毕业的综合考试两星期后举行，因此语法课的老师用一节的时间给我们讲了一下有关句子的语法. 一来是教我们语法知识, 二来是希望我们在考试中写的paper别像是一年级水平, 还有标点符号的正确使用。 内容其实很简单, 不过让我受益匪浅 — 从另一个角度来看待句子的分类, 更加形象，更容易理解和使用。在此分享给你我的课堂笔记。

The names and symbols used here might seem odd at first, but you’ll get used to them eventually. If you practice looking for these sentence patterns in what you read and write, you’ll probably see how much they can help you improve your reading comprehension and your control of your writing, especially in terms of punctuation.

注意以下对四个概念的解读: trunk, shifter, linker and insert.

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Sentence Patterns

首先我们了解什么是trunk, 即“一个简单句”. 如同树的主干一样. SVO大家应该熟悉，就是Subject+Verb+Object,主谓宾.

TRUNK (T) - Simple Sentence

• Banana trees have huge leaves.

• I love you.

TRUNK PLUS TRUNK (T,+T)

两个主干在一起: 简单句+简单句, 中间用逗号隔开, 并有joiner words连接. 英文中只有7个连接词, 便于记忆我们称之为BOYFANS (but, or, yet, for, and, nor, so)

• These leaves provide shade, but the tree also gives wonderful fruit.

• I love her, but she loves him.

(T;T) (using sparingly)

两个句子也可以在没有连接词的情况下也可以, 不过要用分号来隔开。

• Poverty is a major problem today; it must be dealt with first.

• I love her; she loves him.

TRUNK WITH TWO VERBS(T=)

一条主干可以“分叉”。同一个主语有两个动词的话不需要用逗号。

• The fruit has nutritional benefits and tastes good.

• Everyone creates his own heaven or create his own hell.

Shifter: Shifters can shift. In other words, they can move. They’re the part of a sentence that connects to a trunk, to add some important information. The trunk is solid, with its SVO, but the shifter can move, like leaves in the wind. The meaning doesn’t change.

SHIFTER, TRUNK (S, T)

Shifter(下面红色部分)和trunk连接，如果shifter中含有动词的话一般就要加逗号.

• If people don’t stop wasting natural resources, there will be shortages. (红色部分为shifter，因为位置是在前，我们称之为front shifter, 其后要用逗号与trunk隔开)

• There will be shortages if people don’t stop wasting natural resources. (当我们把shifter放在后面，他就成了end shifter, 此时逗号就不需要了).

Shifter一定是要依附trunk的，不可以单独存在. 如果我们直接写: If people don’t stop wasting natural resources. 这会是一个错误的句子, 被称为fragment.

• Since the invention of guns, wars have increased.

• Whenever there is unemployment, crime is likely to increase.

• In English the order of words is important.

• Yesterday the weather was rotten.

注意最后两个句子中In English, Yesterday之后并没有加逗号。老师说 “When in doubt, leave it out” — 当不知道该不该加逗号的时候就不要加，否则的话容易使得句子读起来不连贯. 很多时候标点使用取决于写作者的自行判断.

A linker is a word or phrase that connects the ideas between 1 sentence and the next. (Link means connect.) Linkers usually go at the beginning of a sentence, so they start with a captial letter.

LINKER, TRUNK (L,T)

注意一定要有逗号，尤其是用到however, therefore的时候。

• Obviously, we are talking about bananas here.

• As a result, he writes English well.

If you want to make your writing sound more sophisticated, start with a trunk (SVO). Then add more information to the subject, the verb, or the object. We call this extra information an insert, because you insert it into the sentence.

TRUN INSERT (TI)

Insert为红色部分，注意标点

• The treepicture above, a banana tree near a hotel parking lot, is growing in Haiti.

• Television, which influences everyone, has advantages and disadvantages.

• EmmaWatson, a British actress, is my goddess.

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我的英文学习榜样Justin曾经推荐给我Brooks Landon写的 “Building great sentences”. 在这里也推荐给你。这个比较高端。

@英语学习笔记