UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI
Maiduguri, Nigeria
CENTRE FOR DISTANCE LEARNING
ARTS
ENG 200:
UNIT: 2
SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
Published
UNIT: 3
2007©
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by
mimeograph or any other means without prior permission in writing from the
University of Maiduguri.
This text forms part of the learning package for the academic programme of the
Centre for Distance Learning, University of Maiduguri.
Further enquiries should be directed to the:
Coordinator
Centre for Distance Learning
University of Maiduguri
P. M. B. 1069
Maiduguri, Nigeria.
This text is being published by the authority of the Senate, University of
Maiduguri, Maiduguri – Nigeria.
ISBN:
978-8133-
ii
CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri
ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
UNIT: 3
PREFACE
This study unit has been prepared for learners so that they can do most of the
study on their own. The structure of the study unit is different from that of
conventional textbook. The course writers have made efforts to make the study
material rich enough but learners need to do some extra reading for further
enrichment of the knowledge required.
The learners are expected to make best use of library facilities and where feasible,
use the Internet. References are provided to guide the selection of reading
materials required.
The University expresses its profound gratitude to our course writers and editors
for making this possible. Their efforts will no doubt help in improving access to
University education.
Professor J. D. Amin
Vice-Chancellor
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CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri
ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
UNIT: 3
HOW TO STUDY THE UNIT
You are welcome to this study Unit. The unit is arranged to simplify your
study. In each topic of the unit, we have introduction, objectives, in-text,
summary and self-assessment exercise.
The study unit should be 6-8 hours to complete. Tutors will be available at
designated contact centers for tutorial. The center expects you to plan your work
well. Should you wish to read further you could supplement the study with more
information from the list of references and suggested readings available in the
study unit.
PRACTICE EXERCISES/TESTS
1. Self-Assessment Exercises (SAES)
This is provided at the end of each topic. The exercise can help you to
assess whether or not you have actually studied and understood the topic.
Solutions to the exercises are provided at the end of the study unit for you to
assess yourself.
2. Tutor-Marked Assignment (TMA)
This is provided at the end of the study Unit. It is a form of examination
type questions for you to answer and send to the center. You are expected to work
on your own in responding to the assignments. The TMA forms part of your
continuous assessment (C.A.) scores, which will be marked and returned to you.
In addition, you will also write an end of Semester Examination, which will be
added to your TMA scores.
Finally, the center wishes you success as you go through the different units
of your study.
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CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri
ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
UNIT: 3
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
The course description for English 200 is ‘Sentences and Clauses in
English’. The aim of the course is to present a broad overview of the
constituents of a typical sentence parts and the basic organisational
patterns, which include the parts of speech that form the functional units
of the sentences. The rules governing how these parts of speech are
combined to form a grammatical sentence are emphasised. The clause
types and structure are examined. Finally, sentence types are studied.
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
ENG 200:
UNIT: 3
SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH UNITS: 2
T A B L E O F C O N T E N TS
PAGES
PREFACE
HOW TO STUDY THE UNIT INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
TOPIC
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THE DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF A
SENTENCE -
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THE SYNTACTIC ROLES OF PARTS
OF SPEECH
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CLAUSES AND SUBORDINATORS -
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SENTENCE COMPONENTS: OBJECT,
COMPLEMENT -
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SENTENCE TYPES: SIMPLE, COMPOUND,
COMPLEX, PARALLEL, FRAGMENTS,
LOOSE AND PERIODIC SENTENCES
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5:
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SOLUTION TO EXERCISES
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UNIT: 3
T O P I C 1:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
1.0
TOPIC:
THE DEFINITION OF A SENTENCE AND
PARTS OF SPEECH
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INTRODUCTION -
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OBJECTIVES
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IN-TEXT
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THE DEFINITION OF A SENTENCE AND
PARTS OF SPEECH
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SUMMARY -
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SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
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REFERENCE
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1.0
TOPIC: THE DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF A SENTENCE
1.1
INTRODUCTION
UNIT: 3
You are welcome to this unit. In it you will learn that it is
important to understand the structure of the sentences before you
can have the complete control of your grammar. First, one
must
understand what basically is a sentence, its scope and practical
definition in order to recognise what is not a
sentence.
