English Comprehension and Composition Lecture 11 Objectives Advanced

English Comprehension and Composition – Lecture 11 Objectives: Advanced Sentence Structures • Parallelism (In detail with Exercises) • Sentence Fragments • Run-on Sentences

Parallelism • We wanted to cook and to go swimming. We wanted to cook and to swim. • He is talented, intelligent and has charm. He is talented, intelligent and charming. • Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bicycle. Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a bicycle.

Parallel structure means that two or more ideas in a sentence are expressed in similar form. And, but and or usually join similar terms—two or more nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, phases or clauses. • My ambition is to be a doctor and to specialize in surgery. (Parallel)

ACTIVITY 1. Mr. Garcia has promised me a good job and to pay me a fair salary. 2. The manager asked both groups to meet and share their differences and finally arriving at an agreement. 3. The magazine contains news, pictures, ads, tell you where to shop, and feature columns. 4. Tennis, modeling and to read suspense novels took up most of her time. 5. This is the life –to live, working and cooking outdoors. 6. Running towards the end zone, he slipped, got up, and was keeping on going as fast as he could. 7. Let’s go down to the store for a hamburger, donuts and drinking some coffee or tea.

Sentence Fragments Every sentence has to have a subject and a verb in order to be complete. If it doesn't, it's a fragment. That's easy enough if you have something like – Ran into town. (no subject) – The growling dog. (no verb)

• A fragment may be missing a SUBJECT Threw the baseball. (Who threw the baseball? ) • A fragment may be missing a VERB Mark and his friends. (What about them? ) • A fragment may be missing BOTH Around the corner. (Who was? What happened? )

You can correct a fragment by adding the missing part of speech. Add a subject: Rob threw the baseball. Add a verb: Mark and his friends laughed. Add both: A dog ran around the corner.

Run-on Sentences Two sentences that the writer has not separated with an end punctuation mark, or has not joined with a conjunction. Here are three examples of run-ons: 1. Tyler delivered newspapers in the rain he got very wet. 2. Kevin and his dog went for a walk it was a beautiful day. 3. On Monday we went outside for recess it was fun.

There are three ways to correct a run-on: 1. Add a period and a capital letter. 2. Add a semicolon. 3. Add a comma and a conjunction.

Let’s correct a sentence using a period and a capital letter. • Tyler delivered newspapers in the rain he got very wet. WRONG! RUN-ON! • Tyler delivered newspapers in the rain. He got very wet. RIGHT SENTENCE!

Let’s correct a sentence using a semicolon. • Kevin and his dog went for a walk it was a beautiful day. WRONG! RUN-ON! • Kevin and his dog went for a walk; it was a beautiful day. RIGHT SENTENCE!

Let’s correct a sentence using a comma and a conjunction. • On Monday we went outside for recess it was fun. WRONG! RUN-ON! • On Monday we went outside for recess, and it was fun. RIGHT! SENTENCE!

This presentation covers distinguishing between parallel and non- parallel elements.

Sample Item Directions: Choose the sentence that has no errors in structure. A. Eileen bought new shoes for the party, a gold charm for her mother, and to treat her best friend Maria to lunch. B. Eileen decided to buy new shoes for the party, purchasing a gold charm for her mother, and treating her best friend Maria to lunch. C. Eileen purchased new shoes for the party, a gold charm for her mother, and lunch for Maria, her best friend.

Items in a series must have parallel structure. Parallelism looks like this: Shane , , and .

Here is an example: Shane ate the pizza, wiped his lips, and burped with contentment. Ate = past tense verb; wiped = past tense verb; and burped = past tense verb.

Don’t create problems by mixing grammatical elements. Non-parallel structure looks like this: Shane , , and .

The problem looks like this: Shane ate the pizza, wiped his lips, and burping with contentment. Ate and wiped = past tense verbs, but burping = present participle!

Quick Test, Part 1 Directions: In the items that follow, choose the sentence that has no errors in structure. Let’s see how you perform!

Item 1 A. Barking dogs, kittens that were meowing, and squawking parakeets greet the pet shop visitors. B. Barking dogs, meowing kittens, and squawking parakeets greet the pet shop visitors. C. Dogs that bark, kittens that meow, and parakeets squawking greet the pet shop visitors.

Item 2 A. During class, Samuel spent his time flirting with Brittney, eating candy, and doodling on the assignment sheet. B. During class, Samuel spent his time flirting with Brittney, he ate candy, and doodling on the assignment sheet. C. During class, Samuel spent his time to flirt with Brittney, to eat candy, and doodling on the assignment sheet.

Item 3 A. Alex looked everywhere for his math book— under the bed, on his desk, and he searched inside the refrigerator. B. Alex looked everywhere for his math book— viewing under the bed, searching on his desk, and inside the refrigerator. C. Alex looked everywhere for his math book— under the bed, on his desk, and inside the refrigerator.

Item 4 A. The manager wanted staff who arrived on time, smiled at the customers, and didn’t snack on the chicken nuggets. B. The manager wanted staff who arrived on time, would be smiling at the customers, and would not be snacking on the chicken nuggets. C. The manager wanted staff who arrived on time, smiled at the customers, and no snacking on the chicken nuggets.

Item 5 A. After giving Jeremy her phone number, Felicia had to tolerate his late night calls, stupid conversations, and requests for her math homework. B. After giving Jeremy her phone number, Felicia had to tolerate his late night calls, the fact that he carried on stupid conversations, and requests for her math homework. C. After giving Jeremy her phone number, Felicia had to tolerate being woken up late at night, having stupid conversations, and he constantly requested her math homework.

Quick Test, Part 2 Directions: In the items that follow, choose the correct word or phrase within the context suggested by the sentence. Now try a different type!

Item 6 Pasta boiling in water, _____, and garlic bread baking in the oven welcomed Francisco as he opened the door. A. simmered tomato sauce in the pan B. tomato sauce simmering in the pan C. tomato sauce that simmered in the pan D. saucy tomatoes that were simmering in the pan

Item 7 During our vacation in the Bahamas, we hope _____, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, and to dance ourselves dizzy at reggae clubs. A. that we eat delicious seafood B. that eating delicious seafood occurs C. to eat delicious seafood D. eating delicious seafood

Item 8 Karen wished Ray chewed with his mouth closed, for otherwise he was everything she wanted in a date; he was tall, intelligent, and _____. A. he looked good B. being good looking C. one handsome man to look at D. handsome

Item 9 To win Laurie’s love, Albert visited the florist for roses, the drugstore for a box of chocolates, and _____. A. bought an expensive gold necklace at the jewelry store B. the jeweler for an expensive gold necklace C. the jeweler where he bought an expensive gold necklace D. to buy an expensive gold necklace

Item 10 Kimberly won’t date Terry because he is too short, too noisy, and _____. A. because he picks his teeth with his fingers B. too impolite C. is the most impolite man she has ever met D. Picking his teeth with his fingers

Reference The material has been adapted from Grammar Bytes! It provides additional handouts and exercises on parallel structure. Go to chomp. com! http: //chomp. com/structure 01. 20. b. htm