Forming Complex Sentences in English

FORMING COMPLEX SENTENCES IN ENGLISH

Kevin Crittenden 13May13

Story 1:

John is a farmer in Kansas.  He grows corn on his farm.  His wife is Jill.  John and Jill have two children.  Their names are Andy and Rebecca.  John has a dog named Spot.  John often takes Spot with him when he works.  Farmers must water their crops when there is no rain.  They must also kill any weeds that grow.  When the corn is ripe, John must harvest it.  Then he will load the corn into his truck. He will drive to the market and sell his corn.  This is how John makes a living.  He uses the money he makes to pay his mortgage.  He also buys food for his family.  Farming is a difficult life but John and his family are happy.

Story 2:

John, along with his wife Jill and their two children, Andy and Rebecca, live on a farm in the middle of the Kansas heartland where they grow corn.  The family dog, Spot, completes the family circle and can usually be seen helping John in the field.  Farmers rarely have time for relaxation as they must constantly tend their crops, doing necessary chores like providing water during dry spells and keeping the weeds out.   John constantly monitors his corn so that when the time is right, he will harvest his crop, load it into his truck, and transport it to market.  Selling his crop at the market ensures that John will have the necessary funds to make his mortgage payments and feed his family.  Farming is a difficult life but John and his family are proud of what they do and wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Story 1:

John is a farmer in Kansas.  He grows corn on his farm.  His wife is Jill.  John and Jill have two children.  Their names are Andy and Rebecca.  John has a dog named Spot.  John often takes Spot with him when he works.  Farmers must water their crops when there is no rain.  They must also kill any weeds that grow.  When the corn is ripe, John must harvest it.  Then he will load the corn into his truck. He will drive to the market and sell his corn.  This is how John makes a living.  He uses the money he makes to pay his mortgage.  He also buys food for his family.  Farming is a difficult life but John and his family are happy.

Story 2:

John, along with his wife Jill and their two children, Andy and Rebecca, live on a farm in the middle of the Kansas heartland where they grow corn.  The family dog, Spot, completes the family circle and can usually be seen helping John in the field.  Farmers rarely have time for relaxation as they must constantly tend their crops, doing necessary chores like providing water during dry spells and keeping the weeds out.   John constantly monitors his corn so that when the time is right, he will harvest his crop, load it into his truck, and transport it to market.  Selling his crop at the market ensures that John will have the necessary funds to make his mortgage payments and feed his family.  Farming is a difficult life but John and his family are proud of what they do and wouldn’t have it any other way. 

If Story 2 showcased a particular, historical family, then it would belong in the biographical section of the library.  It is comprised of a number of informative facts about the family.  Here is our story so far, changed to the past tense to reflect events that have already occurred:

Story 2:

John, along with his wife Jill and their two children, Andy and Rebecca, lived on a farm in the middle of the Kansas heartland where they grew corn.  The family dog, Spot, completed the family circle and could usually be seen helping John in the field.  Farmers rarely had time for relaxation as they constantly had to tend their crops, doing necessary chores like providing water during dry spells and keeping the weeds out.   John constantly monitored his corn so that when the time was right, he would harvest his crop, load it into his truck, and transport it to market.  Selling his crop at the market ensured that John would have the necessary funds to make his mortgage payments and feed his family.  Farming is a difficult life but John and his family were proud of what they did and wouldn’t have had it any other way. 

By the use of appropriate words, adding context and filling in descriptive details, we can create a work of fiction about a family who probably didn’t really exist, something that hopefully offers enjoyment to the reader:

Fiction – Story 3

John Middleton sat easy on a hand-carved Adirondack chair perched squarely in the middle of the front porch of his rustic but comfortable farm house.  His great-grandfather had made the arduous  journey to Kansas nearly a century ago, uprooting his family to follow the promise of free land and new beginnings and had laboriously built this house by hand.  John loved to sit here at the end of a long work day, watching the sky darken over the seemingly endless corn fields. The view filled him with a sense of tranquility and peace, a quiet sense of belonging to this land and to the generations of Middletons who had coaxed a living from these acres before him.   

Domestic noises emanating from the interior revealed that his wife, Jill, was about to announce dinner.  Soon, the family would gather around the table, John at the head, Jill opposite him and their children, Andy and Rebecca, on either side.  Not to be forgotten was Spot, mostly Golden Retriever with who-knows-what making up the balance.  As stubborn as Spot could be at times, John suspected that somehow, Spot’s parentage included a mule or two.  Just then,            (and so forth.)