SENTENCE STRUCTURES IN ENGLISH

We will cover
1. Sentence structures
2. Noun phrases
3. Gerund phrase
4. Noun clauses
5. Relative clauses
6. Adverbial clauses
7. Linking words
8. Punctuation

a. General sentence structures

• Simple sent
• Compound sent
• Complex sent
• Noun clauses, noun phrases
• Relative clause / reduced relative clause
• Participles (complex ss)
• Modal verbs
• Adverbial clauses (complex ss)
• Comparatives, superlatives
• Active, passive voice

1. Sentence structures
1.1. Clause
1.2. Simple sent
1.3. Compound sent
1.4. Complex
1.5. Compound + complex sent

First, you need to know what a clause is

- A clause is a group of words that contains (at least) a subject and a verb.
- Clause is S+V and gives one idea / thought

For example:
Clauses Not clauses

Ecology is a science To protect the environment

(S+V) V (no subject)

Because pollution causes cancer After working all day

Because + (S+V) (No S, no V)
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- Clause can be independent or dependent

- Independent clause has S+V and gives one, complete idea. It can stand alone as a
sentence.

For example:

The sun rose.

Water evaporates rapidly in warm climate zones.

- Dependent clause begins with a subordinator such as when, while, if, because, that,
who. Dependent clause does not give a complete thought, so it is not a sentence by
itself. It is also called a sentence fragment, and therefore it is incomplete and
grammatically wrong.
- Dependent clause has Subordinator + S + V.

For example:

Subordinator + Subject + Verb

… when the sun rose …

… because water evaporates rapidly…
… whom the voters elected…
… if the drought continues for another year…

Subordinators

After Before That When

Although Even though Though Whenever
As, just as How Unless Where
As if If Until Wherever
As soon as Since What Whether
Because So that While Which
Who Whom Whose Despite

(note that however, but, and are not subordinators so they are used grammatically differently)
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Exercise
Decide whether the following are independent or dependent clauses and why?

__ 1. Globalization means more travel for businessmen and women.

__ 2. As business executives fly around the globe to sell their companies' products and services
__ 3. Jet lag affects most long-distance travelers
__ 4. Which is simply the urge to sleep at inappropriate times
__ 5. During long journeys through several time zones, the body's inner clock is disrupted
__ 6. For some reason, travel from west to east causes greater jet lag than travel from east to
west
__ 7. Also, changes in work schedules can cause jet lag
__ 8. When hospital nurses change from a day shift to a night shift, for example
__ 9. Although there is no sure way to prevent jet lag
__ 10. There are some ways to minimize it
__ 11. Because jet lag is caused at least partially by loss of sleep, not just a change in the time of
sleep
__ 12. A traveler should plan to arrive at his or her destination as late as possible
__ 13. Upon arriving, he or she should immediately go to bed
__ 14. Then the traveler should start to live in the new time zone immediately
__ 15. Even when the traveler arrives early in the morning and cannot go to bed immediately

Sentence types:
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1. Simple: S+V, one idea, one independent clause = main ideas

- However, S+V.
- S+, however, +V. The trend increased significantly by 30, from 15 to 45. It then,
however, fell back to 40.
- Meanwhile, S+V.
- Nevertheless, S+V.

2. Compound: S+V, and/ but/ or/ for/ so/ yet S+V. two ideas, two clauses
- Company A earned $ 1,200 in 1800, but it lost half of the profits the following year.
- The amount of sugar produced in Uzbekistan fluctuated between 2 and 5 tons a year at
the beginning, and then it boomed to 25 tons at the end of the period.
- And I think that traveling is good.
- But, I think that traveling is good.
- Thailand was number one among popular tourist destinations, for (=because) it
attracted the highest quantity of visitors each year.
- The generation of electricity experienced a gradual rise first, yet it had plummeted to
almost zero by the end of 2010.

3. Complex (independent clause (main idea)+ dependent clause (extra info)); S+V, although
S+V.
- Although S+V, S+V. Although the amount of the earnings was quite low, compared to
that of others, company X maintained a steady position at around 2-3 million dollars
throughout the period.
- If S+V, S+V. If Apple was in the third place by making only 1 million a year initially, by
2020 it ranked number one with an impressive figure of 12 billion a year.
- After noun phrase, S+V. After a considerable loss, Samsung improved its ratings by
going up to 45%.
While S+V, S+V. - While timber was the most common material used in constructions in
the past, steel has replaced it by the second half of the period.
- Because S+V, S+V. Because the recorded levels of coffee production plunged in Kenya,
it lost the market dominance by the end.

b. Purposes of sentence structures

§ Simple sent – for one, main idea
§ Compound sent – for two ideas, changes
§ Complex sent – for several ideas, changes that happened one after another or that are
different
§ Noun clauses, noun phrases – for giving extra information about the noun
§ Relative clause / reduced relative clause – for extra information
§ Participles (complex ss)
§ Modal verbs – eg. for commenting on the data
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§ Adverbial clauses (complex ss, usually to show contrast, explanation, conditions,

reasons, provide extra information, etc.)
§ Comparatives, superlatives – to compare and contrast data
§ Active, passive voice – the active is for most movement and static data, while the
passive is for map or process description

c. Different sentence structures with examples

o Simple sent (S + V + adv)
o Compound sent (S + V, and/but/so/or/yet S + V)
o Complex sent (Independent Clause + Dependent Clause)
o Noun clauses, noun phrases (the amount of electricity produced; the number of
antique candles made by Egyptian experts during the 19th century)
o Relative clause / reduced relative clause (which, who, where, that) = the table shows
the number of countries which manufactured different kinds of oil; the table shows
the number of countries manufacturing different kinds of oil;
o Participles (having done sth, S+V; despite + sth, S+V; despite + Ving, S+V)
o Modal verbs (can be seen)
o Adverbial clauses (although/ while/ even though/ because S+V, S+V; S+V while/
whereas/ because / as / since S+V)
o Comparatives, superlatives (as + adv/ adj + as; more/ less, fewer – countable nouns,
highest/ lowest)
o Active, passive voice (it increased; a house was built)

- Noun phrases

2. Noun phrases

- noun phrases (they are nouns with some descriptive language, like adjective)
- noun phrases can be simple or complex

- simple = a/an + adj + noun

for example:
a small town or an exotic endangered species (more complicated version)

- complex = a/an + adj + noun + with + a/an + adj + noun

for example:
a small town with a healthy tourist trade or
a quaint and picturesque small town boasting a thriving and sustainable tourist
industry (more complicated version)
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- to create complex noun phrases:

1. pre-modification = a successful working mother

2. post- modification = companies with large resources
3. pre- and post- modification = a successful working mother with children
4. pre- and post- modification = international companies with large resources

A triumphant professional matriarch skillfully balancing career and motherhood >

(= a successful working mother with children)
An exceedingly perilous undertaking fraught with precarious consequences >
(= a dangerous project with risky outcomes)
Multinational corporations endowed with substantial assets >
(= international companies with large resources)

- Subject + noun agreement

- to decide singular or plural verb, you need to check S and V

modifying words

pre-modification – determiners, quantifiers, adjectives, participles, other nouns.

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- Determiners
- an international sports competition + singular verb
- the importance of culture + singular verb
- those skills (plural verb)
- quantifiers
- a significant number of people (pl + V)
- a high volume of traffic (sg + V)
- a range of skills (pl.)
- a lot of businesses (pl)
- not all companies (pl)
- adjectives
- a charismatic, dynamic person (sg)
- reliable people (pl)

- participles (=adjectives created from verbs)

- two types: 1. V+ing 2. V+ed

- for example:
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