Simple sentence A simple sentence is an independent clause which consists of a subject and a verb.. Complex sentence A complex sentence is a sentence containing one independent clause an
Trang 1Course: writing 1
Lecturer: Tran Vo Thanh Tung
Material: Self- complied by the lecturer
Duration: 11 weeks (45 periods)
Classes: 10AV111, 10 AV112, 10AV113
Week 1: Introduction to sentence writing
A Theory
Distinguish sentences from clauses and phrases
1 Phrase:
a Definition: a phrase is a group of words that cannot make any sense by itself It
does not contain a verb and its subject A phrase is used to tell more about the
clause
b Example: to school, by bus…
c Kinds of phrase:
Noun phrase: a thick book, English class…
Adjective phrase: very difficult, really interesting…
Prepositional phrase: at home, in the garden…
Verb phrase: go to school, make mistakes…
Adverb phrase: very well, rather carefully…
Interjection: “what a pity!”, “oh my God!”
2 Clause:
a Definition: a clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a predicate
b Example: We major in English
S predicate
c Classification:
There are two kinds of clauses: dependent clauses and independent clauses
Dependent clauses: cannot stand alone because they are incomplete thoughts
Independent clauses: can stand alone because they are complete thoughts
Example: After she finished high school, she began looking for a job
Dependent cl independent cl
3 Sentence:
a Definition: a sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete
thought A sentence begins with a capital letter, and ends with a period and must contain at least one clause
b Example: Most of the students go to school by motorbike
c Classification:
Kinds of
Trang 2Simple
sentence
A simple sentence is an independent clause which consists
of a subject and a verb
I sometimes get up late
I sometimes get up late
Compound
sentence
A compound sentence is a sentence containing two or more
independent clauses joined together
I usually get up early, but I sometimes get up late
Complex
sentence
A complex sentence is a sentence containing one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses
Because I got up early, I went to school on time
Compound-
complex
sentence
A compound-complex sentence is
a combination of two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses
If you can speak English well, you will have a good job, and you will get a good salary
B Practice:
Activity 1: Analyze these following sentences into phrases and clauses by underlining the groups of words that can be a clause or a phrase and writing Cl or P below them
Ex: I put the book on the table
Cl P
1 I thank you with all my heart
2 Among the blind, the one-eyed is the King
3 In a low voice, he told us the tale of his cruel wrongs
4 He refuses to answer the thorny questions
5 I hope that he will come at a very early date
6 Starvation is a great threat for people living in under-developed countries
7 The coast of Vietnam winds in the shape of the letter S
8 He came to borrow some money from you, but you were out, so he went away to a pawnshop
9 When he comes, I’ll tell him what has happened in his absence
10 Even little girls dream of becoming astronauts
11 In spite of being at the peak of their fame, the Beatles decided to stop giving concerts
12 Taking off his cap, lowering his umbrella, and scraping his shoes on the doormat, he rang the doorbell
Activity2: Expand these sentences as much as possible by adding more phrases or clauses Ex: I don’t know
I don’t know if i can go to the post office to send this letter for him
1 She is sitting…
2 The three large, black, brown dogs barked
3 I noticed the stain…
4 There is an apple tree…
Trang 35 We saw a beautiful woman…
6 We are very curious…
7 We went…
8 The boy is hiding…
9 He didn’t return…
10 They are wondering…
11 They missed the train…
12 I could not go to school…
Week 2: Sentence Elements
A: Theory
There are 4 main parts of sentences: subject, verb, object, complement
1 Subject: the subject of a sentence tells us who and what the sentence is about It tells
us who or what performs the action expressed in the predicate The subject is usually noun or noun equivalent
"Man makes house; woman makes home" NOUN
The rich should help the poor ADJECTIVE as NOUN
Reading is my hobby GERUND
To live means to struggle TO INFINITIVE
Smoking too much is very harmful PHRASE
2 Verbs: verbs usually follow the subject; it generally shows the action of the sentence
except linking verb
There are two kinds of verbs:
a) Intransitive verbs: verbs that can make sense without object
Ex: She usually gets up very late
Her family lives in a beautiful ancient house
b) Transitive verbs: verbs that require object
Ex: She is making a cake
C) Objects: There are two kinds
a) Direct object: is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of a transitive verb in the
active voice A direct object answer the question what? Or whom?
Ex: The man helped us (Whom did the man help?)
