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1- A sentence is a group of words which starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop , question mark or exclamation mark. 2- It has a subject, predicate, and expresses a complete thought. 3- A subject is the part that performs the action described by the predicate. 4- The predicate tells about the subject. |
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| There are four different types of sentences: |
| Simple Sentences |
| Compound Sentences |
| Complex Sentences |
| Compound Complex Sentences |
| Simple Sentences: |
| 1- A simple sentence has a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. 2- A subject is the person or thing performing the action. It can be either a noun or a pronoun. 3- A verb shows action or a state of being. |
| Example: |
| I ate. |
Subject =I Verb =ate |
| The subject and the verb are the basis for every English sentence. Other parts of speech can be added to make the sentence more interesting or to give more information, but these additions are not essential to its formation. |
| Remember that the addition of adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrase to a simple sentence do not change it into a different type of sentence. The additions of several subjects with a conjunction, or several verbs with a conjunction, do not change the simple sentence into a different type of sentence. |
| Example: |
| I ate apples. |
| I ate green apples. |
| I ate green apples slowly. |
| I ate green apples very slowly. |
| Ahmad and I ate green apples slowly. |
| Ahmad and I ate green apples very slowly. |
| I bought and ate light, green apples very slowly. |
| I bought and ate green apples very slowly on the patio. |
| Compound Sentences: |
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1- A compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses (simple sentences). 2- The independent clauses may be joined by a comma and a conjunction, a semicolon, or by a colon. |
| Example: |
| I bought apples. Ahmad bought oranges. |
| We have two simple sentences. We can join these simple sentences to make a compound sentence. |
I bought apples, but Ahmad bought oranges. |
| We can add adjectives or other parts of speech to make the sentence more interesting, but the sentence remains a compound sentence. |
I bought some red apples, but Ahmad bought some oranges. |
| Complex Sentences: |
| 1- A complex sentence is a sentence which includes at least one main clause, and at least one subordinate clause. 2- Complex sentences describe more than one thing or idea and have more than one verb in them. 3- An independent clause is a simple sentence; it can stand alone. 4- A dependent clause needs an independent clause; it can't stand alone. |
| Example: |
| Although I got up late, I arrived on time. |
| Although I got up late is a dependent clause. It can't stand alone. In other words, it is not a sentence. |
| I arrived late is an independent clause. It is a complete sentence. |
| Dependent clauses can be nominal, adverbial or adjectival. |
| A nominal clause is one that contains a noun/pronoun with one of the following that, if, or whether. |
| For example: |
| I wondered whether the boys were sleeping. |
| He told me that he would go. |
| I don't know if I can pass the test. |
| An adjectival clause is one that contains who, which, or that. |
| For example: |
| He bought the painting that was on display. |
| I live in the house which is around the corner. |
| I met the man who called for help. |
| An adverbial clause tells you something about how the action in the verb was done. An adverbial contains one of the following subordinating conjunctions:- after, although, unless, as, because, before, if, since, that, though, till, until, when, where, and while. |
| For example: |
| Before I watched the movie, I did my homework. |
| I'm going to stay here until he arrives. |
| When he speaks, you should listen. |
| Compound-Complex Sentences: |
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1- A Compound-Complex Sentence is a sentence made up of more than one independent clause and at least one subordinate clause. 2- We could say that it is the combining of a compound sentence with a complex sentence. |
| For example: |
| Because he didn't study hard, he could not pass the test so he had to repeat the whole course. |
| Before I go to Palestine, I will finish the book, but I can't print it. |
| Sentences can also be classified by purpose. |
| There are four kinds of sentences: Declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory. |
| 1. A declarative sentence makes a statement. |
| I went home. |
| 2. An imperative sentence gives a command or makes a request. |
| Go home. |
| 3. An interrogative sentence asks a question. |
| Did you go home? |
| 4. An exclamatory sentence shows strong feeling. |
| It's not fair! |
| Declarative, imperative, or interrogative sentences can be made into exclamatory sentences by punctuating them with an exclamation mark. |