How would you compose these facts into sentences?

by compound complex 44 Replies latest jw friends

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  compound complex

  Excellent work, my equals! That's exactly what I had in mind!

  Thank you, Bob, Lisa, rip, Millie, Fernando and insearch, for posting.

  During my walk this afternoon I was pondering word sequence. In general, when a noun is being modified, adjectives are placed from least important to most important before the item being described. Phrases, a group of descriptive words containing no verb, and clauses, similar but containing a verb, follow the thing being described:

  "Mary, a high school student [descriptive phrase], sauntered home toward Maple Way [prepositional phrase], her long red, curly [adjectives] hair shining in the sun."

  It's not written in stone. Sometimes it's a matter of euphony and cadence (if you're reading aloud). I figure that the main point here is that Mary's hair is curly and red. If I were to leave out curly, I would definitely write: "Mary's long red hair." Mary's known as a redhead; the hair's length and curl are of lesser importance, IMHO.

  More later -- I type very slowly . . .

  CC
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  compound complex

  Thanks, rip and OUTLAW! [I put each fact separately so as to give no clues as to sequencing.]

  Great work!

  CC
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  compound complex

  From Fernando, on another thread [thanks!]:

  "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead.

  Highlighted words: Ms. Mead might have said a group of committed, thoughtful citizens; however, the key word here is committed. "Committed" denotes action on the part of the citizens. Their being thoughtful is a positive -- sure -- but to be merely a thoughtful citizen doesn't put a worthy candidate into office. The citizens must be committed to the given cause of the community. The placement of "committed," therefore, is rightly placed before "citizens."

  Thoughtful, committed citizens both think and act.

  CC
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  rip van winkle

  CC, as a result of this exercise, I'm a citizen that needs to be committed!! Lol
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  compound complex

  Take a deep breath, rip!!!

  Remember, this is only a fluff thread. Well, heavy-duty fluff!

  CoCo
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  rip van winkle

  Coco, yes, ok. I'm not in school! No one is grading my test. There aren't any parent- teacher conferences to worry about anymore.

  Inhale. Exhale.

  Phew, much better.

  Thanks!
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  compound complex

  See you tomorrow, rip et al!

  CC
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  RottenRiley

  Complex, are you a college English teacher? You have your "Heath Hanbook" memorized, silly rabbit!
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  rip van winkle

  Wait! Don't you want to read the 5 or 10 other sentences that I wrote for extra credit?

  CoCo?

  Co?

  Co?

  ZZZZzzzzzzzzz

  Lol! See you tomorrow.
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  Bobcat

  CoCo:

  I composed my sentence kinda in a hurry, as I was on my way to doing something else. So I didn't have time to put in my reasoning.

  • From the seat of his blue 3-speed Schwinn, a Christmans gift, the 10 year old boy saw his 'hope'; Mary, the one from Maple street, with her long curly red locks, a sophmore, strolling alongside her cynical, grizzled old bachelor of an uncle.

  I think the basic idea behind my use of adjectives was grouping them into 'families.' For example, for the man, "grizzled" and "old" describe his appearance, "cynical" is an attitude (and I may have needed a comma between "grizzled" and "old" (not sure). Similarly, Mary's description breaks down to "location" (from Maple Street), "age" (a sophmore), and "hair" (curly, red, and long). For the bike, 3-speed desribes its mechanical operation, whereas, that it was a Christmas gift describes how the boy received it.

  I could see where the adjectives might be grouped into different families and introduced in different order based on the view of the writer and how he/she wishes to compose the sentence. Language, and the use of it, is an amazing gift/talent.

  The semi-colon I used might have better been a colon. To me, semi-colons seem to seperate thoughts, not necessarily directly related. Colons, on the other hand, seem to directly point (sort of like an arrow) to the thought that follows. I don't know if that is official use of them. But that is how my mind sees them.

  When I first composed it, I wasn't sure if you wanted 3 sentences (for the man, girl, and boy) or just one that encompassed them all. Looking at your first post again, it appears you were looking for a seperate sentence for each. So my composition suffered a little from lack of attention to detail. But it was fun trying to compose them all together into one.

  Take Care