Transcript Presentation

SENTENCE STRUCTURE
By: Lisa Crawford, Edited by: UWC staff
© DBU University Writing Center, 2009
Overview
Parts of Speech………………………………………………………..slides 3-9
nouns and pronouns
verbs
Sentence Structure…………………………………………………..slides 10-15
basic sentence structure
subject/verb agreement
sentence patterns
More Parts of Speech……………………………………………….slides 16-19
adjectives
adverbs
prepositional phrases
Compound and Complex
Sentences…………………………………………………………….slides 20-24
Nouns
A noun is word that describes a person, place, or
thing.
 Ex. Dog, cat, freedom, Dallas, Mr. Brown
Nouns can be common or proper; proper nouns
require a capital letter.
 Common: book, apple, crayon
 Proper: Houston, Mr. Brown, the Bible
Nouns
Nouns can be singular or plural.
 Singular: bird, road, wish, army, crisis, Mrs. Brown
Making a noun plural usually involves adding an “s”
or “es” to the singular noun, but there are many
exceptions.
 Plural: birds, roads, wishes, armies, crises, the
Browns.
Pronouns
Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns.
For instance, one could write…
The student said that the student’s paper was a mess, and
the student did not know how to fix it, which explains
why the student came to the Writing Center.
That seems repetitious. Pronouns enable one to
write…
The student said that his paper was a mess, and he did
not know how to fix it, which explains why he came to
the Writing Center.
Common Pronouns
Singular: first person:
second person:
third person:
third person neutral:
Subjective *
I
you
she, he
it, one
Objective*
me
you
her, him
it, one
Plural: first person:
second person:
third person:
we
you
they
us
you
them
*Subjective pronouns are used as subject, and objective pronouns are used as objects of sentences
or prepositions. For more on subjects and objects, see slides 12, 14, and 15. For more on
prepositions, see slides 18 and 19.
Verbs
Verbs are words that describe action.
Ex: run, plays, read, do, be, are, sing
Like nouns, verbs can be singular or plural.
Singular: He runs.
Plural: They run.
Verbs indicate the tense of the sentence:
• The present tense describes actions that happen now.
– Ex: He walks.
• The past tense describes actions that happened in the past.
– Ex: He walked.
• The future tense describes an action that will occur in the
future.
– Ex: He will walk.
Verbs
Here are some more verb tenses:
 The progressive tense allows the writer to discuss an ongoing
action, using the auxiliary verb be and the present participle of
the verb (verb + ing).
- Ex: He is walking.
 The perfect tense allows the writer to discuss a completed action,
using the auxiliary verb have and the past participle of the verb
(verb + ed).
- Ex: He has walked.
 The perfect progressive tense allows the writer to discuss an
ongoing action that has been completed, using the auxiliary
verbs have, be, and the present participle of the verb.
- Ex: He has been walking.
Verbs
Verbs also indicate mood:
• The indicative mood makes statements of fact, and asks
direct questions. This is the most frequently used tense.
• The imperative mood expresses an order or request.
– Ex: Be quiet!
– Ex: Do as you are told.
• The subjunctive mood expresses desire, doubt, suggestions,
wishes, and conditional (“if”) statements.
– Ex: I wish they would be quiet.
– Ex: This may be possible.
– Ex: It would be better if it was not raining.
A Sentence
A sentence has two parts: the subject and the verb.
• The child.
– What about the child? What is he doing? This is an
incomplete sentence.
• Reads.
– Who reads? Who is performing this action? This is also
an incomplete sentence.
• The child reads.
– Now we know what the child is doing and who is
reading. THIS is a complete sentence.
Subject Verb Agreement
Subjects and verbs must agree. A singular noun
requires a singular verb; a plural noun requires a
plural verb.
Incorrect: The dog eat food.
(singular subject, plural verb)
Incorrect: The dogs eats food.
(plural subject, singular verb)
Correct: The dog eats food.
(singular subject, singular verb)
Correct: The dogs eat food.
(plural subject, plural verb)
Sentences
Now it is time to look at more complicated sentence
patterns. There are many possible patterns for a
sentence:
 Direct Object Pattern
 Indirect Object Pattern
 Linking Pattern
Direct Object Pattern
The direct object pattern uses transitive verbs to
connect the subject to the direct object.
The direct object answers what? or whom? after
the verb
• Ex: I threw the ball.
