1. Dr. Min Pun, Lecturer of English (Tribhuvan University, PN Campus)
IYR: LECTURE - 1
B.Sc. 4-Year Programme Scientific Communication: Improve Your Writing: The Sentence
Dr. Min Pun, Lecturer of English
(Tribhuvan University, PN Campus)

2. Unit I: Selected topics from “Improve Your Writing”
1. The Sentence - The Effect of Scientific Temperament on Man (by Bertrand Russell) 2. The Paragraph - Gods in the Godless Universe (by Russell) - Pollution and Superpollution (by Gordon Rattray) - Science and Survival (by Barry Commoner) 3. The Composition - Man and Nature (by J. Bronowoski) - Man and His Environment (by Robert Arvill) - The Cost of Solar Heat (by H.A. Bethe)

3. 3. The Sentence
The sentence is a group of words that is complete in itself, containing a subject and a predicate.
Form
Example
NV (Noun-Verb)
Flowers grow.
NVN (Noun-Verb-Noun)
Rakesh bought flowers.
NVNN (Noun-Verb-Noun-Noun)
Rakesh bought Sita flowers.

4. 4. Types of Sentence Simple sentences Compound sentences
Complex sentences
Active and passive voice

5. 5. Types of Sentence a) Simple Sentences
A simple sentence is a sentence structure that contains one independent clause.
Example: The boy is a player.
The simple sentences are used to emphasize important ideas, to make simple statement or to avoid monotony of long sentences like compound and complex sentences.
There are different types of simple sentences: imperative sentences, interrogative sentences, and greetings

6. Imperative sentences are sentences which command or request action
Imperative sentences are sentences which command or request action. They follow the pattern of V or VN or VNN.
Interrogative sentences ask a question. We start with auxiliary verbs or ‘Wh-’ words and end with a question mark. Sometimes we start with the noun and end with a question which is called question tags.
Expressions like greetings are also simple sentences. They do not follow regular pattern like in imperative and interrogative sentences.

7. Simple Sentences
Examples
Imperative Sentences
Play.
Give me that book.
Interrogative Sentences
Can you read this book?
Where are you from?
He is a good boy, isn’t he?
Expressions/Greetings
Good morning.
Good afternoon.
Please.
Thank you.

8. 6. Types of Sentence b) Compound Sentences
A compound sentence is composed of at least two independent clauses. It does not require a dependent clause.
Example: The boy is a player and a singer.
We combine two independent clauses with the help of co-ordinate conjunctions such as ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘or, etc.
Example: Rakesh likes coffee but Sita likes tea.
I want to eat at home or restaurant.

9. 7. Types of Sentence c) Complex Sentences
A complex sentence is composed of an independent clause, consisting of one or more dependent clauses.
The dependent clauses are joined with the independent clause by subordinate conjunctions such as ‘while’, ‘because’, ‘since’, ‘although’, etc. or relative pronoun such as ‘that’, ‘who’, ‘which’, etc.
Example:
John did not go to school because it was raining.
Manish is a boy who plays football and tennis.

10. 8. Types of Sentence d) Active and Passive Sentences
The sentence can be formed in two voices: active and passive. They show whether the subject performs or receives the action.
Anjana built a house.
A house was built by Anjana.
A sentence is said to be in active voice when the subject does something. e.g. The girl was washing the dog.
Similarly, a sentence is said to be in passive voice when something is done to the subject. e.g. The dog was being washed by the girl.

11. 9. Requisites/Features of a Good Sentence
Clarity
Consistency
Economy

12. 10. Requisites/Features of a Good Sentence a) Clarity
All sentences should clearly state the writer’s feelings without creating any ambiguity (confusion).
There are three ways to have clarity in sentences: adequate punctuation, clear pronoun reference and correct word order.
Example:
The flower bowl was always full whatever the news was like that morning he had treated himself to a mass of chrysanthemums.
Each damaged article is marked in such a way that it cannot be erased.
Mohan only scored ten runs.

13. Solution:
The flower bowl was always full whatever the news was like that morning he had treated himself to a mass of chrysanthemums.
Answer: The flower bowl was always full, whatever the news was like; that morning he had treated himself to a mass of chrysanthemums.
Each damaged article is marked in such a way that it cannot be erased.
Answer: Each damaged article is marked in such a way that the mark cannot be erased.
Mohan only scored ten runs.
Answer: Mohan scored ten runs only.

14. 11. Requisites/Features of a Good Sentence b) Consistency
Consistency in a sentence is an agreement or logical coherence among parts of a sentence.
Once the writer chooses a style, he/she must follow the style throughout the sentence.
The style may be formal, informal or colloquial.
The words must belong to the correct register (a variety of language used in a context) and have the correct connotations.
Grammatical consistency is important for effective sentences. For example, tense consistency, subject and verb agreement, pronoun-verb agreement , etc. according to gender, number and person.

15. The student sings. Your children sing. Example of consistency:
Register
I should be grateful if you would make less noise.
Please be quiet.
Shut up.
Grammatical Consistency (Subject-Verb Agreement)
The student sings.
Your children sing.
Grammatical Consistency (Pronoun-Verb Agreement)
Ramesh is a student. He is brilliant.
John and Mary are friends. They sing a song.

16. 11. Requisites/Features of a Good Sentence c) Economy
To make our writing effective, we should not use long sentences. Long sentences are difficult to understand. So economy in the sentences or using short sentences is good for effective writing.
Redundancy is not effective in a good writing.
To achieve economy in sentences, we should
1. avoid misguided attempts at a literary style which can be pretentious.
2. prune away useless words, and
3. avoid the use of long phrases or sentences, by applying the principle of reduction.
The principle of reduction includes reducing a sentence to a clause, a clause to a phrase, or a phrase to a word, wherever necessary.

17. Therefore, it is necessary to make your sentences in a paragraph clear, consistent, and economical.
But there should be variety in sentences to avoid monotony of style.
So we should do the following in order to keep the variety in sentences:
1. We should vary sentence structure
2. We should vary sentence length, and
3. We should vary sentence beginnings.

18. Dr. Min Pun minpun@gmail.com www.minpun.com.np
Lecturer, Department of English
Tribhuvan University, PN Campus, Pokhara