The document explains the basic structure of a sentence and definitions of a sentence according to various linguists. It covers different units in language, such as words, phrases, and clauses, highlighting that a sentence must express a complete thought. Furthermore, it outlines the essential components of a sentence, including the subject, verb, and object, along with examples and a practice exercise.

2. LESSON 1: BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE
 WHAT IS A SENTENCE?
 WHAT IS THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF A SENTENCE?

3. DEFINITIONS OF A SENTENCE
 According to Kadeghe (2011, p.39), “while some
linguists define a sentence as a unit in the language
expressing a complete thought, others define it as the
largest structural unit of a language”.

4. DEFINITIONS OF A SENTENCE
 Lowth (1762) considered a sentence as “an assemblage
of words expressed in proper form, ranged in proper
order, and concurring to make a complete sense”(cited
in Gleason, Jr., 1966)

5. ‘The largest unit in language’
 Kadeghe (2011, p. 39) observes that “hierarchically, (a
sentence) it is the highest construction to which rules
of grammar apply”.

6. Other Units in language
 Below a sentence, we have a clause, a phrase, and a
word:
 SENTENCE: The students were happy because it was
raining
 CLAUSE: Because it was raining...
 PHRASE: The students
 WORD: The

7. Other Units of Language...
 a word is a unit of language made up of syllables. For
example: house
 A phrase is a unit of language that is made up of a
group of words. This group of words is built around a
head word that identifies the type of the phrase. For
instance:
an empty house is a noun phrase and the word house
is the head word (main word) noun phrase.

8. A clause
 A clause is a unit of language containing a verb. They
are considered the simplest meaningful units of the
sentence. Clauses can be dependent or independent.
 For example, when we arrived at the village, there was
an empty house for sale.
 When we arrived at the village-dependent clause
(incomplete thought, needs to be completed)
 There was an empty house for sale- independent
clause (serves as simple sentences)

9. Basic Structure of a Sentence
 So, a sentence is a group of words that gives a complete
thought or makes complete sense.
 The basic structure of a sentence contains a subject
(the doer of the action), verb (the action), and the
object (the receiver of the action). For example:
 The lady bought a cat
Subject Verb Object

10. Practice Time!
 Consider the following construction:
He didn’t buy the car because the show room was
closed.
1. Can this construction be considered a sentence?
2. Identify the subject, verb and object.
3. Identify two different types of clauses.
4. Identify at least one phrase
5. Mention at least 3 different types of words (parts of
speech)

11. LESSON 2: PARTS OF SPEECH