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Sentence Analysis
Sentence Analysis
Definition:
Also it may have an object or a complement and the words must be ordered
properly.
Example: Rahim is a student.
● Subject and Predicate
● Subject: A subject of a sentence is a person or thing about which
something is said or written.
● Predicate: And the Predicate that says what the Subject does.
In the above example ‘Rahim’ is subject and ‘is a student’ is Predicate. A
sentence usually starts with a subject and then predicate comes.
Noun
A noun is a word that identifies:
a person (man, girl, engineer, friend)
a thing (horse, wall, flower, country)
an idea, quality, or state (anger, courage, life, luckiness)
Pronoun
Pronouns are used in place of a noun that is already known or has already
been mentioned. This is often done in order to avoid repeating the noun. For
example:
Laura left early because she was tired.
Anthony brought the avocados with him.
That is the only option left.
Something will have to change.
Personal pronouns are used in place of nouns referring to specific people or
things, for example I, me, mine, you, yours, his, her, hers, we, they, or them.
Adjective
An adjective is a word that describes a noun, giving extra information about it.
For example:
an exciting adventure
a green apple
a tidy room
Verb
A verb describes what a person or thing does or what happens. For example,
verbs describe:
an action – jump, stop, explore
an event – snow, happen
a situation – be, seem, have
a change – evolve, shrink, widen
Adverb
An adverb is a word that’s used to give information about a verb, adjective, or
other adverb. They can make the meaning of a verb, adjective, or other adverb
stronger or weaker, and often appear between the subject and its verb.
Example: She nearly lost everything.
He runs very fast.
Preposition
A preposition is a word such as after, in, to, on, and with. Prepositions are
usually used in front of nouns or pronouns and they show the relationship
between the noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. They describe, for
example, the position of something, the time when something happens, or the
way in which something is done.
Examples: in, of, upon, from, to, into, for etc.
Conjunction
A conjunction (also called a connective) is a word such as and, because, but,
for, if, or, and when. Conjunctions are used to connect phrases, clauses,
and sentences. The two main kinds are known as coordinating
conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.
Interjection
An exclamation (also called an interjection) is a word or phrase that expresses
strong emotion, such as surprise, pleasure, or anger. Exclamations often stand
on their own, and in writing they are usually followed by an exclamation mark
rather than a full stop.
● Ahh! that feels wonderful.
Alas! I'm lost in the wilderness.
2 Classes:
Pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, qualifiers/intensifiers,
and interrogatives are some function parts of speech.
Types of Phrases
The phrases are generally of six types.
● Noun Phrase
● Adjective Phrase
● Adverbial Phrase
● Prepositional Phrase
● Conjunctional Phrase
Interjectional Phrase
Noun Phrase
A noun phrase is usually assembled centering a single noun and works as a
subject, an object or a complement in the sentence.
Example:
o I like to swing the bat hard when I am at the crease. (An object)
o Reading novels is a good habit. (A subject)
o The probability of happening that match is not much. (A subject)
o We are sorry for her departure.
Adjective Phrase
An adjective phrase is comprised of an adjective and works as a single
adjective in the sentence.
Example:
o Alex is a well-behaved man.
o He is a man of friendly nature.
o Julie is a woman of gorgeous style.
o She leads a very interesting life.
o A lot of people do not sleep at night.
Adverbial Phrase
An adverbial phrase modifies the verb or the adjective and works as an adverb
in the sentence.
Example:
o The horse runs at a good speed.
o I was in a hurry then.
o I ran as fast as possible.
o He works very slowly.
Prepositional Phrase
A prepositional phrase always begins with a preposition and connects nouns.
Example:
o He sacrificed his life for the sake of his country.
o In the end, we all have to die.
o He is on the way.
o By working aimlessly, you will not get success.
o In spite of working hard, he was insulted by his boss.
Note: Prepositional phrases include all other types of phrases.
Conjunctional Phrase
A conjunctional phrase works as a conjunction in the sentence.
Example:
o As soon as you got in, he went out.
o We have to work hard so that we can win the next match.
o I will attend the ceremony provided that you come.
o John started working early in order that he could finish early.
Interjectional Phrase
Interjections that have more than one word are called the interjectional
phrases.
Example:
o What a pity! He is dead.
o What a pleasure! I won the first prize.
o Oh please! Don’t say that again.
Clauses: Definition, Types & Examples
A clause is comprised of a group of words which includes a subject and
a finite verb. A clause contains only one subject and one verb. The subject of a
clause can be mentioned or hidden, but the verb must be apparent and
distinguishable.
A clause is “a group of words containing a subject and predicate and
functioning as a member of a complex or compound sentence.” –
Merriam-Webster
Example:
o I graduated last year. (One clause sentence)
o When I came here, I saw him. (Two clause sentence)
o When I came here, I saw him, and he greeted me. (Three clause sentence)
Types of Clause
Clauses are mainly of two types:
● Independent Clause/Principal Clause
● Dependent Clause/Subordinate Clause
Independent/Principal Clause
An independent clause functions on its own to make a
meaningful sentence and looks much like a regular sentence.
