Sentences are like the cells in a human body: individually, they are small and self-sustaining, but when they group together, they can make everything from a bacterium to a whale. Each cell has an individual role to play and even forms in a specific way to perform a specific action. Nerve cells carry information. Blood cells transport oxygen. Bone cells support bone structure.
All cells function to support the whole body... or should. Sometimes cells don't do their jobs or are broken: this becomes cancer. Cancerous cells are abnormal, and to determine the cause of the abnormality, scientists focus on the proteins and nucleic acids that caused the cell to mutate and become broken. They look at the how the smaller pieces affect the whole. This is the same mindset that writers have when thinking about grammar.
All cells function to support the whole body... or should. Sometimes cells don't do their jobs or are broken: this becomes cancer. Cancerous cells are abnormal, and to determine the cause of the abnormality, scientists focus on the proteins and nucleic acids that caused the cell to mutate and become broken. They look at the how the smaller pieces affect the whole. This is the same mindset that writers have when thinking about grammar.
If a sentence "isn't working," you need to look smaller: analyze the clauses and phrases.
Just as abnormal cancerous cells can affect the whole body, an abnormal sentence can impact the meaning of the sentences around it, and enough of these bad sentences can make the entire work weak. Just like with the cell, abnormal and grammatically incorrect sentence cannot be fixed at the sentence level-- one must break down its phrases and clauses to diagnose why the sentence is bad. Good sentences are made of good phrases and clauses working together to create meaning. But what exactly are phrases and clauses, and for that matter, sentences?
Clauses are units of subjects and predicates.
Phrases are a group of words revolving around an object.
Sentences are linguistic units that expresses an assertion, an observation, a question, a command, a wish, an exclamation, or the performance of an action.
Okay, what does all that actually mean?
Language, on its most essential level, communicates what a person creates in their brain. Often, these brain creations are described interchangeably as ideas, thoughts, notions, concepts, and impressions, but there is a difference between all of those different types of mental outputs.
First, thoughts. Thoughts are fully developed products of mental activity and are literally the noun form of the verb think. Thoughts can be simple and thoughts can be complex, but thoughts are never very long because, as the brain keeps thinking, new thoughts quickly pop up. When the brain thinks several connected thoughts in a row, those thoughts can be grouped together as an idea. When thoughts switch to a new topic, a new idea is formed.
Thoughts are represented in language by sentences—like thoughts, sentences can be simple or complex, and can be observations or opinions. The word sentence even comes from the Latin sententia, which was their word for "thought."
While both a thought and a sentence can stand alone, they are both most often encountered in a group. A group of related sentences is called a paragraph, which comes from the Greek paragraphos (para = portion, graphos = writing). The Greeks added the paragraphos symbol (today known as a pilcrow, or ¶) between sentences in their writing to indicate when the writing shifted to a new idea. Therefore, paragraphs are equivalent to ideas, and even in modern English, paragraph breaks are added to writing when it switches topic, speaker, setting, tone, or action.
Going back to a thought, what makes thoughts more or less complex is how many notions they contain. From the Greek gnoscere meaning "to know," notions are bits of knowledge strung together to form a complete thought. For example, if Raphael is ordering pizzas, he knows that Michelangelo wants pepperoni with extra cheese, Leonardo wants cheesy bread as long as it doesn't cost extra, and Donatello likes pineapple on his half. These notions are then strung together as one thought: "I need four large pepperoni pizzas: one with extra cheese, one with pineapple, and one with cheesy bread if there's no extra charge."
Each of these notions equates to a clause: just as a complete sentence is made of clauses, a complete thought is made of notions... and both thoughts and sentences that are not complete are called fragments. Clauses are whole notions that are fully formed, while phrases are partial notions that need to attach to a clause to make any sense. For example, Rapheal always orders pizza from Tony's, but "from Tony's" doesn't make sense without the concept of "pizza" (and yes, this makes words equivalent to concepts, from the Latin word for an abstraction).
