WEEK 10 TUTORIAL ACTIVITIES - SYNTAX PART TWO

Let’s practice some phrases again

ACTIVITY: As a refresher of what we looked at last week, can you identify the Subject
(S) and Predicate(Pred) of the following clauses? Within the predicate, can you identify
the Verb or Verb Phrase (VP) and any other kind of phrases present?

1. I (S) took the dog to the park (Pred)

I (NP) took (VP) the dog to the park (PP)
2. I (S) love learning. (pred)
I (NP) love (VP) learning. (NP)
3. The cow (S) jumped over the moon. (Pred)
The cow (NP) jumped (VP) over the moon (PP)
4. Little Miss Muffet (S) sat on her tuffet (Pred)
Little Miss Muffet (NP) sat on her tuffet (PP)
5. Humpty Dumpty (s) sat on the wall. (Pred)
6. Humpty Dumpty (S) had a great fall. (Pred)
7. Cinderella (S) enjoyed the company of all of the animals. (Pred)

Clauses - Independent Clauses

Can you tell me if these are independent clauses or not?

● Towards the river. No
● The dog jumped over the fence.
● Fish swim in the ocean.
● Picked flowers.
● Along the walkway.
● The trees swayed in the breeze.
● If I have to.
 ● With my best friends.

Find the Independent and Dependent clauses

ACTIVITY: Underline or highlight the independent clauses and circle or highlight in a

different colour the subordinate/dependent clauses in the following passage.
The first sentence has been done for you.

Although some people are afraid of ninjas, since they are so deadly, I think that they’re
cool. Because Ninjas have so many enemies, they live high in trees on top of
mountains. No one can reach them in their mountainous tree forts unless they lower
their rope ladders for them. If you tried to climb up a ninja’s tree without the rope ladder,
you would probably get hit with a million ninja stars. Despite their inhospitable nature,
ninjas are usually nice to children and animals.

Subordinating Conjunctions

ACTIVITY: Identify the subordinating conjunctions in the previous piece of text and label
them as such.

Although some people are afraid of ninjas, since they are so deadly, I think that
they’re cool. Because Ninjas have so many enemies, they live high in trees on top of
mountains. No one can reach them in their mountainous tree forts unless they lower
their rope ladders for them. If you tried to climb up a ninja’s tree without the rope
ladder, you would probably get hit with a million ninja stars. Despite their inhospitable
nature, ninjas are usually nice to children and animals.
Subordinating and Coordinating Conjunctions

ACTIVITY: Joining Clauses at the Circus

Use subordinating and coordinating conjunctions to join these independent clauses to
create compound, complex or compound/complex sentences.

1. The circus came to town and Tickets were cheap so I decided to go with my
friend.
2. The clowns drove up in a little car and There was a bunch of them although I
didn’t think they would all fit.
3. A guy stuck his head in the lion’s mouth and Bears were dancing in tutus while
An elephant rode a bike.
4. A man with a whip was beating the animals so the animals were sad but The
man fed them a snack.
5. I always have fun at the circus. A lady was selling snacks. I bought popcorn and
cotton candy.
6. A family did tricks on the flying trapeze so I took pictures because I thought one
of them was going to fall.
7. My belly hurt from eating junk but I had a good time because the circus is always
fun.

Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences

ACTIVITY: Work together in pairs or small groups and construct a short paragraph of
text that includes a variety of simple, compound, complex and compound/complex
sentences.

Once you have written your short text, work together to label the sentence types and, if
you can, some of the phrases in your tex
Label the Types of Sentence

1. Please listen when I talk to you. (imperative)

2. What is your name? (interrogative)
3. Slow down, you are driving too fast. (imperative)
4. UC is a great University. (declarative)
5. Do you ever clean your room? (interrogative)
6. The football team scored 28 points. (declarative)
7. Who is the author of that book? (interrogative)
8. Stop kicking me. (imperative)
9. I am going to Hawaii in the holidays. (declarative)
10. Oh man! (exclamative)

Now deconstruct a text – bringing it all together

ACTIVITY: Take this excerpt from Dr Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go! and deconstruct
it. In your deconstruction you need to identify the types of sentences (simple,
compound, complex, compound/complex), the types of clauses (independent or
dependent) and whether or not the sentences are declarative, imperative, interrogative
or exclamatory.

Excerpt from Oh the Places You’ll go by Dr Seuss

Congratulations! (Exclamatory,
Today is your day. (Declarative,, Simple)
You’re off to Great Places! (Declarative, independent, simple)
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head. (declarative, independent, simple)
You have feet in your shoes. (Declarative, independent, simple)
You can steer yourself any direction you choose. (declarative, independent, simple)
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
You’ll look up and down streets. Look ‘em over with care.
About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there,”
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down
any not-so-good street.
And you may not find any you’ll want to go down.
In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town.
It’s opener there in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen and they frequently do to people as braining and footsy
as you.
And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew.
Just go right along.
You’ll start happening too.
OH! THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!
You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.