Unit 7 Coordinate Sentence
Objectives
At the end of the unit you will be able to
1. Recognize the features of a coordinate sentence;
2. become familiar with different types of coordinate sentences;
3. Know how to coordinate sentences;
4. Achieve sentence unity and correct parallelism; and
5. Learn how to avoid common problems in précis writing.
PART I. Warm-up Activities
1. Study the following sentences with your partner. Is there any difference or similarity between the italicized parts?
1) After the football game these people were tired but happy.
2) Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine cent perspiration.
3) A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday and who never remembers her age.
4) Soldiers win battles, but generals get the credit.
Differences: ________________________
Similarities: ________________________
Can you now write four more sentences using similar structures? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Write a short paragraph to discuss ways to make your campus life more colorful.
Part II.Focus
If a write wants to combine two sentences, he has two alternatives; coordination and subordination. In this unit, we will focus on coordination.
Coordination
Coordinate structures
A. Basic coordinate formula
Look at the italicized parts in the Warm-up Activities again. They all contain coordinate structures. What similarity have you found? Most probably you have noticed that they are constructed in the same way. Try to use your finding to complete the following formula:
Coordination=_______+_________+__________
A coordinate structure is in fact two similar items joined by a word. The word used to join the two items is called coordinator.
B. Coordination at different grammatical levels
In the Warm-up Activities you were asked to look for differences between coordinate structures. You might have found that coordination can be applied to different kinds of items. One way to explore this is to examine the structures at their grammatical levels, Now, can you go over the following structures, and write down their grammatical level?
a. hard but rewarding ______________
b. a five-thousand-yuan salary and a two-month paid holiday ____________
c. who is old enough to provide knowledgeable lessons about life and who is young enough to treat students as friends
___________________________________
d. leaders work with mind, and laborers work with hand.___________________________
As is illustrated by the exercise, coordination can be used to join words, phrases, Clauses, and sentences,
Classroom Activities
Study in groups how the following sentence is expanded, and then expand the other sentences in the same way.
The students are walking
—— The students are walking or running
—— The students are walking down the road or running across the lawn
—— The students who are walking down the road or who are running across the lawn are not prepared for what is going to happen,
——Some students are walking down the road, and some others are running across the lawn.
1) The old man smiled
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2）The boy wanted to write a poem.
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3）Several young men are drinking beer in the bar
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C .Coordination with different types of coordinators
a. single coordinators
Coordinators are indispensable in coordination. In the formula previously mentioned, we only use either and or but to join the two items. However, another word can also be used in this formula. Read the following phrases, and fill in the blanks with any word that you think acceptable.
a. cats ________ dogs
b. leave___________stay
c. hard ________rewarding
d. office work______________house work
e .in the city_____________in the country
f. die in honor______________die in disgrace
Check your answers with your partner's .Is there any difference? If yes, what is the difference that these words bring about?
Here we can see that besides and and but, we can use or as a coordinator. These three words are the commonest coordinators. Different coordinators assign different relationships to the two items in the coordinate structures. Can you tell what relationships and, but and or indicate?
b. paired coordinators
Look at the following phrases. Are they also coordinating constructions? How are they different from the coordinate structures in the preceding section?
a, both cats and dogs
b. either leave or stay
c. either office work or house work
d. both in the city and in the country
e. either die in honor or live in disgrace
The coordinators are used in pairs, and we call them paired coordinators, besides both …and and either...or, there are some other pairs. Can you recall some of them?
Some other paired coordinators
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Why do writers use paired coordinators where there are single coordinators to indicate similar relationships? Look at the following pairs of sentences and answer the questions.
a. I hate cats and dogs
I hate both cats and dogs
b. You can find those rich people in the city or in the country.
You can find those rich people either in the city or in the country,
c. The boss was not satisfied with her dress or her work
The boss was satisfied with neither her dress nor her work
Questions;
1. Which of the two sentences in each group creates a closer relationship?
2. Which sounds more formal?
C. serial coordination
Read the following sentences, and tell how many coordinate items you can find,
A .Here you can find clean water, fresh air, and warm sunshine.
b. You can fry it, stew it, or eat it raw.
c. He takes off his coat, spits on his hands, and goes to work.
d. At diploma mills all over the country, you can get a bachelor's degree for about 300 dollars, a master's degree for about 500 dollars, and a doctorate for 800 dollars.
