The English sentence can be classified by structure: simple, compound, and complex, and by function: statement, question, command, and exclamation. Our major consideration will be a structural classification of the English sentence, and in so doing, we will touch on the functional classification where applicable.
Structural Classification
1 The Simple Sentence
A simple sentence is a single clause sentence. A simple sentence usually has a subject (S) and a predictor (P) and often has a complement (C) and an adjunction (A), e.g.:SPC
1. The teacher bought a car.SPCA
2. The teacher bought a car yesterday
The subject usually refers to something about which a statement or assertion is made in the rest of the sentence. The subject is usually a nominal group, as in the sentences above. The predictor is represented by verbal group items, and the verb may or may not accept objects, e.g.:
SP 3. The sunshines.
SP 4. All human being sleep.
The verbs “shines” and “sleep” in the above sentences have no objects and are, therefore, called intransitive verbs because the actions do not go beyond the entities performing them. With transitive verbs, the action expressed by the verb may pass over from a subject to an object, e.g.:
S P C 5. The pastor played the piano.
Quite often, however, a verb may be used both transitively and intransitively, e.g.:
SP 6. The door opened. (intransitive).
SPC 7. The door opened the room. (transitive).
7. The boy / opened / the door. (transitive)
8. He / smokes / heavily. (intransitive)
9. He / smokes / cigarettes. (transitive)The complement is that part of the clause which usually follows the verb and thus completes the clause. A complement may be a noun, a pronoun, or an adjective, e.g.:
10. The lady became a doctor. (noun)
11. It was you. (pronoun)
12. The food tastes nice. (adjective)
The last of the clause elements is the adjunct. The adjunct is usually an optional element in clause structure, e.g.:
13. He worked (quietly).
Adjuncts are obligatory only after a small set of verbs, e.g., “put”:
SPCA 14. He put the book on the table.
Adjuncts provide circumstantial details such as place, time, reason, manner, etc., in the English sentence, e.g.:
15. He / slept / in the room. (place)
16. The lecture / starts / at 8 am. (time)
17. He / walked / slowly. (manner)
Adjuncts also have more variability of position than any other clause element, e.g.:
18. Fortunately, he was satisfied. (before S)
19. He is in the room. (after P)
20. He was, fortunately, satisfied. (between P and C)
21. He had never visited Lagos before. (between verbal group items).
The placement of adjuncts depends largely on clarity and emphasis, and correct use can be greatly improved by wide reading and practice.
Basic and Non-basic Simple Sentence
A basic sentence is a skeleton sentence which has been reduced to its essential elements and with no modifying words or groups.
Non-basic simple sentences are modifications of the basic simple sentence patterns. The basic sentence patterns still remain even when structures of modification and arrangement have been added.
Basic Simple Sentence Patterns In the active, a simple statement is usually built up from any of these basic seven patterns:
22. SP The boy laughed.
23. SPC(subject complement)
The man became angry.
24. SPC (direct object) The man bought a car.
25. SPC (indirect object) C (direct object) The lady gave them a gift.
26. SPC (direct object) C (object complement) They watched the water boil.
27. SPA The player is in the stadium.
28. SPCA She put the plate on the table.The simple question, command, and exclamation also follow these basic patterns but with adjustments necessary for the realization of these constructions.
Non-basic Simple Sentence
Non-basic sentences are sentences that do not conform to the basic patterns but are otherwise derived from the basic sentence patterns. They can be realized through the following processes:
by adding optional adverbial
(I)The man spent his money (recklessly).
Rearrangement of elements of clause structure for communicative emphasis:
30. (a) He is a great politician.
(b) A great politician he is!By converting active statements to passive voice:
31. (a) The man bought a car.
(b) A car was bought by the man.By expanding elements in the basic sentence patterns, e.g.:
32. The (rich) man bought (an expensive Japanese) car.
The Simple Sentence and Communicative Functions
In terms of function, the simple sentence has different communicative functions and can be a statement, a question, a command, or an exclamation, e.g.:
33. The choir sang beautifully. (statement)
34. Did the choir sing beautifully? (question)
35. Choir, sing. (command)
36. How beautifully the choir sang! (exclamation)
Statements or declarative sentences are used to convey information. The subject is usually present and generally precedes the verb.