Language, on its most essential level, communicates what a person creates in their brain. Often, these brain creations are described interchangeably as ideas, thoughts, notions, concepts, and impressions, but there is a difference between all of those different types of mental outputs.
First, thoughts. Thoughts are fully developed products of mental activity and are literally the noun form of the verb think. Thoughts can be simple and thoughts can be complex, but thoughts are never very long because, as the brain keeps thinking, new thoughts quickly pop up. When the brain thinks several connected thoughts in a row, those thoughts can be grouped together as an idea. When thoughts switch to a new topic, a new idea is formed.
Thoughts are represented in language by sentences—like thoughts, sentences can be simple or complex, and can be observations or opinions. The word sentence even comes from the Latin sententia, which was their word for "thought."
While both a thought and a sentence can stand alone, they are both most often encountered in a group. A group of related sentences is called a paragraph, which comes from the Greek paragraphos (para = portion, graphos = writing). The Greeks added the paragraphos symbol (today known as a pilcrow, or ¶) between sentences in their writing to indicate when the writing shifted to a new idea. Therefore, paragraphs are equivalent to ideas, and even in modern English, paragraph breaks are added to writing when it switches topic, speaker, setting, tone, or action.
Going back to a thought, what makes thoughts more or less complex is how many notions they contain. From the Greek gnoscere meaning "to know," notions are bits of knowledge strung together to form a complete thought. For example, if Raphael is ordering pizzas, he knows that Michelangelo wants pepperoni with extra cheese, Leonardo wants cheesy bread as long as it doesn't cost extra, and Donatello likes pineapple on his half. These notions are then strung together as one thought: "I need four large pepperoni pizzas: one with extra cheese, one with pineapple, and one with cheesy bread if there's no extra charge."
Each of these notions equates to a clause: just as a complete sentence is made of clauses, a complete thought is made of notions... and both thoughts and sentences that are not complete are called fragments. Clauses are whole notions that are fully formed, while phrases are partial notions that need to attach to a clause to make any sense. For example, Rapheal always orders pizza from Tony's, but "from Tony's" doesn't make sense without the concept of "pizza" (and yes, this makes words equivalent to concepts, from the Latin word for an abstraction).
WORD = a concept
PHRASE = an incomplete notion
CLAUSE = a whole notions
SENTENCE = a thought
PARAGRAPH = an idea
CLAUSES
Subjects and verbs
All clauses have a subject and a predicate verb. A subject is who or what the clause is about; subjects are always nouns or pronouns, and are usually the first noun or pronoun in the sentence. Any word that modifies the subject is part of the extended subject. For example, in The bright light hurt my eyes, light is the subject and The bright light is the extended subject.
Every subject must be paired with a verb that describes what the subject is doing or how it is. This verb is called the predicate verb, and while the predicate of a clause always consists of at least this one verb, it could encompass a complement and any words that modify that verb or complement. For example, in The bright light hurt my eyes, hurt is the predicate verb, while hurt my eyes is the extended predicate.
So how do subjects and verbs pair? Through a concept called subject-verb agreement:
ACTION VERBS:
Every subject must be paired with a verb that describes what the subject is doing or how it is. This verb is called the predicate verb, and while the predicate of a clause always consists of at least this one verb, it could encompass a complement and any words that modify that verb or complement. For example, in The bright light hurt my eyes, hurt is the predicate verb, while hurt my eyes is the extended predicate.
