Sentence Patterns

1. Begin with a common noun-(do not use the, a, or an or a person’s name)

• Lions hunted lunch in the dry grasslands of the African savannah.
• Elephants moved heavy logs that obstructed the road, restoring transportation routes so desperately needed supplies reach devastated villages after damaging typhoons hit the region.

2. Begin with an adjective (describing word)

• Famished lions hunted lunch in the dry grasslands of the African savannah.
• Powerful elephants moved heavy logs that obstructed the transportation routes to needy villages.

3. Begin with a Glue Words

Glue Words are:

because     until                 even though

when          whenever       as though

while           if

• Because elephants moved heavy logs that obstructed the transportation routes to remote regions, villagers received rations of food
• Whenever the powerful elephants arrived, the needy villagers provided food for the animals as a thankful gesture.
• Until the help of the elephants arrived, villagers cleared what debris they could.
• While female lions search the horizon for wounded or weak prey in the tall dry grasses the savannah, males take naps.               
• If the lions hunted in packs, a hunt ended in success with food for all members of the pride.
• When the great rains of the savannah rainy season arrived, the lions found plenty of food at the banks of the water hole.

4. Begin with a verb ending in –ing and a phrase to explain further (see examples)

• Struggling to survive, famished lions hunted in the dry grasslands of the African savannah.
• Helping needy villages, powerful elephants moved heavy logs that obstructed the transportation routes shortly after the typhoon.

5. Begin with a phrase that tells where 

• Where the grasses grow tall, hungry lions of the African savannah hunt for wounded or weak prey.
• Where the typhoon hit the worst, needy villagers welcomed rescue elephants into the community when they moved heavy obstructing the transportation routes.

6. Begin with a phrase that tells how (as a question)

• How do hungry lions search the horizon for wounded or weak prey in the tall, dry grasses of the African savannah?
• How are elephants trained to remove heavy logs in remote villages after the destructive typhoon?

7. Begin with an adverb ending in -ly

• Stealthily hungry lions hunt for wounded or weak prey in the tall, dry grasses of the African savannah.
• Carefully elephants moved heavy logs that obstructed the transportation routes to remote villages shortly after the typhoon.

8. Begin with a  verb ending in -ed with a phrase to explain further

• Starved from lack of food, hungry lions of the African savannah hunt for wounded or weak prey.
• Excited when help arrived shortly after the typhoon, needy villagers gave left food for the elephants that moved heavy fallen trees that obstructed transportation routes.

9. Begin with a prepositional phrase

• With eyes that search across the land, hungry lions search the horizon for wounded or weak prey in the tall, dry grasses of the African savannah.
• After the deadly typhoon, elephants moved heavy logs that obstructed the transportation routes to remote villages.

10. Begin with an appositive  (an appositive is a phrase that renames the noun that it follows and is separated from the main sentence by commas)

• Hungry lions, felines of the African savannah, search the horizon for wounded or weak prey in the tall, dry grasses the savannah. (felines of the African savannah renames lions)  feline is another name for a cat.
• Elephants, powerful pachyderms, moved heavy logs that obstructed the transportation routes to remote villages.   (powerful pachyderms renames elephants)

11. Begin with a WH words

       who        whose     whoever       

       which      that         who

who and whoever   always refers to people and is a subject

whom  always refers to people

whose  always refers to people

which always refers to things and actions

that refers to things, people and actions

• The villagers who need helped clear the roads of fallen trees offered bananas and straw to the elephants for their labor.
• The villagers whose homes were destroyed lived in temporary shelters made of wood scraps, plastic sheets, and metal fragments.
• The grasses that hid the hunting lions turned brown in the heat of the savannah sun.
• The trees which blocked the village roads caused a disruption in food supplies.
• Whoever moved the most trees received a typhoon survival kit.

COMMA RULE...If you think the WH phrase is not important to the sentence, add a comma before and after the phrase.  If the WH word is meaningful to the sentence do not use a comma.