Category Archives: grammar

Why use complex sentences?

Posted on July 1, 2015 | Leave a comment

In English, we have three types of sentences: simple, compound and complex. Each is better in particular situations.

Complex sentences join an independent clause with a dependent clause. These sentences are used to show a particular kind of relationship—usually a stronger idea joined to a weaker idea, or a controlling idea joined to a secondary, less important idea. Yet sometimes the independent clause is the weaker or less weighty idea compared to the dependent clause.

girl writing and thinking

Why are complex sentences used?

  • Complex sentences show relationships between clauses, such as cause and effect, contrast, and time relationships. For example, I took a walk because I need exercise.  Or, although my brother likes peaches, my sister prefers blueberries.  Or, Daniel headed home as soon as the movie ended.
  • Complex sentences can mimic the complicated thinking required to understand certain kinds of ideas, such as logic. Or, they can replicate the patterns of thinking of a deep thinker.  For example, if A is less than B, and if B is less than C, then A is less than C.  Or, the detective figured out that Morgan was the murderer because Morgan had a motive, even though his girlfriend, Emma, provided an alibi.
  • Complex sentences can force the reader to focus on one part of a sentence (one idea) rather than another part of a sentence.  For example, the Supreme Court–especially Justice Scalia–disdains creating law by its decisions since enacting laws is the job of Congress.
  • Complex sentences can gather small choppy sentences into more graceful, longer sentences.  For example, Dad grilled the chicken.  Mom mixed the salad.  The children set up a croquet game.  Later they would play.  First they would eat.  Joined together these tiny sentences become While Dad grilled the hotdogs and Mom mixed the salad, the children set up a croquet game which they would play after they ate.
  • Complex sentences can form the skeleton of informal, cumulative sentences which are patterned on the way people speak. For example, Jack said, “I expect a storm because the clouds are building up, which is a sure sign a thunderstorm is coming on hot, humid Atlanta summer afternoons like this one.”

Complex sentences can begin with the independent clause or the dependent clause; the choice belongs to the writer. Most children start with the independent clause, adding the dependent clause as they think through their ideas. Usually children limit themselves to only a few types of dependent clauses: adverbial clauses beginning with “because,” “after” and “when.” Almost never do they use relative pronouns to create complex sentences.

How can you encourage children to use complex sentences with more variety?

  • For younger children, I prepare worksheets with lists of two sentences needing to be combined. I suggest the word that needs to link the sentences, and they must write the new sentence.
  • For older children, I write a list of subordinate conjunctions from which they can choose in order to join sentences in a list which I provide. I might stipulate that half the sentences need to begin with the subordinate conjunction to force them to start sentences with the dependent clause.
  • When I am working with a group of children, I have a “spelling” bee, asking students to create a complex sentence using a particular subordinate conjunction.

Once children learn to use complex sentences, they need to be warned about overusing them. Too many complex sentences can make writing difficult to follow. So can the number of dependent clauses. Even though the number of dependent clauses which can be attached to an independent clause is unlimited, using more than two usually muddles meaning. Encourage students to limit dependent clauses to one or two per sentence, and to mix up complex, compound and simple sentences for variety.

I have been told that some languages do not contain complex sentences, that in those languages, if ideas are joined, it is by words like “and” and “but.” In those languages it is normal to show equality of ideas but not inequality. Just like having many English verb tenses makes English a richer yet more difficult language, so does having complex sentences.

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How to use the present perfect verb tense correctly

Posted on May 28, 2015 | Leave a comment

The present perfect verb tense is often not used by student writers.  Or if it  is used, it is often used incorrectly. Yet it is an important verb tense to master in speaking and in writing.

What is the present perfect? It is the verb tense which combines the helping verb “have” or “has” with the past participle of a verb: I have eaten; she has slept; you have written.

Many times there is a double problem in using this tense, and that is choosing the proper past participle. Regular verbs in English use the past tense as the past participle and create no problems for students: I have jumped; he has watched; they have learned. But the verbs we use the most in English—be, do, have, go, come and hundreds more—use an irregular past participle: I was but I have been; you gave but you have given; it did but it has done.

