CMS 107: COMMUICATIVE SKILLS

SENTENCE

S. Quansah
 Outline of Presentation
Defining Qualities of a sentence

Categories/Types of Sentence

Common Sentence Errors

Sample Exercises
 Introduction
 Effective writing is a very essential communication skill needed in
every sphere of our lives.

 This is because every message we give or share requires that the

speaker uses mostly a sentence.

 Hence, to effectively express ones idea in writing, one needs to pay

attention to sentences that are constructed.
 Defining Sentence
 In an attempt to define, let’s engage in this exercise
Consider the following and the identity sentence(s) in them
1. It’s okay.
2. When we needed it
3. Baby’s day out
4. The tall man who sleeps under the tree every afternoon
5. We were beaten by the teacher.

Let’s discuss...
 From the above, we can conclude that the group of words that contains a
subject and a verb and which expresses complete thought or idea is said to be
a sentence. Hence, Eg. 1 & 5 are sentences.
 Why do you think Eg 2, 3 & 4 are not sentences?
 Defining Qualities of Sentence
 The parts/elements of a sentence are Subject, Verb, Object(direct
and indirect), Adjunct and Complement.

 A complete sentence should be structurally complete, that is, it

should contain at least a subject (what or whom the sentence is
about) and a predicate(what the subject does or is or what is done to
the subject).

 Aside from the subject, the remaining part(s) form the predicate (in
active sentence).

 In form, it should begin with a capital letter and end with the
appropriate punctuation.

*Sentence is not about the length of words put together to express a complete thought.
 Defining Qualities of Sentence
 A sentence should consists of the following qualities:
 Grammatical correctness: there should be agreement in the elements put
together (concord).

 Unity: a single complete thought is to be expressed. “Sentence should not

contain ideas that are not closely related, nor should it express a thought that
is not complete by itself” (Ding, 1994, p. 54)

 Coherence: the parts of a sentence are to be arranged such that they stick
together, and the thought progresses in a logical sequence.

 Clarity: vague references of pronouns, vague comparisons and confusing

expression should be avoided.

 Emphasis: elements in the sentence can be arranged to give the relative

importance of ideas in a sentence especially with the passive voice, and
inversion.
 Categories/Types of Sentence
Sentence

Sentence Type by Structure Sentence Type by Function

Simple Declarative

Compound Interrogative

Complex Imperative

Compound Complex Exclamatory

*The types of sentence are classified broadly by structure and by function.

 Sentence Type by Structure
A. Simple Sentence: consists of only one main clause.
It does not have any subordinate clause. It may
contain a simple subject or a compound subject. It
follows any of these patterns
A. S +V: 1. They are dancing.
2. Her team won.
S+V+A : He laughs nosily.
S+V+O : Ama prepares food.
S+V+C: It seems harmless.
S+V+O+A: The choir sang the song beautifully.
S+V+O+O: I wrote CCMA a letter.
 Sentence Type by Structure
B. Compound Sentence: are made up of two simple sentences joined
with a “reasonable” coordinating conjunction.These include: for, and,
nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS).
F - for purpose/reason
A - and addition
N – nor negation
B – but contrast
O – or alternatives
Y - yet contrast
S – so result
Eg. She visits the hospital. She is ill.
She visits the hospital for she is ill. (“for” gives a reason here)
Can you provide some other examples?
 Sentence Type by Structure
C. Complex Sentence
 A complex sentence is made up of one independent clause (simple
sentence) and one or more subordinate or dependent clause or
clauses.
 Complex sentences are connected by subordinating conjunctions.
 Examples of subordinators include because, since, as, though,
although, when, even though
 Subordination is relevant in forming complex sentences and
compound-complex sentences.
Eg. Although we were late, we managed to see the director.
This sentence can be stated as
We managed to see the director although we were late.

* Remember to use comma to separate the subordinate clause from the main clause
when the sentence begins with the subordinate clause.
 Sentence Type by Structure

 A compound-complex sentence is made up of two or more

main clauses and at least one subordinate clause.

 This implies that a compound-complex sentence may have three

or more separate sets of subjects, verbs and sometimes
complement.

 Can you provide an example?

 Sentence Type by Function

A. In terms of function, sentences are classified based on their

communicative functions
Declarative sentence/Statement
Interrogative sentence/Question
Imperative sentence/Command
Exclamatory sentence
 Declarative sentence
 Declarative sentence is used to make a statement in which the
subject is always present and generally precedes the verb.

 Declarative sentences end with a full stop/period (.).

 The basic structure of a declarative sentence comprises a subject

and a verb; however, other structural elements, such as
adverbial, object or complement can be present.
 Interrogative Sentence
 An interrogative sentence is used to ask a question. It ends with a
question mark (?)
 A question is marked by:
1. Placing a verb/modal verb immediately in front of the
subject (subject-verb inversion)
Eg. a. Can you come with to the place?
b. Will you be there on time?
2. Positioning an interrogative or Wh-element (what, where,
which, whose, when, why, whom and how) at beginning.
Eg. a. How did you do that?
b. Where are you from?
3. Using rising intonation
a. She is leaving this evening?
 Imperative Sentence
 An imperative sentence is used to give commands, orders or
instructions.
 It is a sentence with an implied subject is understood as the second
person singular/plural pronoun “you”.
 Imperative sentences usually end with a full stop/period.
Eg. a. Come with us
b. Subscribe to this channel
 The imperative sentence does not necessarily end with an
exclamation mark, depending on the context and circumstance, it
could end with or without an exclamation.
Eg. I command that these items are burnt, now!
 Exclamatory Sentence
 An exclamatory sentence is used to express the speakers feelings or
emotion. These emotions can be of happiness, wonder, sorrow, anger,
etc.
 Exclamatory sentences end with an exclamation mark (!)
 It has an initial phrase introduced by “what” or “how”, followed by the
element that is exclaimed.
 The exclamatory sentence has this pattern
opening element(usually a ‘Wh element’; What & How) + subject + verb
E.g. a. What a thought provoking question that is!
b. How agonizing his pain must be
 Point to Note
 It is important to vary sentence types in your writing as it allows
you to control the pacing and clarity of your paragraphs.
 It makes for more interesting reading.
 Common Sentence Errors
 Some common sentence errors include the following:
 Run-On Sentences
 Fragments
 Concord Errors
 Misplaced Modifier
 Dangling Modifier
 Ambiguity
 Among others

*These sentence errors will form part of the topics CMS 107 & 108
will cover.
 Selected References
 Eggenschwller, J., & Biggs, E. D. (2001). Writing: Grammar, usage and style.

 Gogovi, G. A. K., Yankah, V. K., Gborsong, P. A., & Essel, K. (2012). Communicative
skills. Catholic Mission Press Ltd.

 Okrah, A. K. (2015). Language and academic writing. The Advent Press.

 Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1987). A comprehensive
grammar of English language. Longman.

 Wiredu, F. J. (1990). Organised English grammar. Academic Publication Limited

 Wang, F. (2003). Handling grammatical errors, ambiguity and impreciseness in

GIS natural language queries. Transactions in GIS, 7(1), 103-121.