Phaedrus
Banned
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2012
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
"For a moment they Indian-wrestled, then with a quick flick, Tony jerked Riff off balance" (Irving Shulman, West Side Story: A Novelization, Chapter 2).
Greetings,
I am preparing a test for my intermediate-high ESL students in a reading and composition class in which grammar forms a prominent side-focus. Half the test is devoted to having them identify sentences as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex, or as fragments or run-ons. I am taking all the sentences from the novelization of West Side Story, which we are reading as a class this semester. The sentence quoted above is one of two that I am considering using with "run-on" as the answer.
That said, I realize that the answer is debatable. I shall probably award credit for the question if "run-on" is selected or if "compound sentence" is selected, the choice between "run-on" and "compound" here being dependent on whether one accepts "then" as a coordinating conjunction that can conjoin two independent clauses. I know I've debated "then" here before, but I've forgotten whether the debate concerned the use of "then" to conjoin independent clauses or just verb phrases.
What do you think? Do you view the sentence in question as compound or as a run-on? Please rest assured that I am not attached to either answer.
Thank you.
Greetings,
I am preparing a test for my intermediate-high ESL students in a reading and composition class in which grammar forms a prominent side-focus. Half the test is devoted to having them identify sentences as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex, or as fragments or run-ons. I am taking all the sentences from the novelization of West Side Story, which we are reading as a class this semester. The sentence quoted above is one of two that I am considering using with "run-on" as the answer.
That said, I realize that the answer is debatable. I shall probably award credit for the question if "run-on" is selected or if "compound sentence" is selected, the choice between "run-on" and "compound" here being dependent on whether one accepts "then" as a coordinating conjunction that can conjoin two independent clauses. I know I've debated "then" here before, but I've forgotten whether the debate concerned the use of "then" to conjoin independent clauses or just verb phrases.
What do you think? Do you view the sentence in question as compound or as a run-on? Please rest assured that I am not attached to either answer.
Thank you.
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