Another problem is knowing when to use this verb tense. It has three uses:

  • To describe something that began (or didn’t begin) in the past but is still going on
    o Jack has pitched since the first inning.
    o My friends have studied for the test for many hours.
    o I have not slept since 6 a.m.
  • To describe something that happened many times (or didn’t happen at all) in the past.
    o She has eaten there many times.
    o They have not studied in the library all semester.
    o We have always followed his advice.
  • To describe something that happened (or didn’t happen) in the past when it is not important to know exactly when it happened.
    o Yes, I have traveled to Seoul.
    o No, I have not eaten baklava.
    o Aunt Marie has made many quilts.

Children born to well-educated English speaking parents learn to use this verb tense correctly the way they learn everything else about English—by listening to and mimicking their parents. For English speaking children whose parents do not use this verb tense, learning it is hard, as it is for ESL students.

One almost painless way to learn the present perfect is to read, read, read. Good writers use this verb tense correctly unless they are mimicking the dialog of a character who is poorly educated. With enough reading, students will pick up subconsciously how this verb tense is formed and might discern when to use it. However, most children will need this verb tense explained, and will need to practice it over and over, year after year, in school.

Although grammar is less stressed in schools today, a good teacher or tutor will notice if her students speak or write with the past tense when they should be using the present perfect tense. That teacher will offer a lesson on this verb tense. One or two lessons usually isn’t enough. The present perfect needs to be reinforced with practice. You can find practice activities online and in grammar handbooks.

Why is it important to master the present perfect verb tense? After all, some languages have existed hundreds of years without such a verb tense. Can’t a student write, “Yes, I went there several times,” instead of writing, “Yes, I have gone there”? The meaning is clear both ways.

As I tell my students, people you want to impress as you get older—the person who interviews you for college acceptance, or the person who reads your admissions essays, or your professors, or the person who interviews you for a professional job, and the parents of your future spouse—might judge you by how you use English verb tenses. These people are not reading or listening to hear if you use certain verb tenses, but they will know immediately when you use a verb tense incorrectly, and your status might drop in their eyes. Not fair, you say.  Maybe, but that’s the way of the world.

Correct use of the present perfect verb tense is a sign of a well-educated English-speaking person.

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Posted in grammar, present perfect verbs, verb choice

Does diagramming sentences help a child learn grammar?

Posted on March 31, 2015 | 2 comments

Diagramming sentences is no longer taught in most schools. Like cursive writing, it has been supplanted in the curriculum by computer-related skills and critical thinking skills which for most children are more important.

Yet diagramming offers children a fun way to learn grammar and parts of speech which themselves are not focused on as much anymore, and which has led to poorer writing and difficulties on parts of the SAT (my opinion).

What is diagramming? Diagramming is a visual way of showing the grammar in a sentence, everything from subjects, predicates and clauses to prepositions, subordinate conjunctions and gerunds. If a child can draw a straight line, he can diagram a sentence. And if he can diagram a sentence, he can “see” the grammar.
diagram of a sentence

For example, take the uncomplicated sentence of “The baby noisily slurped mashed bananas from a spoon.” It can be diagrammed by first drawing a horizontal line where the main parts of the sentence are written (similar to the trunk of the human body). All the nonessential information is written on slanting lines under the main line (much like appendages of the body).

On the line to the left always goes the subject of the sentence (in this case the word “baby”). A vertical line cuts through the line to show the end of the subject and the beginning of the predicate.

The first word of the predicate in a diagram is always the verb (in this case the word “slurped”).

If there is a direct object (in this case, “bananas,” it is written to the right of the verb and separated from the verb by a half line which does not cut through the horizontal line.

Prepositional phrases are put beneath the word they describe, with a forward slanting line for the preposition (in this case, “from”) and a small horizontal line for its object (in this case, “spoon”).

Adjectives and adverbs are shown beneath the words they describe on forward slanting lines.

The grammar of much more complicated sentences can be shown through diagramming. Doing this helps children see that a particular “sentence” has no verb, or that the reason a particular prepositional phrase sounds funny is that it needs to go next to the noun it describes. When students learn that subjects or objects can themselves be clauses, a diagram can make this clear faster than a long-winded explanation from a teacher.

Many handbooks on English grammar contain chapters on diagramming, showing examples of various types of sentences. If your child is struggling to learn grammar, using those handbooks might make grammar visually intelligible the way a table, chart or Venn diagram makes data more easily intelligible than a paragraph of explanation.

But don’t expect your child to come home from school with diagramming homework, as I once did. Most of the young teachers today don’t know any more about diagramming than does your child.

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