O

RNAUA N OM MAR OA UGSE MMAMGP NI G PAR GS GRPOANM SAAR ARN NOICS GM RAE HEAC RTI UCH TCS M
O
O M S N USIMTA RC M G AGG P E EO CSR O M E GCO AS ICAR GM MIC SITI RM MG NH AON S A IOC
ESIT MAA ICSS IOR MMM PE G ERA OSCHGSIT CAOMSIETCHRAMM MITIOS C MEEGCH ES COON AAMRMRAAMIACNMMUAGNIC
M GIO RGE AG N E ECPO O R GRMMIT ARIO M M I A MP MN OME RAN CCHOMPU MM R M S I S ES
CH P R
A O A
N M COE U C H S S A AM IO AN PO A ONI AO AU PCH AMIC M OS AE ME A C AA
T
CS N S M U ECG MG SAH ANIT ITM MAR NN MU SI R NCS R M SI RS OS A MS CANP SAI G RCH CHR S RGE
S R ICIONIO I
M ARM UC MSA IOM UCO TEI MAGI NI A O IO TI E A ANME C
SAC ICS IT MAGHANA PRA GA E O EC E CS R M CS ONG NI ICC OM
H
COIO A ICM OM N S C U N AR MEC SAS AG N U EC SAM C
EC GOE M
MN R E G
S M SIM IC O S UM EA GCO RE SH G H N H G C ME SIT R CS SHA
A A
H GP P
R U
G COA T I
R
AR AS MPA S E CNIC E M MG AAN EPO AUSANI R OM CPH O IO A CO NIC
G N N AMO O S RA R O M MC OG AC HS GR ECR GIC G NA CSA PO ANS N M M S
E I IC MS SI A
G C S T G M MM N E O SITE GHA ACOAMPO HA ES RSAI IGCE COM SI ICIT U M PO
S
I
O R S C ARIT IOE MPEOC UCSHA MM IOGN RE NI NI MMASIANM CO MTI SG MM TIO S I SA
N A C OM IONGR H AN AP UA CS C R T CSM M MO RA P A NN ON GE AR ITI
E
O US MOMPO N AM ARSAITNI GIECS ROMS SAM CO SPO ION AR POSARN MM OSR US U GR M

Sadlier School
SI AG M PSIT U MA M ICOS GCR O EIT GM M S IT U AR M A
A
TI E A OIO S R M EC NCO AMMCHIOA EA PO IT US MEC ION SA M ECH GE SAGAMM
H R SI
E
A G
AR O GR R SIN U AG
T E M MA P NN I C TI IO AG HA U GE EC AN G
G M N U AMM MECIOSA E G CHNICS POS R O SUSA ME ROAN U N E G NIC SA GR H ICS RA GR
C IT S G CH M
I O
E EC S A H N G R
G H R A A A O I E A M S M
U RAM S C GE A AN CO M
E A N T SA M O M
G R AN G M IC E MM N M N U IO GR NIC AA
S G R G M G M I
RA A
I E E A I C P S N A S G AR P R A CS PO
M C E E
IT MM M CS G C CO RA R S OS A
R H M O G G M OS AM R M C SI
P E
IO AR M CO A A M M M C ITI G US AR M R R E IT M EC O
M M
Grammar

PO N M AR MP M N OS MA CH
O ON E A M PO A AM CH IO A HA M
S U E O A I I A M U G G E S M M AN R N
NEW EDITION
M ITIO S C M SIT R CS TIO R M NIC PO S RA E G C ITIO M AR N US M ICS
AR N AG HA ECH ION ME C N E S C SI AG M RA HA N AR M IC AG EC
G U E N AN U CH O U CH O TI E M M N U M ECH S E HA
RA M S A M S
M EC A GR IC ICS SA NIC P AG AN M
O G AR M I SA EC AN C G
N M H G AM S CO G S O E IC P N U RA M AR CS GE HA ICS OM R
I A A E C S O M
for

