Journalistic Languages Lecture 3

 Sentence Structure

1.      Sentence

2.      Types

3.      Grammatical rules

4.      Parts of speech

5.      Clause and its types

6.      Phrase and its types

7.      Punctuations

8.      Voice

9.      Narration

In English grammar, sentence structure is the arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. The grammatical function or meaning of a sentence is dependent on this structural organization, which is also called syntax.

Sentence

A sentence is a group of words that conveys a complete thought.

A sentence is a set of words that contains a subject and a predicate (what is predicted)

1.      A subject (what the sentence is about, the topic of the sentence), and

2.      A predicate (what is said about the subject).

Ali likes to drink fresh juice every morning (Ali is subject and the rest of the sentence is predicate)

Types of Sentences

In traditional grammar, there arefour basic types of sentence structures.

1.      A simple sentence consists of one independent clause. I like tea.

2.      A compound sentence is two (or more) independent clauses joined by a conjunction or semi-colon. Each of these clauses could form a sentence alone. I like tea and Ijaz likes Qehwa. Or Our car broke down; we came last.

3.      A complex sentence consists of an independent clause plus a dependent clause. We missed our bus because we were late.

4.      Compound-complex sentence consists of at least two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. She left in a hurry after she got a phone call but she came back five minutes later.

Grammatical order of a sentence

The most common word order in English sentences is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).Farhad Loves Football

The foundation of each sentence is the subject and the predicate. The subject is a word or a group of words that functions as a noun; the predicate is at least a verb and possibly includes objects and modifiers of the verb.

Structure affects/alters meanings

·         The senators objected to the plans proposed by the generals.

·         The senators proposed the plans objected to by the generals.

The meaning of the first sentence is quite different from that of the second, even though the only difference is the position of the words objected to and proposed. Although both sentences contain exactly the same words, the words are structurally related to each other differently; it is those differences in structure that account for the difference in meaning."—Eva M. Fernández and Helen Smith Cairns

Parts of speech

Human speech is divided into eight parts: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction (a conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses e.g. and, but, while, etc.), and interjection (an interjection is a word used to express emotion wow!, oh!).

Clause

A clause is a group of words that contains a verb (and usually other components too). A clause may form part of a sentence or it may be a complete sentence in itself.

A clause is comprised of a group of words which includes a subject and a verb. A clause contains only one subject and one verb. The subject of a clause can be mentioned or hidden, but the verb must be apparent and distinguishable.

Example:

I graduated last year. (One clause sentence)

When I came here, I saw him. (Two clause sentence)

When I came here, I saw him, and he greeted me. (Three clause sentence)

Types of clauses

1.      Independent clause: An independent clause contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. I met Amjad this morning.

2.      Dependent (subordinate clause): A dependent clause cannot function on its own because it leaves an idea or thought unfinished. It starts with a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun, and contains a subject and verb, but does not express a complete thought.

I know the man who stole the watch.

Here are some common subordinating conjunctions:

After, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, that, though, till, until, when, where, whether, while

Here are the relative pronouns:

That, which, who, whom, whose, where

3.      Conditional Clause

A conditional clause is one that usually begins with if or unless and describes something that is possible or probable. If it rains, it may cause flooding in our village.

4.      Relative clause

A relative clause is one connected to a main clause by a word such as which, that, whom, whose, when, where, or who: I first saw Sana in Peshawar,     where I lived in the early 90’s.

Phrase

A phrase is one or more words that form a meaningful grammatical unit within a clause. There are five main types of phrase in English, as below.

1.      Noun phrase: A wooden Chair

2.      Verb phrase: I will go to Charsada

3.      Adjective phrase: I ate a large ice-cream

4.      Adverb phrase:he is walking too slowly

5.      Prepositional phrase: Ayesha is in the class

Punctuations

There are 14 punctuation marks that are commonly used in English grammar. They are the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, parentheses, brackets, braces, apostrophe, quotation marks, and ellipsis. Following their correct usage will make your writing easier to read and more appealing.