Sentence
construction is strictly rule-governed.
You cannot get round it unless
you know the system of its combination.
1.2 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this topic you should be able to
i.
Define the sentence
ii.
Identify the scope of the sentence
1.3
IN-TEXT
1.3.1 THE DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF A SENTENCE
A sentence is a syntactically well-defined unit in English that
grammatically makes a complete sense. Complete sense technically
means
an expression that is written or spoken
according to the
rules of the English grammar. Further, a
sentence can be physically
defined as a stretch of a written
expression, which begins with a
capital letter and ends with a full stop. A spoken sentence is a stream of
meaningful English
sounds (expression) that is not part of the
statement that
precedes it and it is spoken with a relatively short
pause at the
end. It is sometimes a clause and can at times consist of
clauses. In this unit, we see a sentence as a structure. This
means that a sentence is like a building, which is composed of welllaid bricks. This is what is meant when we say ‘the
sentence
structure’. One of the bricks of a sentence is a clause. Therefore, a
sentence consists at times of clauses or it is simply
a
single
clause sentence. An example of a sentence is:
1. The children went to school.
2. A lizard can climb a tree.
3. There was a gunshot.
4 This is my house.
5
A bird sings.
As a structure, a sentence has parts that are given technical
names. One of these parts is the Subject. The Subject is what
the sentence is all about or the one who acts in it.
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
Subject
UNIT: 3
Predicate
Subject
Verbs
1.
John
Is
a school pupil.
2.
Mary
Walks
to school
3.
Paul
Sings
4.
Abu
Killed
a rat
5.
Hasan
was patted
on the back
The next logical part of a sentence is the Verb, which denotes the
action performed by the Subject and it occurs in the
predicate, which
describes the action or the state of being of the
Subject.
A sentence, depending on the style in which it is written, must
consist of Subject(s) and Predicate(s). The Subject is the thing
that the sentence is all about and the Predicate is what is said
about
the subject matter. Further examples of Subjects and Predicates
in
sentences are in the table below:
Subjects
Predicates
A bird
sings.
The children went to school.
A lizard
Can climb a tree.
There
was a gunshot.
This
is my house.
Table 1: Subjects and Predicates
We shall see the details of the structure of a sentence later in the
subsequent sections.
1.4 SUMMARY
A sentence can be written or spoken. A written sentence begins
with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. A typical sentence
consists of a subject and predicate. A sentence without a
predicate is technically not a sentence. It is not the length that
makes a sentence, rather, it is the
combination
of
the
predicate and subject. This may consist of just two words.
1.5
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISES
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
1.6.
UNIT: 3
1.
What is a sentence?
2.
What are the constituents of a sentence?
3.
Make a sentence and identify the subject and the predicate.
REFERENCE
Hudson (1978) English Complex Sentences London: Longman.
1.7
SUGGESTED READINGS
Quirk, Rudolph et al (1970) A University Grammar of
London: Longman.
English.
TOPIC 2:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
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TOPIC: THE SYNTACTIC ROLES OF PARTS
OF SPEECH
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2.2
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SUMMARY -
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2.5
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISES
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2.6
REFERENCE
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2.7
SUGGESTED READINGS
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2.0
2.1
UNIT: 3
TOPIC: PARTS OF SPEECH IN SENTENCES I
INTRODUCTION
Parts of speech are the building blocks with which sentences are
built. Each part of speech has definite roles in the construction
of
the
sentences and this is governed by rules of syntactic combination of words
to form sentences. Parts of
speech consist of the following: Nouns,
Verbs, Pronouns, Adverbs, Prepositions, Adjectives, Conjunctions and
Interjections. To identify a part of speech in a sentence, one has
to
look at the function of the word in the context it has
occurred.
2.2
OBJECTIVES
i.
ii.
iii.