In a sentence two independent clauses can be connected by
the coordinators: and, but, so, or, nor, for*, yet*.
Example:
o He is a wise man.
o I like him.
o Can you do it?
o Do it please. (Subject you is hidden)
o I read the whole story.
o I want to buy a phone, but I don’t have enough money. (Two independent
clauses)
o He went to London and visited the Lords. (Subject of the second clause is
‘he,' so “he visited the Lords” is an independent clause.)
o Alex smiles whenever he sees her. (One independent clause)
Dependent/Subordinate Clause
A dependent clause cannot function on its own because it leaves an idea or
thought unfinished. It is also called subordinate clause. Independent clauses
help the dependent clauses to complete the sentence. A dependent clause alone
cannot form a complete sentence.
The subordinators do the work of connecting the dependent clause to another
clause to complete the sentence. In each of the dependent clause, the first word
is a subordinator. Subordinators include relative pronouns, subordinating
conjunctions, and noun clause markers.
Example:
o When I was dating Daina, I had an accident.
o I know the man who stole the watch.
o He bought a car which was too expensive.
o I know that he cannot do it.
o He does not know where he was born.
o If you don’t eat, I won’t go.
He is a very talented player though he is out of form.
b. Adjective Clause
An adjective is a descriptive word. Adjective clauses are groups of words that
act as an adjective in a sentence. They have a pronoun (who, that, which) or an
adverb (what, where, why) and a verb; or, a pronoun or an adverb that serves as
subject and a verb. They should answer questions like “what kind?” or “which
one?” and follow one of two patterns: Pronoun/adverb + subject + verb, or
pronoun/adverb as subject + verb.
For example:
People who are smart follow the rules.
The clause ‘who are smart’ describes the noun people.
I have a chain which is made of gold.
Here the clause ‘which is made of gold’ describes the noun chain. So the clause
functions like adjective.
He who works hard will succeed.
c. Adverb clause
An adverb clause is a group of words that work as an adverb in a sentence,
answering questions asking “where?”, “when?” “how?” and “why?” They begin
with a subordinate conjunction.
Examples:
Unless you run fast, you will miss the train.
She enjoyed the party more than he did.
Wherever there is music, people will dance.
If you work hard, you will succeed.
The basic difference between a clause and a phrase is that a clause must have a
finite verb and a phrase must not. Phrase and clause are the most important
elements of English grammar. Phrase and clause cover everything a sentence
has. Clauses are the center of sentences and phrases strengthen the sentences to
become meaningful. If the clauses are the pillars of a building, the phrases are
the bricks. A phrase usually is always present within a clause, but a phrase
cannot have a clause in it.
Kinds of Sentence:
Sentence can be classified into five categories according to the meaning or
functions.
They are:-
1. Assertive Sentence
2. Interrogative Sentence
3. Imperative Sentence
4. Optative Sentence
5. Exclamatory Sentence
Declarative Sentence
A declarative sentence states a fact and ends with a period (full stop).
For example: We love our country.
Imperative Sentence
An imperative sentence is a command or a polite request. It ends with an
exclamation mark or a period (full stop).
For example: Open the door.
Interrogative Sentence
An interrogative sentence asks a question and ends with a question mark.
1. Wh-interrogatives
2. Yes/No interrogatives
3. Alternative interrogatives
4. Tag questions.
1. Wh-interrogatives
Question words
Who, where, when, why, what, which, whose, whom and how are
called question words as these are mostly used to ask questions. A
question word can be subject, object, complement or adverbial. When
the question word is subject, there is no inversion subject and verb.
That is, the word order will be the same as in a statement.
Examples:
Examples:
2. Yes/No interrogatives
Yes/No interrogatives are questions that can be answered with either a yes or no.
These are formed with the help of auxiliary verbs. These auxiliary verbs are
inverted with the subject.
Examples:
3. Alternative interrogatives
3. Alternative interrogatives are questions that give the listener a choice of two
or more answers in the question. These are also called choice questions. The
alternative questions are generally formed using an auxiliary verb (be, do or
have) or a modal verb. The beginning of the question can be an auxiliary/model
verb. If any conjugated form of “be” is acting as the main verb, then separate
auxiliary verb is not required.
Examples:
4. Tag questions
Tag questions are questions formed by attaching question tags onto the end of
the declarative sentences, i.e., statements. When the statement is positive the tag
will be negative and vice versa. The tag questions are used for getting
confirmation.
Examples:
● Ann is laughing, isn’t?
● Jack went up the hill, didn’t he?
● He should work hard, shouldn’t he?
● You are not joking, are you?
● He cannot come, can he?
● He tries hard, doesn’t he?
Rhetorical questions
Rhetorical questions are questions that are asked for effect. The speaker actually
does not expect an answer .perhaps he knows the answer and he is asking the
question just to create an impact. Some rhetorical questions may not have any
answer at all.
