Sentences

The Sentence
Mr O’Meara

What is a sentence?
Working in pairs, write a working definition of a sentence.
Now let’s look at what a serious dictionary has to say.

Dictionary Defintion
A linguistic form (a word or a sequence of words arranged in a grammatical construction) which is not part of a larger construction, typically expressing an independent statement, inquiry or command.(Macquarie Dictionary, Third Edition)

Defintion
Let’s try for something simpler.
A piece of language expressing a complete statement, inquiry or command.

Which of these is a sentence?
The dog ran.
The dog.
Ran down the road.
Last week, the dog.
Sit!
What is the time?
Mr Jones’ red fire engine.
Anyone who has a heart.
The answer, my friend.
I hope you had the time of your life.

Subject + Predicate
Subject: What we are talking about.
Predicate: the action associated with the subject.
This phrase contains the verb and other information.

So which are sentences?
The dog ran.
subject + predicate = sentence
The dog.
Subject only = fragment
Ran down the road.
Predicate only = fragment.
Last week, the dog.
Sit!
Implied subject + predicate = sentence

So which are sentences?
What is the time?
Subject + predicate = sentence
Mr Jones’ red fire engine.
Anyone who has a heart.
The answer, my friend.
Two possible subject = fragment.
I hope you had the time of your life.
Subject + predicate = sentence.

Fragments
Sometimes you will use fragments in your writing.
But they are not full sentences.
Use them with care.

A fragment for emphasis
eg. I walked into the room and the dog was on the bed. The dog. The bed.

A fragment for partial thoughts
“I decided to go to the shop for...” he said, “I can’t remember what for.”

Four kinds of sentences
Simple sentences
Compound sentences
Complex sentences
Compound-complex sentences
But first we need to understand about clauses.

Clauses
The building blocks of sentences.
Independent clause
Can stand alone as a complete sentence.
The dog raced down the road.
The tennis balls were smashed across the court.
Dependant clause
Only part of a sentence; it cannot stand alone.
To follow the ball.
After colliding with the racquet.

Simple Sentence
One independent clause.
Just one thought.
Indiana sat down on her bed.
Can contain multiples of subject or object.
Indiana and Emmylou slept on the floor and the couch.

Your turn
Write two simple sentences.

Compound Sentence
A sentence that has two or more independant clauses.
Usually joined by a conjunction.
eg. unless, because, but, rather than.
Conjunctions create a relationship.
This is an excellent way to demonstrate the connection between events and information.

Compound Sentences
Basic: Indiana smells nice.
Basic: Indiana just had a bath.
Compound: Indiana smells nice because she just had a bath.

Compound Sentences
Basic: Emmylou was frightened by the thunder.
Basic: Emmylou jumped into my lap.
Compound: Emmylou jumped into my lap because she was frightened by the thunder.

Compound and the Semi-Colon
You can also make a compound sentence using a semi colon.
This is useful when you don’t want to, or don’t need to, explain the connection between the ideas.
eg. Emmylou jumped into my lap; she was frightened by the thunder.

Conjunctions
Let’s take a quick detour and look at some conjunctions.

Conjunctions
There are lots of words used as conjunctions but only a few simple types.
Conditional
Reason
Choice
Contrast
Location
Result
Time

Conjunctions: Conditional
Shows a conditional link between clauses.
Unless
Provided that
If
Even if
Indiana will stay on the couch unless she hears the fridge door open.

Conjunctions: Reason
One clause is the reason for the other.
Because
As
As If
Indiana sat on the floor because Emmylou was on the couch.

Conjunctions: Choice
Demonstrates choices or options.
Rather than
Than
Whether
Or
Indiana likes to sleep inside rather than sit outside.

Conjunctions: Contrast
Contrasts one clause with another.
Rather than
Than
Emmylou runs faster than Indiana.

Conjunctions: Location
Shows location connection.
Where
Whereas
Last week it was raining in Williamstown where I was riding my Zen bike.

Conjunctions: Result
One clause is a result of the other.
In order that
So
So that
That
I left out the book so that Emmylou could eat most of it.

Conjunctions: Time
Show a time connection between the clauses.
While
Once
When
Since
Whenever
After
Before
Until
As Soon As.

Conjunctions: Time
Notice how the meaning is slightly different each time.
Indiana barks while it is dark outside.
Indiana barks once it is dark outside.
Indiana barks when it is dark outside.
Indiana has been barking since it became dark outside.
Indiana barks whenever it is dark outside.
Indiana barks after it is dark outside.
Indiana barks before it is dark outside.
Indiana barks until it is dark outside.
Indiana barks as soon as it is dark outside.

Your turn
Write your own compound sentence with:
a reason conjunction,
a result conjunction,
a conditional conjunction,
a semi-colon in place of a conjunction,
a contrast conjunction, and
a time conjunction.

Time to get back to our sentences

Complex Sentence
A sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependant clause.
Although Indiana is not very bright, she is a wonderful pet.
Although Indiana is not very bright (dependant clause), she is a wonderful pet (independent clause).

Complex Sentences
Identify the independent and dependent clauses in this complex sentences.
Since I was starving, I went out for a drink and a pizza.
After seeing the movie, I decided that I would not bother watching For Your Consideration again on DVD.
Although I was very tired, I could not sleep.

Your turn
Write two complex sentences.

Compound-Complex Sentence
A sentence that has at least two independent clauses and at least one dependant clause.
These are the most complicated sentences but perfectly simple really.
Identify the two independent clauses and the dependant clause in the following examples.

Compound-Complex Sentence
Indiana went to the shops although Emmylou, being terribly tired, stayed home to snooze.
I wanted to stay in bed but I decided, after a brief mental struggle, to get up and go to work.
We could study sentences for ever, it is tempting, or play at little, by this I mean just one, game of silent ball.

Quick Quiz
What type of sentence is each of these?
Because it was raining, I went inside.
I was playing video games and the rain stopped.
I looked outside, just to be sure, and saw that the rain had started again.
The rain fell down.

Quick Quiz
The rain fell some more and I moved onto a new video game.
It was great but...
The roof fell in.
The power shorted out because of all the water, as you’d expect.
So I went back to bed.

Time for some answers...

Quick Quiz - Answers
Because it was raining, I went inside.
(complex)
I was playing video games and the rain stopped.
(compound)
I looked outside, just to be sure, and saw that the rain had started again.
(compound-complex)
The rain fell down.
(simple)

Quick Quiz - Answers
The rain fell some more and I moved onto a new video game.
(compound)
It was great but...
(fragment)
The roof fell in.
(simple)
The power shorted out because of all the water, as you’d expect.
(compound-complex)
So I went back to bed. (fragment, dependant clause).

Now it’s your turn
Write.
Four simple sentences.
Three compound sentences.
Two complex sentences.
One compound-complex sentence.

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Sentences

by Mark O'Meara on Apr 18, 2009

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