DESCRIPTION OF ENGLISH (MPPZ 1123)

SEMESTER I 2018/2019

SENTENCES
Sentences and their function in communication
WHAT IS A SENTENCE? The four sentence types described earlier may be
It is sometimes said that a sentence expresses a said to be primarily associated with one particular
complete thought. This is a notional definition: it defines function in speech situations.
a term by the notion or idea it conveys. The problem
with this definition is understanding what is meant by a  mainly used to make statements : declarative
‘complete thought’. sentences
 used to ask questions : interrogative sentences
We can try defining a sentence as a string of  used to give commands : imperative sentences
words beginning with a capital letter and ending with a  used to make exclamations : exclamatory
full stop. This is a formal definition: it defines a term by sentences
the form or shape of what the term refers to. But this is
an inadequate definition. The most serious objection is It is important to note, however, that there is no
that the definition is directed only towards orthographic one-to-one correspondence between the grammatical
sentences; that is, sentences that appear in the written form of a sentence and its function in communication
language. Spoken sentences do not have capital letters (i.e. what is called its illocutionary force). This means
and periods. that sentences with the same grammatical properties
need not have the same illocutionary force, and
A sentence is the largest unit of grammatical conversely, that grammatically different sentences can
description forming a syntactic construction. To treat have the same illocutionary force.
sentences as the highest unit implies that we do not
take into account larger stretches of language such as
paragraphs and texts. Sentences and the organization of message
Sentences can convey messages in a variety of
Sentences can be described by specifying the ways. Two of the syntactic devices that play a role in
functions that their constituents have in sentence the presentation of a message are focus and
structure and the categories to which their constituents wordorder. Two other sentence-types are equally
belong. For example, there are four constituents in the important in the presentation of messages : cleft and
sentence below each with the different functions and pseudo-cleft sentences.
categories :
Focus
e.g. All students should have read this article by English sentences normally have end-focus, which
Monday. means that the last item in the sentence is often more
prominent.
Function Category
all students subject noun phrase e.g. Mark is going to MANCHESTER.
should have read predicator verb phrase
this article direct object noun phrase However, it is possible to depart from the normal
by Monday adverbial prep. Phrase pattern by shifting the focus to other words. This is
called contrastive focus.

Describing sentences e.g. Mark is driving TO Manchester.

In terms of their structural complexity sentences (not through Manchester)
can be divided into three types: simple, compound and Mark is DRIVING to Manchester.
complex. Two other classifications are based on their (not flying to Manchester)
grammatical form and their function in communication. MARK is driving to Manchester.
(not Jim)

Sentences and their grammatical form Wordorder

In terms of their grammatical form sentences are Wordorder involves a change in the linear order in
classified as declarative, interrogative, imperative and which the words normally appear or in unmarked order.
exclamatory sentences: A marked wordorder is where certain parts of the
sentence have been given emphasis by moving them
to the front-position.
 declarative sentences : always have subject,
e.g. He lost his wife in the war.
which precedes the verb
His wife he lost in the war.
 interrogative sentences : contain a subject and
open with an auxiliary verb or a wh-word
She was not a beauty.
 imperative sentences : contain a verb in the
A beauty she was not.
imperative mood – if a subject is present it is
usually you, but as a rule the subject is lacking
 exclamatory sentences : contain a subject which
precedes the verb – they are introduced by
phrases opening with the words how or what

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 DESCRIPTION OF ENGLISH (MPPZ 1123)
SEMESTER I 2018/2019

Sentences and their structural complexity - occurs before the verb phrase in declarative
Based on their structural complexity sentences can clauses and immediately after the auxiliary in
be simple, compound and complex. questions
- has a number and person concord, where
Simple sentence applicable with the verb phrase
- can be defined as a sentence which contains - normally absent in imperatives
one clause – a single subject (NP) accompanied - decides the form of reflexive pronouns that
by a single predicate (VP) appear in the same clause
- does not contain an embedded (subordinate) - some pronouns have a distinctive form when
sentences they function as subject of sentence
- is always an independent sentence
ii) Object
e.g. (i) The child had been crying all day. - like a subject, it is a noun phrase or clause with
(ii) The two men were arrested last night. nominal function
(iii) Kate’s father is a police officer. - normally follows the subject and the verb phrase
(iv) We came to the conclusion that a conflict - assumes the status of subject in passive
was inevitable. construction
(v) She was afraid of leaving the children
alone at night. iii) Complement
(vi) An hour later we made another attempt to - a noun phrase, an adjective phrase or a clause
cross the river. with nominal function, having co-referential
relation with the subject (or object)
Compound sentence - follows the subject, verb phrase and (if one is
- a sentence in which two or more sentences have present) object
been coordinated - does not become subject through the passive
- each of the conjoins is independent, since there transformation
is no embedding - if a verb requires a subject complement to
- coordination may not be marked overtly complete the sentence, the verb is a linking verb
(asyndetic) or coordination may be indicated by – subject complement typically identifies or
means of one of the coordinators (syndetic) characterizes the person or thing denoted by the
subject
e.g. (i) Oil is now more expensive and that will - object complement typically identifies or
affect our economy. characterizes the person or thing denoted by the
(ii) He was a moody man, his temper was direct object
never equable.
(iii) I have bought a new shirt, but it does not fit iv) Adverbial
me. - an adverb phrase, adverbial clause, noun
(iv) You could go to France, we could go to phrase or prepositional phrase and is a sentence
Spain, or we could all go to Greece. constituent
(v) Jane admits that she had a lot of money in - generally mobile i.e. it is capable of occurring in
the bank, but she claims that she has lost more than one position in the clause
everything. - generally optional i.e. it may be added to or
removed from a sentence without affecting its
Complex sentence acceptability
- a sentence which contains more than one clause - conveys a range of information about the
– main and subordinate clauses situation depicted in the basic structure

e.g. (i) Being very intelligent, he quickly understood v) Adverbial complement

what we were up to. - some elements that convey the same
(ii) As he said this, the door opened. information as adverbials are obligatory because
(iii) I wonder if you would care to tell me why the main verb is not complete without them
you thing Greg deserves being promoted. - such obligatory elements are adverbial
complements
- typically refers to location and direction
Sentence elements and their functions
Subjects, objects, verbs, complements and ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
adverbials are elements of a (simple) sentence. References :
Sentences differ widely as to which elements and how
many elements they include. This is related to the
Parrot, M. 2000. Grammar for English Language Teachers.
type of verb. If the verb is intransitive, there need be
no other elements beside Subject and verb. If the verb Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
element is transitive, it is accompanied by an Object.
Young, D.J. 1980. The Structure of English Clauses. London:
i) Subject Hutchinson.
- normally a phrase or a clause with nominal
function Quirk, R. and Greenbaum, S. 1973. A University Grammar
of English. London: Longman.