RA CS R M NIC G MA CO MP E G O SIT GR CO S SA M ECH EC CO G NIC CO PO

Grade

M C E S C RA R M OS R M IO A MP IT GE M AN HA M RA S C M
Writing
SA MA OM CH OM M MEC PO ITI AM PO N M OS IO GR AR IC NIC PO M OM P
6

G R P A PO M HA S ON M S US M ITIO N AM M S C S C S M PO
AN E ME O N S A N IT
IC C S I R I C I U A IT AG A N U US MA EC OM O ITI A SIT
S G H IT IC TIO M S O S R IO E R S A R M HA PO M O R I
 CONTENTS

Part I: COMPOSITION
CHAPTER 1 The Writing Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Lesson 1 .1 Prewriting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Lesson 1 .2 Drafting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Lesson 1 .3 Revising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Lesson 1 .4 Editing and Proofreading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Lesson 1 .5 Publishing and Presenting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Descriptive
Writing Writer’s Workshop: Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

CHAPTER 2 Effective Sentences

and Word Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Lesson 2 .1 Correcting Sentence Fragments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Lesson 2 .2 Correcting Run-on Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Lesson 2 .3 Eliminating Extra Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Lesson 2 .4 Using Precise Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Lesson 2 .5 Using Sensory Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Real-World
Writing Writing Application: Friendly Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

CHAPTER 3 Sentence Variety and Structure . . . . . . . .54

Lesson 3 .1 Kinds of Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Lesson 3 .2 Sentence Variety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Lesson 3 .3 Kinds of Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.

Lesson 3 .4 Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences . . . . . . . 62
Lesson 3 .5 Combining Sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Narrative
Writing Writer’s Workshop: Autobiographical Incident . . . . . . . . . 68
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

4 Grammar for Writing: Table of Contents

 CHAPTER 4 Effective Paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Lesson 4 .1 Paragraphs and Their Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Lesson 4 .2 Main Idea and Supporting Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Lesson 4 .3 Paragraph Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Lesson 4 .4 Organizing Paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Lesson 4 .5 Using Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Persuasive
Writing Writing Application: Opinion Paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

CHAPTER 5 Writing an Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Lesson 5 .1 Parts of an Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Lesson 5 .2 Thesis Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Lesson 5 .3 Body Paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Lesson 5 .4 ntroductions and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Persuasive
Writing Writer’s Workshop: Persuasive Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Part II: GRAMMAR, USAGE,

AND MECHANICS
CHAPTER 6 Parts of a Sentence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Lesson 6 .1 Complete Subjects and Predicates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Lesson 6 .2 Simple Subjects and Predicates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Lesson 6 .3 Hard-to-Find Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Lesson 6 .4 Compound Subjects and Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Lesson 6 .5 Direct Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Lesson 6 .6 Subject Complements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Creative
Writing Writing Application: Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Grammar for Writing: Table of Contents 5

 CHAPTER 7 Nouns and Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Lesson 7 .1 Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Lesson 7 .2 Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Lesson 7 .3 Subject and Object Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Lesson 7 .4 Pronoun Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Expository
Writing Writer’s Workshop: How-to Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

CHAPTER 8 Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Lesson 8 .1 Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Lesson 8 .2 Verb Forms and Regular Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Lesson 8 .3 Irregular Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Lesson 8 .4 Verb Tense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Lesson 8 .5 Verbals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Expository
Writing Writing Application: Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

CHAPTER 9 Adjectives, Adverbs,

and Other Parts of Speech . . . . . . . . . . . .178
Lesson 9 .1 Adjectives and Adverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Lesson 9 .2 Making Comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Lesson 9 .3 Irregular Comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Lesson 9 .4 Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases . . . . . . . . . . 185
Lesson 9 .5 Conjunctions and Interjections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Writing
About Writer’s Workshop: Personal Response to Literature . . . 189
Literature
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.

