Syntax--types of sentences

Sentences:  Simple, Compound, and Complex Experienced writers use a variety of sentences to make their writing interesting and lively. Too many simple sentences, for example, will sound choppy and immature while too many long sentences will be difficult to read and hard to understand.  This page contains definitions of simple, compound, and complex sentences with many simple examples.  The purpose of these examples is to help the ESL/EFL learner to identify sentence basics including identification of sentences in the short quizzes that follow.   After that, it will be possible to analyze more complex sentences varieties.  SIMPLE SENTENCE A simple sentence, also called an independent clause, contains a subject and a verb, and it expresses a complete thought. In the following simple sentences, subjects are in yellow, and verbs are in green.   A. Some students like to study in the mornings. B. Juan and Arturo play football every afternoon. C. Alicia goes to the library and studies every day. The three examples above are all simple sentences.  Note that sentence B contains a compound subject, and sentence C contains a compound verb.  Simple sentences, therefore, contain a subject and verb and express a complete thought, but they can also contain a compound subjects or verbs.  COMPOUND SENTENCE A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinator. The coordinators are as follows: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. (Helpful hint: The first letter of each of the coordinators spells FANBOYS.) Except for very short sentences, coordinators are always preceded by a comma. In the following compound sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the coordinators and the commas that precede them are in red.  A.  I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English.  B.  Alejandro played football, so Maria went shopping.  C.  Alejandro played football, for Maria went shopping. The above three sentences are compound sentences.  Each sentence contains two independent clauses, and they are joined by a coordinator with a comma preceding it.  Note how the conscious use of coordinators can change the relationship between the clauses.  Sentences B and C, for example, are identical except for the coordinators.  In sentence B, which action occurred first?  Obviously, "Alejandro played football" first, and as a consequence, "Maria went shopping.  In sentence C, "Maria went shopping" first.  In sentence C, "Alejandro played football" because, possibly, he didn't have anything else to do, for or because "Maria went shopping."  How can the use of other coordinators change the relationship between the two clauses?  What implications would the use of "yet" or "but" have on the meaning of the sentence? COMPLEX SENTENCE A complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. A complex sentence always has a subordinator such as because, since, after, although, or when or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which. In the following complex sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the subordinators and their commas (when required) are in red. A. When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page.  B. The teacher returned the homework after she noticed the error. C. The students are studying because they have a test tomorrow. D. After they finished studying, Juan and Maria went to the movies. E. Juan and Maria went to the movies after they finished studying. When a complex sentence begins with a subordinator such as sentences A and D, a comma is required at the end of the dependent clause. When the independent clause begins the sentence with subordinators in the middle as in sentences B, C, and E, no comma is required. If a comma is placed before the subordinators in sentences B, C, and E, it is wrong. Note that sentences D and E are the same except sentence D begins with the dependent clause which is followed by a comma, and sentence E begins with the independent clause which contains no comma.  The comma after the dependent clause in sentence D is required, and experienced listeners of English will often hear a slight pause there.  In sentence E, however, there will be no pause when the independent clause begins the sentence.  COMPLEX SENTENCES / ADJECTIVE CLAUSES Finally, sentences containing adjective clauses (or dependent clauses) are also complex because they contain an independent clause and a dependent clause.  The subjects, verbs, and subordinators are marked the same as in the previous sentences, and in these sentences, the independent clauses are also underlined.  A. The woman who(m) my mom talked to sells cosmetics. B. The book that Jonathan read is on the shelf. C. The house which AbrahAM  Lincoln was born in is still standing. D. The town where I grew up is in the United States. Adjective Clauses are studied in this site separately, but for now it is important to know that sentences containing adjective clauses are complex. CONCLUSION Are sure you now know the differences between simple, compound, and complex sentences?  Click QUICK QUIZ to find out.  This quiz is just six sentences.  The key is to look for the subjects and verbs first. Another quiz, this one about Helen Keller contains ten sentences. These quiz sentences based on the short story, The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen, by Bruno Lessing. Quick Quiz:  Shadrach After each quiz, click GRADE QUIZ to see your score immediately.  Remember that with the skill to write good simple, compound, and complex sentences, you will have the flexibility to (1) convey your ideas precisely and (2) entertain with sentence variety at the same time!  Good luck with these exercises!

