar Express
• Santa Clause
• Jingle All the Way
• Home Alone
• Christmas Vacation

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Pick a scene from the movie

• Write a sentence starting with an infinitive
  phrase.
• Example To convince his parents to get him a
  Red Rider BB Gun, Ralphie leaves notes around the
  house for his parents to find.

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The End!

• Remember to add SASSY SENTENCES
• to all of your papers from now on and
• FOREVER!!!!!!

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Created by Anita Mattos and Melissa Hilton

• 2002
• (Resources include Barry Nodens Image Grammar
  and The Write Source, 2000.)