So how do subjects and verbs pair? Through a concept called subject-verb agreement:
ACTION VERBS:
- If the subject is singular, then the present verb is plural: The dog walks. (dog is singular, walks is plural)
- If the subject is plural, then the verb is singular: The dogs walk. (dogs is plural, walk is singular)
- If the verb is not present tense, the subject's plurality is not important: The dog walked, The dogs walked, The dog will walk, The dogs will walk
- If there are two singular subjects connect by and, treat as a plural: The dog and cat walk
- If there are two subjects, one plural and one singular, treat as a plural: The dogs and cat walk
- If the subject is singular, then the verb must be singular: A dog is hungry. (dog and is both singular)
- If the subject is plural, then the verb must be plural: The dogs are hungry (dogs and are both plural)
- Plurality is important if verb is past or present with aspect: The dog was hungry, The dogs were hungry, The dog is walking, The dogs are walking
- If the verb is future tense, plurality is not important: The dog shall be hungry, the dogs shall be hungry
- If the subject is a collective noun, plurality depends on context: The pack is ready, the majority are hungry
Complements
A complement is a word that completes the idea of a subject and verb. There are four types of complements:
- DIRECT OBJECT: a direct object is an object (noun or pronoun) affected by the verb action. In I threw the ball, ball is the direct object as it is being thrown.
- When an action verb takes a direct object, it is called a transitive verb: The lion tossed its mane.
- If the verb cannot take a direct object, it is an intransitive verb: The lion roared.
- INDIRECT OBJECT: an indirect object is an object (noun or pronoun) that receives or benefits from the direct object. In I threw Michael the ball, Michael receives the ball and is thus the indirect object.
- When an action verb takes more than one direct object, it is a ditransitive verb:
- PREDICATE: a noun or adjective which renames or modifies the subject. There are two kinds of predicates:
- predicate adjectives are modifiers that describe the subject (Batman is dedicated to justice)
- predicate nominatives are nouns or pronouns that rename the subject (Batman is secretly Bruce Wayne.)
- Predicates can only connect to linking verbs, not action verbs.
- predicate adjectives are modifiers that describe the subject (Batman is dedicated to justice)
- RESULTATIVE: a noun or adjective that renames or modifies a direct object, often used with verbs like make, name, chose, elect, and appoint. There are two kinds of predicates:
- resultative adjectives are modifiers that describe the object (The good twins kept their room clean.)
- resultative nominatives are nouns or pronouns that rename the object (The bad twins call their babysitter Princess Zitface.)
Types of clauses
If a clause makes sense on its own, it is called an independent clause. EVERY SENTENCE HAS AT LEAST ONE INDEPENDENT CLAUSE. In the sentence When the world is in trouble, Superman will always be there to save it, the green clause is independent.
If the clause doesn't make sense on its own, the clause is a dependent clause. A dependent clause can act as noun, an adjective (called a relative clause), or an adverb:
If the clause doesn't make sense on its own, the clause is a dependent clause. A dependent clause can act as noun, an adjective (called a relative clause), or an adverb:
- NOUN CLAUSE: a clause that functions as a subject, direct object, or object of a preposition (What Superman wants is justice).
- RELATIVE CLAUSE: begins with a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, that, which, whoever, whatever, whomever) and functions as an adjective
- RESTRICTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSE: necessary for the meaning of the sentence and does not need additional punctuation (The man that married my aunt is a circus clown).
- NONRESTRICTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSE: not necessary for the meaning of the sentence and needs to be offset by dashes, parentheses, or periodic commas (That man, who is a circus clown, married my aunt).
- THAT can only start a restrictive relative clause; WHICH can only start a nonrestrictive relative clause
- ADVERBIAL CLAUSE: a clause that starts with an adverb and clarifies where, when, why, how, or to what extent something happens (Superman was defeated because Lex Luthor had kryptonite).
- ELLIPTICAL CLAUSE: a noun, relative, or adverbial clause that is grammatically incomplete but makes sense in context (Although once common, dodos are now extinct).
PHRASES
A phrase is a string of grammatically related words that do not form a full clause.
- NOUN PHRASE: a noun and its modifiers (The bright green tennis ball fell from the sky).
- VERB PHRASE: The main verb and all of its helping verbs (Cyndi will have been throwing up for two days).
- PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE: a phrase starting with a preposition and ending with an object (Marvin slept in Mary's bed last Thursday by accident).
- APPOSITIVE PHRASE: a string of words that renames the noun immedately before it that must be offset by dashes, parentheses, or periodic commas (Alfred, a former British intelligence officer and one-time actor, became Batman's first ally in his war against crime.)
- simple appositives consiting of a single noun don't need punctuation: Batman’s butler Alfred raised him after his parents Thomas and Martha Wayne died.
- VERBAL PHRASE: uses a verbal with an object
- INFINITIVE PHRASE: begins with an infinitive, ends with an object, and acts as a noun or modifier: Batman hopes to stop the Joker’s plan in time.
- GERUND PHRASE: begins with a gerund, ends with an object, and acts as a noun: Instead of therapy, fighting crime is what keeps Batman sane.
- PARTICIPLE PHRASE: begins with a participleand acts as an adjective.
- PAST PARTICIPLE: begins with past tense (-ed) verb and paired with a prepositional phrase : Defeated by Batman, Catwoman collapsed.
- PRESENT PARTICIPLE: begins with present tense (-ing) verb and ends with an object acted on by the participle action: Removing his mask, Batman revealed his true face to Catwoman.
- PERFECT PARTICIPLE: begins with having, uses past tense (-ed) verb, and ends with an object: Having revealed his identity as Bruce Wayne, Batman proved to Catwoman that he really loved her.
SENTENCES
Classifying through clauses
- SIMPLE: a sentence with a single independent clause (Batman and Superman are friends.)
- COMPOUND: a sentence with two or more independent clauses (Superman is a super-powered alien, but Batman is just a regular man in a costume.)
- COMPLEX: a sentence with a single independent clause and one or more dependent clauses (While Superman can only be weakened by magic or kryptonite, Batman has normal human weaknesses.)
- COMPOUND-COMPLEX: a sentence with two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses (Not only are Batman and Superman friends, but they have are friends with other heroes, who together from the Justice League.)
Classifying through purpose
DECLARATIVE: a statement of fact or opinion (Aquaman is a terrible hero.)
INTERROGATIVE: a direct question (Does anyone even like Aquaman?)
IMPERATIVE: a demanding order or command (Let's all boycott Aquaman's inclusion in the Justice League!)
EXCLAMATORY: an urgent, excited statement (Oh no, it's Black Manta! Save me, Aquaman!)
- Periodic: Puts the clause with the main idea at the end (Despite his birth on land, Aquaman is still "king" of the seas.)
- Cumulative: Puts the clause with the main idea at the front (Everyone thinks Aquaman sucks--both heroes and villains mock him.)
- Balanced: all clauses have equal emphasis (Batman "forgets" to call him to battle, and Flash never texts him back.)
INTERROGATIVE: a direct question (Does anyone even like Aquaman?)
- Indirect: starts with a model verb (Could you tell me how you feel about Aquaman?)
- Direct: starts with a non-model or interrogative pronoun (What does Aquaman add to the Justice League anyway?)
IMPERATIVE: a demanding order or command (Let's all boycott Aquaman's inclusion in the Justice League!)
- Horative: advise encouraging a course of action (Aquaman, you should go away and leave the heroics to Superman.)
EXCLAMATORY: an urgent, excited statement (Oh no, it's Black Manta! Save me, Aquaman!)
Classifying by formula
Early 20th century grammarians created a list of five essential sentence formulas that create a simple one-clause sentence. Note that any phrases can be added to the frames to make them more complex, but all simple sentences ultimately conform to one of these five formulas:
- subject + intransitive verb (Ella complains.)
- subject + intransitive verb + subject complement (Ella seems frustrated.)
- subject + transitive verb + direct object (Ella hates Katie.)
- subject + transitive verb + direct object + object complement (Ella made Katie suffer.)
- subject + ditransitive verb + indirect object + direct object (Ella shot Katie an evil look.)