Be Sure to Underline Each Step As You Go Through the Thesis Writing Process

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Making Elaborate Sentences

Be sure to underline each step as you go through the thesis writing process.

Step 1: Simple Sentence

An experiment occurred.

Step 2: Add an adjective and adverb

An overzealous experiment suddenly occurred.

Step 3: Add a prepositional phrase

An overzealous experiment suddenly occurred in the middle of the night.

Step 4: Add an appositive phrase

An overzealous experiment, a creation, suddenly occurred in the middle of the night.

Step 5: Add a subordinate clause

An overzealous experiment, a creation, suddenly occurred in the middle of the night so that a new life could be born.

Step 6: Add a triad of absolute phrases

An unprecedented, unholy experiment, a creation, meticulously occurred in the middle of the night so that a new life could be born in order to transfer the power of God into the hands of man; despite the controversial nature of artificial life and man’s destructive tendencies.

Completing a Thesis

Look at what the question is asking.

Look for an article in the question, the subject and the verb or helping/linking verb in the question.

1.  Find an article, subject and verb from your prompt.

The argument made.

2.  Next, add adjectives and adverbs.

The central argument poignantly made.

3.  Next, add prepositional phrases.

In “The Allegory of the Cave,” the central argument is poignantly made throughout the passage.

4.  Add an appositive clause.

Appositive clause.

In “The Allegory of the Cave,” the central argument, man has always lived in a cave, is poignantly made throughout the passage.

5.  Add a subordinate clause.

Subordinate clause.

In “The Allegory of the Cave,” the central argument, man has always lived in a cave, is poignantly made throughout the passage as a statement that man has been limited in his way of being educated.

6.  Add a triad of absolute phrases (this is your basic analysis or elaboration) -

In “The Allegory of the Cave, the central argument, man has always lived in a cave, is poignantly made throughout the passage when Socrates states “human beings living in an underground den . . . from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained” learning from puppets displayed on a wall makes the point that men are taught to be ignorant and when man breaks free from his chains; he escapes his cave and enters into the outside world into the “sunlight” only then can he understand his gain of a new found understanding and perspective of learning, tearing away from the shadow of ignorance.

Guidelines for understanding each step to writing a thesis.

STEP 1

Article

The a/an

Subject

The subject of the sentence is that part about which something is being said.

Examples: Faculty and students planned a new class schedule.

At the end of the day comes our activity period.

These two main parts may consist of single words or many words.

Verb

A verb is a word that expresses action or otherwise helps to make a statement.

All verbs help to make a statement. Some help to make a statement by expressing an action.

STEP 2

Adjectives

An adjective is a word used to modify a noun or a pronoun. To modify means “to limit,” or to make more definite the meaning of a word. Adjectives may modify nouns or pronouns in any one of three different ways.

Examples:

By telling, what kind:

Blue eyes, large city, strong wind

By point out which one:

This man, that suggestion

By telling how many:

Several reasons, ten players

Adverbs

An adverb is a word used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. The adverb is used most commonly as the modifier of a verb. It may tell how, when, where, or to what exent (how often or how much) the action of the verb is done.

Examples: He is an unusually good driver. [Unusually modifies the adjective good, telling how good or to what exent he is good at driving.

STEP 3

The Prepositional Phrase

A prepositional phrase is a group of words usually beginning with a preposition and usually ending with a noun or a pronoun.

For Peg and you in the classroom

After the exam to bed

Commonly Used Prepositions

TEKS 13AD, 15Aiii & vii, 15Ci, 16A, 23B 2

about

above

across

after

against

along

amid

among

around

at

before

behind

below

beneath

beside

besides

between

beyond

but (meaning “except”)

by

concerning

down

during

except

for

from

in

into

like

of

off

on

over

past

since

through

throughout

to

toward

under

underneath

until

unto

up

upon

with

within

without

TEKS 13AD, 15Aiii & vii, 15Ci, 16A, 23B 2

A group of words may act as a prepositional:

·  on account of

·  in spite of

STEP 4

Appositive Phrases

An appositive is a word placed after another word to explain or identify it. The appositive always appears after the word it explains or identifies. It is always a noun or a pronoun, and the word it explains is also a noun or pronoun.

Examples: My uncle, a lawyer, is visiting us.

My teacher, Miss Marshall, is very strict.

Our house, a brick bungalow, is on Oak Street.

An appositive phrase consists of the appositive and its modifiers which may themselves be phrases.

Examples: My radio, an old portable, is in the repair shop.

The boys climbed the mountain, one of the highest in the West.

STEP 5

Subordinate Clauses

Subordinate clauses, which cannot stand alone as sentences, are used as nouns or modifiers in the same way as single words and phrases. A subordinate clause is always combined in some way with an independent clause.

Subordinate clauses are sometimes are called dependent clauses.

Common subordinating conjunctions

TEKS 13AD, 15Aiii & vii, 15Ci, 16A, 23B 2

After

Although

As

As if

As long as

As though

Because

Before

If

In order that

Provided that

Since

So that

Than

Though

Unless

Until

When

Whenever

Where

Wherever

Whether

While

TEKS 13AD, 15Aiii & vii, 15Ci, 16A, 23B 2

*many of these words may also be used as other parts of speech.

STEP 6

Triad of Absolute Phrases

An absolute phrase is composed of a noun plus an adjective or a participle, plus any modifiers that describe the noun or adjective. An absolute phrase is really a tool of concision, allowing the writer to embed full thought into a phrase that is almost a clause. Basically, to make the absolute phrase, the writer just removes a “to be” verb from the clause.

Absolute phrases expand the meaning of a noun or a noun phrase.

Absolute phrases provide descriptive details or express causes or conditions.

Examples: The baby duck ran toward its mother, its tiny wings outstretched, its little voice peeping urgently, its orange feet pattering through the muddy grass.

The baby duck, its tiny wings outstretched, its little voice peeping urgently, its orange feet pattering through the muddy grass, ran toward its mother.

Note: a subordinate clause is a group of words that has both a subject and a verb, but it begins with a subordinating conjunction like “because,” “although,” or “since,” and so it cannot stand alone as a sentence.

·  Because Alex is a good writer, he writes vividly about his experiences.

·  Although Poindexter broke his glasses, he was still able to complete the test.

·  Although the elephant had lost its tooth, it still ate Albert.

Insert a comma after two or more consecutive prepositional phrases.

In the castle of the monster with the enormous shoes, a beautiful goldfish wept bitterly.

Insert a comma after an introductory participial phrase.

Shivering with anticipation, Poindexter entered the palace of video games.

Insert a comma after a long introductory element of any kind!

Bibliography

http://www.sinclair.edu/centers/tlc/pub/handouts_worksheets/grammar_punctuation_writing/phrase_appositive.pdf

The Hodges Harbrace Handbook: Seventeenth Edition, 2010.

Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition: Completed Course: Revised Edition. 1965.

TEKS 13AD, 15Aiii & vii, 15Ci, 16A, 23B 2