The Sentence: Building blocks for Writing

Let us go back into some fundamental aspects towards better writing in English.

SIMPLE SENTENCE:

·         Expresses one idea

·         Has a subject and a predicate.has one main clause

·         Contains one sentence and one verb:

Examples:

I like reading  [ ‘I’ is the subject’ and ‘like’ is the verb]

Joanne is cooking in the kitchen. [subject is Joanne;is cooking is the verb and the predicate is,’ cooking  in the kitchen]

Sam likes to swim in the evening. [Sam is the subject; like to swim in the evening is the predicate and the verb is ‘like’]

He did not buy a lot of food. [‘He’ is subject,’did not buy a lot of food’ is the predicate;’did not buy’ is the verb.]

COMPOUND SENTENCE:

·         It contains two or more ideas.

·         It is made up of two or more simple sentence

·         Normally joined by conjunctions such as ‘and, but,or,either… or, neither..nor]

Example:

He went to the shops. He bought some magazines.

He went to the shops and bought some magazines.

He brought the magazines. He forgot the books.

He brought the magazines but forgot the books.

Norma slept early. She was exhausted.

Norma slept early because she was exhausted.

They were not in. I left.

They were not in, so I left

Gana could not come.  Selva could not come

Neither Gana nor Selva could come.

COMPLEX SENTENCE

-          Contains A Simple Sentence (The Main Clause and One or Two Subsidiary Clauses)

MAIN CLAUSE	SUBSIDIARY CLAUSE
Gim See has an uncle	who was a state swimmer.
Thackeray visited his childhood friend	while  he was in Hong-Kong.
I saw camels	which have two humps.
The teacher wants the posters	which are pasted on the classroom walls.
This is the school	where I studied.
Abram likes to stay in a hotel	where there is a swimming pool.
Kek Seng is sad	as his dog has died .

CLASSWORK:

Each of the sentences below has a simple sentence and a subordinate clause. Identify the simple sentence and subordinate clause for each of the sentences.

Example:

Herman knows Fergie’s brother who is a chef.

Herman knows Fergie’s brother .

(simple sentence)

……..who is a chef.

(subordinate clause)

1.      Katryn has a sister who makes great pizzas.

2.      Chooi Seng is a great fan of J.K. Rowling whose books he never fails to read.

3.      Can you show me the photograph of the boy who looks like me?

4.      The man who caught the snatch thief is my cousin brother.

5.      The road which leads to  town has been washed away.

6.      Mr. DeSilva who is a wealthy man has gone to India.

7.      The students who were caught cheating will be punished.

8.      Badminton which is quite easy to learn is a good form of exercise.

9.      My good friend who works as a librarian will help you.

10.  This cloudy weather that we have today is suitable for walking in the park.

MAKE COMPOUND SENTENCES BY JOINING THESE SIMPLE SENTENCES

1.      Gavin Wanted To Go To Town. Gavin got on an LRT.

2.      Henry wanted to climb a coconut tree. Henry is afraid of heights.

3.      Jamal fell off his bicycle. Jamal hurt his ankle.

4.      Nellie wanted to send an email to her friend. Nellie does not know her email address.

5.      Joy wanted to make a chocolate cake. Joy bought some cooking chocolate, flour and eggs

6.      The battery in the cell-phone is weak. His father replaced it with a new one.

7.      You can go to the library to read. You can join me at the cinema to watch, ‘Avatar’.

8.      It was raining cats and dogs. We had to cancel our picnic.

9.      I called Jasmine many times. She did not reply.

10.  We must read our English literature books daily. We must do all our homework to do well in our exams

 UNDERLINE THE MAIN IDEA IN THESE COMPLEX SENTENCES        

1.      He will have to pass the message to Gloria when he sees her tomorrow.

2.      Since he had a stomachache, he will have to see a doctor.

3.      They could camp in the school field for the week-end if they want to.

4.      The girls went into the shop so that they could admire the little puppies in the cages.

5.      There will be a flood in the village unless this heavy rain stops soon.

6.      My sister, who is very hard-working, has gone to Scotland to study medicine.

7.      Zoey was terrified that she might drown in the swimming pool.

8.      The beggar won’t go away unless you give him a ringgit.

9.      He would not make any decision unless he has consulted his parents.

10.  The man who normally delivers my newspapers is dead.