Once you have researched, organized your information, and selected an organizational pattern, you are ready to compose your message. To compose a successful message, you must use effective sentences.
Being able to understand sentence structure and identify sentence types will help you write more effectively.
Read the following sentences, and then fill in the blanks.
1. After she proofread the document, Rina posted it on the team’s wiki.
This is a (complex, compound, simple, or compound complex) sentence. The subject of the independent clause is (Rina, she or wiki) , and the predicate verb is (proofread, posted or after).
2. Although the conference will be held nearby this year, I cannot participate; however, my colleague plans to attend.
This is a (complex, compound, simple, or compound complex) sentence. The subjects of the independent clauses are (I, conference or year) and (nearby, however, or my colleague) , and the predicate verbs are (held, will be, or cannot) and (to attend, plans or participate).
During the composition process, focus on drafting clear sentences that avoid common sentence faults.
Read the following excerpts from business e-mails, and identify the sentence faults.
3. The latest draft of the marketing copy looks good. Especially compared to the first draft.
This message contains ( a run-on sentence, no sentence fault, a fragment or a comma splice).
4. Attendance at the meeting on May 20 is optional, we encourage you to go if your schedule permits. The meeting agenda will be available by the end of the day.
This message contains ( a run-on sentence, no sentence fault, a fragment or a comma splice).
You work in the Human Resources department of a large company and are asked to send a company-wide e-mail about an upcoming career development workshop. You have completed your first draft of the e-mail.
Read the draft below, and then answer the question that follows.
The Human Resources department is happy to announce a career development workshop. Led by Joseph Pelletier. He has 20 years of experience in career development training. Joseph will help you gain a clearer understanding of your career goals. He will discuss tools to work toward those goals. The workshop will take place November 10 and 11. From 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. There will be coffee and tea, lunch will also be provided. If you are interested, please respond to this e-mail to sign up, only 40 spaces are available.
5. How could you improve this message? Check all that apply.
-Vary sentence types.
-Correct comma splices.
-Correct fragments.
-Do not use simple sentences.
-Increase sentence lengths.
1. After she proofread the document, Rina posted it on the team’s wiki.
“This is a (complex) sentence. The subject of the independent clause is (she), and the predicate verb is (proofread).”
It is a complex sentence as it has one dependent and one independent clause. The subject is She as She is doing the proofreading.
2. Although the conference will be held nearby this year, I cannot participate; however, my colleague plans to attend.
“This is a (compound-complex) sentence. The subjects of the independent clauses are (I) and (my colleague), and the predicate verbs are (cannot) and (plans).”
"It is a compound-complex sentence has two or more coordinate independent clauses or one or more dependant clause. Independent clause expresses complete thought with a subject and a predicate verb. A dependant clause contains a subject and a predicate verb but cannot stand alone as a complete thought."
Two simple sentences are “The conference will be held” and” I cannot participate”
3. The latest draft of the marketing copy looks good. Especially compared to the first draft.
“This message contains (a fragment).”
“A fragment message is an incomplete sentence, punctuated to make it a complete sentence.”
4. Attendance at the meeting on May 20 is optional, we encourage you to go if your schedule permits. "The meeting agenda will be available by the end of the day."
This message contains (a comma splice).
"A comma splice is when two dependent sentences are joined by a comma."
Once you have researched, organized your information, and selected an organizational pattern, you are ready to...