At the end of this topic you should be able to:
Know the constituents of a sentence
Identify and name the parts of a sentence
2.3
IN-TEXT
2.3.1 PARTS OF SPEECH IN SENTENCES
As stated above, parts of speech are used to construct sentences. One
of such is the Noun, which is anything we can see (tree, pot, rain, rainbow);
what we can
touch (stone, ball, stick, sweet, yam); what you feel
(happiness, sadness, love, anxiety,
disappointment etc); names of things
and places (Abubakar, Rebecca, Safari Hotel, Titanic, Maiduguri) and
abstract idea
(democracy, government, freedom, shyness).
2.3.2. In a sentence, Nouns typically
occupy two main positions:
Subject and Predicate positions:
Noun as
Subject
Noun in the
Predicate
1 John
threw stones at the
house
2 The chairman
talked
democracy
3 Abubakar
lodged a complaint
4 James
saw a lion
5 The policeman
stopped the vehicle
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2.3.3 NOUN CLASSES
To realize the correct grammatical roles of Nouns, we must take
note of their classes and how each of the classes behave in a
particular syntactic environment
2.3.3.1 CLASSES OF NOUNS
Nouns
Description
Examples
Proper
Nouns
Name specific people, John, Eko Meridian Hotel
places and things. The rule Kano
is that they must be
capitalised
Common
Nouns
General names of things,
places and people. They
are not capitalised unless
they begin the sentence
Concrete
Nouns
Things we can see and cup, stick, book, table, plate,
touch
teacher, computer, radio,
pin, pot
Abstract
Nouns
This consists of ideas, and democracy, happiness, joy,
abstract
things
and idea,
feelings
Collective
Things in a container and government, council, team,
collection of things and delegation
people
Nouns
Uncountable Things that cannot
counted
teacher, hotel, mountain,
but if it is a specific
mountain, it is a proper
noun
and
must
be
capitalised,
Mountain
Kilimajaro
be sand, flour, chalk, dust,
butter, tea
2.3.3.2 RULES GOVERNING THE FUNCTIONS OF NOUNS IN
SENTENCES
No matter where they occur in the sentence, proper nouns are
capitalized. Examples are as follow:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
They put up at Lake Chad Hotel
They went to Kano.
The children threw biscuits to Bingo (a dog)
The book is Things Fall Apart.
Mr. Gabriel taught the English lesson.
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UNIT: 3
2.3.3.3 COMMON NOUNS
These are general names of things. They are
not normally capitalised
in a sentence. This is because they are
general names.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
I bought some yams.
He drank from a cup.
He read a book.
The children threw stones at the goats.
She loves that car (but she loves the Mercedez car, because
Mercedez is a specific name of a brand of car).
2.3.3.4 CONCRETE NOUNS
Concrete Nouns can be treated like a common nouns or proper
nouns
depending on the rules stated above. Concrete nouns can be classified
either as countable or uncountable nouns. When a
noun is countable
and it is singular it must take an article. However, if it is plural like, Boys
came here yesterday, but not Boy came here yesterday. More examples
are as follow:
NOT
BUT
1.
Boy came here yesterday.
2.
Give me stone.
3.
He saw house beside road.
2.3.3.
2.3.3
1.
2.
A boy came here yesterday.
Give me some/a stone(s).
3.
He saw the house beside the road.
THE VERBS
The verbs are the doing words (teach, walk, fall, throw etc) or words that
denote the state of being (is, were, being, been, was, am). As shown in the
table above, verbs typically occur in the predicate. The verbs are in
the bold letters while the nouns are underlined.
2.3.4. PARTS OF SPEECH IN SENTENCES II:
PREPOSITIONS
Prepositions express relative positions of things, at, on, in, of, off,
out, beside, to, from, along, behind, in front of above etc.
The
function of the Preposition is to relate action to the
situation
where
the action is taking place, as in:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The boy ran along the road.
The enemies hid behind the mountain.
The ball bounced off the floor.
The baby sat beside her mother.
The chairman kicked against the decision.
