Sentence combining is a skill that comes in handy
for summarizing other people’s written work. It is also a very useful skill for revising your own writing.
The text for these exercises was
taken from Mr. Dowling’s website and its page on the French Enlightenment
http://www.mrdowling.com/705french.html
(Thank you Mr. Dowling!)
The idea is to combine lists of short, simple sentences
into longer, more complex sentences. A list of short, simple sentences would
sound “choppy” even if they were written to look like a paragraph. Longer, more complex, sentences use connecting words that can link
related ideas together more smoothly. Good sentence combining also eliminates extraneous words and phrases
as well as unnecessary repetition.
Sometimes it is necessary to change
words around.
It was an
intellectual movement.
It was a
philosophical movement.
It built
on the developments of the Renaissance.
The Enlightenment was an historical era as well as an intellectual and philosophical movement that built on the developments
of the Renaissance.
The
movement was made up of thinkers.
They
believed that science could explain everything in nature.
It was a movement of thinkers who believed that science could explain
everything in nat
Most
people believed that God controlled the universe
They
believed that the manner of this control was “metaphysical”.
Until
then, most people believed that god controlled the universe in a
"metaphysical" manner.
It
suggests that it is impossible for humans to comprehend things.
These
things happen in our environment.
Metaphysical means.
They
wanted people to use science to explore nature.
They
wanted people to use science to question things.
These
things had always been accepted without questioning
The thinkers of the Enlightenment encouraged
people to use science to explore nature and to question what they had always accepted without questioning.
The
Enlightenment encouraged people to rethink old ideas.
One of
these old ideas was feudalism.
Another of
these old ideas was the divine right of kings.
feudalism and the divine right of kings.
Many saw
our Constitution as a huge achievement.
Many saw
these as huge achievements for the Enlightenment.
The American Revolution and our Constitution were seen by many as huge achievements for the
Enlightenment.
Under this
government nobody was above the law.
Constitution provided for a government where nobody was above the law.
It recognized freedom of religion.
The press
would be allowed to print any true statement.
The Bill of Rights recognized freedoms of speech and religion, and the press would be allowed
to print any true statement.
10. The Enlightenment had another aspect.
This
aspect was negative,
The Enlightenment also had a negative aspect.
11. Many Enlightenment thinkers were atheists.
Sometimes
they attacked religion.
Sometimes
they attacked the faithful.
Many Enlightenment thinkers were atheists who sometimes attacked religion and the faithful.
12. Some were also bloodthirsty.
They could
be this way in attempting to reach their goals.
Some were also bloodthirsty in
attempting to reach their goals.
13. The ideals and values of the Enlightenment helped bring about the
French Revolution.
The French
Revolution quickly developed into “The Terror”
“The
Terror” brought an end to the period.
The ideals and values of the
Enlightenment helped bring about the French Revolution which developed into
“The Terror” that brought this period to an end.
Sentence Combining
Sentence combining is a skill that comes in
handy for summarizing other people’s written work. It is also a very useful skill for revising your own writing.
The idea is to combine
lists of short, simple sentences into longer, more complex sentences. A list of short, simple sentences would
sound “choppy” even if they were written to look like a paragraph. Longer, more complex, sentences use
connecting words that link related ideas together more smoothly. Good sentence
combining also eliminates extraneous words and phrases as well as unnecessary
repetition
It was an
intellectual movement.
It was a
philosophical movement.
It built
on the developments of the Renaissance.
The Enlightenment was an historical era as well as an intellectual and philosophical movement that built on the developments
of the Renaissance.
The
movement was made up of thinkers.
They
believed that science could explain everything in nature
It
was a movement of thinkers who believed that science could
explain everything in nature.
Most
people believed that God controlled the universe
They
believed that the manner of this control was “metaphysical”.
Until
then, most people believed that god controlled the universe in a
"metaphysical" manner.
It
suggests that it is impossible for humans to comprehend things.
These
things happen in our environment.
Metaphysical means "beyond
physical," and suggests that it is
impossible for humans to comprehend things that happen in our
environment.
They
wanted people to use science to explore nature.
They
wanted people to use science to question things.
These
things had always been accepted without questioning
The thinkers of the Enlightenment encouraged people
to use science to explore nature and to question what they had always accepted without questioning.
The Enlightenment
encouraged people to rethink old ideas.
One of
these old ideas was feudalism.
Another of
these old ideas was the divine right of kings.
The Enlightenment encouraged people to
participate in government and to rethink old ideas like
feudalism and the divine right of kings.
Many saw
our Constitution as a huge achievement.
Many saw
these as huge achievements for the Enlightenment.
The American Revolution and our Constitution were seen by many as huge achievements for the
Enlightenment.
Under this
government nobody was above the law.
Two hundred years ago, our Constitution
provided for a new government where nobody was above the law.
It recognized freedom of religion.
The press
would be allowed to print any true statement.
The Bill of Rights recognized freedoms of
speech and religion, and the press would be allowed to print any true statement.
This
aspect was negative.,
The Enlightenment also had a negative aspect.
Sometimes
they attacked religion.
Sometimes
they attacked the faithful.
Many Enlightenment thinkers were atheists who sometimes attacked religion and the faithful.
They could
be this way in attempting to reach their goals.
Some
were also bloodthirsty in attempting to reach their goals.
The French
Revolution quickly developed into “The Terror”
“The
Terror” brought an end to the period.
The ideals and values of the Enlightenment helped bring
about the French Revolution which quickly developed into “The Terror” that
brought this period to an end.