Writing 1 - Week 4 - Expanding Sentences Further.pptVIP

Writing 1 Week 4 So far, we’ve seen how we can add single words, prepositional phrases and verbal phrases to expand sentences. The next type of phrase is called the Absolute Phrase. Absolute phrases take this name because they have no specific grammatical connection to a noun, verb, or any other word in the sentence. They modify the entire rest of the sentence by adding information or clarifying meaning. Ex.: Many older players, their skills in decline, are making way for newer team members. Their native country left behind, immigrants face an uncertain future. Notice that absolute phrases, unlike participial phrases, always contain a subject. Compare the following: For many immigrants learning English, the language introduces American culture. The immigrants having learned English, they began to understand American culture. Participial Phrase Absolute Phrase Absolute phrases are always set off from the rest of the sentence with punctuation, usually a comma or commas. Combine each pair of sentences below into one sentence that contains an absolute phrase. You can add, delete, change, and rearrange words. The student’s face beamed. She enjoyed the class’ cheers after her nomination for vice-president. The position had become available. David was appointed the class president. His position was confirmed. David became the first non-Chinese class president. The class elections were over. Michelle was elected the class treasurer. The election was won. Daniel was a student representative from class 2. A clause is any group of words that contains both a subject and a predicate. There are two kinds of clauses. A main or independent clause makes a complete statement and can stand alone as a setence: The sky darkened. A subordinate or dependent clause begins with a subordinating word: when the sky darkened; whoever calls. A subordinating word turns this clause into a single part of speech – an adjective, an adverb or a noun - that supports the idea of the main claus