2.3.5 PARTS OF SPEECH IN SENTENCES III: ADJECTIVES
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Adjectives are words that limit or modify the meaning of the
Nouns. They are words like red, tall, short, Nigerian, flat,
round, beautiful and so on.
They can qualify both the Subjects and Objects in a sentence.
This is illustrated in the following sentences:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The tall boy at the back of the class is sleeping.
She drank some cold water.
A rolling stone gathers no moss.
The Student Union is organising the boycott of important
lectures.
5. That beautiful girl has passed all her examinations.
2.3.4.1 CLASSES OF ADJECTIVES
The following classes of Adjectives are governed by certain
order
of grammatical combinations. The mnemonic by which we can remember
the order is OPSHACOM = OP= opinion Adj. + SH= Adj. of shape
+ A= Adj. of age + C = Adj. of + colour O = Adj. of origin + M = Adj. of
material + Headword= any concrete noun in either Subject or Object
position. For example, A pot. Opinion (OP) Adjectives are those that are
used to express some subjective and evaluative comments on things as in
beautiful, wonderful, fine good, poor, ugly etc. Adjective of Shape are the
Adjectives that specify the shape of the Subject. They consist of words like
round, straight, oblong, square, irregular and triangular.
Adjectives of age tell us about the relative age of the Subject in a
sentence. They are: old, a-year-old new, aged, young etc. The
Adjectives of colour
specify the colours of objects as in
words like
green, blue, red, purple etc. The Adjectives of origin
refer to those
adjectives denoting nationality like Nigerian,
Japanese, British,
Chadian etc. Finally, the Adjectives of Material are the Adjectives that
refer to the material that a Noun
is made of such as plastic, clay,
iron. This however, depends on how they are used in the sentence. They
are Nouns but when
they modify another NOUN they become
Adjectives as in the following examples: a clay pot, a plastic bag and an
iron rod. Grammatically, the combination of the Adjectives is therefore in
the following order OPSHACOM + pot written as The beautiful, round,
new, red, clay, Japanese pot. The beautiful (opinion) round (shape) new
(age) red (colour) clay (material) Japanese (origin) + pot. As it is, this is a
description of a pot. It is not a sentence because it is equivalent to ‘a pot’.
The phrase can either be an Object or Subject and therefore requires a
Predicate like:
The beautiful, round, new, red, clay, Japanese pot (Subject) is
on sale (Predicate).
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2.3.4.2 TYPES OF ADJECTIVES
Adjectives are classified according to their functions in the sentence.
Descriptive adjectives describe the quality of the Nouns. For example, A
car can be any car but the followings have specifications that make each of
the cars definite one with
a unique quality.
1. A big car
2. A red car
3. A long car
4. A white car
Generally, adjectives modify or specify the Nouns and Pronouns.
When an Adjective modifies, it limits, describes, specifies the quality of the
Nouns.
2.3.4.3 POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
This class of Adjectives shows ownership of something.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
His good manners please me.
Please, give me your book.
The dog wags its tail.
This is my opinion.
They waved their country’s flag.
2.3.4.4 DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES
These class of Adjectives act as if they are pointing at the word they
modify. These are exemplified below:
1.
Those birds on the tree over there.
2.
That boy who came here yesterday.
3.
This suitcase is heavy.
4.
Please, follow that path.
2.3.4.5 NUMERICAL ADJECTIVE
This group of Adjectives consists of numbers, one, two, three or
ordinals like first, second etc.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The first man to land on the moon has returned to earth.
One man is missing.
We want two contestants.
Two men were arrested.
There were two courses of meals.
2.3.5 ADVERBS
Adverbs modify the meanings of a verb, an Adjective, Adverb or a
whole sentence. Sometimes Adverbs are formed from Adjectives to which –
ly is added to the end of the word. We have the following examples
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
UNIT: 3
beautifully, correctly, wisely, smoothly, exactly, progressively. In terms of
classification, generally, Adverbs answer the questions how? When?
Where? How often and to what extent?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The snake climbs the tree lazily (how).
I completed his homework yesterday (when)
He ran into the room (where).
