STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF SENTENCES
A sentence is a
group of words that are put together to mean something.
A
sentence is the basic unit of language which expresses a complete thought. It
does this by following the grammatical rules of syntax.
The following
article defines the four types of sentence constructions in English—simple
sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, and compound-complex
sentences - and includes examples to illustrate the sentence structures. The
first sentence structure in English is the simple sentence. Simple sentences
consist of one verb clause..
A verb
clause is an independent clause that is formed by a subject and a
predicate. Verb clauses are also referred to as main clauses or matrix clauses.
For example, the following sentences are simple sentences:
A.
Some students like to study in the mornings.
B.
Juan and Arturo play football every afternoon.
C.
Alicia goes to the library and studies every day.
The second
sentence structure in English is the compound sentence. Compound sentences
consist of two or more verb clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction or a correlating
and coordinating conjunction pair. For example, the following sentences
are compound sentences:
Batman is a hero. He is successful in catching the criminals
in his city.
Batman
is a hero, and he is successful in catching the criminals in his city.
The
third sentence structure in English is the complex sentence. Complex sentences
consist of one verb clause and
one or more adverb clauses..
An
adverb clause is a dependent clause that is formed by a subordinating
conjunction followed by a clause. The adverb clauses may either precede or
follow the verb clause. For example, the following sentences are complex
sentences:
a)
When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the
last page.
b) The
teacher returned the homework after she noticed the error.
c) The
students are studying because they have a test tomorrow.
d) After
they finished studying, Juan and Maria went to the movies.
e) Juan
and Maria went to the movies after they finished studying.
When a
complex sentence begins with a subordinator such as sentences A
and D,
a comma is required at the end of the dependent clause. When the independent
clause begins the sentence with subordinators in the middle as in sentences B,
C, and E, no comma is required. If a comma is placed before the subordinators
in sentences B, C, and E, it is wrong.
The
fourth sentence structure in English is the compound-complex sentence. Compound-complex
sentences consist of two or more verb clauses and one or more adverb
clauses. In other words, compound-complex sentences are combinations of one or
more compound sentences and one or more complex sentences. For example, the
following sentences are compound-complex sentences:
Although
I like to go camping, I haven't had the time to go lately, and I haven't found
anyone to go with.
Two-membered
sentence contains two principle parts - the subject and the predicate. (Fleur
had established immediate contact with an architect).
A
two-membered sentence can be complete and incomplete. It is complete when it
has a subject and a predicate (Young John could not help smiling). It is
incomplete when one of the principal parts or both of them are missing, but can
be easily understood from the context. Such sentences are called elliptical and
they are mostly used in colloquial speech and especially in dialogue (Where
were you yesterday? At the cinema).
One-membered
sentence have only one principal part (Dusk - of a summer night).
Simple
sentences, both two-membered and one-membered can be unextended and extended. A
sentence consisting only of the primary or principle parts is called an
unextended sentence.
She is
a student. Birds fly. Winter!
An extended
sentence is a sentence consisting of the subject, predicate and one or more
secondary parts (objects, attributes, adverbial modifiers). The two native
woman stole furtive glances at Sarie.
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