SENTENCE CONTENT

1. Grammar

Definition

Grammar has been defined as rule that governs how words are structure in utterances and sentences to make meaning. Utterance is the basis of spoken language, while the sentence is the basis of written language.

Utterance is a stretch of speech between two periods of silence i. e. between opening and closing of mouth. It could be sound, a word, a phrase or even a sentence. But the sentence is an expression of a complete thought in words which could be message or a piece of information. It is the meaning of the sentence that counts above all the consideration.

The sentence is the basic unit of written communication; hence, we say the most important function of sentence is to communicate information. Thus, a sentence, which is a good syntactic combination, must be clear, exact and simple for easy comprehension. Through a careful syntactic combination of words, we arrive at a meaningful sentence, which conveys our views to other people.

Sentence has also been defined as the highest level in grammatical analysis since the grammar starts from word to phrase, clause and then sentence. This is what we call syntax, to give us syntactic arrangement – sentence.

2. PART OF SENTENCE

We have seen above what syntactic arrangement means. Some knowledge of parts of a sentence is important for good writing because such knowledge helps us to avoid making mistakes in:

i.        agreement     ii.       punctuation     iii.    sentence construction.

The parts of a sentence we need to recognize in order to avoid making mistakes include:

1.       Subject and Predicate

2.       Clause and Phrase

3. SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

The subject of a sentence is simply “what is being discussed”, the THEME of the sentence. The predicate of a sentence is the part, which talks about the actions of the subject and the consequences of the actions.

A phrase is a group of words that does not make a complete sense. It is a part of a sentence but not a sentence.

4. Clause

is a group word that contains a finite verb, one part of which makes sense while the other does not. The part that makes sense is called the MAIN clause or INDEPENDENT clause while the part that does not make sense is called the SUBORDINATE clause or the DEPENDENT clause. A clause could be two simple sentences joined together by a subordinator e. g.

The man killed a goat when it entered his farm.

1.       The man killed a goat                   -         main clause

2.       When it entered his farm              -         subordinate clause

No. 1 (main clause) is a complete sentence

No. 2 has to depend on No. 1 to make sense so is a part of a sentence but not a sentence.

5. TYPE OF SENTENCES

          Objectives

1.       To state types of sentences and their meaning.

2.       To inform students how to use them

There are basically three types of sentences namely simple, complex and compound sentences.

1.       The Simple Sentence

Any sentence, which has only one finite verb and expresses one single idea, is called a simple sentence. It could be only one word verb, which conveys meaning to the hearer. E. g. go, out, quick, disappear, etc. A simple sentence could also contain just one Noun phrase as subject and one verb phrase as predicate. Example:

The man (noun phrase) laughed foolishly (verb phrase).

In the above sentence, the verb phrase ‘laughed foolishly’ is called INTRANSITIVE verb because the doer suffers his own action. When a verb is used and someone suffers the action of the doer, the verb is called TRANSITIVE.

FORMS OF THE SIMPLE SENTENCE

A.       Statement (states facts)

          i.        One hundred kobo makes a naira

          ii.       Abuja is the new capital of Nigeria

B.       Question (asks question)

          i.        Are you a student of Newgate College?

          ii.       When will the election start?

C.       Imperative (command)

          i.        Hands up

          ii.       Don’t talk

          iii.      Keep quiet

D.       Exclamation (Expresses emotion)

          i.        Oh! I’m delighted!

6. THE COMPLEX SENTENCE

2.       THE COMPLEX SENTENCE

If a sentence has only main clause with one or more subordinate clauses, which depend on the main clause to be meaningfully, such sentence is called a complex sentence. The main clause can stand-alone and make sense.

Again, two or more simple sentences can be combined to form a complex sentence. Examples:

1.       If you want to rejoice, now is the time.

2.       Although she is beautiful, no one wants to marry her.

3.       COMPOUND SENTENCE

When a sentence contains two main clauses with or without a subordinate clause, such sentence is called a compound sentence. Examples:

i.        Sarah swept the class                    gives

ii.       Michael called the teacher

          Sarah swept the class AND Michael called the teacher.

Simple sentences can be made compound sentence by the use of conjunction.

7. EXAMPLES OF COMPOUND SENTENCES

1.       Joy went to market last week.

2.       Joy bought a pair of shoes.                                 gives

          Joy went to market last week AND Joy bought a pair of shoes

2.       Joy likes the shoes very much.

          Amina likes the shoes very much.                     gives

           Joy likes the shoes very much AND SO does Amina.

4.       THE MULTIPLE SENTENCE

A sentence, which has at least three main clauses with or without a subordinate clause is called a multiple sentence. This is used in explaining a complicated issue, which involve a number of subordinate ideas. Example:

I can sing and dance when I am happy but when I am unhappy, I cry bitterly.