Sentence Structure(Or “What you doing?” “Watching the footy!”)

Read the following and see whether you think

any of them are complete sentences:

He smiled at me.

then went.

when I saw Paul.

Walking to the shops.

I am writing a

A Sentence

• Makes complete sense

on its own.•Starts with a capital

letter.

The following are complete sentences. What aspects do they have in common?

• She laughs 5 times a day.

• I like the way you dance.

• Ronan skipped, jumped and hugged Neil with glee.

• Marx analysed early capitalism.

They all have:

A SUBJECT +A VERB (+ OTHER

BITS)

Verbs

EXPRESS ACTIONS – THINGS PEOPLE DO.

Task: Make a list of verbs to describe the following:

Things students do. Things the person next to you has done this week.The best things you have done in your life.

Other Verbs

To be (=The Infinitive)

I am great. You are great. S/he/ it is great. We are great. You are great. They are great. (Verbs with subjects are

finite verbs)

Do the same to the verb ‘To Have’

Underline the verb in the following sentences and state whether it’s a ‘doing’, ‘being’, or ‘having’

word

• Lisa owns 4 cats.

• They are usually very hungry.

• They all have their own chair.

• They enjoy purring.

• Sometimes they ask to go for a walk.

• They certainly preside over the house.

Sometimes verbs are more

than one word. Why?

…Because verbs have tensesTenses tell you when the verb is done:

• Present - I speak• Present Continuous – I am speaking• Past tenses – I spoke; I have spoken; I

used to speak • Past Continuous – I was speaking• Past perfect - I had spoken• Future Tense – I will speak

What tense is the verb in each of the following sentences?

• I have discussed your work with the external examiner.

• Kevin went clubbing.

• Marx criticised capitalism.

• The essay will examine 3 issues:…

• I was walking down the street when somebody whispered my name.

Summary

• Verbs are about 3 things: doing, being or having

• There might be more than one verb needed to indicate the time the verb was done (past, present etc)

The subject

Ask yourself: who or what

is doing something in this sentence?

The Subject

I like cats.

Cats like me.

So. All sentences above have a finite verb (i.e. a subject and verb) + other bits

• She laughs 5 times a day.

• I like the way you dance.

• Ronan skipped, jumped and hugged Neil with glee.

• Marx analysed early capitalism.

Which of the following are correct finite verbs?

• I stated

• She laughing

• He wrote

• They asks

• He needing

Find the subject and the verb

• I am always hopeful.• A sculptor sculpts, a painter paints,

students study.• Critics have found Freud useful.• All students should receive grants.• Presentations usually develop 3 main

ideas.

Task

• Separate the cards into 2 piles.

• In pile 1 place all of the subjects.

• In pile 2 place all of the verbs

Independent clause

= subject + finite verb = bits which make it make sense.

Other parts of an independent clause…

THE OBJECT:

• I like cats.

• Ronan hugged Neil.

• Presentations usually develop 3 main ideas.

Other bits…

More about the subject (the complement)

• I am hungry.

• You are great.• Everything is under control.

Can you spot any problems with what follows?

• “What you doing?” “Watching the footy!”

• The book is said to be the first printed book to mention the place, date and the type of print used. The print used was said to be that of a man called Johan Fust. Who was the business partner of Johan Guttenburg.

Can you spot any problems with what follows?

• Supermarkets sell many products nowadays. For example, clothes, music, flowers and financial products such as mortgages.

• Butler (1992) argued that people perform gender. The idea being that gender is not natural, but an act.

• The idea that people are naturally selfish has been widely criticised. Which isn’t surprising.

MOST COMMON ESSAY PROBLEM NO. 1: The Sentence Fragment

The problem is that some of them do not contain a FINITE VERB, so they aren’t sentences. In technical terms, they are ‘Sentence fragments’.

Task: Spot the complete sentence!

• The work of Gagnon and Henderson (1985) developed the concept of gender by stating that gender has two aspects. One being gender identity, the second being gender role.

• In her speech, the Queen said that ‘love and thanks are inestimable’. Stating that you can’t count love therefore you can’t count money or taxes.

Main points of lecture• Each sentence has 1 core idea which it

develops.• This core idea (the ‘heart’ of the sentence)

is found in the independent clause.• An independent clause is a group of words

that contains a subject and finite verb. It can stand alone and still make sense.

• One of the most common writing problems is that of the sentence fragment where students leave out the finite verb.

Further Reading

• A nice, simple and short discussion of sentence structure. Read it!

Peck, J. and Coyle, M. (1999) The student's guide to writing : grammar, punctuation and spelling, Basingstoke: Palgrave (NTU Clifton: 428 PEC)

Further Reading• Short explanation of sentence fragments:• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/

g_frag.html• Execises on sentence fragments:• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/

g_fragEX1.html• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/

g_fragEX2.html• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/

g_fragEX3.html

You want more?

• For practice of very basic sentences:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/sentencebasics/whatisasentence/

• Quizzes on sentence structure:

• http://www.palgrave.com/skills4study/html/mature/maturepunctuation/maturepunctuation.htm

SEMINAR

Development: ‘subjects’ can be very long

• The weary, drenched travellors walked on.

• The weary, drenched travellors, who yearned for home, walked on.

Game

• Make these subjects longer than a word

• The students were watching Countdown.

• The cats were sitting on the mat.

Task: Find the Independent Clause

Hegemonic ideals of white supremacy hide themselves in current media. To prove this, I will illustrate the racist stereotypes which have evolved in the media. Hall outlines three base images of the 'grammar of race' employed in 'old movies'. The first is the slave figure which could take the form of either the 'dependable, loving… devoted "Mammy" with the rolling eyes, or the faithful fieldhand… attached and devoted to "his" master' (Hall, 1995:21). Edited from: http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-rol6.htm