6 Grammar for Writing: Table of Contents

 CHAPTER 10 Subject-Verb Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Lesson 10 .1 Agreement of Subject and Verb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Lesson 10 .2 Phrases Between Subject and Verb . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Lesson 10 .3 Compound Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Lesson 10 .4 Other Agreement Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Real-World
Writing Writing Application: Business E-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

CHAPTER 11 Punctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

Lesson 11 .1 End Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Lesson 11 .2 Commas in Compound Sentences and Series . . . . 219
Lesson 11 .3 Other Comma Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Lesson 11 .4 Semicolons and Colons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Lesson 11 .5 Quotation Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Lesson 11 .6 Apostrophes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Lesson 11 .7 Other Marks of Punctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Research
Writing Writer’s Workshop: Research Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

CHAPTER 12 Capitalization and Spelling . . . . . . . . . 242

Lesson 12 .1 Proper Nouns and Proper Adjectives . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Lesson 12 .2 First Words and Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Lesson 12 .3 Other Capitalization Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Lesson 12 .4 Spelling Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Lesson 12 .5 Plural Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Writing for
Assessment Writing Application: Essay Question Response . . . . . . . . . 253
Chapter Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Frequently Misspelled Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Commonly Confused Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Grammar for Writing: Table of Contents 7

8
1
CHAPTER

The Writing Process

Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.

 LESSON
Prewriting
During prewriting, you plan your writing. Prewriting means
1.1
you explore possible topics, decide on your purpose and
audience, and gather and organize your ideas.

Choose a topic you care about. You can find an idea almost
anywhere—in magazines and movies, conversations with friends
and family, or your own imagination. Use a journal to record
your ideas.

Try brainstorming to come up with a lot of topics quickly.

Focus on one word or phrase, and list everything that comes Remember
to mind. Continue for three to five minutes.
The writing
process consists
of five stages.
Writing Model
Prewriting
interesting person
Mr. Kreisher, coach S. E. Hinton Pocahontas Drafting

Carlos, friend Blackbeard Anne Frank

Revising
Mrs. Belmonti, neighbor Helen Keller Jim Thorpe
Editing and
Proofreading
Narrow your topic. Sometimes a topic is too broad to cover
in a short piece of writing. Asking 5-W’s and How? questions is Publishing and
one way to divide a big topic into smaller parts. Presenting

Writing Model

Whom does Mrs. Belmonti remind me of?

What are her hobbies? What is she like?
Where does she work?
Choose a topic
When did she move to the United States? on which you
can elaborate.
Why do I think she is funny?
How did I first meet her?

Chapter 1 • The Writing Process 9

The Writing Process

Consider purpose and audience. As you plan your writing,

ask yourself questions to help identify why you are writing and
who your readers are.

● What is my goal? Is it to describe, inform, persuade,

or entertain?
● Am I writing for my teacher, my class, or someone else?
● How much do my readers already know about the topic?
● How can I capture their interest?

Complete an “I want to” sentence like the one below. The

more specific it is, the more it will help you stay on track as
you start writing.

I want to describe my neighbor’s sense of humor

to readers of my school newspaper.
Gather and organize details. Finish your prewriting
by exploring which specific ideas and details to include. Try
the strategy of clustering to explore your topic and connect
different details.

Write your topic in big boots

a big circle. As you funny stories odd clothes
think of specific
details, write them in Mrs. Belmonti’s unique hats
separate circles. sense of humor

Once you have developed your ideas, decide how best to

organize them. For instance, you can order ideas in a simple
list or create an outline. (See example on page 12.)
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.

ExErcisE 1 Brainstorming Topics

What words or images does the photo make you think of? On
a separate sheet of paper, make a list of words. Then turn your
word list into a list of possible topics for a one- to two-page paper.

words lunch, friendship, fast food

possible topic vending machines at school

10 Chapter 1 • The Writing Process

 The Writing Process

ExErcisE 2 Narrowing Topics

When choosing a topic, consider the length of your final product.

