Expanding the Basic Pattern

Substitution

A third way of expanding the basic pattern is substitution, which means replacing a single word with a word group. Again, an example will help.

S V/C

I saved/my meager wages.

By substituting, we can expand the complement to read:

S V/C

I saved/what I earned, which wasn't much.

"My wages" has been expanded to "what I earned" and "meager" to "which wasn't much." As you can see, this adds more words without adding much meaning and so could be objected to as uneconomical. Still it's a perfectly grammatical way of expanding sentences, and there may be times when it will suit your needs exactly, either to give emphasis or to improve sound and rhythm.

Sometimes, as in the example below, you can use substitution to clarify or summarize your thoughts: