1. Sentence Patterns
20 or so sentence
types to borrow,
steal, and modify.
*Thanks to Longknife and Sullivan’s The Art of Styling Sentences for these patterns

2. Compound Sentences

3. Pattern 1
Sentence 1; sentence 2.

4. Pattern 1
I love sushi; I hate
bacon.

5. Pattern 1b
1 sentence,
[conjunction] 1
sentence.

6. Pattern 1b
I love sushi, but I hate FANBOYS
for
bacon. and
nor
but
or
yet
so

7. Pattern 1c
1 sent; 1 sent; 1sent.

8. Pattern 1c
Bananas mystify; they
surprise us; they make
us question everything.

9. Pattern 2
Subject + verb [Direct Object/
Subject Compliment] ;
Subject [omitted verb] Direct
Object.

10. Pattern 2
Michael preferred to
email people; Jane
to text.

11. Pattern 2
In traditional playing cards,
hearts represent the clergy;
diamonds the merchants; spades
the peasants; clubs the nobility.

12. Pattern 3
General statement: specific example.
Full sentence : full sentence.

13. Pattern 3
Hawaii exceeded her
expectations: the breezes were
softer and the beaches were
whiter.

14. Pattern 3
The empty coffin in the center of the
crypt had a single horrifying
meaning: Dracula was in search of
fresh blood.

15. Sentences with Series

16. Pattern 4
Series without a conjunction
A, B, C

17. Pattern 4
I have come to you without sin, without
guile, without evil, without a witness
against me.
--Book of the Dead

18. Pattern 4a
A and B and C.
A or B or C.

19. Pattern 4a
To be a better player you have to
study and practice and play the game.

20. Pattern 5
Series of balanced pairs
Text
A and B, C and D, E and F.

21. Pattern 5
Great artists are often seen
Text
in pairs: Michelangelo and
da Vinci, Gaugin and van
Gogh, Monet and Cézanne.

22. Pattern 5
Tension is everywhere--kids at odds with
parents, teachers, other kids and
Text
themselves; confused about life and love,
popularity and principles, vitriol and
virtue.
--Susan Faust

23. Pattern 6
Introductory series of appositives
Text
Appositive, appositive,
appositive-- summary word S V.

24. Pattern 6
Text students, the teachers,
The
the parents--all enjoyed the
field trip.

25. Pattern 6
A car crash harnesses elements of eroticism,
Text
aggression, desire, speed, drama, kinesthetic
factors, the stylization of motion, consumer
goods, status--all in one event.
J.G. Ballard

26. Pattern 7
An internal series of appositives
or modifiers Text
-- --
S or modifier, modifier, modifier V
( )

27. Pattern 7
They learned the qualities of
Text
sportsmanship--cooperation, practice,
and dedication--by carefully studying the
coach’s example.

28. Pattern 7a
A single Text
appositive or pair
S -- or ( appositive -- or ) V.

29. Pattern 7a
That smell--his mother’sText
chili--
reminded him of his happy
childhood.

30. Pattern 8
Dependent clauses in a pair or series
Text
If...,if...,if..., then S V.
When...,when...,when..., S V.
S V that..., that..., that...

31. Pattern 8
When I Text just learning to swim, when I
was
was afraid of the water, when I was sure
I would drown, my parents threw me into
the pool.

32. Repetitions

33. Pattern 9
S V key term [--
or ,] repeated key
term.

34. Pattern 9
We live in our own individual
Text
worlds---our inner worlds, the
worlds of the mind.

35. Pattern 9a
S V key term
repeated in same
part of sentence.

36. Pattern 9a
His greatest discoveries, his greatest
successes, his greatest influence on
society came to Edison only after
repeated failure.