1. Look back at the list of topics you created for Exercise 1.

If any of the topics are too broad to cover in a one- to two-
page paper, narrow them by choosing one aspect of the topic
to write about. If any of the topics are too specific, expand
on them.
2. Create a new list of your revised topics.
broad topic friendship

narrowed topic how I met my best friend

ExErcisE 3 Thinking of Audience and Purpose

Look at the list you created in Exercise 2. Choose two topics,
and write an “I want to” statement for each. The audience and
purpose should be different for both topics.

topic 1 I want to make a speech to my classmates to persuade

them that we should not have vending machines at school.
topic 2 I want to entertain my teacher with the story of how my
friends and I saw a frog hopping in the mall.

ExErcisE 4 Gathering and Arranging Details

Now select one statement you created in Exercise 3. You will
develop this topic as you move through the following lessons. For more on
organizing ideas,
Use the clustering strategy to gather details. Number each circle see Lesson 4.4.
to show the order in which you will present your details.

2. possible
1. distracts students littering problem
from work Vending
Machines at
School 4. unfair to students
3. unhealthy foods who don’t receive an allowance

Chapter 1 • The Writing Process 11

 LESSON

1.2 Drafting
The most important goal of drafting is to get your ideas down
on paper. When you write a draft, you organize your thoughts
about a topic into sentences and paragraphs.

As you draft, refer to the notes you made during prewriting,

but feel free to add details or make changes to your writing plan
as you go.

Organize your ideas into a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Group related details together, and include them in your draft
in an order that helps achieve your purpose—to inform,
persuade, or entertain.
Writing Model Keep your audience in mind as you draft. Usually use a
Outline: formal style when writing for school and an informal style
Mrs. Belmonti’s when writing for friends.
sense of humor
Below is part of a first draft about an interesting person. It is
1. clothes
based on the list of details to the left.
2. jokes
3. stories Writing Model
4. surprises
Mrs. Belmonti is a woman who has been my
neighbor for the past four years. She is eighty
years old. She seems much younger. She has a
Introduction that
focuses on one silly sense of humor. Her choice of clothes is
characteristic
silly and definitely out of the ordanary.sp? For
instance, she loves to wear all kinds of hats
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.
Note to check
spelling later everywhere she goes. She likes us to tell her silly
jokes. My parents hardly ever laugh out loud at

Arrow to add jokes. Mrs. Belmonti laughs so hard that she cries.
a detail
A huge one with orange ribbons is my favorite.

Don’t interrupt the flow of ideas to correct mistakes or stop

and start over. It’s okay for drafts to be messy.
12 Chapter 1 • The Writing Process
 The Writing Process

ExErcisE 1 Describing How You Draft

Think about a paper you drafted recently. Writing HINT
1. Make a list that describes how you drafted the paper. When you draft,
For instance, did you write it first on paper or on leave room for
changes. Skip every
a computer?
other line if you
2. Think about what worked well and what did not. are using a pen and
Make a second list describing how you will draft paper. Double-space
between lines if you
this paper. What might you do differently?
are using a computer.
What will you do in the same way?

How I Drafted Before How I Will Draft Now

1. in a notebook 1. on a computer (easier
2. carefully, with to make changes)
attention to spelling 2. letting ideas flow,
and grammar worrying about spelling
and grammar later

ExErcisE 2 Writing a Draft

Write a first draft of your paper. Use the prewriting notes
you created in Exercise 4 of the previous lesson. Refer to
the list you just created in this lesson to help guide your
drafting process.

Chapter 1 • The Writing Process 13

 LESSON

1.3 Revising
Few writers get everything right the first time. Revising is your
chance to make changes to improve your draft.

If possible, set aside your draft for a little while. Then read it
aloud to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. What should
you add, delete, replace, or rearrange?

Ask yourself specific questions, such as the ones below,

which cover five of the six key traits of good writing.

