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CU Scarborough - Academic Skills: Sentences and Paragraphs

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Sentences

Types of Sentences

There are variations when writing sentences that will require different punctuation. 

Simple Sentence - This is a sentence with one clause (one verb).

My sister enjoyed taking a walk with you.

Compound Sentence - This is a sentence that combines two clauses that are related. 

The dinosaur frightened the man, and he ran off screaming. 

Complex Sentence - This is a sentence that combines two clauses, one independent and one dependent on the other. 

After Tom had finished counting the chickens, he discovered one was missing. 

Common Mistakes

Common Mistakes

There are some common mistakes to be aware of when writing sentences. 

Problem  Solution

Incomplete sentences occur when a verb or something is missing, or the end of the sentence is actually the beginning of a new sentence. 

i.e Considering Disney's view on Star Wars. 

i.e And this is because of his use of statistics. 

 Ensure you have included a Subject and a Verb. The Subject is the who or what of the sentence, and the Verb is what they are doing. 

Run-on sentences occur when they contain more than one complete sentence. Sentences are too long or too descriptive.

i.e What can be seen from Doe's report is that pizza is the dominant cuisine available to order for delivery, this suggests that there might be a market for different cuisines to offer delivery and this reveals an important business opportunity and also an open market.

See if you can split your sentence into two complete sentences.

Check that the end of your sentence isn’t a different point or deeper than the beginning. If it is, you may want to start with that half of the sentence and rewrite it from there with your newfound point.

Informal sentences occur when the writer uses everyday language as opposed to a formal academic register. 

  • Contractions ex. ‘shouldn’t’, ‘won’t’, ‘can’t’, ‘they’ll’
  • Personal pronouns ex. ‘I’, ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’
  • The informal language which needs an upgrade ex. ‘bad’, ‘good’, figures of speech, slang, etc.

i.e ‘This study shows that students reacted badly towards the universities’ treatment of them.’

Ask yourself, what is the main point of the sentence? You will then try to write the sentence as simple as possible for the reader to understand what you are saying. 

i.e ‘I think that this is bad result that shows how universities shouldn’t treat students.’

Re-write

i.e ‘This study reveals that students reacted negatively towards the universities’ treatment of them.’

Paragraphs

Grammar, Syntax & Punctuation

Grammar refers to:

‘(the study or use of) the rules about how words change their form and combine with other words to make sentences.

Syntax means:

‘the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

While punctuation is:

‘(the use of) special symbols that you add to writing to separate phrases and sentences.

Resources

Resources