He completely lost his head (to what extent?)
The community was badly affected by the epidemic (how).
2.3.6 THE VERBAL PHRASE
The next most important element of the sentence after the nouns is the
verb phrase. Ideally, the minimal sentence consists of a verb and a noun
phrase. For example,
1. Birds sing.
2. Cocks crow.
3. The door opens.
4. The walls fell.
5. The hero dies.
Functionally, verbs express action and state of being. Action verbs consist
of the following, eat, go, climb, walk and teach etc. While verbs of the state
of being are: are, is, was, being, been, were, am etc. They state the
condition and the situations of things. For examples:
1. I am in trouble.
2. He is the commander.
3. They were in the ferry.
4. She was crying.
It is a general characteristic of the verbs to change for tense to indicate the
time of action and these ‘times’ correspond to the following idea of tenses.
An action in the present is expressed in the present tense, like ‘go’ is a
simple present; an action in the past is expressed in the past tense like
‘went’ while an event that is already completed is stated in present
participle like ‘have gone’ while the past participle can be exemplified in
‘had gone’.
2.4
SUMMARY
It must be observed that classifying a word as belonging to a
particular part of speech depends on its grammatical function in a
particular context in which it has appeared. For example, the noun ‘dwarf’
can function as a verb as in ‘He dwarfed his opponent in the context.’ The
word, ‘man’ is a noun but in the sentence, ‘The policemen always man the
roadblock.’ ‘man’ is a verb. Thus, in determining the part of speech a word
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UNIT: 3
belongs to, one must decide the specific function of the word in the context
in which it has appeared.
2.5
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
1.
2.6
Cut out a newspaper report and identify the parts of speech we
have treated as used in the context of the report.
REFERENCE
Quirk et al (1976) University Grammar of English. London:
Longman.
2.7
SUGGESTED READING
Quirk et al (1976) University Grammar of English. London:
Longman.
TOPIC 3:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
3.0
TOPIC: CLAUSES AND SUBORDINATORS
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3.1
INTRODUCTION
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3.2
OBJECTIVES
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3.3
IN-TEXT
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3.3.1 EXPLANATION OF THE SUBORDINATORS
IN CLAUSES
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3.3.2 SUBORDINATING WORDS
UNIT: 3
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3.3.3 EXAMPLES OF ALPHA AND BETA CLAUSES
3.4
SUMMARY -
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SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
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REFERENCE
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3.0
TOPIC: CLAUSES AND SUBORDINATORS
3.1
INTRODUCTION
3.2
OBJECTIVES
UNIT: 3
3.3
IN-TEXT
3.3.1 CLAUSES AND SUBORDINATORS
A sentences consist of either a clause or clauses. If a sentence has
one clause, it means the sentence consists of an independent clause
Examples of one-clause sentences are:
1. John is here.
2. The teacher might be angry.
3. The mails leave tomorrow.
4. She aught to have waited.
5. It is raining outside.
We say that each of the above sentences consists of only one clause, that is
independent, because there is no dependent and interdependent
expression of ideas as in the following sentences. If an idea expressed in a
sentence depends on another segment (clause) of the sentence to make
sense, that segment (clause) is said to be a subordinate clause or
(technically) a Beta clause or still a rankshifted clause. While the part of the
sentence that part of the sentence that can stand on its own if the Beta
clause is deleted is known as the main clause, an Alpha or an independent
clause. Examples of subordinate clauses are underlined in the following
sentences.
1.
Having mounted his horse, the warrior waved goodbye to his family
2.
Since men have learnt to shoot without missing, birds have learnt to fly
without perching.
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3.
4.
UNIT: 3
Going by what the secretary has said, it means we are out of job already.
While I can tolerate late coming, I do not treat indolence with levity.
All the underlined clauses are Beta while all the other clauses are Alpha
clauses. When the following words are found in a sentence, it indicates that
there are subordinate clauses. Since, while, when, without, where, who,
whose, how, although, even though, nevertheless etc.
3.4
SUMMARY
3.5
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
3.6
1.
