STRUCTURE

COURSE OUTLINE

COURSE NAME: THE STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH SENTENCE

COURSE CODE: ELS 2202

(A) COURSE DESCRIPTION

This unit is designed for secondary teacher- trainees in Uganda. It is meant to equip them with
the knowledge of both word and basic sentence structures, which will in the end help to
enrich/improve on their proficiency in the English grammar, as they look forward to handling all
aspects at Secondary School level.

(B) COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, teacher trainees should be able to:

-Demonstrate the ability to use and handle an acceptable standard of grammar.

-Demonstrate the knowledge and capability to work with a variety of English sentence patterns,
combinations, word categories and transformations.

-Analyze and handle mistakes and errors made by students in the process of teaching these
structures in class.

(C) DETAILED COURSE OUTLINE

- parts of speech

-Basic Sentence Forms

- Syntax

- Types of Syntax

(1) Simple Sentences

(2) Compound Sentences

(3) Complex Sentences

(4) Compound Complex Sentences

- Direct and Indirect Speech

-Question Tags

- Tenses, present, perfect and future

(D) MODE OF DELIVERY

Lectures, tutorials and presentations

(E) COURSE ASSESSMENT

Course work Assessment (CWA) shall constitute class exercises and activities, and their
relative contribution to the final grade will b:

a) class exercises 10 %

b) CAT 10%

c) continuous Assessment 10%

d) End of semester Examination 70%

PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions are often close to adverbs, because like adverbs, they express time, place and
manner ( modality).

In addition, they often tell us something about position. The word’ preposition’ actually means’to
place in-front of’ . It therefore shows the relationship between the item it is placed in front of
and some other word in the sentence.

NB: It should be noted that many of these prepositions can be used as adverbs. It is only their
function in a sentence that tells us whether they are being used as an adverb or as a preposition-
( as we very well know that adverbs modify the meaning of verbs, adjectives, as well as other
adverbs), whereas prepositions are always placed in front of a noun or a pronoun to explain the
relationship between that word and some other word in the sentence. E.g

1) Dinner will be served after the speeches.

2) The interval came before the second part of

the second part of the play.

Thus, the prepositions’after’ and’ before’ in the above sentences tell us when dinner will be
served and what happened before the second part of the play was shown; hence reflecting
prepositions of TIME.
Next, are prepositions of place as in:

a) There’s a promised land beyond the blue horizon.

b) We heard the burglar inside the room.

There are also prepositions of Degree ( to what extent) like:

- He weighs under fifty kilograms.

- She’s about twelve years old.

The most common English prepositions are SIMPLE prepositions ie. They consist of one word e. g

About

Above

Among

Along

Around

At

Before

Beyond

Beneath

Between

Under

Until

Without

please add to the above list.

COMPLEX prepositions are those that consist of more than one word. e.g.

According

Along with

As for

Due to
Except for

By means of

In relation to

In comparison with

In line with

Owing to

Enlarge this list.

PRONOUNS

These are words that stand in the place of nouns, and they help us to avoid repeating ourselves
all the time.

Pronouns can function as nouns in sentences and often take the place of specific nouns, serving
as short forms so that we do not repeat a noun that has already been mentioned. In other words,
many of them act as substitutes or replacements for noun phrases in the context, as in:

1) Elizabeth has cut her finger. NOT

Elizabeth has cut Elizabeth’s finger.

2) Could you mend this table? I broke it yesterday.

A specific noun that a pronoun replaces or refers to is called the ANTECEDENT of the pronoun.

TYPES OF PRONOUNS

[A] PERSONAL PRONOUNS

These are called so because they take the place of specific names of persons, places or things,
and are the most commonly used.

Examples include:

We

You

They

He
She

It ( impersonal pronoun or neuter gender).

NB: When personal pronouns appear as subjects of sentences, they are referred to as Subject
Personal Pronouns.

When they are used as objects of sentences, most of them take a different form, and they are in
this case called Object Personal Pronouns.

I becomes ME

We becomes US

They becomes THEM

He becomes HIM

She becomes HER

You remains YOU

It remains IT

NB Do not let the pronoun ‘ l’ or ‘ me’ precede other people mentioned in the sentence, as:

They blamed me and my brother.

I and my sister went to the concert.

[B] POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

These are used in place of nouns to indicate possession or ownership. They include:

Mine

Ours

Yours

Hers

His

It’s

Theirs

However,possessive pronouns shouldn't be confused with possessive adjectives.

[C] RELATIVE PRONOUNS

These relate one part of a sentence to another. It stands in for a noun or another pronoun, and
they include;

Who, whom, whose, which and that.

Consider the following notice:

ROKO announces the construction of a new estate and it will be very spacious and of high quality.

She’s a super star and l admire her very much.

[D] DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS They include:

this,these, those , that

They take the place of nouns and focus our attention on a particular person, thing, idea or place.
Like

1) This is where l have lived since the semester commenced.

2) Those were the days of scarcity.

3) These are the army veterans.

NB: Demonstrative pronouns can also be used to make a contrast, as in:

This is your life, not mine.

-[E] INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS

The pronouns who, whom,whose and which cay be used not only as relative pronouns, but also
as interrogatives, because they ask questions.

[F] REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

These are used to refer to self and they are: myself,ourselves, yourself, herself, etc

They are called reflexive pronouns because they reflect or refer back to the subject of the
sentence

Treat yourselves to our ice cream flavors.

It should also be noted that reflexive pronouns can also be used for emphasis and they are often
referred to as, in this case, emphasizing pronouns, because they make what is said or talked
about stronger. as in:

George took her away. I saw him myself.

We will do the job ourselves.

[G] INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

These are the final bag of pronouns which are known as Quantifers or indefinite pronouns. They
are quantity markers which stand for a person or thing that is unspecified. Thus, they are
pronouns denoting quantity or amount.

For instance: some, any,all, both, half, none, neither, every body, any/some body, nothing,
nobody.

Everybody above eighteen years is allowed to vote.