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Chapter 6
Sentence Pattern #1: Subj. + Vi [Intransitive Verb]
Examples:
a) John fell.
b) The red house on the hill by the lake would have deteriorated rapidly into a shambles with different people in it.
And that’s the long and the short of it. Remember that, for now, we are not going to write any compound or complex sentences, only simple active voice declarative sentences with no compound constituents. No questions, no commands, and no exclamations. However, we can add whatever you wish in the AUX (Auxiliary or helper Verb) and whatever modifying words and phrases you wish.
First, notice that sentence a) has only two words. These two words must be generated by the two-part phrase structure formula (Subject + Vi). We can easily recognize that "John" is the subject, in this case, a noun phrase (the most common structure for a subject). All you have to realize is that a phrase can be made up of a single word. In this case, the noun (part of speech) is the head of the NP and the entire NP, no modifiers, etc. (We’ll get into that "etc." later.) The Subject is followed by an intransitive verb. Intransitive verbs carry no objects or complements. Simple, right?
Groups, people! Each group write five pattern #1 sentences. Write sentences with as few as two words and at least one with twenty or more words. The other three can be somewhere in between. Make them as different from each other as possible. F2F Write your sentences in the space provided below. Online Work on this exercise on your own. If you have problems with it, post a question on Week 2 Main Discussion Thread.
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Chapter 6 Homework Assignment: Type three sentences (of your own making or from written sources other than our textbook) using sentence pattern #1. Each sentence should contain constituents other than those required by the formula in different places in the sentences. For instance, use adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, verbal phrases, intensifiers, etc. If these are unfamiliar to you, seek them out in handbooks and try to use examples you find to vary your sentence pattern #1 sentences. You are not to use any compound or complex sentences and you are not to use any compound constituents (e.g., "Bob and Mary . . ." or ". . . fussed and fumed" ). Look up the idea of compounding if you are unfamiliar with it. In regard to avoiding complex sentences, just don’t use any subordinate (dependent) clauses. That’s another term you might want to research in preparation for this assignment. Don’t worry. I’ll be generous if you make mistakes. Remember that through making errors we find out what we don’t know. That is the starting point for learning something new. But take the assignment seriously. Without your personal research effort, you will not learn very much from our class participation. F2F Bring your sentence to the next class. Online Post your sentences on the Chapter 6 Homework Thread by Wednesday.