The Sentence

The sentence

What is it?

It's an idea.

A set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses.

The parts of the sentence:

• Subject: Is the doer of the action.
• Verb: The action.
• Complement: It refers something about the action.

Example:

Start sentences with subjects and verbs, and let other words branch off to the right.

A slight lift in the voice at the end of a sentence changes statement to question.

The key word in the last sentence is in quotation marks because, as Tolstoy made clear in War and Peace, there are as many truths about a given battle, after it, as there were participants in it.

Type of the sentence:

• Simple.
• Compound.
• Complex.

Simple Sentences

A simple sentence has the most basic elements that make it a sentence: a subject, a verb, and a completed thought.

It express an idea.


Examples of simple sentences include the following:

Subject        Verb        Complement

Maria washes the car

Compound Sentence

A compound sentence refers to a sentence made up of two independent clauses (or complete sentences) connected to one another with a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions are easy to remember if you think of the words "FAN BOYS".

It express two ideas joined with a relative pronoun:

• For
• And
• Nor
• But
• Or
• Yet
• So

Examples of compound sentences include the following:

Subject        Verb        Conjunction        Complement

Joe waited for the train, but the train was late.

Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon, and they left on the bus before I arrived.

Complex Sentence

 A complex sentence A dependent clause is similar to an independent clause, or complete sentence, but it lacks one of the elements that would make it a complete sentence. 

Examples of dependent clauses include the following:

• because Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon
• while he waited at the train station
• after they left on the bus

Dependent clauses such as those above cannot stand alone as a sentence, but they can be added to an independent clause to form a complex sentence.

Dependent clauses begin with subordinating conjunctions. Below are some of the most common subordinating conjunctions:

• after
• although
• as
• because
• before
• even though
• if
• since
• though
• unless
• until
• when
• whenever
• whereas
• wherever
• while

Practice

References:

http://www.english-language-grammar-guide.com/parts-of-a-sentence.html

http://www.pirchei.com/dik-duk-buk/sentence.htmhttp://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/definitions.htm