20 Sentence Patterns

Try these patterns to convey complex ideas and to bring variety to your writing. MEB

Compound constructions
Pattern 1: Compound Sentence: Semicolon, no conjunction (S V;S V)
Example: "Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything." Aesop
Pattern 2: Compound Sentence with elliptical construction(S V DO or SC: S, DO )
Example: "Thought is the blossom; language, the bud; action, the fruit." Emerson
Pattern 3: Compound Sentence with explanatory sentence (independent clause
[idea]:independent. clause[example])
Example: "Old cars and young children have several things in common: Both are a
responsibility and have to be fed often or they will break down." Lears's

Sentences with series

Pattern 4: A series without a conjunction in any part of a sentence (A,B,C)
Example: "Oil booms are short-lived, speculative, ruinous to those who rely
on them." Texas Monthly
Pattern 5: A series of balanced pairs anywhere in a sentence (A and B, C and D, E and F)
Example: "Before Uriah Heep I have step by step abandoned name and reputation,
peace and quiet, house and home." Dickens, David Copperfield
Pattern 6: An introductory series of appositives (with a dash and a summarizing
subject (Appositive, appositive, appositive—summary word SV)
Example: "Shipwrecks, drownings, mutinies, scurvy, starvation—all were part of
every Renaissance mariner's life." "Columbus," American Heritage
Pattern 7: An internal series of appositives or modifiers enclosed by a series of
dashes or parentheses (S – or (modifier, modifier, modifier) or --V
Example: "The basic fencing moves (the advance, the retreat, the lunge)
demand careful balance by both fencers." Waddell
Pattern 8: Dependent clauses in a pair or in a series (If . . . ,if. . .,if. . . .,then SV)
Example: "If your clothes are made of cotton or wool, if you wash them
with soap instead of detergent, and if you hang them out to dry,
you may not need a fabric softener." Consumer Reports

Repetitions
Pattern 9: Repetition of a key term (use –or , to punctuate)
Example: "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, in nothing great or small,
large or petty—never give in except to conviction of honor and good sense."
Churchill
Pattern 10: Emphatic appositive at end, after a colon (SV word: appositive)

From: Waddell, Esch and Walker's The Art of Styling Sentences with some additions by M. E. Bertolini
 20 Sentence Patterns
Try these patterns to convey complex ideas and to bring variety to your writing. MEB

Example: "Discover some members of Spain's unique wildlife that will

amaze and inspire you: the elusive Spanish Wolf, the graceful
Flamingo, the impressive Brown Bear, the majestic imperial
Eagle, the amazing Spanish Lynx." Lookout

Modifiers
Pattern 11: Interrupting modifier between S and V (S, or –modifier, or – V)
Example: ". . . Mr. Elton, spruce, black, and smiling, was with them instantly."
Austen, Emma
Pattern 12: Introductory or concluding participles (participle phrase, S V or S V,
participle phrase
Example: "Wet-eyed and dumbstruck by his performance, I pulled a five dollar bill out
of my wallet and dropped that into the paper bag." Fulghum
Pattern 13: A single modifier out of place for emphasis (Modifier, S V)
Example: "Frantic, the young mother ran out the door with her baby in her arms."
Waddell

Inversions
Pattern 14 : Prepositional phrase before SV (Prepositional phrase, SV)
Example: "Into the valley of death, rode the six hundred." Tennyson
Pattern 15: Object or subject complement before S V (O or SC before S V)
Example: "Never before have we had so little time to do so much. F.D.Roosevelt

An assortment of patterns
Pattern 16: Paired constructions (Not only, S V, but also S V; Just as S V, so too S V)
Example: "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also
dream: not only plan, but also believe." A. France
Pattern 17: Dependent clause as subject, object or SC (S(dependent clause V)
Example: "Why Leonardo rejected the technique we may never know." Armstrong
Pattern 18: Absolute construction (noun + participle) (anywhere, for example:
Absolute, SV)
Example: "The storm, its fury abated, lights the way." Murphy
Pattern 19: The short, simple sentence for dramatic impact (S V)

From: Waddell, Esch and Walker's The Art of Styling Sentences with some additions by M. E. Bertolini
 20 Sentence Patterns
Try these patterns to convey complex ideas and to bring variety to your writing. MEB

Example: "Call me Ishmael." Melville, Moby Dick

Pattern 20: The deliberate fragment (use in fiction and personal essays)
Example: "What a mistake!" Vitoux

From: Waddell, Esch and Walker's The Art of Styling Sentences with some additions by M. E. Bertolini