The little boy is drawing a picture (What is the boy drawing?)
b) Indirect object: is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb indirectly Indirect objects name the person to whom or for whom something is done
Ex: The oil delivery man gives me the bill (To whom does the man give the bill?) Tom bought some sandwiches and milk for his wife and son (for whom did Tom buy … ?)
Forms of Objects
1 He likes oranges (N)
2 I don’t like it.(PRONOUN)
3 We must obey the old.(ADJ as N)
1 I gave my nephew a dictionary (N)
2 Did you buy her a present?
Trang 44 She really wants to leave.(TO INF)
5 He has stopped smoking.(GERUND)
6 I don’t know how to do this
work.(PHRASE)
7 I know that you have been
wrong.(CLAUSE)
(PRONOUN)
3 Give who come first the tickets.(CLAUSE)
D) Complements: there are two kinds
a) Subjective complement: is a noun, pronoun or adjective that follows a linking verb and restates, renames or identifies the subject
b) Objective complement: is a noun, verb, adjective or equivalents that follow the object and modify it
Forms of Complements
1 Her father is a doctor
2 This book is mine
3 The boy looks tired
4 My hobby is swimming
5 To live is to struggle
6 Knowledge is what he wants to get
7 He is out of work
1 They call them cowards.(N)
2 He makes me angry.(Adj)
3 She felt her heart beating wildly.(Pr.p)
4 He wants this work completed.(Past.p)
5 He ask me to stay.(to inf)
6 We has seen towns destroyed by bombing.(phrase)
7 I let him go out (bare inf)
8 I saw the house afire(adv)
Practice:
Activity 1: Identifying the sentence parts in the following short story
It was a Saturday morning in May When Mrs Edwards opened her curtains and looked out, she smiled and said, “It’s going to be a beautiful day.” She woke her small son up at eight-thirty and said to him,” Get up, Teddy We’re going to go to the zoo today Wash your hands and face, brush your teeth and eat your breakfast quickly We’re going to go to New York by train.”
Teddy was six years old He was very happy now, because he liked going to the zoo very much, and he also liked going by train He said,” I dreamed about the zoo last night, Mommy.”
His mother was in a hurry, but she stopped and smiled at her small son “You did, Teddy?” she said.” “And what did you do in the zoo in your dream?”
Teddy laughed and answered, “You know, Mommy! You were there in my dream too.”
Activity 2: Write a short story about 10 sentences beginning with the given sentences; then, identify the parts in each sentence
Trang 5Get out of your car!
One day, an elderly woman named Minnie walks out of a local supermarket Her hands are occupied by half a dozen bags filled with items…
Week 3+4: Sentence patterns
A: Theory
Basing on the kinds of verbs, we can have these five basic sentence patterns
Intransitive verbs:
Pattern 1: S+V (complete intransitive verb)
Pattern 2: S+ V+ SC (incomplete intransitive verb)
Transitive verbs:
Pattern 3: S+V+O
Pattern 4: S+V+ iO+ dO/ S + Vt + dO + to/for + iO
Pattern 5: S + V + O+ OC
Pattern 1: S + Vi Pattern 3: S+Vt+O
Ex: She is lying on the sofa
Yesterday, I went home very late
Ex: Mary is making a chocolate cake
I watched a very interesting film on
TV yesterday
Some verbs can be used both as intransitive verbs and transitive verbs, but their meanings may change
Ex: A little boy is running along the river bank
My father is running a thriving grocery business
My mother is cooking in the kitchen
She is cooking the dinner
Pattern 4: S + Vt + Oi + Od or S + Vt + Od + to/for + Oi
Ex: I’ll send her a letter
She made her daughter a cake
I’ll send a letter to her
She made the cake for her daughter
The shorter object always precedes the longer one
Ex: I’ll give you whatever I have
I’ll give whatever I have to you (wrong)
She left the message for every member of the family
She left every member of the family the message (wrong)
Common verbs that are used with preposition TO & FOR
1 To: send, read, say, tell, lend, give, speak, sell, throw, wish, cause, pass, teach, offer, give, show, hand, bring, allot (phân công cho, giao cho), award, grand, owe, pay, render (trả lại, đáp lại), restore (trả lại)…
Ex: I still owe money to my tailor
She cannot refuse him anything or She cannot refuse anything to him
Trang 6I’d like to render thanks to you
2 For: save, order, boil, build, make, buy, write, do, leave, cook, reach, choose, sing, fetch (tìm mang về),…
The verbs: ask, save, envy, and strike must be used in the pattern : S+Vt+Oi+Od
Ex: I asked him several questions
I envy you your fine garden
That will save a lot of troubles
I struck the door a heavy blow
In those examples, it is difficult for us to identify which one is I.O or D.O
Pattern 2: S + Vi + SC
Ex: She looks very tired
The teacher is he
(I want the teacher to be him.)
