• THE CONCEPT OF ENGLISH SENTENCE

THE HIERARCHY OF SENTENCE UNIT

SENTENCE

CLAUSE

PHRASE

WORD
WORD : - The smallest of the unit that make up a sentence
- A single item belonging to some lexical category
having an identifiable meaning or grammatical
function.
Example :
engine the lexical category of noun
(N)

run the lexical category of verb

(V)

new the lexical category of

adjective (A)

always the lexical category of adverb

(Adv)
 PHRASE : - A group string of words which is not a clause
(taking neiher a Subjecct nor a Predicate)
- Marked by a head word belonging to one of the
lexical categories.
Example :

a complicated device → noun phrase (NP)

has severely damaged → verb phrase (VP)
definitely wrong → adjective phrase (Adj P)
very quickly → adverb phrase (Adv P)

 CLAUSE : - the largest sentence unit which is reduced

form
of a sentence : it takes a Subject and a Predicate
- An independent clause can function as simple
sentence
 INDEPENDENT (can stand on its own)
e.g.: You can view documents on the
World Wide Web.

CLAUSE

DEPENDENT (part of another clause

which is independent)
e.g.: When you log on the internet,……
If you have an Internet access,…..
 SENTENCE : - a string of words which is regarded as capable
of standing alone to express a coherent thougth.

Part of a Sentence :

Subject
Auxilliary as
Sentence Operator
Predicate

Predication
Illustration

Sentence

Subject Predicate

Auxilliary
as Predicate
Operator

He has Completed the programme (S)

Has/he Completed the programme (Q)

Sentence Elements :
A sentence may be seen as comprising five Sentence Elements:
SUBJECT, VERB, COMPLEMENT, OBJECT, ADVERBIAL,
abbreviated as S, V, C, O, A
SIMPLE SENTENCE PATTERNS :

1. S V
Jane is working
2.S V C
It is in the laboratory
3.S V A
She is working in the laboratory
4. S V O
The engineer has planed the solution to the problem
5. S V O indirect O direct
The student sent us his research proposal
Alternative :
S V O direct Prep O indirect
The Student sent his research proposal to us

6 S V O A
The scienctist has carried out his experiment carefully

7 S V O C
The board of reviewers pronounced it the best research

8 S V O C A
The board of reviewers pronounced it the best research today
COMPOUND SENTENCES :

Independent Independent
Clause/Simpl Coordinator Clause/Simpl
e Sentence e Sentence

I use computer but I can’t do programming

(Two or more independent clauses can be joined by a
coordinator)

Alternative :

Independent Clause/ Independent Clause/

Simple Sentence Simple Sentence
Coordinator

Although I can use computer I can’t do programming

Basic Coordinators : and, or, but

Further Development :
Compound sentence can be further developed by use of correlative
Pairs of coordinator: both … and, either …or, and neither … nor.

Both … and: both anticipates the addition introduced by and.

e.g., He revised both mathematics and physics.
= He revised mathematics and he revised physics.

Either … or: either anticipates the alternative introduced by or.

e.g. He studies either Information System or Computer Science.
= He studies Information System or (otherwise) he studies
computer sciences.
Neither …nor: two clauses with neither in the first and nor in the
scond are the equivalent of two negative clauses joined by and.
e.g. She likes neither social studies nor art
= She does not like social studies and she does not like art.

COMPLEX SENTENCE :

MAIN CLAUSE (independent)

SUBORINATE CLAUSE
(dependent)
David reads the book because he likes it
main clause sub clause

He had completed his research before he got the job

main clause sub clause

If they give him more time, he will do much better

sub clause main clause

I don’t know what I have to do

main clause sub clause (object)

What they need is good facilities

sub clause (Subject) ( one or more dependent clause/s subordinates one
independent clause by use of a subordinator)

Simple subordinators: after, though, as, because, before, if,

once, since, that, until, when, where, while, etc