Search ESLBEE.COM for essay topics. Why is it important to know whether a sentence is simple, compound, or complex? I believe a writer must know how to define simple, compound, and complex sentences before using them consciously.  To me, that's so obvious it hardly needs stating.  Once a writer knows how to write a simple sentence, it is possible to apply strict mechanical "rules" for writing both compound and complex sentences.  And with just these three sentence types, it is possible to write good essays, with good sentence variety, perfectly acceptable for academic work. The explanations to the left are followed by "sentence identification" quizzes.  Review the results between quizzes so you completely understand the use of coordinators and subordinators and punctuation in compound and complex sentences.

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Writing your paper

Continue working on your paper.  Papers are due tomorrow in class.

1. After writing an intro defining Transcendentalism and its major themes, focus your own THESIS on its relevance to contemporary society.


2. Then, remember to discuss the central themes you are focusing on as they are written in the texts we have studied of Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau.  Use text-based quotes to support your CLAIMS.  Provide EXAMPLES from the texts.  Cite MLA style or be sure to mention the documents you are using in the body text.

3. Finally, relate the Transcendentalists to a significant contemporary ISSUE. Are there contemporary writers or articles that make a connection between the Transcendentalists and our own times?  What is essentially American and modern about the Transcendentalists?

4. And of course, finish with a conclusion and go back to your intro to revise and edit and strengthen your thesis.
Often the conclusion illuminates other aspects of your thesis that need to be included in the intro!

Common Themes of Transcendentalism

enotes:

Self-Wisdom
Quite simply, Transcendentalism is based on the belief that human beings have self-wisdom and may gain this knowledge or wisdom by tuning in to the ebb and flow of nature. Transcendentalism revolves around the self, specifically the betterment of the self. Where Emerson and his followers differed from earlier philosophical and religious beliefs was in the idea that human beings had innate knowledge and could connect with God directly rather than through an institution such as organized religion. Transcendentalism celebrated the self, an important step in the construction of American identity, better understood as the notion of American individualism—one of the cornerstones of American democracy.
Different writers conceived of the search for self-knowledge in different ways. Whitman’s response was a grand celebration of the self in all its complexity and beauty and contradictions. He begins the poem “Song of Myself” with the bold line, “I celebrate myself.” He offers up to his readers, “I loafe and invite my Soul, / I lean and loafe at my ease . . . observing a spear of summer grass.” Leaves of Grass is filled with such celebration.
Thoreau took a slightly different path toward self-knowledge. Walden is a study of solitude. He says, “I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. . . . I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” For him, self-discovery comes as the result of intense reflection. Self-knowledge has political implications as well. Once the individual has established a moral code, it becomes his or her duty to peacefully protest and engage in civil disobedience against the government should governmental policies violate that code. Thoreau’s opposition to slavery led to his refusal to pay a poll tax supporting the Mexican War, an act that landed him in jail for a night. For Thoreau, self-discovery was not simply an intangible concept, it was a way of living.
Nature and Its Meaning
Nature is the focal point for much transcendentalist thought and writing. As a theme, it is so central to the movement that Emerson’s cornerstone essay is entitled Nature and serves as an investigation into nature and its relationship to the soul. For transcendentalists, nature and the soul were inextricably linked. In the rhythms and seasons of the natural world, transcendentalists found comfort and divinity. In the increasingly industrialized and fragmented world in which they lived, the search for meaning in nature was of great importance. Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Hawthorne, Fuller, Melville, and others saw possibility, liberation, and beauty in nature.
Emerson writes in Nature, “Let us interrogate the great apparition, that shines so peacefully around us. Let us inquire, to what end is nature?” For Emerson, nature is a direct line to God, and its “meaning” is directly linked to God’s “meaning.” His definition of God and meaning is clearly different than that of the conservative Unitarian Church from which he split.
A follower of Emerson, Thoreau took ideas from Emerson’s work and put them into practice. He saw nature as not just an awe-inspiring force but a way of life. Thoreau offers up the following advice in Walden: “Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails.” For Thoreau, nature is pure because it is free from commercialization and industrialization. It is both a respite and a teacher. The transcendentalists were not reactionary or opposed to the modernization of the world; they were, however, concerned that such modernization could lead to alienation. Nature provided a way to keep humans in touch with their souls and with their spiritual foundations.
Social Reform
Regarding social issues, transcendentalists were considered visionaries in their attitudes toward such issues as social protest, elimination of slavery, women’s rights, creative and participatory education for children, and labor reform. Transcendentalism became a venue for social reform because it revolved around the idea of liberation. Transcendentalist writers may have had as their immediate goal the liberation of the soul, but that goal expanded to social liberation as more and more thinkers joined the transcendentalist school of thought.
Founded as an alternative to conservative, organized religion, Transcendentalism had countercultural tendencies from its inception. From the free flowing, free verse of Whitman to the civil disobedience of Thoreau to Fuller’s radical notion that men and women were social and intellectual equals, the movement was engaged in many controversial social arenas.
As the editor of the transcendentalist publication The Dial, Fuller often published controversial pieces. As the author of Woman in the Nineteenth Century, she invited debate and controversy. Her essay is a call to action for women and men to change society. She laments:

The lot of Woman is sad. She is constituted to expect and need happiness that cannot exist on earth. She must stifle such aspirations within her secret heart, and fit herself, as well as she can, for a life of resignations and consolations.

Clearly this is not an acceptable life to Fuller, just as slavery is unacceptable to Thoreau. In “Resistance to Civil Government,” Thoreau states, “Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” Thoreau’s answer was to transgress, and go to jail if necessary, for as he says, “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” Along with slavery and gender issues, class issues also came to the forefront in the nineteenth century, revealing a new kind of slavery—wage slavery. Transcendentalists experimented with socialist communes, such as George Ripley’s Brook Farm and Alcott’s Fruitlands. These experiments were short lived. The legacy of civil disobedience served America and the world well, as it went on to inspire Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to lead peaceful social protests. In addition, Fuller is often read as a precursor to modern feminism and is seen as a woman ahead of her time.

Transcendentalism Paper

Today in class, begin working on your paper.  Try to plan out what you will write and aim to create a strong introduction.

Here is the TASK:

"Re-examine All You Have Been Told":  Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau

TASK: What are the central themes of American Transcendentalism?  After reading the writings of Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau, write a synthesis essay 5-7 pages that defines and explains the central themes of American Transcendentalism.  Support your discussion with evidence from the texts you have read.  What implications can you draw from these readings that pertain to contemporary society?  (i.e. What relevance do these ideas have for the world today?)

1. So, what are the central themes of Transcendentalism? How would you DEFINE the themes of Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau?  Include this in your intro.

2. Which theme or possibly two themes can you relate to contemporary society?  FOCUS on this and make a CONNECTION between these writers, their ideas, and today's society.  Let this become your THESIS STATEMENT.

3. Now, for SUPPORT (and the majority of what you write in the paper), find appropriate QUOTES and EXAMPLES from the works you have studied that relate to your THESIS (and your thesis should be along the lines that these ideas are still RELEVANT today!)  Work YOUR OWN IDEAS around the supporting examples from the texts.  Remember to consider when these works were written and what America was like at the time (apply your American History here as well).  Are there any contemporary writers who echo the thoughts of the Transcendentalists?  You could include these contemporary writers as being influenced by the Transcendentalists as well.

4. Use the hand-outs you have received these past weeks (and hopefully, annotated or highlighted).  Also,
know that all of these essays, "Song of Myself," and Walden are online.  You can cut and paste and make a quote sheet from the internet!  Just be sure to also copy the weblink  for your MLA citations.  YES, this paper needs MLA citation and a Works Cited page.

5. For additional support and ideas, go to Shmoop.com or Spark notes or eNotes or Gradesaver.  All
of these Study Guide websites have information about the texts you have studied and may also provide you with more ideas for your paper.

6. Finally, print out your outline, notes, intro (whatever you have written this period)--OR send it to yourself.
Over the weekend, try to make more progress on your paper (yes I know many of you are performing or working on the production, but try!). Monday we will continue writing and conferring in class.

Oh, and break a leg, Hairspray cast! Have a great weekend...

Civil Disobedience

http://www.livestream.com/occupyrochesterny2

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/VideoNetwork/1277220229001/Occupy-Rochester-reacts-to-the-eviction-of-Occupy-Wall-Street

CLASS Discussion

Walden Pond (Gamzon pics)

Transcendentalism