1. Brought to you by: Tyresha Ortiz, Riyadh Williams & Charly Banks
Sentence Basics
Brought to you by: Tyresha Ortiz, Riyadh Williams & Charly Banks

2. Complete Sentences Subject= a noun and its modifiers.
Predict= a verb and its objects, complements and modifiers.
One Subject + One Predicate= A Sentences
A sentence MUST: make a statement, ask a question, give a command or express an emotion !
Charly ate bananas.

3. Sentence Types and Their Purposes
Declarative Sentences-provide information something about their subject.
She plays hop scotch.
Interrogative Sentences-pose questions about their subjects.
Does she play hop scotch?

4. Imperative Sentences-demand something of their subjects
Do not play hop scotch.
Exclamatory Sentences-emphasizes a point or express strong emotion
I’m really looking forward to playing hop scotch!

5. Subjects
Simple Subject- noun or pronoun that names the topic of the sentence
The tired old man crossed the street.
Complete Subject- the simple subject and it’s modifiers; answers who or what the sentence is about.
Compound Subjects- contains two or more simple subjects connected with a conjunction
But, or, and, neither… nor
The tired old man and his rusty cane crossed the street.

6. Implied Subjects- comparative sentences, the subject you is usually implied, NOT stated. A helping verb is needed for questions
[You] Be careful at night.
Would you be careful at night?
Subject Position
Declarative sentences: subject precedes the verb
The girls sing beautifully.
Sentences beginning with there or here followed by some form of be: subject comes after the verb
There will be many girls singing.

7. Predicates: Verbs and Their Objects or Components
Predicate- says something about the subject
Simple Predicates = verb + helping verbs
Professor Camper chastised her class.
Complete Predicate= the verb and any modifiers(word acting as an adj to limit another word), objects or compliments
Compound Predicates= 2 or more predicates connected by a conjunction
Professor Camper chastised her class and gave them extra homework assignments.

8. Verb types and sentence patterns
Linking verbs-joins a subject to more information
Subject compliment- maybe a noun (predicate nomative), an adjective (predicate adjective) or pronoun.
Transitive verb-Identifies an action that the subject performs or does to somebody or something else – or direct object (nouns/pronouns).
Active Voice: the subject is doing the action and the direct object is being acted upon
The boy hit the baseball.
Passive voice: the direct object becomes the subject and the original subject becomes part of a phrase introduced with the preposition by.
The baseball was being hit by the boy.

9. Indirect Object- names for or to whom something is done
John gave Sally the book.
Object Complement- a word or group of words that follows an object in the sentence and describes or renames it.
The wrong turn made Justin a lost man.
Intransitive Verbs- describes an action by a subject, but it is not an action that is done directly to anything
The plane crashed.

10. Phrases Phrase- a group of words that lack a subject and or predicate
Noun Phrase- a noun or a noun substitute plus all it’s modifiers
Verb Phrase- a verb plus it’s helping verbs
Verbals- are words derived from verbs. They function as nouns, adjectives or adverbs NOT as verbs.

11. Verbal Phrases- verbal, modifiers, objects or compliments
Participal phrase: begins with either a present or past participal
Playing together the children had fun.
Called by the owner, the dog came to him.
Gerund Phrases- uses the “–ing” form of a verb just as some participle phrases do but functions as nouns, not adjectives.
Talking to you friends can keep you informed.
Infinitive Phrases- an infinitive + any subjects, objects or modifiers that function as an adverb, adjective or noun.
To get good grades was his main objective.

12. Apositive Phrases- rename nouns or pronouns and appear right after the word they rename.
One professor, the widely respected Dr. Carr lectured at the freshman seminar.
Absolute Phrases- modifies an entire sentence. They include a noun or a pronoun; a participle; and their related modifiers, objects or complements. They provide details or causes.
The students walked up the hill, dressed in their Howard apparel.

13. Clauses
Clause- a group of related words that include a subject and a predicate
Independent clause: can stand on their own as a complete sentence
Dependent/Subordinate clause: has a subject and predicate, cannot stand alone as a complete sentence
Adjective Clauses- modifies a noun or pronoun. Relative pronouns(who, whom, whose, which or that) or Relative Adverbs(where, when) and used to connect adjective clauses to nouns or pronouns they modify
The “A” Building, which is located outside the campus gates, is the most visited campus building.

14. Adverb clauses- modifies a verb, an adjective or an adverb and answers the questions adverbs answer when, where, what, why and how. Often introduced by subordinators (after, when, before, because, although, if, though, whenever, where, wherever)
After the professor explained the task the students began to write their papers.

15. Noun Clauses-a dependent clause that functions as a noun and may serve as the subject, object or compliment of a sentence. Usually introduced by a relative pronoun(who, which, that). Or a relative adverb(who, what, where, why).
The clerk discovered who stole the money.
Elliptical Clause- One or more grammatically necessary words are omitted because their meaning and function are clear form the surrounding context.
This is the house [that] Jack built

16. Sentence Structures
Simple sentence- composed of only 1 independent clause. It may have several imbedded phrases, a compound subject and a compound predicate.
Cows are known for having multiple subjects.
Compound Sentence- contains 2 or more coordinated independent clauses but no dependent clause, may be joined by a comma , coordinated and conjunction or by a semi colon, with or without a conjunctive adverb.
I ate a lot of food, so I was not able to swim for 30 minutes.

17. Complex Sentence- contains one independent clause, one or more dependent clause.
The student plagiarized because she was too irresponsible to write her paper.
Compound-complex Sentence- contains 2 or more coordinated independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.
She discovered a new world of international finance, but she worked so hard investing other people’s money that she had no time to invest any of her own.