Construct sentences with subordinate as well as independent
clauses.
2.
Identify the subordinate words in sentences you clip from a
newspaper.
REFERENCES
Troyka, Lynn (1990) Handbook for Writers. New Jersey: Prentince
Hall.
3.7
SUGGESTED READING
Hudson, R. (1970) English Complex Sentences. London: Longman.
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TOPIC 4:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
4.0
TOPIC: SENTENCE COMPONENTS: COMPLEMENT
AND OBJECT -
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4.1
INTRODUCTION -
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4.2
OBJECTIVES
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4.3
IN-TEXT
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4.3.1 DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECT
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4.3.2 COMPLEMENT
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SUMMARY -
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4.5
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
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4.6
REFERENCES
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4.0
TOPIC: SENTENCE COMPONENTS
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
4.1
UNIT: 3
INTRODUCTION
Further examination of a sentence reveals that there are roles
performed by some components of the sentence, namely, direct and
indirect objects and the complements.
4.2
OBJECTIVES
At the end of the topic you will list
i.
ii.
the roles of components like direct and indirect objects
in a sentence
to identify these features in a given the sentence
4.3
IN-TEXT
4.3.1 DIRECT OBJECTS
A Direct Object is the participant in the sentence that is directly
affected by the action of the verb initiated by the subject. Examples
are
a. A cat caught a mouse.
b. The teacher taught the pupils.
c. Ali kissed his mother.
d. The soldiers shot at the enemies.
e. The children climbed the tree.
Direct Objects are the participants directly affected by the action of
the Subject. While Indirect Objects are the participants that are
indirectly affected by the action of the verbs as initiated by the
Subject. Examples are
1.
She made her child a toy.
2.
She bought him some cloths.
3.
The orchestra played some music for him.
4.
They help him carry some load.
We will be able to recognise the Indirect Object because they are not
directly affected by the action of the verbs. Direct Objects are in italics.
Usually, the Indirect Objects are the beneficiaries of the actions of the
verbs.
Complements normally assign a quality to the Objects or the Subjects. If
the Complement confers some quality on the Subject, then, it is Subject
Complement (SC). If it assigns some quality on the Object, then it is called
Object Complement (OC). Examples of SC are
1. He is simple.
2. They are the robbers.
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
UNIT: 3
3. He is my friend.
4. He is considered great.
The underlined are the Subject Complements. Object Complements are
illustrated below:
i. They elected him President.
ii. They called him their master.
iii. They made him a king.
iv. They confer on him the title of Are Onakakanfo.
The pronouns in italics are the Objects while the underlined are the Object
Complements.
4.4
SUMMARY
4.5
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
1.
4.6
In a written passage, pick out some OC and SC.
REFERENCE
Quirk, et al (1985) Contemporary Grammar of English. London.
Longman
4.7
SUGGESTED READING
Quirk et al (1976) University Grammar of English. London:
Longman.
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
UNIT: 3
TOPIC 5:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
5.0
TOPIC: SENTENCE TYPES: SIMPLE, COMPOUND,
COMPLEX,
AND
PARALLEL, FRAGMENTS, LOOSE
PERIODIC
SENTENCES
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INTRODUCTION -
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OBJECTIVES
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IN-TEXT
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5.3.1 SENTENCE TYPE -
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5.3.2 SIMPLE, COMPLEX, COMPOUND, FRAGMENTS,
LOOSE, PERODIC SENTENCES
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SUMMARY -
5.5
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISES
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5.6
REFERENCE
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5.7
SUGGESTED READING -
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5.4
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
5.0
TOPIC: SENTENCE TYPES
5.1
INTRODUCTION
UNIT: 3
Sentence variety is important because they help one convey stylistically and
precisely the effects one expected the sentence to have. They are used for
different purposes in different contexts.
5.2
OBJECTIVES
5.3
IN-TEXT
5.3.1 SIMPLE AND COMPOUND SENTENCES
A simple sentence consists of a Subject and a predicate or a sequence of
predicates. For example,
1. Musa went into the class.
2. Musa went into the class, looked round, stopped abruptly,
saluted briskly and sat down.
