Sentence in English Grammar: Definition, Types, Phrases and Subject and Predicate
What is Grammar?
Grammar is the study of language. When we study Grammar, we are studying the rules of our language. We follow these rules when we speak and write. The purpose of Grammar is to help us communicate our ideas effectively.
Grammar includes:
The Sentence
Whenever we want to express our thoughts, we do so with the help of words. These words must be put together in a certain order. Words which are used without any order will not make any sense.
Read the following sentences (groups) of words:
A. Jumbled Words: (1).feathers birds have, (2).the cot in the is sleeping baby, (3).station all stop trains at this, (4).slowly walk people old very, (5).goals four team the easily won by
B. Sentences: (1) Birds have feathers. (2) The baby is sleeping in the cot. (3) All trains stop at this station. (4) Old people walk very slowly. (5) The team won easily by four goals.
Do the words in column A make sense or are they simply groups of jumbled words? No, they do not make sense.
Now look at the same words in Column B where the words have now been placed in their proper order.
A group of words arranged in such a way so as to give complete meaning is called a Sentence.
Did you know?
- A sentence begins with a Capital Letter and ends with a Full Stop or a Question Mark or an Exclamation Mark.
- A Simple Sentence must have a complete meaning. It mus have a Subject and a verb. The Subject refers to the person or thing that does the action.
The Phrase:
A group of words that makes sense but not complete sense is called a Phrase.
Example: into the air, last evening, of no use, at 6 o' clock, of great promise, etc.
Did you know?
- A Phrase unlike a sentence, does not have a Finite Verb.
- It has neither a Subject not a Predicate.
We can turn a Phrase into a Sentence by adding some words to it; for example:
1. I shall wait for you at the railway station.
2. I went to your place last evening.
3. This book is of no use to me.
(In each of the above sentences, the Verb has been given in italics.)
Kinds of Sentences
Sentences are used for several purposes. We us a sentence for making a statement, to ask a question, to order or to request, or for expressing a feeling. The type of a sentence depends upon the work it does.
There are four kinds of sentences:
(a) Assertive (or Declarative) Sentences (Statements)
A sentence that merely states or declares or asserts something is called an Assertive Sentence
A Statement can be Affirmative (Positive) or Negative.
For Example:
1. Some people hunt wild animals. (Affirmative)
2. A bear will never touch a dead body. (Negative)
3. All that glitters is not gold. (Negative)
*We put a Full Stop (.) at the end of an Assertive Sentence.
(b) Interrogative Sentences (Questions)
A Sentence that asks a question is called an Interrogative Sentence.
For Example:
1. Do you like reading short stories?
2. What kind of stories do you like?
Sentence 1 above is a yes or no question. It means that this kind of question can be answered in yes or no. Such a question begins with an Auxiliary Verb. (In sentence I above, do is an Auxiliary Verb.)
Sentence 2 begins with a question word (what). Since most of the question words - what, when, who, whose, whom, why begin with wh, such questions are often referred to as wh-questions. These questions cannot be answered in yes or no. Some statement has to be made in reply to them.
In an Interrogative Sentence, the Auxiliary Verb is placed before the Subject. For example,
1. He has done his homework. (Statement)
2. Has (Aux, Verb) he (Sub.) done his homework? (Question)
* We put a Mark of Interrogation (?) at the end of an Interrogative Sentence.
(c) Imperative Sentences (Commands)
A Sentence that expresses a command, a request, advice, or a with is called an Imperative Sentence.
For example :
1. Get out of this room. (Command)
2. Please, lend me your pen. (Request)
3. Do your homework regularly. (Advice)
4. May God bless you. (Wish)
* An Imperative Sentence also needs a Full Stop (.) at the end.
(d) Exclamatory Sentences (Exclamations)
For Example:
1. How beautiful the butterfly is!
2. What a silly idea!
Note that in order to make an Exclamatory Sentence forceful. We use a slightly different word order. In sentence 1 above, the normal word order should have been:
The butterfly is (how) beatiful.
and in sentence 2, the normal word order should have been:
*We put a Mark of Exclamation (!) at the end of an Exclamatory Sentence.
Subject and Predicate
1. We us sentences to speak to others. Every sentence that we use, either when we speak or when we write, consists of two parts: The Subject and the Predicate.
Thus every sentence consists of two parts:
1. The person or thing we speak about.
2. What we speak about that person or thing.
Look at this sentence:
The story is interesting.
(Subject) (Predicate)
In this sentence, (i) we speak about The story, and (ii) what we say about it is that it is an interesting story.
The name of a person or thing we speak about is called the Subject.
What we say about the subject is called the Predicate.
Look at some more examples :
1. The beautiful rainbow soon faded away.
2. They admired the courage of the conquerors of Mt. Everest.
3. Sweet are the uses of adversity.
4. You must learn this lesson.
we find that in sentences 1 and 2, the Subjects - The beautiful rainbow and They come in the first part of the sentences followed by the Predicates soon faded away and admired the courage of the conquerors of Mt. Everest.
In Sentence 3. we notice that the Subject - adversity has been used after the Predicate sweet are the uses of. The Subject - you is understood in sentence 4, must learn this lesson is the Predicate in the sentence.
2. Usually the Subject of a sentence comes first. However, in certain cases it comes after the Predicate. For the sake of emphasis, this order may be reversed. For example:
Raju stood in a corner of the park.
(Subject) (Predicate)
In a corner of the park stood Raju.
(Predicate) (Subject)
3. The Subject may consist of one word or several words. The Predicate may also consists of one word or several words. For example:
They fought.
(Subject) (Predicate)
The hungry fox saw a bunch of grapes.
(Subject) (Predicate)
When the Subject of sentence consists of several words, there is always one word which is more important than the other words. This word is called the Subject Word.
The Subject word is always a Noun or a group of words that does the work of a Noun. For example
(i) The young boy is standing near the gate.
(ii) The poor are loved by God.
In sentence (i), the Subject consists of three words. The young boy and the most important word is boy which is a Noun.
In sentence (ii), the Subject consists of two words, The poor, Here the most important word is poor which is doing the work of a Noun though it is an Adjective.
when the Predicate consists of one word that word is always a Verb.
(i) The child cried. (ii) One of the Prisoners escaped.
In sentence (i), the Predicate has only one word - cried and that is a Verb.
In sentence (ii), the Predicate consists of one word - escaped which is also a verb.
4. In Imperative Sentences (expressing orders or requests), the Subject is always You. But the Subject is not stated: it is implied. For example:
Work hard.
Wait outside.
These sentences actually mean:
You must work hard.
You should wait outside.
Now it is clear that in both these sentences, the Subject is You.
5. How to find the Subject of a Sentence :
we can easily find the Subject of a sentence by taking the Verb and asking the question - Who? or What?
1. Children like balloons. [Put the question - Who likes balloons? The answer is children. So children is the Subject.]
2. The storm hit the town badly. [Put the question - What hit the town badly? The answer is - the storm. So the storm is the Subject.]
6. In Question and Exclamations, the word order is slightly changed, and the Subject is not placed first. So in order to find out the Subject, we should ask ourselves the question: What is this sentence about? The answer to this question names the Subject.
It is also helpful to write these sentences as Statements. For example:
Has he brought the money? (Question)
In order to find the Subject, we may write this sentence as -
He has brought the money. (Statement)
Now we can easily see that the Subject is he.
How foolish you are! (Exclamation)
We may write this sentence as -
You are (how) foolish. [The Subject is you.]
Similarly,
What is beautiful picture it is! (Exclamation)
may be written as
It is (what) a beautiful picture. [The Subject is it.]
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