37. The students went to the theatre.The subject can be omitted in some situations, e.g.:
38. Beg your pardon.
Statements can have both active and passive forms, e.g.:
39. (a) The boy bought some apples. (active)
(b) Some apples were bought by the boy. (passive)
As seen above, these forms are interchangeable when there is an object, e.g., “some apples” in the active form of the sentence above, and this is because the object in the active form becomes the subject in the passive.
Questions, or interrogative sentences, are primarily used to request the listener to supply needed information. Questions are formed in three main ways:by placing the operator in front of the subject, e.g.:
40. Will they accept the offer?
41. Can you speak German? by the initial positioning of the question word or element:
42. Who will assist us?
43. What languages can you speak?by the use of rising (question) intonation:44. You will accept the offer?Commands, or imperative sentences, are primarily used to instruct someone to do something. The verb is in the imperative mood, e.g.:
45. Come quickly.
46. Go away.
The subject of the verb is usually omitted because the person being addressed is clear and the pronoun you (singular or plural) is understood. The subject may, however, be included, in which case it is usually for clarity or to attract attention, e.g.:
47. You students out there, keep quiet!
48. Mary, sit down.
49. You, be quiet!
An exclamation mark may also be used to punctuate a command, suggesting some tone of voice: urgent, authoritative, alarmed, etc. The command is usually in the active voice form. The command in the passive is typically introduced by words such as get, have, let, etc.
50. Get the letters posted.
51. Have the food ready by 7 pm.
52. Let him be punished for his misbehavior.
For requests and invitations, the question form is frequently used because it is perceived as less abrupt and more polite, e.g.:
53. (a) Come this way.
(b) Would you come this way, please?
54. (a) Pass the salt.
(b) Would you mind passing the salt, please?
Exclamation or exclamatory sentences are primarily used to express speaker’s own feelings, and this can be positive or negative.
An exclamation sentence usually begins with how or what and is punctuated with exclamation mark in writing. Unlike the question form, there is no subject operator inversion, e.g.:
55. What a noise they are making!
How can be used to stress a verb, adverb or adjective, e.g.:
56. How they danced! (verb)
57. How beautifully they danced! (adverb)
58. How beautiful she looks today! (adjectives)
What stresses a noun, whether used alone or with an adjective, e.g.
59. What damage the storm has caused!
60. What a pity we won’t see him again!
The Compound Sentence
A compound sentence consists of two or more simple sentences linked together by simple conjunctions such as and, but, or, nor, etc. Conjunctions can also be used to join words and groups together. A compound sentence can be separated into the simple sentences making it up by the omission of the conjunctions,e g
61. John sang (and) Mary danced (but) Lydia was not amused.
In a compound sentence, simple sentences can also be joined together by the use of punctuation marks alone, e.g.:
62. John sang, Mary danced, Lydia was not amused.
63. I looked at the watch: it was 10 o’clock.
Just as with the use of conjunctions, punctuation marks present abruptness of style in compound sentence.
There are semantic implications of the coordination of simple sentences by conjunctions such as and, but and or. And denotes a relationship between the contents of the simple sentences that are combined,e.g.:
64. He packed his things and left the room.
In the above sentence, the event in the second clause chronologically follows the event in the first clause.
But when used to join clauses that would hardly be expected in a given context, e.g.:
65. The car is very old but in excellent condition.
Note that yet can also be used to indicate this kind of contrast. Or, when joining words, groups or clauses indicate a choice.