Writing HINT
Ideas and ● How clear are my ideas?
The sixth Content ● Where should I add or delete details?
writing trait is
conventions, ● How easy is it to follow the order of my ideas?
or correctness in Organization
● How well does one sentence connect to the next?
grammar, spelling,
usage, punctuation, ● How do my sentences sound when I read them
and mechanics. Sentence aloud? Where should I rearrange words?
You’ll check for Fluency
● Which short sentences should be combined?
correctness during
the next stage ● Where can I add more precise words?
of the writing Word Choice
● Which words should I replace?
process: editing and
proofreading. ● How natural does my writing sound?
See Lesson 1.4. Voice
● How interested do I seem in my topic?

After you’ve looked over your draft, ask a classmate to read

and comment on it. Peer reviews give you a chance to receive
helpful feedback on your draft. But remember that it’s ultimately
up to you, the writer, to decide what changes to make.

Mark your revisions directly on your draft. Later you can Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.
make a clean copy to hand in.

The passage on the next page shows a revision of the draft

from Lesson 1.2.

● How effective are the revisions?

● If you were a peer reviewer, what other changes would
you suggest?

14 Chapter 1 • The Writing Process

PA
GE
IN
TE
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IO
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54
3
CHAPTER

and Structure
Sentence Variety

Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.

 LESSON
LESSON
Kinds of Sentences
Different kinds of sentences have different purposes.
3.1
A declarative sentence makes a statement. It ends with
a period.

During the Middle Ages, a knight was a soldier on horseback.

An imperative sentence gives a command or makes a

request. Imperative sentences usually end with a period.

Please describe the weapons a knight used.

The subject of an imperative sentence is you, even if you doesn’t

appear in the sentence. You is called the understood subject.

(You) Show me a picture of a knight.

An interrogative sentence asks a question and ends with

a question mark.

How did boys train to become knights?

An exclamatory sentence shows strong feelings.

Exclamatory sentences end with an exclamation point.

Maya’s report about the Middle Ages was fantastic!

For more on end

ExErcisE 1 Classifying Sentences punctuation, see
Lesson 11.1.
Add the correct punctuation mark to each sentence below.
Label it as declarative, imperative, interrogative, or exclamatory.

EXAMPLE interrogative Will you help me paint my bedroom ?

1. I bought two cans of paint, two brushes, and a

long-handled roller so we can reach the ceiling
2. Could you help me move the furniture, too
3. Don’t you think this shade of blue is
absolutely gorgeous
4. Please help me cover the bed with a drop cloth
5. Hey, that paint is about to spill

Chapter 3 • Sentence Variety and Structure 55

Sentence Variety and Structure

6. Yikes, my father would ground me for a month

7. I don’t even particularly like that color, but I
guess Will does, doesn’t he
8. Wow, the paint I chose looks incredible
9. Should we stop painting for an hour and take
a break for lunch
10. Let me cook something special to thank you

Working
Together ExErcisE 2 Writing a Silly Script
On a separate sheet of paper, add eight or more sentences
to continue this conversation.

1. Use each kind of sentence listed on page 55 at least

twice to create a script.
2. Read your script aloud with a partner, using your
voices to express emotions.

ms. prim n. proper: Why on Earth are you wearing those

ridiculous shoes?
mr. silly shoes: I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean.

ExErcisE 3 Finding Examples

Look for the four kinds of sentences in a book you
are reading.
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.
1. On a separate sheet of paper, write down two examples
of each of the four kinds of sentences. Label them.
2. If you cannot find examples of a particular kind of
sentence, explain why. Why might the author not
need to use certain kinds of sentences?

56 Chapter 3 • Sentence Variety and Structure

 LESSON
LESSON
Sentence Variety
You can make your writing more lively by paying attention
3.2
to sentence variety.

Mix different kinds of sentences in a paragraph. An

occasional question, command, or exclamation can help
keep your writing from sounding monotonous.

original Many people take part in marathons. It takes a lot

of strength and endurance to run more than twenty-six See Lesson 3.1
miles, and it also requires determination. It takes a long to review the four
kinds of sentences:
time to get in shape.
declarative,
different Have you ever thought of taking part in a marathon? imperative,
interrogative, and
kinds of It takes a lot of strength and endurance to run more than
exclamatory.
sentences twenty-six miles, and it also requires determination.
Start getting in shape today!