Intransitive verbs in this pattern are linking verbs Linking verbs are called incomplete intransitive verbs These are most common verbs:
Appear : She appears upset
Be : He is a very good teacher
Become : You have become lazier
Come : His dream will soon come true
Go : This milk has gone sour
Fall : My sister has fallen sick
Feel : I feel very tired after a long trip
Get : The man got rich quickly
Grow : She grows older
Keep : He always keeps calm
Look : The girl looks pale
Prove : The new typist proves efficient
Remain : The boy remains ill
Run : Our supplies are running short
Seem : Stars seem only dots
Sound : Your explanation sounds reasonable
Smell : The dinner smells good
Taste : Lemons taste sour
Turn : The man turned a traitor
To infinitive Bare infinitive
Present participle
Pattern 5: S + Vt + O + O.C Past participle
Noun
Adjective
Trang 7S+ V + O + to inf
Ex: He wants me to help him
The teacher encourages us to to do more exercises
Verbs that are usually used in this pattern
Cause, force, get, instruct, persuade, convince, tell, remind, urge, ask, want, like, wish, prefer, order, dare, warn, permit, lead, beg, challenge, promise, request, tempt, teach, advise…
S+V+O + bare infinitive
Ex: Did you see him go out?
We felt the house slightly shake
Verbs that are usually used in this pattern
1 Verbs of sensation: perceive (nhận thấy), see, notice, smell, hear, feel, observe, mark, watch…it expresses an action that happened and finished
2 Causative verbs: have, make, help, let, bade, know ( always in present perfect tense)
Ex: I have never known him behave so badly before
S+V+O + present participle
Ex: I saw the kitten climbing up the tree
He kept me waiting for two hours
Verbs that are usually used in this pattern
1 Verbs of sensation: expresses an action that is happening at the point of time the speaker says
2 Other verbs: keep (bắt), catch, find (bắt gặp), get, set (làm cho), start (khiến ai phải), have (cho phép, làm cho), leave (bỏ lại), spend, waste,…
Ex: I won’t have you going out late at night
The story sets me thinking
S+V+O + past participle
Verbs that are usually used in this pattern
Feel, find, hear, like, make, prefer, see, want, wish, get= have: nhờ
Ex: I want my fish fried
Have you ever seen a man hanged?
I got my hair cut yesterday
S+V+O + Noun
Verbs that are usually used in this pattern
Choose, crown (xưng vương), name, call, appoint, nominate (đề nghị, chỉ định, bổ nhiệm), designate (bổ nhiệm), elect, proclaim (công bố), nickname, make (phong, bổ nhiệm), christen (đặt tên thánh), honor…
Ex: They call their dog “spot”
People in the kingdom decided to crown him the King
S+V+O + Adjective
Believe, think, consider, acknowledge, find, …
Ex: I think him honest
I found the box empty
We consider this test easy
PRACTICE
Trang 8Practice 1: identifying the sentence patterns used in the following sentences
1 I cannot tell when to telephone him
2 I should like my hair cut short
3 They challenged us to run a mile
4 He shined his shoes
5 You must show your son how to dance smoothly
6 He does not know when to speak and when to remain silent
7 The frost lasted for six weeks
8 We envy you your good fortune
9 She kept her husband waiting for hours
10 We are out of danger now
11 Do you notice anyone coming in?
12 I want your exercise finished at six o’clock
13 They elected him the chairman
14 The sun is shining
15 His brother is an engineer
16 That is what I want
17 He seems much younger than i
18 Take off your shirt
19 Do you think that she is coming?
20 The teacher explained the lesson to me
21 I cannot imagine why she left without saying good-bye
22 Please have the mail iron my clothes
23 They believe him innocent
24 When are you going to pay them the money you owe them?
25 Open your mouth wide
Practice 2: Translate these following sentences into English using the verb patterns you have learnt