Number 2 and number 1 are both simple sentences. In 2, Musa is the
subject tied to series of verbs, which are predicates. It is simple because for
each verb no pronouns are used to replace Musa the subject of the
sentence. However, the following is a Compound sentence.
Musa went into the class; he looked round; he stopped abruptly;
he saluted briskly and he sat down.
Each of the underlined should have been a sentence of its own but for the
punctuation mark, semi-colon (;). If we remove the semi-colons and
capitalise the pronouns with fullstops at the end we will have a series of
separate sentences.
5.3.2 COMPLEX SENTENCES
Complex sentences are the ones that consist of either Alpha or Alpha and
Beta clauses with subordinate words which signal that they are complex
sentences like the following
1.
2.
3.
4.
Tell him to see me when he comes.
The man who came here yesterday is at the door.
If you do not take your time, you will make mistakes.
Having fortified himself with prayer, the priest rose to face the
mob.
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
UNIT: 3
5. Although the children shouted loudly, no one heard them.
5.3.3
SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
These normally occur in context of usage as in literature. They are
fragments because they do not structurally fulfil the requirements of
a sentence as earlier defined except that they have a fullstops at the
end and may begin with capital letters. Examples of sentence
fragments are:
1. He looked carefully. There. Lay the gun.
2. He felt pleasant towards her. Love.
3. He knew his survival was a matter of minutes. Parched with thirst.
Water.
4. He lost the jewels she borrowed from her friend. She cried and
searched desperately for it. There! In the dust.
5.3.4 THE BALANCE SENTENCE
A balance can technically be divided into two parts with each part
countering or balancing the other. They are normally used for rhetoric
effects.
1. My people have been oppressed in Nigeria; they have been liberated
in South Africa.
2. When I cried, they wept.
3. Do not think of what your country can do for you; but what you can
do for your country.
4. I have not come to repeal the laws but to reaffirm them.
5. If I complain they beat me; if I keep quiet they insult me.
The effect of the balance sentences is achieved through lexical contrasts as
underlined.
5.3.5 LOOSE AND PERIODIC SENTENCES
The difference between a loose sentence and a periodic sentence is that
a loose sentence puts its message first before elaborating while a
periodic sentence elaborates before putting across the message.
Examples of Periodic sentences are:
1. Since he would not come despite the fact that I had warned him, I
will have to force him to come.
2. Although I am sick I am still stronger than most people.
3. Having consulted with the senior surgeons, the doctor went ahead
to perform the operation.
Examples of loose sentences are:
1. I have come home because you invited me.
2. I have to punish him because he was stubborn.
3. I have to be careful this time since I was punished for coming late
twice.
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
5.4
UNIT: 3
SUMMARY
Knowing what constitutes a sentence is very important for grasping the
grammar of the English language. A sentence is composed of parts of
speech, which are put together according to the rules of the grammar.
Mastering the sentences in English will enable us tailor our sentence.
Also, the knowledge of the sentences will enable us structure our
message in the way that we can achieve our communicative goal. And by
varying our sentence structure, we will be able to avoid boring our
audience. Practical identification of these sentence varieties from
passages from newspapers and textbooks will be used in the class. And
it is advisable to practise identifying sentences in naturally occurring
English passages.
5.5 SELF-ASSSESSMENT EXERCISE
5.6
1.
Define and illustrate the concept of a sentence.
2.
Give examples of each of the sentence types we have studied.
3.
From a passage in a text write out three of the sentence types
we have studied.
REFERENCE
Halliday (2004) An Introduction to Systemic Grammar. London:
Stoughton.
Quirk et al The University Grammar of English. London: Longman.
5.7
SUGGESTED READING
Quirk et al (1976) University Grammar of English. London:
Longman.
SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES
CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri
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ENG 200 – SENTENCES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
UNIT: 3
TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENTS
1. Give the names of the parts of the following sentences:
She made her husband a cup of tea
2.
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