3.Basic Elements of Every Sentence
SUBJECT
PREDICATE
4.Basic Elements
Mary
plays tennis.
SUBJECT
PREDICATE
5.Simple Sentence
6.Simple Sentence
A simple sentence has one subject and one predicate.
7.Simple Sentence
We went to San Juan yesterday.
Observe how a simple sentence is constructed:
8.Simple Sentence
We went to San Juan .
Pronoun
Verb
Simple subject
Complete predicate
Prepositional phrase
9.SIMPLE SENTENCE
Mary
plays tennis.
SUBJECT
PREDICATE
one subject one predicate
10.Simple Sentence
play tennis.
Tom and Mary
Compound Subject
&
11.Simple Sentence
play tennis and swim.
Tom and Mary
Compound Subject Compound Predicate
&
&
12.SIMPLE SENTENCEwith compound subject
Tom and Mary play tennis.
13.SIMPLE SENTENCEwith compound subject andcompound predicate
Tom and Mary play tennis and swim.
14.Compound Sentence
15.Compound Sentence
A compound sentence has more than one part that can stand alone (independent clauses).
Independent clauses are connected by coordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs or a semi-colon.
16.Compound Sentence
We went to San Juan, and
most of us danced all night.
17.Compound Sentence
We went to San Juan,
and most of us danced all night .
Subject
Verb
Coordinating
Conjunction
Predicate
Verb
Prepositional phrase
Modifying phrase
Subject
18.Compound Sentence Use of Coordinating Conjunctions
SUBJECT
PREDICATE
SUBJECT
PREDICATE
and
19.Compound Sentence
Tom
swims,
Mary
plays tennis.
and
20.COMPOUND SENTENCE:COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
FOR
AND
NOR
BUT
OR
YET
SO
21.Tom swims, and Mary plays tennis.
Clause 1 Clause 2
Independent Independent
COMPOUND SENTENCE:COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
22.Tom swims, and Mary plays tennis.
Comma before “and”
in compound
sentences!
COMPOUND SENTENCE:COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
24.Bob is handsome; moreover, he is rich.
Clause 1 Clause 2
Independent Independent
COMPOUND SENTENCE:CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS
25. Note: Semicolon
before conjunctive
adverb and comma
after conjunctive adverb!
Bob is handsome; moreover, he is rich.
COMPOUND SENTENCE:CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS
26.Conjunctive Adverbs “float”
Conjunctive adverbs are sometimes called “floating” adverbs because they can be positioned at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a clause.
27.CONJUNCTIVE ADVERB:AT THE BEGINNING, IN THE MIDDLE,AT THE END
Bob is handsome; moreover, he is rich.
Bob is handsome; he is, moreover, rich.
Bob is handsome; he is rich, moreover.
28.Semicolons
“If the relation between the ideas expressed in the main clauses is very close and obvious without a conjunction, you can separate the clauses with a semicolon” (Little, Brown Handbook, 9th Edition, p. 361).
29.COMPOUND SENTENCE:SEMICOLON
Tom has benefited from his exercise program; he is slim and energetic.
30.Complex Sentence
31.Complex Sentence
A complex sentence has at least two parts: one that can stand alone and another one that cannot
The part that cannot stand alone is linked to the rest of the sentence by a subordinating conjunction
32.Complex Sentence
Since my boyfriend and I wanted to have fun,
we went to San Juan yesterday.
33.Complex Sentence
Since we wanted to have fun,
we went to San Juan yesterday.
Predicate
Subject
Subordinating
Conjunction
Part that cannot stand alone
34.Complex Sentence
SUBJECT
PREDICATE
SUBJECT
PREDICATE
even though
35.Complex Sentence
Bob
is popular
he
is ugly.
even though
36.COMPLEX SENTENCE:SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
The most common subordinating conjunctions are "after," "although," "as," "because," "before," "how," "if," "once," "since," "than," "that," though," "till," "until," "when," "where," "whether,” and while."
37.Bob is popular even though he is ugly.
Clause 1 Clause 2
Independent Dependent
COMPLEX SENTENCE:SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
38.Even though Bob is ugly, he is popular.
Clause 1 Clause 2
Dependent Independent
COMPLEX SENTENCE:SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
39.Compound-Complex Sentence
40. This type of sentence has more than one part that can stand alone, and at least one that cannot.
Conjunctions link the different parts of this sentence.
Compound-Complex Sentence
41.Compound-Complex Sentence
Since we wanted to have fun,
my boyfriend and I went to San Juan yesterday,
and we danced all night.
42.Since we wanted to have fun,
my boyfriend and I went to San Juan,
and we danced all night.
Subject
Predicate
Subordinating
Conjunction
Coordinating
Conjunction
Part that cannot stand alone
Compound-Complex Sentence
43.Compound-Complex Sentence
Mike
is popular
he
is good looking,
because
he
is not very happy.
but
44.Exercises
Say if the following sentences are:
Simple, compound, complex or compound-complex.
45.The bell rang.
Bridget ran the first part of the race, and Tara biked the second part.
He stands at the bottom of the cliff while the climber moves up the rock.
The skier turned and jumped.
Naoki passed the test because he studied hard and understood the material.
47.Because Kayla has so much climbing experience , we asked her to lead our group.
You and I need piano lessons.
I planned to go to the hockey game, but I couldn’t get tickets.
Dorothy likes white water rafting, but she also enjoys kayaking.
There are many problems to solve before this program can be used, but engineers believe that they will be able to solve them soon.
49.References
Writing Academic English, Second Edition, by Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue. White Plains: Addison, Wesley, Longman, 1999.
The Little, Brown Handbook, by H. Ramsey Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, Pearson, 2004.