1.      Sentence Endings (period, question mark, exclamation mark)

2.      Indicate pauses (comma, colon, semi colon)

The comma is used to show a separation of ideas or elements within the structure of a sentence. Additionally, it is used in numbers, dates, and letter writing after the salutation and closing.

Thanks for all your help, Hammad.

Separation of two complete sentences: We went to the class, and then we went out to lunch.

Separating lists or elements within sentences: Noreen wanted the black, green, and blue dress.

A colon (:) has three main uses. The first is after a word introducing a quotation, an explanation, an example, or a series.

He was planning to study four subjects: politics, philosophy, sociology, and economics.

The second is between independent clauses when the second explains the first, similar to a semicolon:

I didn't have time to get changed: I was already late.

The third use of a colon is for emphasis:

There was one thing she loved more than any other: her dog.

A colon also has non-grammatical uses in time, ratio, business correspondence and references.

The semicolon (;) is used to connect independent clauses. It shows a closer relationship between the clauses than a period would show.

John was hurt; he knew she only said it to upset him.

3.      Hyphen and Dash

A hyphen is used to join two or more words together into a compound term and is not separated by spaces. For example, part-time, back-to-back, well-known.

A dash is used to separate words into statements. There are two common types of dashes: en dash and em dash.

·         En dash: Twice as long as a hyphen, the en dash is a symbol (–) that is used in writing or printing to indicate a range, connections or differentiations, such as 1880-1945 or Princeton-New York trains.

·         Em dash: Longer than the en dash, the em dash can be used in place of a comma, parenthesis, or colon to enhance readability or emphasize the conclusion of a sentence. For example, She gave him her answer — No!

Whether you put spaces around the em dash or not is a style choice. Just be consistent.

4.      Brackets, braces, and parentheses

These are symbols used to contain words that are a further explanation or are considered a group.

Brackets are the squared off notations [] used for technical explanations or to clarify meaning. If you remove the information in the brackets, the sentence will still make sense.

He [Mr. Riaz] was the last person seen at the department.

Braces {} They are not commonplace in most writing but can be seen in computer programming or mathematical expressions.

Parentheses () are curved notations used to contain further thoughts or qualifying remarks. However, parentheses can be replaced by commas without changing the meaning in most cases.

Aizaz and Faheem (who are actually half-brothers) both have green eyes.

5.      Apostrophe, quotation marks, and ellipsis

Unlike previously mentioned grammatical marks, they are not related to one another in any form.

An apostrophe (') is used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of lowercase letters. Examples of the apostrophe in use include:

Omission of letters from a word: I've seen that movie several times. She wasn't the only one who knew the answer.

Possessive case: Sara's dog bit the neighbor.

Some teachers and editors enlarge the scope of the use of apostrophes, and prefer their use on symbols (&'s), numbers (7's) and capitalized letters (Q&A's)

Quotations marks (" ") are a pair of punctuation marks used primarily to mark the beginning and end of a passage attributed to another and repeated word for word. They are also used to indicate meanings and to indicate the unusual or dubious status of a word.

"Don't go outside," she said.

Single quotation marks (' ') are used most frequently for quotes within quotes.

Marie told the teacher, "I saw Marc at the playground, and he said to me 'Bill started the fight,' and I believed him."

The ellipsis is most commonly represented by three periods (. . .). The ellipsis is used in writing or printing to indicate an omission, especially of letters or words. Ellipses are frequently used within quotations to jump from one phrase to another, omitting unnecessary words that do not interfere with the meaning. Students writing research papers or newspapers quoting parts of speeches will often employ ellipsis to avoid copying lengthy text that is not needed.

Omission of words: She began to count, "One, two, three, four…" until she got to 10, then went to find him.

Within a quotation: When Newton stated, "An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion..." he developed the law of motion.

Voice

Active and Passive

Narration

Direct and Indirect

(Do it yourself as a homework)

Links

https://www.thoughtco.com/sentence-structure-english-grammar-1691891

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/sentence/sentence-structure.htm

https://www.learngrammar.net/english-grammar/clauses