Sentence Structure Handout 09F1.docx

Sentence Structure Handout 09F1.docx

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SentenceStructureHandout09F1

SENTENCESTRUCTURE--PART1

TYPESOFSENTENCES

Variouskindsofwords（thepartsofspeech）makeuptheEnglishlanguage.Wordsareputtogethertoformphrases（groupsofrelatedwords）andclauses（groupsofwordsthathaveasubjectandaverb）.Iftheclausealsoexpressesacompleteidea,itisanIndependentClause.Whenitstandsalone,itiscalledaSENTENCE.Inotherwords,foragroupofwordstobeasentence,theremustbe

（1）asubject

（2）acompleteverb

（3）acompleteidea

（4）properpunctuation

Whatsentencesexpress

InEnglishsentencescanexpressanyofthefollowing:

1.Sentencescanexpressstatements:

Heisreadingabook.

Heisnotreadingamagazine.

2.Sentencescanexpressquestions:

Ishereadingabook?

Heisreadingabook,isn’the?

3.Sentencescanexpresscommands:

Readthebook!

Readthebook,please.

TypesofSentences

InEnglish,therearethreebasictypesofsentences:

1.SimpleSentence

SheisdoingherEnglishhomework.

ThestudentsalwaysdotheirEnglishhomework.

Eachofthesesentencescontainsoneidea.

2.ComplexSentence

SheisdoingherEnglishhomeworkbecauseshewantstodowellinCOMM132.

BecauseshewantstodowellinCOMM132,sheisdoingherEnglishhomework.

Eachofthesesentencescontainstwoideas.

3.CompoundSentence

ShewantstodowellinCOMM132,sosheisdoingherEnglishhomework.

Eachofthesesentencescontainstwoideas.

SheisdoingherEnglishhomework,forshewantstodowellinCOMM132.

THEPARTSOFASENTENCE

Asentenceisdividedintotwoparts–thesubjectandthepredicate.Thesubjectisthepartofthesentencethattellsuswhomorwhatwearetalkingabout.Thepredicatecontainseverythingelseinthesentence.Thepredicatemustcontainaverb.Theverbisthemostimportantpartofthepredicatebecauseittellsuswhatthesubjectdoes,oritdescribesthesubject’sstateofbeing.Whenaverbdescribesastateofbeingtheverb“tobe”（am,is,are）isoftenused.

Ifasentenceconsistsofoneindependentclause,itiscalledaSIMPLESENTENCE.Asimplesentencecanconsistofonlyanoun,whichisthesubjectofthesentence,andaverb,whichisthepredicate.

Studentsstudy.

Inthissentence,whatarewetalkingabout?

Students.Therefore,“students”isthesubjectofthesentence.Whatdostudentsdo?

Study.“Study”istheverb.

Wecanexpandthissentence.

Dedicatedstudentsstudy.

Dedicatedcollegestudentsstudy.

Dedicatedcollegestudentsstudyatthelibrary.

Dedicatedcollegestudentsstudyatthelibraryeveryday.

Let’stakealookatanothersentence.

Thestudentishere.

Inthissentence,whatarewetalkingabout?

Student.Therefore,“Student”isthesubjectofthesentence.Doesthestudentdoanythinginthissentence?

No.Theverb“is”isdenotingastateofbeing.

Wecanexpandthissentence.

Thededicatedstudentishere.

Thededicatedcollegestudentishere.

Thededicatedcollegestudentishereatthefrontdesk.

Themostcommonlyusedbeingverbistheverb“tobe”.Hereisitsconjugation:

PresentPast

IamweareIwaswewere

youareyouareyouwereyouwere

he/she/itistheyarehe/she/itwastheywere

Asimplesentencecanevenconsistofasingleword.

Stop!

Inthissentence,wehaveaverb,andthesubjectis（you）understood.

Thissentenceisacommand.Thesesentencesdon’tappeartohaveasubject,butthesubjectisalwaystheword“you”understood.Commandsaretheonlysentencesthatdon’thavestatedsubjects.Allothersentenceshavestatedsubjects.

TheVERBisthemostimportantpartofasentence.Rememberthateverysentencemusthaveaverb,andtheverbmustbecompleteforthesentencetomakesense.Thefollowingsentencemakessensebecausetheverbiscomplete:

Sheiswaitingtoseetheprofessor.

However,thenextsentencesdon’tmakesensebecausetheverbsareincomplete.

Canyoudeterminewhatiswrongwiththefollowingsentences?

a.Shegoingtoseetheprofessor.

b.Sheisgotoseetheprofessornextweek.

c.Shetogotoseetheprofessornextweek.

Theverbsineachsentencearenotcomplete,sothesentencesarenotcorrect.

Review

Everysentencemusthave

（1）asubject

（2）acompleteverb

（3）acompleteidea

（4）properpunctuation

Practice

A.Canyouidentitywhichofthefollowingfulfillthefourrequirementsofasentence,and

whicharemerelygroupsofwords?

1.Thestudentwearingaplaidshirt,tatteredbluejeans,anddirty,muddy,worn-outsneakers.

2.Amritalikestoread.

3.Realizedhermistakeandtriedtocorrectit.

4.Theyaregotothebasketballgame.

5.SunilandBeiarestudyinginthelibrary.

