Combining Sentences and Breathing Life into Verbs

Sentence Combining and Bringing Life back into Verbs

Avoiding repetition by Combining Sentences

When you notice several sentences that have a common subject or verb or modifying phrase, this can begin to sound repetitive and monotonous. To liven up your writing and make it stronger and more concise, combine several sentences into one or two sentences.

Example:

Original:

It was a cold night. I got out of bed to get extra blankets because I was feeling so cold. I walked around my house. The house was dark and scary. The house made weird noises when I walked around it at night.

Combined Sentence:

I got out of bed to get blankets because the night was so cold. As I walked around the dark house, the weird noises the house made were scary.

Breathing life back into your VERBS

Verb- an “action” word or word that describes a state of being

Every complete sentence MUST have a subject (a noun or pronoun) and a verb.

Active Verbs: run, jump, throw, meander, stab, explode, etc (words where there is an actual action)

Linking Verbs: is, was, were, have, has, etc (verbs that connect the subject to an adjective, noun, or other verb)

“State of being”: any form of the verb “to be”

VERB RULEs

*Keep your verb tense consistent

*Make sure your subject and verb agree (errors are usually made in forms of the “to be” verbs) refer to the chart above

VERB TIPS:

In order to breathe life back into your verbs…

* Opt for sentences in which the main verb is active and limit sentences in which the main verb is a form of “to be”

*Opt for more concrete rather than vague verbs, avoid forms of the verb “to do,” “to have”

*Opt for an active, rather than passive voice

Example:

Greg was hit by the ball thrown by Christina. (PASSIVE)

Christina threw the ball at Greg. (ACTIVE)

VERB REFERENCE:

Infinitive	Past- Singular subject	Past- plural subject	Present- Singular subject	Present Plural Subject (or 1st or 2nd person singular)
To be	was	were	is	Are (I) am (You) are
To do	did	did	Does	Do (I/You) do
To have	had	had	has	Have (I/You) have

Try applying what we learned about verbs to our earlier sentence:

Original:

I got out of bed to get blankets because the night was so cold. As I walked around the dark house, the weird noises the house made were scary.

Revised:

The cold forced me out of bed in search of extra blankets. Each step I took in the darkness groaned and creaked until I shivered. I told myself I was just cold, but I was lying.

YOU TRY:

Take the original passage below and try revising it to avoid repetition by combining sentences and liven up the language by revising the verbs and voice:

One memory I have of Mexico was when some of the cousins and uncles and aunties were together. My Auntie Marta said, “Hey let’s head out to Manzanillo.” It’s a four hour drive from where we were at. We divided into two SUV’s. One of course was my dad’s. It was a GMC Yukon XL. The other was my uncle’s truck. Girls went in one of the trucks and the boys went in the other one.

Revised Version

I remember when my Auntie Marta brought a bunch of my cousins, uncles, and aunties together in a trip to Manzanillo.For the four hour drive, from ____(the actual city where they statrted), all the girls rode in my dad's GMC Yukon XL and all the boys rode into my uncle's truck.