Stractural classification of sentences

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:

1. Some students like to study in the mornings.

2. Juan and Arturo play football every afternoon.

3. 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:

1. When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page.

2. The teacher returned the homework after she noticed the error.

3. The students are studying because they have a test tomorrow.

4. After they finished studying, Juan and Maria went to the movies.

5. 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.