Don’tbefooledbythelengthofagroupofwords.Therecouldbemanydescriptivewordsandphrases,butifthegroupofwordsismissinganyofthefourrequirements,itwillnotbeacorrectsentence.

subjects

Nowlet’stakeacloserlookatSUBJECTS.Thesubjectisthedoeroftheactionorconditionexpressedbytheverb.Tofindthesubjectofthesentence,askyourselfwhoorwhatisbeingdiscussedinthesentence.Youcandothisbyfirstfindingtheverbandthenaskingyourself“Whoorwhatdidtheaction?

”

Practice

A.Putonelineunderthe（bare）subjectineachofthefollowingsentences.

Puttwolinesundertheverborverbphrase.

1.Thegirlsstudiedinthelibraryallday.

2.Beforeastorm,mytwocatsalwaysbehavestrangely.

3.Pleasetrytobethereontime.

4.CentennialCollegeandSenecaCollegeoffersummercourses.

5.Thebusystudentdranksomewater,atehislunchandreviewedhisnotesduringhisbreak.

Didyounoticethatsentence3isacommand,sothesubjectis（you）understood?

Whatisdifferentbetweensentences4and5?

Well,sentence4hastwowordsasthesubject.Thetwowordsarejoinedbyaconjunction.Thisiscalledamultiplesubject.Sentence5hasthreeverbs,alsojoinedbyaconjunction.Thisiscalledamultipleverb.However,bothofthesesentencesareSimpleSentences.Aslongasallthenounsorverbsarejoinedbyconjunctionstoformonesubjectoronepredicate,thesentenceisclassifiedasaSimpleSentence.

Thecatcaughtthemouse.Asimplesentence.

Thefat,graycatwiththewhitepawsandthesleek,blackcatwiththewhitetaileagerlychasedandfinallycaughtthefrightenedlittlebrownmouse.Alsoasimplesentence.

Practice

B.Inthefollowingexercise,putonelineunderthebaresubjectandtwolinesunderthecompleteverb:

1.Michaellovesthincrustpizza.

2.Thedaycaresupervisorwasspeakingtotheparents.

3.MyuncleandhiswifemovedtoHongKongtwoyearsago.

4.Acidrainiskillingourmapletrees.

5.ThemapleleafisCanada’semblem.

6.Jamalranfastandwontherace.

7.Thatquestionisdifferentfromtheothers.

8.Aftertheholidays,employeesalwaysfeelrelaxed.

9.Figurethisoneout.

10.Forthreeminutes,heheldhisbreath.

Notethatsentence3hasamultiplesubjectjoinedby“and”,andsentence6hasamultipleverb.Sentence9isacommand,sothesubjectis（you）understood.

SYNTAX

ThemostcommonsentencepatterninEnglish

Thisisafancywordwhichmeans“wordorder”.WordorderinEnglishisnotabsolutelyrigid,butmostofthetime,itfollowsthispattern:

Subject/Verb/Completion

SoinEnglishwesay

Iliketowatchtelevisionintheevening.

SVC

Wesometimessay

Intheevening,Iliketowatchtelevision.

SVC

Butwedon’tsay

Television,Iliketowatch.

Andwewouldneversay

TowatchtelevisionlikeIintheevening.

RememberthatinEnglish,themostcommonlyusedsentencepatternissubject,verb,completion.

Practice

A.FindtheSVCpatterninthefollowingsentences.

1.Computersincreaseworkplaceefficiency.

2.Vaccinationprogramshavehelpedtoeradicatemostchildhooddiseases.

3.Michellehasworkedhardtodevelophercomputerskillsthissemester.

4.Solarenergyisanefficientcost-effectivenon-pollutingresource.

5.Yourhotelreservationscanbecancelleduptothreedaysbeforeyourexpectedarrival.

6.Thechildcarecentreisnexttothemainoffice.

7.Childrenlearnthroughplay.

HereandThereConstructionsinEnglish

In“Here”and“There”constructions,thesubjectsarefoundaftertheverb.Although“here”or“there”isinthesubjectposition,itisnotthesubject.“Here”or“there”showstheexistenceorlocationofsomething.

Therearetwobigdogsintheyard.

Theverbis“are”.Whoorwhat“are”?

Thetwobigdogs.So"dogs"isthesubjectofthesentence.

Herecomesthewaiternow.

Whatistheverb?

_________________________________________________________________

Whatisthesubject?

_______________________________________________________________

Practice

B.Findthesubjectsinthefollowingsentences:

1.Therearecolourfulflowersinthegarden.

2.Hereisthemaincauseofyourconfusion.

3.Therewasn’tanyfoodintherefrigerator.

4.Herearesomecleanclothes.

5.Thereareseveralapplesinthebowl.

PrepositionalPhrases

Aprepositionalphraseconsistsofaprepositionfollowedbyanounorpronoun.Prepositionalphrasesareusefulsentencebuildingtoolsbecausetheyallowustoincreaseoursentencelengthand,hence,provideourreaderswithmoreinformation.Examinethefollowingsentence:

（OnMondays,）shestudies（withherfriends）（intheLearningCentre）（atProgressCampus）.

Notehowtheprepositionalphrasesprovidethereaderwithmuchinformation.

CommonPrepositions

about

behind

except

outside

above

below

for

over

across

beneath

from

past

after

beside

in

through

against

between

inside

to

along

beyond

into

under

among

by

near

until

around

despite