The sentences have three, or even more, items in one coordinate construction. As several items are arranged together, we call the coordination in series,
Study the above examples of coordination in series once again, and come up with a formula for them.
Coordination in series=________________
Classroom Activities
1. Supply suitable coordinators for the following sentences.
1) Western people eat with knife _______fork
2) Californians___________New Englanders are both American.
3).Some students drive cars to school ___________others ride bicycles, mopeds, __________motorcycles.
4) The local people make no distinction in greeting friends, acquaintances, elders, __________superiors.
5) When Americans see close friends casual acquaintances, teachers, __________even someone they know only by sight, they are likely to say "Hi" in all cases.
6).In all countries it is good manners to behave considerately toward others, __________bad manners not to.
2. Study the following sentences, and describe the effect of the lack or repetition of a coordinator.
1) Vietnam differed from all earlier American wars in the elusiveness of the enemy, the widespread use of drugs, the American soldier's sense of outrage.
2).There is no pattern, no meaning, no large significance in last week's outbreak of crime except what is weary and obvious and painful; ours in an era of ugly violence.
3. Use coordinate structures to combine the following sentences.
1).That school does not have compulsory courses.
.That school does not have various exams.
That school is the only one of this kind in this city.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
2).For the first time he saw his father not as a giant of his childhood.
For the first time he saw his father as a lonely and helpless man,
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3).The monitor's duty is to organize class activities.
The monitor's duty is to coordinate class activities,
The monitor's duty is to bridge students and teachers.
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4）No matter how you measure it, education has become the largest industry in China,
You can measure it in terms of money spent.
You can measure it in terms of people involved.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Coordination at the sentence level
When we join two or more sentences into one with coordinators, we produce a coordinate sentence, sometimes also called a compound sentence, Look at following sentences, and tell what type of coordinators (single, paired, or serial) is used.
a. I love you, and I always do.
b. I love you, but I love freedom more.
c. Either you come on your own, or I’ll have my men bring you here.
d. Not only had he escaped, but he had escaped in a stolen police car you may come here to pick up your prize, you can ask somebody else to pick it up for you, or you may send us your address so that we can send it to you.
It is common to write coordinate sentences with single coordinators, but more coordinators can be used at the sentence level than at the word, phrase, or clause levels. Look at the following examples, and look for the new coordinators.
a. The professor was explaining how religion and morality interact, and most students were thinking about what to have for lunch.
b. I have hung up three pictures on the wall, but my wife still says that the wall looks bare.
c. I have been learning writing for about ten years, yet I still don’t know how to start compositing.
d. The rain became heavier and heavier, so we decided not to go to school today.
e. I don’t know what she plans to do, nor do I want to know.
The new coordinators are yet and so, which are used especially for connecting sentences. When you have several coordinators to choose from, you should know that different coordinators create different relationships between clauses.
Can you list all the word that may serve as single coordinators at the sentence level, and describe the relationships they create?
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Classroom Activities
1. Turn the following pairs of sentences into coordinate sentences.
1） The sun is rising higher and higher. The travelers are feeling hotter and hotter.
_____________________________________
2) The exam is going to end in five minutes.Judy still has two essay questions left.
__________________________________________
3) The boy wants to major in philosophy .His parent want him to be a doctor in the future.
__________________________________________
4）I had planned to go to Hangzhou during the National Day holiday . I was frightened back home by the large crowds of people at the railway station.
__________________________________________
5) I will not read this letter. I will not read any letter he writes me.
2. Supply suitable coordinators for the following sentences.
1) He had a painful childhood, ________ his adult life is a failure.
2) People in the past viewed TV as something to improve one's characters, __________ now many people denounce it as a plug-in drug.
3) Many young men I know are seriously considering buying a car, ____________ they are not aware of the trouble a car may bring them.
4) ____________ you rewrite your paper, ________________ you sit there and wait for an F.
3. Look again at your short paragraph for the Warm-up Activities in pairs or groups and make improvements by using coordinate structures.
Functions of coordinate sentences
What is the purpose for combining several sentences into one coordinate sentence? Look at the following sentences and answer the questions.
a. Jane likes that shop very much. She goes there almost every week.
b. Jane likes that shop very much, and she goes there almost every week.
