Exhausted by reading too many sentences which begin in exactly the same way? Frustrated by an endless series of pronouns and articles (He / She, It, The / A,) to introduce every supposedly ‘new’ idea? Dispirited by the inability of your charges to come up with anything more adventurous than merely more of the same? Then help your students to rev up their writing with this handy little Super Sentence-Starter Repair Kit!
For a modest fee consisting of a little of your time, and a modicum of their effort, we can help you to transform your students’ examination results with this exclusive range of our life-time guaranteed sentence-starter tools.
1. The Main Clause Run-time Regulator
Our technical team have crafted this main clause sentence-starter as an entry-level device with a unique facility for steadying the flow of any piece of writing. The Regulator will thus most likely be the first choice of your students and, if properly, applied, will normally consist of a subject (the thing about which they are writing) and a predicate (the part which contains a verb denoting what the subject is being, possessing or, more usually, doing). Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to stand one of these main clause openers on its own, but our research tells us that it is generally much more effective to link them to other clauses (units of meaning) with a versatile little adaptor which we’ve named ‘The Connective’.
Now, the more attentive reader may have noticed that the first two sentences in the above paragraph actually begin with these remarkably stabilising main clause contraptions, but did any of you detect the impact of our surreptitious switch of transposable heads? Sentence one opens with a possessive determiner (Our) whereas, in sentence two, we’ve swapped to the definitive article (The). By unobtrusively moving through the full gamut of our elite ‘Parts of Speech’ interchangeable attachments at the beginnings of their sentences, your students can greatly reduce the risk of reader fatigue.
2. The Subordinate Clause Spring-Starter
Needless to say, it is unlikely that you would want your class of eager and enquiring minds only to be able to open a sentence in just one way, so let us move straight on to the second tool in our Super Sentence-Starter Repair Kit: the subordinate clause. Now, as with the main clause, we have also built this vivacious variation to include a subject and a predicate but, crucially, we have deliberately disabled it from standing on its own. As our declared mission is to promote sentences of varying lengths and styles, we have thus ensured that the nation’s budding authors cannot restrict themselves to a mind-numbing succession of simple sentences alone. Again, we have put our money where our mouth is and so the sentence before this one is a shining example of this implement in action.
We coined the term ‘Spring-Starter’ not because we are addicted to alliteration (which, clearly, we are) but because, if properly used, it has the effect of propelling the reader onward to where the main clause begins – and, of course, as every student knows, each sentence must contain at least one main clause. Students should also be made aware that if the Subordinate Clause Spring-Starter is over-used, the reader may become distressed from being excessively jolted forward and this can result in severe bouts of nausea … which is why, in this section, we’ve only used one!
3. The Short Phrase Transitory-Teaser
In many respects, this go-getting little gadget shares similarities with the Subordinate Clause Spring-Starter because by beginning with a short phrase the reader is, once again, thrust into the main body of the sentence in order to grasp the full import of what the starter is intended to imply. Consequently, it is unwise to make a habit of using these two tools in close proximity as this could cause friction, resulting in a greatly eroded grade.
Needless to say, we opened this section with a Short Phrase Transitory-Teaser … and concluded it with one too!
4. The Single Word Pace-Holder
Finally, we are proud to introduce the last, but not least, of the four astounding appliances in our Super Sentence-Starter Repair Kit, the Single Word Pace-Holder. If used judiciously, this ingenious single word sentence opener provides an effective temporary delaying device and, therefore, can provide a refreshing change of rhythm. It can frequently be seen at the forefront of many a dramatic declaration. Yes, as always, we prepared a few earlier – and we’ve interjected one here!
As can be seen from the first sentence in the above paragraph, the Single Word Pace-Holder is often an adverb. So do remind your students to get the best results from their writing by using the complete range of our fully exchangeable ‘Parts of Speech’ accessory heads.
Special Introductory Offer
For a limited period only, we are also including a complimentary supply of commas as, in general, if not opening with a main clause your charges will probably need to insert one at the point where the rest of the sentence begins. If this leaves them a little perplexed, please direct them to this sentence in which we have endeavoured to demonstrate how this should work.
We would also advise you to inform your students that the aim of a good sentence is to convey the sense of their writing as effectively as possible. Clearly, they shouldn’t want their sentences to attract undue attention – unless, of course, it’s because they’re so sublime that they make you want to jump off your chair and exclaim in delight!
So, having fine-tuned their phrasing and added sparkplugs to their style, your students should now be able to drive full-throttle down the superhighway of academic success!