– Threw what? The ball = direct object
• Ex: The Writing Center employee helped the
student with his paper.
– Helped whom? The student = direct object
Indirect Object Pattern
The indirect object pattern is an expansion of the
direct object pattern.
The indirect object answers to whom (what)? or
for whom (what)? the direct object is.
 Ex: I gave my friend the book.
- I gave the book to whom? My friend = indirect object
 Ex: The rain gave the plants water.
- The rain gave water to what? The plants = indirect
object
Linking Pattern
The linking pattern uses linking verbs, such as to
be (is/are) and feels, to connect the subject to a
predicate noun or predicate adjective.
A predicate noun renames or identifies the
subject.
 Ex: Predicate Noun: She is a hard worker.
A predicate adjective* describes the subject.
 Ex: Predicate Adjective: She feels cold.
*For more on adjectives, see next slide.
Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe a noun. The
descriptions adjectives provide more interesting
sentences with greater detail.
Ex. brown bear, three dimes, cold water, that story, expressive art
Adjectives also show possession.
Ex: Sam’s book, Lauren’s chair, my headache
In English, there are three article adjectives: a, an, and
the. “The” is the definite article, meaning that it
specifies which one.
Ex: a bird, an ostrich, the bird
Adverbs
Adverbs are words that modify an adjective, a verb,
or another adverb. Many adverbs end in -ly.
He quickly ran across the street.
– Quickly is modifying ran, indicating a time frame for the
action.
They are extremely happy.
– Extremely is modifying the adjective happy.
They run very quickly.
– Very is modifying quickly, another adverb.
Prepositional Phrases
A preposition is a word that connects a noun to the
rest of the sentence.
Prepositions can indicate place, direction, or
relationships.
Some prepositions:
About, above, across, along, as, behind, beneath,
below, beside, by, despite, except, from, in, of, on,
out, over, through, to, under, with, without
Object of Prepositions
Prepositions need an object to connect to the rest of
the sentence. The noun and its modifiers make
the object of the preposition.
– The boy ran up the hill.
– I went to the store.
– We passed through the scary forest on a dark night.
When there is a preposition and object of the
preposition, there is a prepositional phrase.
Ex: up the hill; to the store; through the scary forest; on a
dark night
Compound Nouns and Verbs
A sentence can have more than one subject, verb,
direct object, indirect object, or objective
compliment.
Conjunctions, such as or and and, are used to
combine multiple subjects, verbs, and other parts
of speech.
Compound Subject: Jill and I ran up the hill.
Compound Verb: Jill ran and tumbled down the hill.
Clauses
A subject is what is performing the action in the
sentence; the subject includes the noun and all its
modifiers.
 The writing center employee, a dedicated individual, grew
tired of working on the powerpoint.
The predicate is what is being described or said about
the subject; the predicate includes the verb, adverbs,
direct objects, and/or indirect objects.
 The writing center employee, a dedicated individual, grew tired
of working on the powerpoint.
A clause is a group of words that contains both of these
elements.
Compound Sentences
Two sentences can be joined by a comma and a
conjunction.
 This is one sentence, and this is another sentence.
 There are two sentences, but I only want to have one.
 Either I can use a conjunction and comma to join sentences,
or I can write two separate sentences.
A semicolon can also be used to join two sentences.
 Semicolons are wonderful; they join sentences.
 I could use a conjunction and a comma to join these
sentences; however, I chose to use a semicolon.
Dependent and Independent Clauses
An independent clause is a sentence that can stand
by itself.
 Ex: A car passed. The dog ran.
A dependent clause is a sentence that must be joined
with another sentence in order to be complete.
 Ex: As the car passed.
– There is a subject and a verb here, but it just does not feel complete.
– there needs to be an independent clause to complete the thought.
 Ex: As the car passed, the dog ran.
 Ex: The dog ran as the car passed.
*notice the use of commas in each sentence.
A sentence with a dependent and an independent
clause is called a complex sentence.
Compound-Complex Sentences
Compound sentences and complex sentences can be
combined!
Ex: Because I have been working on this
PowerPoint, I am tired; I am going home, and I
will take a nap.
– Dependent clause: because I have been working on this
PowerPoint
– Independent clause connected to the dependent
clause: I am tired
– Second sentence (compound verb): I am going home,
and I will take a nap.
The End