Questions:
1. Do these two sentences express the same idea?
2. What is the difference between the relationships of the two ideas in each of the sentences?
3. Which sentence indicates a closer relationship between the two ideas？
4. Which idea appears more important to you?
When more than one idea is involved in one sentence, one of the ways to clarify the relationship between clauses is to use coordination, which assigns equal weight to the ideas.
Classroom activities
1. Supply a clause for the following sentences to satisfy the relationship indicated by the coordinator.
1) I have learned English for over ten years, but________.
2) I know the house is too expensive, and___________.
3) ___________, yet I still had a try.
4) Almost all of us worked hard before the exam, and______.
5) , so he is the only one who can enter the boss’s office without knocking.
6) The course is getting more and more difficult, and_____
7) The course is getting more and more difficult, but_____.
8) I got up very early that morning, yet_____________.
9) I sent all of my colleagues a Christmas card via e-mail, but____________________ I hate eating fish, and_____.
2. Go over your short paragraph for the Warm-up Activities again to see if you need coordination to make the connection between ideas clearer.
Advanced usages of coordinate sentences
A. Repetition or absence of coordinators
Besides the “comma +coordinator” structure, you can produce coordination in series with repeated coordinators or without coordinators at all. Study the following two sentences with your partner, and discuss the effect that the changes in coordinators bring about.
a. In the country there are no honking horns, no diesel trucks, no pollution.
b. There are only the sounds of wind rustling the tree leaves and red squirrels chattering in the distant oaks and cool creek water rushing down its endless course.
B. Semicolons
In most coordinate sentences, we use commas and coordinators to connect clauses. Also we can do without them. Then just a semicolon (;) is enough.
Work with your partner to compare the following two examples and then answer the questions.
a. For Plato, man was created for philosophy; for Bacon, philosophy was created for man.
b. Fifty years ago nature study was not part of the school work; scientific forestry was a new idea; timber was still cheap because it could be bought in any quantity from distant woodlands; soil destruction and river floods were not national problems; nobody had yet studied long-term climatic cycles in relation to proper land use; even the word “conservation” had nothing of the meaning that it has for us today.
Questions:
1. Do you think the clauses in the examples are as closely related as in sentences with coordinators?
2. As there is no coordinator to clarify the relationship between the clauses, can you tell what the relationship is?
C. Interrupted coordination
The basic coordination formula implies that we are expected to use coordinators closely together. However, it is also possible to depart from this rule for special effects. When you insert a phrase or even a sentence between them, the smooth flow of coordination is interrupted. Look at the following sentences with interrupted coordination, and discuss their effects with your partner.
a. For breakfast, I usually have some bread or, if I forgot to but it the day before, a few biscuits.
b. His lecture on language learning is attended by a few colleagues and, of course, many of his students.
c. Mingming spends his evenings either watching TV or, when his mother is home, doing his homework.
Classroom Activities
1. Write five coordinate sentences with semicolons. And then ask your partner to tell the relationship in each of them. Compare his/ her answers with your intentions.
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Part III Writing Activity
Lack of unity
Look at the following sentences. Can you find anything wrong with them?
A. Born in a small town in Anhui Province, Wang became a taxi driver last year.
B. This CD is a collection of folk songs, and many old people like folk songs.
C. Shakespeare is the best playwright.
D. In my opinion. Lin is the most hardworking student.
Although grammatically correct, these sentences have all violated one of the most important criteria for effective sentences: unity. The following sentences have all been improved. Compare those problematic sentences with their improved versions, and find out what unity means.
A. Wang was born in a small town in Anhui Province. He became a taxi driver last year.
B. This CD is a collection of folk songs that many old people like.
C. Shakespeare is the best playwright in English language.
D. In my opinion. Lin is the most hardworking student in our school.
Unity requires the writer to discuss only one complete idea at a time. If there is more than one idea in a sentence, they must be logically related to each other, thus creating a global idea on a higher level. Coordinate sentences discussed in this unit are good examples.
Unity also requires the writer a complete idea into each sentence. This is especially important when we discuss ideas of an absolute nature, i.e., with words in the superlative degree. Unless in a certain context, words indicating the scope cannot be omitted.
Now, can you summarize the rules of unity?
Summary
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