TWENTY SENTENCE PATTERNS
Adapted from Waddell, Esch & Walker
The Art of Styling Sentences
(Barron’s, 1993)
1. Compound construction with semi-colon—to
condense; to unify
Talent is only one half of it;
hard work is the other.
2. Compound construction with ellipsis*—to
create rhythm or balance
A red light means stop; a green light,
go.
3. Compound construction with a colon—to create interest
Dawkins’ God Delusion is educational:
it teaches bad logic.
4. A series without a conjunction—to create
smooth flow
King Henry won loyalty with his courage,
faith and humility.
5. A series of balanced pairs—to create
rhythm
He abandoned God and family, faith and
honor, house and home.
6. Introductory series of appositives—to
expand points succinctly
Vanity, greed, revenge—which was the book’s
main theme?
7. Internal series of appositives—to convey information
quickly
Some predators—lions, wolves, tigers—have
been hunted
almost to
extinction.
8. Dependent clauses: paired or in series—to summarize
main points
“Whether you eat, or whether
you drink, or whatever you do,
do all to
the glory of God.”
9. Repetition of key terms—to create emphasis or
intensity
“Never give in… never—in nothing great or
small, large or petty—
never give in
except to convictions of honor and good sense.”
Winston
Churchill
10. Appositive at end, after colon or dash—to build to a
climax
Students must conquer a two-headed
monster—laziness and
boredom.
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*
omitting a repeated verb
11. Modifier between subject and verb—to add
interest
The tiniest dot—all you once were—marks the
beginning of life.
12. Introductory or concluding participles—for
variety
Driven by greed, Scrooge almost
lost his soul.
Awaking to the
light, the fugitive resumed his flight.
13. A single modifier out of
place anywhere—for emphasis
Occasionally, my parents will argue.
14. Prepositional phrase before subject-verb—for
emphasis
“By their own follies they perished, the fools.” Homer
15. Object or complement before subject-verb—for
emphasis
“Famous and wealthy an English teacher will
never be.”
16. Paired constructions—to make comparisons or contrasts
“As slavery divided North and South, so did
the Indian Wars
divide the East and West.”
17. Dependent clause as subject, object or complement—for variety
{How that could happen} is a
complete mystery. We couldn’t
see
{who it
was}. The result was {what he
predicted].
18. Absolute construction**—to add interest and
variety
{God willing}, we will arrive tomorrow. The students, {their
minds
disciplined}, persevered. We
are doing well, {all things considered}.
19. A short sentence for effect—to summarize or provide transition
“Jesus wept.” (Jn. 11:35) “I came, I saw, I conquered.” J.
Caesar
20. Deliberate fragment—for dramatic effect
But how? Never! Next stop—eternity! What a price to pay!
What a
mistake! Absolute power corrupting
once more.
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** Noun or
pronoun with a participle