Avoid starting each sentence with the same word or phrase.

Use a variety of sentence beginnings to make your writing
flow smoothly.

original Runners may race on a track, a city street, or a forest

trail. Runners often wear specially designed shoes to
avoid injury. Runners sometimes select shoes with
spikes to prevent falls.
different Runners may race on a track, a city street, or a
beginnings forest trail. Wearing specially designed shoes
helps them avoid injury. To prevent falls, runners
sometimes select shoes with spikes.

Vary the length of your sentences. Mixing long and

short sentences creates an appealing rhythm and keeps
readers interested.

As you read the following excerpt from a novel, notice

the range of sentence lengths.

Chapter 3 • Sentence Variety and Structure 57

Sentence Variety and Structure

Literary Model
If you listen to everybody who claims to have seen
1

Jeffrey-Maniac Magee that first day, there must have been

ten thousand people and a parade of fire trucks waiting for
him at the town limits. 2Don’t believe it. 3A couple of people
Short sentence
between two truly remember, and here’s what they saw: a scraggly little
long ones kid jogging toward them, the soles of both sneakers hanging
by their hinges and flopping open like dog tongues each
time they came up from the pavement.
—Excerpt from Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Reading as a Writer

1. Why might the author have made sentence 2 so short?

2. Think about how you could rewrite sentence 3 into two
separate sentences. Why might the author want such a
long sentence here?
3. How well has the author used different kinds of sentences
and sentence beginnings?

ExErcisE 1 Revising Sentences

On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite each group of
sentences below to add sentence variety.

1. In your revisions, use different kinds of sentences,

varied beginnings, and a range of sentence lengths.
2. You can add, delete, change, or rearrange words and
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.
add details. Remember to indent your paragraphs.

EXAMPLE Fruit is an important part of a healthy diet. Fruit

provides your body with the vitamins it needs.
Fruit is a delicious snack.

If you think you can stay healthy without fruit

in your diet, think again. Your body needs the
vitamins that fruit provides. So put down that
candy bar. Eat a juicy orange instead!

58 Chapter 3 • Sentence Variety and Structure

 Sentence Variety and Structure

1. Eating from the five food groups is important. Choose foods

from the five food groups every day. Each food group has
different nutrients.
2. Pasta is made of grain. Cereal is also made of grain. Grains
have carbohydrates. Carbohydrates provide energy.
3. Dairy products contain protein. Dairy products provide
calcium to strengthen bones. Dairy products include milk,
cheese, and yogurt.
4. Did you know that many people do not eat vegetables?
How are their bodies affected? Why don’t more people like
vegetables? What about the rainbow of colors that vegetables
come in? Doesn’t this make them fun to eat?
5. Meat is a source of protein. It is not the only one. Beans
have protein. Tofu has protein. Soy has protein. Nuts have
protein. Vegetarians can still eat plenty of protein.

ExErcisE 2 Writing a Paragraph

Write a paragraph using information from the notes below.
Use at least two kinds of sentences, and vary the lengths and
beginnings of your sentences.

● CPR: cardiopulmonary resuscitation

● can revive person who has stopped breathing
● mouth-to-mouth: rescuer blowing air into victim’s
mouth, forcing air into lungs
● chest compressions: rescuer pressing hands on
victim’s chest to get oxygen to brain and move
blood out of heart if it has stopped beating
● repeat 2 breaths + 30 chest compressions

Chapter 3 • Sentence Variety and Structure 59

 LESSON
LESSON

3.3 Kinds of Clauses

A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.
Writers use two kinds of clauses.

An independent (or main) clause expresses a complete

thought and can stand by itself as a sentence. Every sentence
has at least one independent clause.
Some Words one independent clause Frogs and toads are amphibians.
That Begin
They can live on land, and they can
Subordinate two independent clauses
live in water.
Clauses
A subordinate (or dependent) clause does not express a
after if
complete thought. It cannot stand alone as a sentence.
because when
before which because they are cold- which have soft, moist skin
blooded

A subordinate clause by itself is a sentence fragment.