37. Pattern 10
Emphatic appositive at the end
Text
after a comma
S V word: the appositive (2nd
naming)

38. Pattern 10
The vampire feared only two
Text
things: the sun and Twilight
fans.

39. Pattern 10
In perpetuating a revolution, there are two
Text
requirements: someone or something to revolt against
and someone to show up and do the revolting.
Woody Allen

40. Pattern 10a
It’s not surprising then that many
Text
sociologists believe we are a nation of
substance abusers--drinkers, smokers,
overeaters, and pill poppers.
Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz

41. Text
Modifiers

42. Pattern 11
S,
Textmodifier , V
S-- modifier -- V
S (modifier) V

43. Pattern 11
Research on the computer--using
Text
resources such as Wikipedia--makes
writing papers easier.

44. Pattern 11a
S--Text Sentence -- V
Full
S (Full Sentence) V

45. Pattern 11a
They were being careful but American ingenuity--our
Text
nation is one of the world’s leaders in land mine
technology--has made even looking for landmines a
dangerous propisition.
--Jon Carroll

46. Pattern 12
-ing
-ed
irregular
Participial phrase , S V.
S V , participial phrase.

47. Pattern 12
Having won the lottery, the
lady paid cash for the
Ferrari.

48. Pattern 12
The lady paid cash for the
Ferrari, having won the
lottery.
Don’t dangle
participles!

49. Pattern 13
Modifier can be in
other positions
A Single Modifier out of place for
emphasis
Modifier, S V.

50. Pattern 13
Delighted, Anna picked up the
$20 bill from the sidewalk.

51. Pattern 13
Sea Monsters, unfortunately,
are not actually real.

52. Inversions

53. Pattern 14
Prepositional Phrase before S and V
Prep phrase, S V (or V S)

54. Pattern 14
From an evolutionary point of view,
Rule of thumb:
man has stopped moving, if he ever did
comma after 5
move.
words --Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

55. Pattern 15
Inversion Text
Object or subject compliment
S V.

56. Pattern 15
Inversion
Text
Overrated the Heisman Trophey
may be, but it remains the gaol
of all college football players.

57. Pattern 15a
Inversion
Object or compliment or modifier
V S.

58. Pattern 15a
Inversion
Down the aisle and through the
crowd pranced the evil
supervillain.

59. Text
Big Mix of Patterns

60. Pattern 16
Not only S V, but also S V.
Text
Just as S V, so too S V.
The more S V, the more S V.
If not clause, at least S V.

61. Pattern 16
“Not only do I knock them
Text
out, but I [also] pick the
round.
--Muhammad Ali

62. Pattern 16
Yikes! Not parallel!
Neither his teacher’s lectures
Text
nor his mother complaining
all the time, stopped him from
acting like a fool.

63. Pattern 16
Better! Now it is!
Neither his teacher’s lectures
Text
nor his mother’s complaints,
stopped him from acting like a fool.

64. Pattern 16a
A paired construction for
contrast Text
Not this, but that.
This, not that

65. Pattern 16a
When we are happy we are
Text
good, but when we are good we
are not always happy.
--Oscar Wilde

66. Pattern 17
Dependent clause as a subject
Text
or object or compliment
S [dependent clause] V.
S V [dependent clause].

67. Pattern 17
Text
That he was a werewolf became
obvious when he started eating all the
villagers.

68. Pattern 17
Text
Ann never discovered why her
husband turned into a zombie.

69. Pattern 18
Absolute Constructions
Text
Absolute Construction, S V.
S, absolute construction, V.
Can use either -- or () here.

70. Pattern 18
Absolute
Text
His UFO broken beyond repair, ET
decided to enslave Earth.

71. Pattern 18
Dependent
Text
Because his UFO was broken beyond
repair, ET decided to enslave Earth.

72. Pattern 18
Independent
Text
His UFO was broken beyond repair,
so ET decided to enslave Earth.

73. Pattern 18
She sat back on the bed, her head
Texther lips moving feverishly,
bowed,
her eyes rising only to scan the walls.
--Anne Rice Interview with a Vampire

74. Pattern 19
Short sentence or
question.

75. Pattern 19
You might think that if you were
good looking, funny, and well-
dressed, you’d be guaranteed a
role on a reality TV show. You’d
be wrong.

76. Pattern 20
Text
Purposeful fragment

77. Pattern 20
My mom wanted me to wait
Text
until next week to see The
Dark Knight Rises. Hah!