Brought to you by: Tyresha Ortiz, Riyadh Williams & Charly Banks

Sentence Basics

Subject= a noun and its modifiers. Predict= a verb and its objects,

complements and modifiers. One Subject + One Predicate= A Sentences A sentence MUST: make a statement, ask a

question, give a command or express an emotion !

Charly ate bananas.

Complete Sentences

Declarative Sentences-provide information something about their subject.◦She plays hop scotch.

Interrogative Sentences-pose questions about their subjects.◦Does she play hop scotch?

Sentence Types and Their Purposes

Imperative Sentences-demand something of their subjects◦Do not play hop scotch.

Exclamatory Sentences-emphasizes a point or express strong emotion◦I’m really looking forward to playing hop

scotch!

Simple Subject- noun or pronoun that names the topic of the sentence◦ The tired old man crossed the street.

Complete Subject- the simple subject and it’s modifiers; answers who or what the sentence is about.◦ The tired old man crossed the street.

Compound Subjects- contains two or more simple subjects connected with a conjunction◦ But, or, and, neither… nor ◦ The tired old man and his rusty cane crossed the

street.

Subjects

Implied Subjects- comparative sentences, the subject you is usually implied, NOT stated. A helping verb is needed for questions◦ [You] Be careful at night.◦ Would you be careful at night?

Subject Position◦ Declarative sentences: subject precedes the verb

The girls sing beautifully.◦ Sentences beginning with there or here followed

by some form of be: subject comes after the verb There will be many girls singing.

Predicate- says something about the subject Simple Predicates = verb + helping verbs

◦ Professor Camper chastised her class. Complete Predicate= the verb and any

modifiers(word acting as an adj to limit another word), objects or compliments◦ Professor Camper chastised her class.

Compound Predicates= 2 or more predicates connected by a conjunction◦ Professor Camper chastised her class and gave

them extra homework assignments.

Predicates: Verbs and Their Objects or Components

Linking verbs-joins a subject to more information◦ Subject compliment- maybe a noun (predicate nomative),

an adjective (predicate adjective) or pronoun. Transitive verb-Identifies an action that the subject

performs or does to somebody or something else – or direct object (nouns/pronouns). ◦ Active Voice: the subject is doing the action and the

direct object is being acted upon The boy hit the baseball.

◦ Passive voice: the direct object becomes the subject and the original subject becomes part of a phrase introduced with the preposition by. The baseball was being hit by the boy.

Verb types and sentence patterns

◦ Indirect Object- names for or to whom something is done John gave Sally the book.

◦ Object Complement- a word or group of words that follows an object in the sentence and describes or renames it. The wrong turn made Justin a lost man.

◦ Intransitive Verbs- describes an action by a subject, but it is not an action that is done directly to anything The plane crashed.

Phrase- a group of words that lack a subject and or predicate

Noun Phrase- a noun or a noun substitute plus all it’s modifiers

Verb Phrase- a verb plus it’s helping verbs Verbals- are words derived from verbs. They

function as nouns, adjectives or adverbs NOT as verbs.

Phrases

Verbal Phrases- verbal, modifiers, objects or compliments ◦ Participal phrase: begins with either a present or

past participal ◦ Playing together the children had fun.◦ Called by the owner, the dog came to him.

Gerund Phrases- uses the “–ing” form of a verb just as some participle phrases do but functions as nouns, not adjectives.◦ Talking to you friends can keep you informed.

Infinitive Phrases- an infinitive + any subjects, objects or modifiers that function as an adverb, adjective or noun.◦ To get good grades was his main objective.

Apositive Phrases- rename nouns or pronouns and appear right after the word they rename. ◦ One professor, the widely respected Dr. Carr

lectured at the freshman seminar.

Absolute Phrases- modifies an entire sentence. They include a noun or a pronoun; a participle; and their related modifiers, objects or complements. They provide details or causes.◦ The students walked up the hill, dressed in their

Howard apparel.

Clause- a group of related words that include a subject and a predicate◦ Independent clause: can stand on their own as a

complete sentence◦ Dependent/Subordinate clause: has a subject and

predicate, cannot stand alone as a complete sentence◦ Adjective Clauses- modifies a noun or pronoun.

Relative pronouns(who, whom, whose, which or that) or Relative Adverbs(where, when) and used to connect adjective clauses to nouns or pronouns they modify The “A” Building, which is located outside the campus

gates, is the most visited campus building.

Clauses

Adverb clauses- modifies a verb, an adjective or an adverb and answers the questions adverbs answer when, where, what, why and how. Often introduced by subordinators (after, when, before, because, although, if, though, whenever, where, wherever)◦ After the professor explained the task the

students began to write their papers.

Noun Clauses-a dependent clause that functions as a noun and may serve as the subject, object or compliment of a sentence. Usually introduced by a relative pronoun(who, which, that). Or a relative adverb(who, what, where, why).◦ The clerk discovered who stole the money.

Elliptical Clause- One or more grammatically necessary words are omitted because their meaning and function are clear form the surrounding context. ◦ This is the house [that] Jack built

Simple sentence- composed of only 1 independent clause. It may have several imbedded phrases, a compound subject and a compound predicate.◦ Cows are known for having multiple subjects.

Compound Sentence- contains 2 or more coordinated independent clauses but no dependent clause, may be joined by a comma , coordinated and conjunction or by a semi colon, with or without a conjunctive adverb.◦ I ate a lot of food, so I was not able to swim for 30

minutes.

Sentence Structures

Complex Sentence- contains one independent clause, one or more dependent clause.◦ The student plagiarized because she was too

irresponsible to write her paper.

Compound-complex Sentence- contains 2 or more coordinated independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.◦ She discovered a new world of international

finance, but she worked so hard investing other people’s money that she had no time to invest any of her own.