Join a subordinate clause with at least one independent clause
to make a complete sentence.

For more on
recognizing and
correcting sentence
fragments,
see Lesson 2.1.
sentence fragment When baby frog and toad eggs hatch.
complete sentence When baby frog and toad eggs hatch,
they are called tadpoles.
independent clause subordinate clause

ExErcisE 1 Identifying Clauses

Label each underlined clause as independent or subordinate.

1. Mark Twain, whose given name was Samuel

Clemens, was born in 1835. Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. In 1865 he wrote “Jim Smiley and His Jumping

Frog,” and it was published in a newspaper.
3. Twain also worked as a riverboat pilot, but
the boats stopped sailing when the Civil War
broke out.
4. Before he chose the name “Mark Twain,” he
wrote stories under the name “Thomas
Jefferson Snodgrass.”

60 Chapter 3 • Sentence Variety and Structure

PA
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216
11
CHAPTER

Punctuation

Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.

 LESSON
End Marks
End marks are punctuation marks used at the ends of sentences.
11.1
The end mark you use depends on the purpose of
the sentence.

1. A period (.) ends a declarative sentence. Declarative

sentences make a statement.

Ringo is a Norwegian forest cat.

A period also ends an imperative sentence, which gives a

command or makes a request.

Take good care of him while I am gone.

2. A question mark (?) ends an interrogative sentence,

which asks a question.

Where did you adopt him?

A question mark, however, is not used after an indirect question.

Tasha asked me where I adopted him.

3. An exclamation point (!) ends an exclamatory sentence, Remember

which is a sentence that expresses a strong feeling. Abbreviations save
time when you
He’s the cutest cat I’ve ever seen! take notes or write
informal letters.
It is also used after an interjection or in a command that In formal writing,
expresses a lot of emotion. such as essays and
business letters,
Yikes! Don’t let him eat that bug! use only common
abbreviations, such
A period is also used in many abbreviations, which are as initials, titles, and
shortened forms of words. those for time. Spell
out everything else.
initials Juan P. Rodriguez A. J. Jackson

titles Mr. Mrs. Ms. Jr. Dr.

times a.m. p.m. Sat. Oct.

others etc. vs. Co. Ave.

Chapter 11 • Punctuation 217

 ONLINE PRACTICE
Punctuation SadlierConnect.com

ExErcisE 1 Adding End Marks

Remember Add the correct punctuation mark at the end of each sentence.
When an
abbreviation comes at 1. The audience gasped when the singer held a lengthy note
the end of a sentence, 2. Don’t talk during the performance
use only one period.
The movie won’t be 3. This is the best concert ever
over until 7 p.m. 4. Let’s wait in line to get her autograph
5. Did you bring a camera

ExErcisE 2 Using Abbreviations

Correct the abbreviations below. Use each one in a sentence
you might write to a friend.

1. pm 3. mrs 5. dr 7. us 9. aug
2. ave 4. lbs 6. in 8. ft 10. etc
Working
Together ExErcisE 3 Improving a Paragraph
Work with a partner to find and correct five errors with end
marks. Then write four to five sentences explaining the type
of book you would write. Check your use of end marks and
any abbreviations.

Proofreading Symbols 1
If I were an author, I would write mystery novels!
Add.
Delete. 2
I like that they are suspenseful and draw the reader into
the story. 3Most people like to read books that grab their Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.

attention? 4The one thing about mystery novels, however,

is that they are often scary. 5Sometimes they are
terrifying? 6I don’t think that mysteries have to involve
violence or present a frightening situation in order to be
thrilling and entertaining! 7What do you think.

