SENTENCE COMBINING EXERCISES
Exercise 1. Combine the sentences below to make them more readable.
Note the hints or signals given in parentheses.
Examples:
The pitcher looked up intently. (,)
The pitcher glanced at first base. (,)
Then he threw a hanging curve which the batter knocked out of the
park.
The pitcher looked up intently,
glanced at first base,
then threw a hanging curve which the batter knocked out of the
park.
Helen raised the .357 magnum. (,)
She took careful aim. (, AND)
She squeezed off five shots to the center of the target.
Helen raised the .357 magnum, took careful aim, and squeezed off
five shots to the center of the target.
1.Fearless Frank rushed into the room.
He dived at the cowardly crook.
He missed.
He sailed out of the second story window.
2.They walked on.
They were watching the stars.
They were talking about them.
They were ignoring the deserted bungalows.
They were pretending not to see the people who passed them.
3.He knelt.
He put his arms around her.
His shirt and jacket were soaking wet as he clutched her.
He was holding her desperately.
He was looking at her searchingly.
He was cursing regretfully.
4.Emily truly believed it. (THAT)
Her grandfather was innocent.
5.Princess Arista fell in love with a commoner.
The commoner was flat broke.
6.Dee James easily disabled her attacker.
Dee James was a body builder.
7.The boy was a third grader.
The boy was named Ken Sinclair.
He called his teacher and talked with her. (TOLD)
He could not attend the last day of school. (THAT)
The day had been set aside for a special program.
The program was on being kind to animals.
He had been bitten on the leg by a dog. (BECAUSE)
He had been hospitalized. (AND)
8. Different as they were. (--)
They were different in background.
They were different in personality.
They were different in underlying aspiration. (--)
These two great soldiers had much in common.
Bruce Catton
9.Never shall I forget the deep singing of the men at the drum.
The singing was swelling and sinking.
It was the deepest sound I have ever heard in my life.
It was deeper than thunder.
It was deeper than the sound of the Pacific Ocean.
It was deeper than the roar of a deep waterfall.
Those men were calling to the bottomless depths
D.H. Lawrence
10.Night came. (WHEN)
We sat huddled in blankets.
The blankets were thick and warm.
The air was cold and clear.
It was time to turn in. (LONG BEFORE)
11.The protesters burst through the barricades. (, ING)
The protesters forced the police back to the door.
12.It was a wet, stormy day.
The wind was buffeting my face. (WITH)
The wind chilled me thoroughly. (ING)
13.I can die. (AND IF)
I have brought any light. (ING)
I have exposed any truth. (ING)
The truth will help destroy the cancer. (THAT)
The cancer is racism.
The cancer is malignant in the body of America. (THAT)
Then all credit is due to Allah. (--)
Only the mistakes have been mine.
Malcolm X
14.We start them sooner and sooner in school.
We make a farce of graduations. (AND)
The graduations are even from kindergarten now. (--...--)
School becomes a rat race. (UNTIL)
The rat race never has a home stretch in sight.
Bruno Betelheim
15. The woman stood directly in front of them.
The woman was poised on the edge of the embankment.
The embankment was opposite them.
Her hat was in her hand.
Her hair was lit by the sun.
Richard Wright
16.He explained to me with great insistence.
Every question possessed a power. (THAT)
The power did not lie in the answer. (THAT)
Elie Wiesel
Exercise 2. The paragraphs below are short and choppy. Rewrite them
using sentence combining techniques so they read better.
1. Once there was a man. He was old. He lived alone. He became
lonely. Someone gave him a hen. She became his companion. Each
morning the hen laid an egg. He made up his mind. He would try an
experiment. Perhaps he could get more eggs. He would feed the hen
more grain. Maybe she would lay more eggs. He could eat two eggs
each day. He doubled the feed. The hen became fat. She became lazy.
She laid no eggs at all. The man was disappointed. He became angry.
He was hungry. He killed and ate the hen. He was lonely again. He
became hungry again. He had no companion. He had no eggs.
2.Most tarantulas live in the tropics. Several species occur in
the temperate zone. A few are common in the southern U.S. Some
varieties are large. They have fangs. They fangs are powerful. They
can inflict a wound with the fangs. The wound is deep. These
spiders, however, do not attack humans. The spiders are formidable
looking. You can hold one in your hand. You need to be gentle. You
won't be bitten. Their bite is dangerous to only insects and small
mammals. One such small mammal is mice. For humans, it is no worse
than a hornet sting.
Alexander Petrunkevitch, "The Spider & the Wasp"
3.Aluminum is a metal. It is abundant. It has many uses. It comes
from bauxite. Bauxite is an ore. Bauxite looks like clay. Bauxite
contains aluminum. It contains several other substances. Workers
extract these other substances from the bauxite. They grind the
bauxite. They put it in tanks. Pressure is in the tanks. The other
substances form a mass. They remove the mass. They use filters. A
liquid remains. They put it through several processes. It finally
yields a chemical. The chemical is powdery. It is white. The
chemical is alumina. It is a mixture. It contains aluminum. It
contains oxygen. Workers separate the the aluminum from the oxygen.
They use electricity. They finally produce a metal. The metal is
light. It has a luster. The luster is bright. The luster is silver.
Roy O'Donnell, Ph. D., University of Georgia
4.Richard Wagner had the emotional stability of a six-year-old.
He felt out of sorts. He would rave. He would stamp. He would sink
into a gloom. The gloom was suicidal. He would talk darkly of going
to the East. It was to end his days as a Buddhist monk. It was ten
minutes later. Something pleased him. He would jump up and down on
the sofa. He would stand on his head.
Deems Taylor, "The Monster"
WashburnUniversityWritingCenter
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This handout modified in March 1993 from one originated by the
PurdueUniversity Writing Lab.