SFL/METU
DBE
Writing Handout 2
October 2016
BEGINNER-B GROUP
(Instructor’s Copy)
OBJECTIVES:
1. revise the parts of a sentence (S+V),
2. practice forming complete sentences with the simple present tense,
3. practice sentence capitalization and punctuation,
4. gain awareness of common mistakes (fragments, run on sentences, unparallel structures,subject-verb agreement)
to avoid forming incorrect sentences.
THE SENTENCE (Part II)
In WHO1, you studied parts of a sentence (Subject + Verb) and practiced forming sentences with the verb
“to be”. In this handout, you will practice forming sentences with the simple present tense.
Remember that a sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete idea or thought, and every
sentence must have a subject and a verb. Sometimes, however, there is an object and/or other information
after the verb.
Subject
(noun/pronoun)
Verb (action)
Maria
sings.
She
plays
Maria and Jason
practice
They
sing
(Object)
(Other
Information)
the piano.
at home.
songs
in the morning.
EXERCISE 1. Find the subject(s) (S) and the verb(s) (V) of the sentences.
e.g. Jason plays the guitar.
S
V
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
My class has 18 students.
S
V
Irina lives in Frankfurt.
S
V
Accountants don’t work in a court.
S
V
Jos and Marco speak English and French.
S
V
His job is easy and pays well.
S V
V
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Sentences can make a statement, question, imperative, or exclamation.
a statement
a question
an imperative
(command / request)
My brother listens to
awful music.
What does she say?
Stop shouting at me!
an exclamation
Great!
CAPITALIZATION AND PUNCTUATION
Sentences need capital letters and punctuation. A sentence begins with a capital letter and has a punctuation
mark at the end.
1. Use a capital letter for:
 the first word of a sentence
 the first-person singular pronoun (I)
 names of people and their titles
 countries, nationalities, religions
 names of languages
 days of the week and months of the year
*
*
*
*
*
*
My neighbour is a doctor.
My friends and I often study together.
Professor Patrick Jones, Mr. Simpson
Spain, English, Muslim
English, Russian
Friday, May, September
2. Put a period (.) after a statement.
*
The class starts at 8:40.
3. Put a question mark (?) after a question.
*
Do you have any questions?
EXERCISE 2. Correct the errors in the following paragraph.
M
D
My name is mayra. I am from the dominican
R
M
S
I
republic. my first language is spanish. i live in
T
I
Hartford. today is my first day in this school. i
E
I
want to learn english. it is very important for my future.
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EXERCISE 3. Unscramble the words and write sentences. Pay attention to the punctuation at the
end of each sentence.
e.g.
is / My / class / big
____My class is big._____
1.
famous / apples / is / Amasya / for
Amasya is famous for apples.
2.
and / from / Alice / Lucy / Brazil / are
Are Lucy and Alice from Brazil?
3.
the capital / Turkey / is / Istanbul / of / not
Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey.
The capital of Turkey is not Istanbul.
4.
the library / the bookshop / to / next / is
Is the library next to the bookshop? / Is the bookshop next to the library?
5.
Jason / job / difficult / a / has
Jason has a difficult job.
6.
do / every / holiday / I / not / go on / year
I do not go on holiday every year.
7.
Japanese / she / study / does
Does she study Japanese?
8.
do / like / subjects / what /you
What subjects do you like?
9.
not / Mary / English / day / study / every / does
Mary does not study English every day.
10.
you / go to / and / every / your / do / other countries / parents / summer
Do you and your parents go to other countries every summer?
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COMMON MISTAKES WHEN FORMING SENTENCES
a. Sentence Fragments
In English, every sentence needs a subject and a verb. A sentence without a subject or without a verb is
called a fragment. A fragment is a piece of a sentence. It is not a complete sentence.
 Examples:
*
The winters usually cold.
The winters are usually cold.
(fragment - no verb)
(sentence)
*
Is generally sunny in Brazil in the summer.
It is generally sunny in Brazil in the summer.
(fragment - no subject)
(sentence)
*
A lot of noise in the city center.
There is a lot of noise in the city center.
(fragment - no subject; no verb)
(sentence)