218 Chapter 11 • Punctuation

 LESSON
Commas in Compound Sentences
and Series 11.2
A comma (,) is a punctuation mark that signals a slight pause
but not a complete stop. Remember
A compound
Commas are used before a conjunction in a sentence has two or
compound sentence. more independent
clauses joined by a
I do enjoy cooking, but directions can be confusing. conjunction, such as
and, but, or, nor, or
Flag football is fun, and most of my friends have a team. yet. See Lessons 3.4
and 3.5.
Be careful not to confuse a compound subject or compound
I went to the theme
verb with a compound sentence. Compound subjects and
park, and the lines
compound verbs do not need a comma. were long.
Sara and I have similar hobbies. We play the guitar and sing.

Commas are also used between items in a series of three or

more items. Add a comma after every item except for the last one.

Painting, gymnastics, and reading are my favorite hobbies.

I love dancing to r&b, pop, and jazz music.

ExErcisE 1 Adding Commas

Add the missing commas in the following sentences.

1. The killer whale glides through the water and the trainer
waits on the other side of the pool.
2. The whales live in theme parks in California Florida and Ohio.
3. Scientists want to understand whales’ behavior so they
study the sounds killer whales make.
4. The killer whales at theme parks live in huge pools and
people can see them swim.
5. The killer whales swim slide leap and dive.
6. Fish are their main food source but they also eat other
whales and dolphins.

Chapter 11 • Punctuation 219

 ONLINE PRACTICE
Punctuation SadlierConnect.com

7. Killer whales are found in oceans all over the world and
they usually swim within five hundred miles of land.
8. Scientists think that shoving leaping out of the water and
splashing are ways the whales exhibit their strength.
9. Killer whales sound mean but trained whales can be friendly.
10. Have you read much about whales or have you ever seen one?

ExErcisE 2 Editing a Paragraph

Edit the draft below to correct the comma usage. Use the
proofreading symbols to add missing commas and
eliminate unnecessary ones.

Proofreading Symbols
Add.
1
The cheetah is the world’s fastest land
Delete.
mammal. 2It is yellow with a white belly and black
spots cover most of its body. 3Cheetahs can reach
speeds of seventy mph. 4They have strong hearts
long legs and keen eyesight. 5Their bodies are
narrow, and strong. 6The cheetah’s long tail helps
to balance its body weight.

Write What You Think

Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read the question below.
What is your favorite animal, and why do you like it the best?
1. On a separate sheet of paper, write at least five sentences
that answer the question above.
2. Include each type of comma usage twice.
3. Then check your paragraph for comma errors.

220 Chapter 11 • Punctuation

 LESSON
Other Comma Uses
Learn these additional rules for using commas.
11.3
Rule Example
Direct Address Use a comma to set off a David, I want
noun of direct address (the to finish our
name of the person being science project.
spoken to).

Introductory Use a comma to set off an Yes, we are

Phrases or Words introductory phrase or words ready to write
that begin a sentence. our report.

Interrupters Interrupters are words and You know, of

phrases that interrupt the course, that Ms. Some Common
main thought of a sentence. Yang is a Interrupters
Use commas to set off an tough grader. as a result
interrupter within a sentence. for example
furthermore
Nonessential Use commas to separate Marco, who loves
a nonessential clause from science, is in however
Clauses
the rest of a sentence. our group. in fact
nevertheless
Date and Year Use a comma to separate Our report is due
the date and year. Add a on February 21,
comma after the year if the 2014, which is
date comes in the middle also my birthday.
of a sentence.

Direct Quotation Insert a comma to separate Our teacher said, Remember

a direct quotation from the “Let’s review your
Nonrestrictive—or
rest of a sentence. lab results.”
nonessential—clauses
add information,
but they are not
ExErcisE 1 Using Commas necessary for the
sentence to
Read the following sentences. Add commas where needed. make sense.
If the sentence is correct as is, write C. Ms. Lin, who is left-
handed, wrote on the
1. Charles Lindbergh was born on February 4 1902. white board.
2. Lindbergh of course is an aviation hero.
3. In fact, he gained international fame as the first pilot to
fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean on May 21, 1927.
4. Yes Lindbergh learned to drive when he was eleven.

Chapter 11 • Punctuation 221

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