THE SENTENCE

DEFINITION
• A sentence is a group of words that contains a finite verb and makes
complete sense or expresses a complete thought.
• A declarative sentence makes a statement.
• An interrogative sentence asks a question.
• An exclamatory sentence expresses a strong or sudden feeling.
 PATTERN 1
• Subject + Verb
• Time flies.
• The lion roared.
• The sun shines.
• The old woman talks (to herself).
• The new Toyota saloon car crashed.
• My watch has stopped.
 PATTERN 2
• Subject + Verb + Complement
• Janet is a trader.
• He is rich.
• That is what I want.
• The milk tastes sour.
• He tries hard.
• I am in a hurry.
 PATTERN 3
• Subject + Verb + Direct Object
• The man kicked the dog.
• He stole my book.
• The stray bullet hit the baby.
• They kicked the ball.
• The (big, black) dog (I bought recently) bit the man.
 PATTERN 4
• Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object
• They sold me some bad apples.
• Kofi gave Ama some money.
• He did me a very good turn.
• Richard left his family two houses.
• Issah wrote his father a letter.
• The teacher showed his class a picture.
 PATTERN 5
• Subject + Verb + Direct Object + Object Complement
• They made Mr. Mahamah president of Ghana.
• He called his cat Sally.
• Grandfather has made Nsiah his heir.
• The coach made Salisu captain of Susubiribi.
• The Vice Chancellor appointed Dr. Opoku dean.
 SENTENCE TYPES

• A simple sentence contains only one independent clause. Ama went

to school. (The Pattern is SVO.)

• A Compound Sentence contains more than one independent clause

but no subordinate clauses. The cars could not climb the hill but the
trucks made it easily.
 SENTENCE TYPES

• A Complex Sentence is a sentence with one independent clause and

at least one subordinate clause. As soon as I finished my homework, I
fell asleep.

• A Compound Complex sentence contains more than one independent

clause and at least one subordinate clause. When I finally returned to
school, I studied very hard for I had missed many classes.
• Many men simply do not subscribe to Gerda Lerner's "radical notion” that
women are, in fact, human beings. We need to look no further for
evidence of this than the incident in Steubenville, Ohio, in 2012 in which a
teenage girl was sexually assaulted, was dehumanized, and then blamed
and vilified by some in her community and beyond, while others
appeared to lament that the futures of her football-hero assailants were
ruined by their rape conviction.
 SENTENCE TYPES

• Pollution, by definition, is something introduced into the environment

that harmfully disrupts it. While nature sometimes produces its own
damaging contaminants – wildfires send up billows of smoke and ash,
volcanoes belch noxious gases – humans are responsible for the lion’s
share of the pollution plaguing the planet today.
• Wherever we go, we seem to have a knack for leaving our rubbish and
waste behind. Visit even the most remote outpost on the planet and
you will witness this first hand. Shredded tyres and plastic bottles
punctuate the vast expanse of the Gobi desert; plastic bags ride the
currents in the middle of the Pacific; spent oxygen canisters and raw
sewage mar the snows of Mount Everest.
 SENTENCE ERRORS

• Sentence Fragment: A sentence fragment is a clause or phrase that

does not form a complete sentence but is punctuated as though it
does.

• Fragments are often used in informal correspondence or fiction,

particularly in dialogue. In formal writing, however, they should be
rewritten as complete sentences.

• The party was a great success. The best one ever.

 EXERCISE
• Applauded the performer.
• When the truck crashed on the expressway.
• Finishing the project.
• The backseat of your car.
• When Carl returned from college.

• Because he needed to tell her how he felt.

 SENTENCE ERRORS
• Run-on Sentences: A run-on sentence consists of two or more
sentences separated by no mark of punctuation.
• Ama made a kitchen-stool in the woodshop for her mother’s birthday
she also made a bookshelf for her father.
• Jim and I started a bicycle repair shop in his father’s garage it lasted
for only two weeks.
• The zoo keeper fed the hungry lions there were ten of them.
 RUN-ON SENTENCES
• To eliminate a run-on sentence, you may break the single sentence
into two: They marched home. The street was dark and silent.
• A semi colon may be inserted between the clauses: They marched
home; the street was dark and silent.
• A conjunction may be introduced between them: They marched
home, and the street was dark and silent.
• Recast the sentence to change one independent clause into a
dependent clause: When they marched home, the street was dark
and silent.
 SENTENCE ERRORS
• Comma Splice: This is where a comma is used to connect two
complete sentences. This is a common mistake.
• You can eliminate a comma splice by adding a conjunction after the
comma or by replacing the comma with a semicolon.
• I didn’t call him again, but he didn’t seem to mind. Or: I didn’t call him
again; he didn’t seem to mind.
• Unless the sentences are very closely related, often the best option is
to substitute a period for the comma, thereby creating two separate
sentences.
 SENTENCE ERRORS

• Misrelated participles or Dangling Modifiers: The word to which the

participle relates should be the same as the subject of the verb.

• Walking through the park, the daffodils in the valley made a lovely sight.

• Walking through the park, we saw a lovely sight of a valley full of daffodils.

• Standing on the church tower, the whole village could be seen below us.

• Standing on the church tower, we could see the whole village seen below us.
 SENTENCE ERRORS
• Entering the house, the door was closed with a bang.
• Entering the house, John closed the door with a bang.
• Stepping carelessly off the pavement, the bus knocked him down.
• Stepping carelessly off the pavement, Kojo was knocked down by the
bus.
• Hated and persecuted by all, the reader feels sympathy for Shylock.
• Hated and persecuted by all, Shylock is an object of pity.
 SENTENCE ERRORS
• Parallel Constructions: Express parallel ideas in parallel form. Adjectives
should be paralleled by adjectives, nouns by nouns, dependent clauses by
dependent clauses, and so on.
• The new sales training programme was stimulating and a challenge.
• The new scanner is easy to operate, efficient and it is relatively inexpensive.

• He is an expert in bullying, in lying and in cheating.

• That man is a bully, a liar and a cheat.

• He is so big, so tall and so strong.

 PARALLEL CONSTRUCTIONS
• Parallelism is especially important in displayed enumerations.
This article will discuss
1. How to deal with corporate politics.
2. Coping with stressful situations.
3. What the role of the manager should be in the community.
This article will teach managers how to
• deal with corporate politics.
• cope with stressful situations.
• function in the community.