EXERCISE 4. Read each group of words and decide which ones are complete sentences and which
ones are not. Correct them to make complete sentences and write them in the blanks.
Example:
()
Nicole and Jean best friends.
Nicole and Jean are best friends.
1. ()
Is very cold today.
It is very cold today. / Is it very cold today?
2. ()
Ölüdeniz a small village and a beach resort in Fethiye.
Ölüdeniz is a small village and a beach resort in Fethiye.
3. ()
We a skiing holiday every winter.
We have/take/go on a skiing holiday every winter.
4. ()
The summer season in the Antarctic is not very long.
______________________________________.
5. ()
Every year there are strong hurricanes.
______________________________________.
6. ()
A lot of air pollution in the northern part of the city.
There is a lot of air pollution in the northern part of the city.
7. ()
He usually football with his friends at the weekend.
He usually plays/watches football with his friends at the weekend.
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EXERCISE 5. Read the following paragraph, and find 6 incomplete sentences. Make corrections.
e.g.She is
My friend Yasmin is an interesting person. She lives in Seattle, Washington. Is young and
single. She is 24 years old. She Wworks in a women’s clothing store. It Iis a nice place to
buy clothes. Yasmin likes her job. Clothes are very important to her. She Lloves shopping.
She spends her money on new clothes and shoes. She has a plan to open a clothing store. She
wants to have her own business. It is a good idea.
b. Run-on Sentences
When we join simple sentences together, it is important to use the correct punctuation or a linking word.
Sentences that run together without these are called run-on sentences. In order to avoid writing run-on
sentences, first identify the separate ideas, and then use either the correct punctuation or a linking word.
Examples:
* Jack is not a good student, he is lazy, he never studies. 
Jack is not a good student. He is lazy, and he never studies.
*
My friend spends hours in the fitness center, he wants to lose weight. 
My friend spends hours in the fitness center because he wants to lose weight. 
EXERCISE 6. Correct the following run-on sentences.
1. The secretary is hard-working, she speaks good English.
The secretary is hard-working, and she speaks good English.
2. New York City is very cosmopolitan there are people from many cultures.
New York City is very cosmopolitan. There are people from many cultures.
c. Unparallel Structures
Parallelism means that each item in a list follows the same grammatical pattern. When you are listing
items or ideas using “and”, “or” and “but”, each item in your sentence should have the same
grammatical pattern. If, for example, you are writing a list and the first item in your list is a noun, you
have to write the following items as nouns.
a) Steve and his friend are coming to dinner.
I don’t like coffee or tea.
a) noun + noun
b) My grandparents are poor but happy.
The old man is kind and generous.
b) adjective + adjective
c) She speaks angrily and rudely.
He works slowly but effectively.
c) adverb + adverb
d) He waves his arms and shouts at us.
You can walk there or take the bus.
d) verb + verb
e) You can lie down on the bed or on the sofa.
e) prepositional phrase + prepositional phrase
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This is in the book but not on the exam.
EXERCISE 7. Use parallel grammatical structures to make correct sentences.
1. He wants to be a doctor, a social worker or teach English.
He wants to be a doctor, a social worker or an English teacher.
2. White-water rafting is an interesting but danger sport.
White-water rafting is an interesting but dangerous sport.
3. The students try to finish their assignment quick and accurately.
The students try to finish their assignment quickly and accurately.
d. Subject-Verb Agreement
The subject and the verb of a sentence should “agree”, that is; when the subject is singular, the verb should
be singular or when the subject is plural, the verb should be plural, too.
Examples:
1. The nights are very short in summer. (plural subject - plural verb)
2. The name doesn’t describe it well. (singular subject - singular verb)
3. There are heavy storms in the UK. (plural noun - plural verb)
4. Mauna Loa and Mount Fuji are famous volcanoes. (plural subject - plural verb)
Subject- verb agreement is sometimes confusing in these situations:
1. When a subject-verb combination begins with the word there + the verb BE.
* There is a library in the city center.
* There is an apple and two oranges on the table.
* There are good restaurants in my hometown.
* There are five girls and a boy in this classroom.
2. Prepositional phrases can come between a subject and its verb, but they are not the subject. You
should cross them out when you decide if the verb should be singular or plural.
* The price (of NBA tickets) is high. (The subject is price, not NBA tickets.)
* The flowers (in the vase) are beautiful. (The subject is flowers, not vase).
3. Some subjects that refer to groups of people can take singular and plural verbs.
* My family comes from the Middle East.
* My family are coming over from England to celebrate the New Year.
*
*
The committee is going to meet tomorrow morning.
The committee are going to discuss the budget.
4. Some nouns with two parts need plural verbs.
* Those scissors are not sharp enough.
* These trousers look fashionable.
5. Be careful! NOT all the words ending with –s are plural.
* Physics is my favorite subject at school.
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*
The news is on at 6 o’clock.
EXERCISE 8. Choose the correct form of the verb that agrees with the subject.
1.
Annie and her brothers (is / are) at school.
2.
George and Tamara (doesn't / don't) want to see that movie.
3.
One of my sisters (is / are) going on a trip to France.
4.
There (is / are) a beautiful harbor in Sydney.
5.
The man with beard (live / lives) on my street.
6.
Your pants (is / are) at the cleaner's.
7.
(Does / Do) the students in the class have their books?
8.
There (is / are) twenty-one students in our class.
9.
(Does / Do) your cousin live in Ankara?
10. Mathematics (is / are) John's favorite subject.
11. My sisters’ boss (has / have) four children.
12. Young people (doesn’t / don’t) eat healthy food.
13. There (is / are) a dog and two cats in the garden.
References:

DBE Materials Archive, METU
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



Hogue, L. (2008). First Steps in Academic Writing. Pearson Education, Inc: NY.
Butler, L. (2007). Fundamentals of Academic Writing. Pearson Education, Inc: NY.
Butler, L. (2014). Longman Academic Writing Series. Pearson Education, Inc: NY.
Pollock, C.W. (1982). Communicate What You Mean. Prentice Hall Regents: New Jersey.
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