Classification of Sentences According to strucure

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

v  Meaning of sentence

v  Ways through which sentences are classified

MAIN BODY

v  Classification of sentences according to structure:

Ø  Simple sentences

Ø  compound sentences

Ø  Complex sentences

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

      

Sentence is widely used to refer to quite different types of unit. Grammatically, it is the highest unit and consist one independent clause, or two or more related clauses. Orthographically and rhetorically, it is that unit which starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark,( Downing, 2oo6.)

Sentence is a unity of speech constructed according to language depend rules, which is relatively complete and independent in respect to content, grammatical structure and intonation.(Forester et al, 1996.)

Sentence is a word or group of words that convey meaning to the listener, can be respondent to or is part of a response, and is punctuated, ( Rothstein, 2009.)

Sentences can be defined as the group of words arranged in a pre-intended, specific order which makes complete sense. For that case sentences is the highest level among the component of language, in which the component of language start with word, phrase, clause and sentence. Thus sentences length doesn’t matter what matter is the complete thought.

There are different ways of classifying sentences which are structure way, function way and according to their forms but according to our discussion we are going to use structure method as a way of classifying sentences.  Within this form there are four components or types of classifying the sentence, according to structure which are simple sentence, compound sentence, and complex sentences.

A simple sentence is divided into two main parts: the subject and the predicate. Whereby the subject is the chief word in a sentence; it is the person or thing that performs the action denoted by the verb. It may also indicate the state of being described by the verb. It is often a Noun or a Pronoun or some other words such as a Gerund used to in place of a Noun.
 For examples; -Boys grow slowly.
                         -Birds chirp.
                         -She washes her clothes.
                         -Fighting is bad.

It may be qualified by an Adjective or Adjective equivalent; that is to say group of words performing the function of an Adjective called the Attribute of the Subject. For example:-Great men like solitude.
                      -Good books build character.

The predicate consists of the verb, the object and other parts of the sentence (except the subject). It is closely related to the subject as it indicates all that is said about the subject in the sentence.
For instance:-They are waiting for us.
                     -She has been saving money for her birthday.

The predicate may contain the extension or adverbial qualification.
For example: It has been raining for two hours.

Also the Predicate may contain the Direct and Indirect Object; an indirect object appears only in a sentence that has a direct object and always comes before a direct object then you can add the preposition to or for before the indirect object.
For example:-Mr. Salmin taught us English.

                     -She gave a book to me.

A Compound sentence is the type of sentence that contains two or more independent sentences or Main (or Principal) clauses joined together by a Coordinating conjunction.  In the modern terminology, compound sentences can be of two types; double sentences and multiple sentences, (Bhatia, 2008.)

Double sentences are the sentences that contain two main clauses while multiple sentences are those which contain more than two main clauses. For example:-The boy fell down from the horse and broke his leg.
                      -Each boy was given a small bag which he opened curiously and was
                       surprised to see what it contained.

Examples of multiple sentences:

-She loved stories about fairies and she loved poems on nature, but she hated dramas based on dull drab life.

-Some books are good; others may be dubbed bad; but books are, after all, books.

In some compound sentences, there may be no conjunction. For examples:

                    -Man proposes, God disposes.

                    -God is love, love is God

In some compound sentences subordinate conjunction may perform the function of coordinating components. For examples

                    -You should write the essay when (and then) I shall revise it.

                    -We went to his parent home where (and there) we were given a warm

reception.

There are also compound sentences which may have a common subject and others may have a common verb.forexample

                   -She looked at me, but do not talk to me

                 - They liked my paintings, others my poems.

A complex sentence is a kind of sentence that has a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses whereby the later can functioning as adjectives, adverbs or as nouns. (Royster, et al, 1994.)

A main clause has a subject and predicate and can stand alone as a sentence while a subordinate clause is a group of words that has a subject and a predicate but does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone as a sentence; it is always combined with a main clause. There are three kinds of subordinate clauses: the noun clause, the adjective (relative) clause and adverbial clause.

A noun clause is subordinate clause used as a noun, you can use a noun clause in the same ways that you can use a noun such as; a noun as a subject, as a direct object, as an object of a preposition or a predicate noun.

Examples of noun clause;

                            -He said that he was innocent.

                             -That your drunk aggravates your offence.

                            -Victory goes to whoever makes more goals.

An adjective clause is a subordinate clause that modifies or describes, a noun or pronoun in the main clause of a complex sentence; it is usually introduced by relative pronoun which signify that a clause is subordinate and cannot stand alone

Examples of adjectives clause;

                             -The doctor who treated this dog is died.

                              -The village where they live has been terminated by worriers.

An adverb clause is a subordinate clause that often modifies or describes the verb in the main clause of a complex sentence; it is introduced by a subordinate conjunction.

Examples of adverb clause;

-A good boy will always do as he is commanded by his superiors.

-As the war was ended the soldiers retuned.

 Generally, sentences are classified according to their structure, functions and forms. For that case one has to be very knowledgeable on not relying only to their types but also the extent to which they differ from each other in terms of their classification for more understanding.

                

                                                      

            

                    

REFERENCES

Bhatia, H.S. (2008).Comprehensive High School ENGLISH GRAMMAR & COMPOSITION:

                        Delhi India: Book Palace.

 Downing. A. (2006).  English Grammar, 2^nd ed.  Routledge: A University Course.

 Forester, L. et al.  (1996). Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Routledge: Hadumo

                        Bussmann.

Rothstein, A. S, & Rothstein, E. (2009).  English Grammar Instruction That Works: Corwin

                        Press.

Royster,  J.J, et al. (1994). Writer’s Choice: COMPOSITION AND GRAMMAR. New York:

                        Macmillan/ McGraw-Hill.