Thursday, December 1, 2011Warm-up (Section 2-Rule Practice)

• Write the sentences and label them as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

1. Mrs. Phillips, who is a word nerd, drives me crazy with her highlighting editing list!

_______________________2. Mrs. New is running with Mrs. Phillips on Saturday,

but they are going to cancel if it snows. __________________________

Christmas with the Clauses

“A story of love and togetherness”

It all started with a very jolly, yet Independent Clause named, Santa Clause.

And… for many centuries, Santa was content to be single, independent, and loving life.

He was standing alone, and life made sense.

• But one day……he saw her…..

Santa fell in love and decided to marry and the two independent

clauses joined in jolly matrimony to become a compound family.

But…we all know how complex life can get…..so it wasn’t long

before a very new and very dependent clause came along.

Now life for Mrs. Clause and Santa Baby was very complex.

With Santa always working, Mrs. Clause was left alone many times with only the dependent Santa

Baby for company..

Finally though, Santa saw the error in his ways and hired more elves.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Life was still complex, but it was better with

the two independent clauses plus the dependent Santa Baby, thusly making a happy, compound-

complex family!

Happy Holidays from the CLAUSES!

Now, let’s see what we learned. • A simple sentence contains 1

_____________________ clause. It can stand alone and it makes ____________________.

•  A compound sentence consists of _______ independent clauses joined by either a semi colon or one of the fanboys. (For, an, nor, but, or, yet, or so) and a comma.

•  

• A complex sentence consists of 1 _____________________ clause and 1 or more _______________________ clauses. Dependent clauses usually begin with a subordinating conjunction. (Refer to the back of this sheet for the subordinating conjunction song)

• A compound complex sentence contains __________ independent clauses and 1 or more ___________________ clauses.

• Tips to Remember:• If the dependent clause comes first, set it

off with a comma. Ex. Since you’ve been gone, I can breathe for the first time.

• Fragments are incomplete thoughts. • Run-ons are sentences that contain 1 or more

independent clauses joined incorrectly. They are either joined with commas or no punctuation at all.

• Example: I love to sing, I love to dance.

Now, it’s time for the Subordinating Conjunction Song!