Like professional writers, you can improve your sentence style by
using a variety of sentence modifiers.
You can use them to add description, vary structure, emphasize
details, and increase readability. In
doing so, you should aim for variety in the length, type, and location of
modifiers. This handout focuses on
the use of three types of modifiers:
Participial phrases, which often begin with an “-ing”
form of a verb
Appositive phrases, which identify or rename an
adjacent noun or pronoun
Absolute
phrases, which resemble a compete sentence
with a missing auxiliary verb
Please note that modifying phrases can appear in any of three general locations: they can open the sentence; they can interrupt the subject & verb; or they can end the sentence. However, a modifying phrase cannot be structured as a complete sentence. For example, one cannot modify “Arthur came at me” with “his fists were flailing.” Furthermore, a modifying phrase must modify a particular word or phrase in the sentence, one close to the word or phrase it modifies.
1. Participial Phrases
Here are some successful sentences with parts deleted:
- Quickly he builds a small fire and then skins the rat.
My parents were still at the table.
I followed people in my sights as they walked or drove along the street.
Now compare
the above sentences with the originals below. You’ll find that the use of participial phrases, which are
underlined, allows the writers to combine related ideas efficiently and
effectively.
- Quickly he builds a small fire and then skins the rat, shaving off the skin a strip at a time. --Jennifer Toth
My parents were still at the table, drinking coffee. --Annie Dillard
Nudging the shade aside with the rifle barrel, I followed people in my sights as they walked or drove along the street. --Tobias Wolff
Participial phrases often begin with an “-ing” form of a verb.
As
you can see from the examples above, they can open the sentence (e.g.,
example no. 3) and they can end the sentence (e.g., examples no. 1 and
2). Additionally, some can interrupt
the subject & verb:
Professor Kazan, wearing a spotlessly white tropical suit and a wide-brimmed hat, was the first ashore --Arthur C. Clarke
Appositive Phrases
Here are some successful sentences with parts deleted:
- He walks behind a raised bunker.
It was a helter-skelter stampede.
The dura is dark pink, almost red.
Now compare
the above sentences with the originals below. You’ll find that the use of appositive phrases, which are
underlined, allows the writers to combine related ideas efficiently and
effectively.
- He walks behind a raised bunker, a ten-foot-high concrete wall that once served as a rest and tool shack for track maintenance workers. --Jennifer Toth
It was a helter-skelter stampede, a headlong rush in circles. --Paul Auster
A thin, tough, leathery membrane that encases the brain, the dura is dark pink, almost red..--David Noonan
Appositive phrases identify or rename an adjacent noun or
pronoun. They can open the sentence: (e.g., example no. 3 above) and they can end the
sentence (e.g., examples no. 1 and 2 above). Additionally,
they can interrupt the subject & verb:
At her Brooklyn public school, a kaleidoscope of teen-age rage, Crystal’s teachers see a young girl with an attitude. -- Catherine Manegold
Absolute Phrases
Here are some successful sentences with parts deleted:
- We worked out until I had the moves down cold.
"Right or left?" I yell into the darkness.
His head is shaved.
Now compare the above sentences with the originals
below. You’ll find that the use of
absolute phrases, which are underlined, allows the writers to combine
related ideas efficiently and effectively.