1 Tơi tin rằng anh ấy là người thật thà
2 Nhìn xem Anh ta đang lái một chiếc trực thăng đấy
3 Con có nhớ cho con mèo đenđ không?
4 Ông ta đang cố dạy cho cậu con trai của mình lái xe
5 Anh ta cứ giục tôi tăng tốc trong khi trời đang mưa
6 Cô ấy muốn món thịt bò của cô ta được nấu kỹ
7 Tôi không dám xin tăng lương
8 Anh ấy đặt tên cho con mèo của mình là Sally
9 Từ hồi biết anh ta đến giờ chưa bao giờ anh ta đúng giờ cả
10 Ông nội đã quyết định chọn Bill làm người thừa kế
11 Chúng tôi thấy cô ta ngồi đó một mình và khóc
Trang 912 Anh có thấy ai lấy cái áo mưa của tôi không?
13 Bôä phim dở đến nỗi nhiều khán giả bắt đầu ngáp
14 Món súp bay mùi thơm phức
15 Làm ơn chuyển cho tôi lọ muối
16 Cái áo dài này là của Liên
17 Bà ta may cái áo sơ mi đó cho chồng bà ta
18 Tôi không biết khi nào xe lửa rời ga
Week 5: Compound sentence
A Theory
I The definition of compound sentences
A compound sentence is a sentence consisting of two or more independent clauses
properly joined together
II Ways to coordinate clauses
There are four ways to join the independent clauses
1 With a coordinator I enjoy tennis, but I hate golf
2 With a conjunctive adverb I enjoy tennis; however, I hate golf
3 With a semicolon I enjoy tennis; I hate golf
4 With correlative conjunctions Not only did he give that man a meal but he also offered
the man a place to rest for the night
1 Compound sentences with coordinators ( FANBOYS)
S1 + , coordinator + S2
for( reason) Women live longer than men, for they take better care of their
health
and(addition) Women follow more healthful diets, and they go to doctors more
often
nor(addition of
negative point)
He does not smoke, nor does he drink alcohol
but(contrast) It is raining heavily, but she still goes to school
or(choice) Both men and women should limit the amount of fat in their diets,
or they risk getting heart disease
yet(contrast) He has studied very hard, yet he failed in the exam
so(logical
consequence)
She got up late, so she missed the train
1.1 If the conjunction is AND or OR and the Subjects refer to the same thing or
person, the construction is as followed:
Joining 2 simple sentences: S+P1+ and/or + P2( S: subject; P: predicate)
Ex: She sat down She cried.==> She said down and cried
She never complained She never criticized ==>She never complained or criticized
Joining more than 2 simple sentences: S+ P1, P2 and P3 & S+ P1, or P2, or P3
Trang 10Ex: We ran out of the house, got into our car and drove off
She didn’t yell, or scream, or shake
1.2 If the conjunction is BUT, SO, FOR, NOR, YET…, it is usual to repeat the subject
2 Compound sentences with conjunctive adverbs
A compound sentence can be formed as followed: S1+; conjunctive adverb, + S2 (S:
sentence)
conjunctive adverbs equivalent coordinators
Accordingly, Consequently, Hence, Therefore, Thus So
3 Compound sentences with semi colons
A compound sentence can be formed with a semi colon as followed: S1; S2
Note: The sentences must be close in meaning
Ex: My elder brother studies law; my younger brother studies medicine
(The two sentences mainly mention the fields of study)
4 Paired conjunctions (correlative conjunctions)
It is one of a pair of words separated from each other that serves as a conjunction
connecting two words, phrases, or sentences
These are the brief list of common correlative conjunctions:
Both…….and : positive sentence
Not only…… but also: negative- exclusion
Either……….or: alternative
Neither…… nor: emphatic- in addition to
If the two subjects are joined by:
1) Both…and, the verb is always in plural form
2) Either…or & neither…nor, not only….but also, the subject that is closer to
the verb determines whether the verb is singular or plural
Note: When we join words, phrases or clauses, we should be aware of their parallelism
We always make sure that the parts joined are in the same grammatical form
Ex: By obeying the speed limit, we can save energy, lives and money
N N N
By obeying the speed limit, we can save energy, lives, and it costs us less (wrong)
N N Cl
B: Practice
Practice 1: Combine the following pairs of sentences with suitable coordinators or adverbial conjunctions
1 He enjoys watching a talk show She prefers watching a late movie
2 He does not drink He does not smoke
3 Our jeep plunged into the shallow river It plashed water
4 The rain fell softly outside It was a relaxing day to stay indoors