Examples:
Some declarative sentences have questions embedded in them. They are not to
be treated as questions and question mark should not be put at the end. These
follow the normal SVO pattern. They are used to politely ask for something.
Especially when we are talking to someone we don’t know.
If the indirect question is inside a question, then there should be question mark
at the end.
Examples:
● Jill asked where the well was. (“Where the well was”, is
embedded in a statement. There is no question mark at the end)
● Could you tell me where the well is? (“Where the well is”, is
embedded in the question. There is question mark at the end)
Optative Sentence
The sentence which expresses a prayer, keen wish, curse etc. is called
an optative sentence. This kind of sentence generally starts with ‘may’ and
‘wish’. Sometimes, ‘may’ remains hidden.
Examples of Optative Sentence:
o May God bless us all.
o May the almighty help in this tragedy.
o Wish you a happy journey together.
o May your team win the match!
Exclamatory Sentence
o An exclamatory sentence expresses excitement or emotion. It ends with an
exclamation mark. For example:
o Hush! Your father is sleeping.
o What a boring day!
o How disgusting it becomes when he opens his mouth!
Determiner
A determiner is a word placed in front of a noun to specify
quantity (e.g., "one book,""many books") or to clarify what
the noun refers to (e.g.,
"my book,""that book,""the book").That is, a determiner may
indicate whether the noun is referring to a definite or
indefinite element of a class, to a closer or more distant
element, to an element belonging to a specified person or
thing, to a particular number or quantity, etc.
All determiners can be classified as one of the following:
● Articles (a/an, the)
● Demonstratives (this, that, these, those)
● Possessives (my, your, his, her, its, our, their)
● Quantifiers (common examples
include many, much, more, most, some)
● Ordinals (First, Second, Third, Fourth etc.)
● Numbers (One, Two, Three, Four,
Five……..Hundred,….Thousand etc.)
Modifier
A modifier is a word/phrase/clause which modifies other words in a
sentence. To be specific, a modifier is either an adjective or an adverb.
The adjectives modify the nouns, and the adverbs modify the verbs or
the adjectives or the other adverbs.
Example: Dark clouds are gathering in the west.
Post-modifiers
Post-modifiers are the modifiers which come after the words they
modify. Customarily, the adverbs come after the verbs and modify
them. However, some adjectives also come after the nouns and
modify them.
Most of the adverbs of time, adverbs of manner, adverbs of
place/direction usually come after the verbs they modify.
Appositives, prepositional
phrases (adjectives/adverbs), infinitives (adverbs/adjectives),
dependent clause, etc. usually come after the nouns they modify.
Example:
o Jason Roy, a cricketer, has been selected in the squad(adverb).
o Mr. Stark, our teacher, gives us tasks to do in the class(adverb of place).
Headword
A headword is a word functioning as a head in a structure.
The headword (or head) in a phrase is that word which is essential to
the core meaning of the phrase.
Example:
John is my friend.
He is a student.
The number of students is increasing day by day.
To err is human.
Participle
A participle is a non finite verb having the characteristics of both verb
and adjective.
Example:
I saw John eating his dinner. (Here eating is an active present
participle).
Three types of participles
Present participle
Adding -ing to the base form of a verb creates the present
participle. For example, eat is the base form of the verb to eat. The
present participle of eat is eating. Present participles always end
in -ing.
Other examples of present participles include swimming, laughing,
and playing.
The present participle can function as an adjective and modify nouns
in sentences.
For example:
The winning athlete gets a trophy.
● In the sentence, the present participle winning describes the
noun athlete.
More examples- A rolling stone gathers no moss.
Running water is pure.
Past participle
For regular verbs, adding -ed to the base form of a verb creates
the past participle. For example, the past participle of cook is cooked.
Past participles formed from irregular verbs may have endings
like -en, -t, -d, and -n. Examples include burnt, hoped, and broken.
Some past participles remain the same as the base forms of irregular
verbs, like set and cut.
Past participles can also function as adjectives that modify nouns.
For example:
Don’t eat rotten fish.
In the sentence, “Don’t eat rotten fish,” the past participle rotten
modifies the noun fish.
More examples- A burnt child dreads the fire.
This is a faded rose.
Perfect participle
Combining the word having with the past participle of
Gerunds
For example:
● Stop writing.
Infinitives
Bare Infinitives
Please, see, let, make, know, feel, hear, bid, watch, notice etc.
Ex. I saw her weep.
He will not let me go.
She made me cry.
Basic English sentence structure
1. S–IV
2. S -TV–O
3. S-LV-C
4. S –TV –DO -OC
5. S –TV –DO -ID
The subject is the person or thing taking an action or being described
in the sentence. The verb is the action the subject takes.
Subject–IVerb (Intransitive verb)
Subject–TVerb–Object
Subject–Linking Verb–Complement
Example: He is handsome.
Honey tastes sweet.
She is a teacher.
Here, “he” is the subject, “is” is the verb, and “handsome” is the
adjective (complement).
Like the other types of sentences, you can expand on the sentence by
adding other parts of speech, such as “He is very handsome,” where
“very” serves as an adverb.