66. You can take this book or that one.
Or can also be used to express an alternative which is a restatement of correction of what is said in the first clause,e.g.:
67. They are happy or at least they appear to be happy.
In compound sentences, the subject or the auxiliary verb or both may be omitted in the second clause if they are shared by the two clauses, e.g.:
68. Joke is reading and (she is) listening to music.
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The Complex Sentence
A complex sentence is a sentence which consists of one or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses. An obligatory element of sentence structure is the independent clause, while the subordinate clause depends on the independent clause and is subordinate to it, e.g.,
69. When it rains, please bring in the washing.
70. After watching a play, they settled down for a meal.
Subordinate clauses can easily be recognised because they can be deleted. and can be found preceding or following a main clause. They are also often linked to main clauses by subordinating conjunctions such as when, after, that, etc.
Writing Good Sentences
The sentence is the basic unit of expression in the English language. It is Sentences that combine to form paragraphs, and a well-written paragraph is made up of good sentences. It is, therefore, important that users of English learn to write good sentences because this is the foundation for effective writing. A good sentence can be recognised by certain qualities and these are unity, coherence and emphasis.
A sentence which has unity should have all its parts contributing to one clear single thought or expression, e.g.:
71. My grandmother, a remarkable woman, lives alone in her big house.
In the above sentence, we see relatedness between the parts of the sentence: ‘my grandmother’ relates to ‘a remarkable woman’ and this relates to her ‘living alone in her big house’.
On the other hand, a sentence which combines unrelated ideas is said to lack unity, and for effective writing such ideas would need to be in separate sentences, e.g.:
72. My grandmother lives alone and I want to wear my new dress to a party.
A unified sentence does not mean a simplistic sentence. A sentence can convey a complexity of ideas and yet retain its unity, e.g.:
73. My sister used not to eat very well, but recently she has started to eat so much that we are getting worried about her weight.
Another quality of a good sentence is coherence. Coherence refers to the logical relationship between elements that make up the sentence. Component elements of a sentence have to be arranged in a logical order to achieve clarity of purpose, e.g.:
74. (a) The man met his friend yesterday.
(b) Yesterday, the man met his friend.
If parts of the sentence do not follow acceptable rules of combination, they may result in an unacceptable sentence:
75. The yesterday man met his friend.
The more common problems arise from inappropriate shifting of subjects within a sentence and this usually causes awkward sentences:
76. When sentences do not follow acceptable rules of combination, it
results in unacceptable sentences.
77. “Why couldn’t she get a place of their own?”
In the sentences above, we see a shift from plural subject to singular and vice versa.
Inappropriate shifts between personal and impersonal pronoun subjects within a sentence can also create awkward sentences:
78. When one is bored you can go out to stretch your legs.
Unnecessary shifts in the forms of the verb in a sentence can also create unacceptable sentences:
79. Advertising helps to sell goods and as more goods were sold the traders became richer.
The tense changes from present to past in this context is unhelpful since the role of advertising ‘helps’ is in the present and the effect is now put in past tense form.
Reporting speech is another source of confusion. When you report speech, you must remember that after a past tense speech verb, e.g., told, asked, said, etc., all tenses move back in time.
80. (a) The teacher said, ‘I will give you a test tomorrow’.
(b) The teacher said he would give the class a test the next day.
In addition, a good sentence should reflect the emphasis that the writer has in mind in an appropriate manner. The most important part of the sentence has to be appropriately marked. Emphasis can be achieved in writing simply by underlining or capitalising the focus of information:
81. (a) It is mandatory for all students.
(b) It is MANDATORY for all students.
Emphasis can also be effected by the arrangement of the sentence parts. In an unmarked form, the sentence has the normal order of subject predictor + complement + adjunct, e.g.:
82. (a) The man fell into the ditch.
The adjunct ‘into the ditch’ can, however, be fronted in order to give it emphasis:
82. (b) Into the ditch the man fell.
By a process of rearrangement, we can bring focus on different parts of the sentence, e.g.:
83. (a) He was, as usual, right on target this Sunday.
(b) As usual, he was right on target this Sunday.
(c) This Sunday he was right on target, as usual.
In the three variants of the sentence above, emphasis is shifted from the subject, to the manner and to the time.
