PART
ONE GRAMMER
LESSION
ONE: SENTENCE STRUCTURE
Meaning:
Sentence is a group of words that begins with a capital letter and ends with a
full stop. Every sentence must have a Subject
and a Verb and it must express a
complete thought.
Types
of Sentences
(i)
Declarative sentences
(ii)
Imperative sentences\
(iii)
Exclamatory sentences
(iv)
Conditional sentences
(i)
Declarative
sentence
As
the name suggest, this sentence states something outright or states a fact. We
use this sometimes in our essay and letter writing.
Examples
1. George bought a black
shoe
(Subject) (Verb)
2.
That Tortoise
is over 100 years old
(Subject) (Verb)
Declarative sentences
can be positive or negative.
Example
1.
That boy is responsible (positive).
2.
That boy is not responsible (negative).
(2) Imperative sentence
Imperative
sentences also end with a full stop. While the declarative sentence displays
the subject and the verb, the Imperative sentence usually begins with the
imperative verb and the subject (you) is implied, not stated.
Example:
1. Respect yourself
Verb
2.
Go
out from here.
| Verb | |
.
Sit down here
Verb
Imperative sentences
usually express order or command, advice, invitation, request and instruction.
Also they can be in a negative form.
We can equally use
Imperative with please especially when making a request.
Example
1. Please
sign the cheque immediately.
Imperative verb
2. Give
me the book please.
(Imperative verb)
(3) Exclamatory
sentences
Exclamatory
sentences convey emotions and end in an exclamation mark (!).
Some
of the emotions expressed include enthusiasm, happiness, frustration, alarm and
confusion.
Note
that an exclamation sentence can be made from a declarative sentence when we do
the following:-
1. Fill
it with emotion through intonation;
2. End
it with an exclamation.
For example
1. The
Lander brothers landed on the moon!
2. Great!
He has gotten admission into a university.
Also
note that the imperative sentences can be made exclamatory.
For
example:-
1.
Sit down immediately!
(Imperative verb)
2.
Shut up!
(Imperative verb)
Exclamatory
sentences should be used with caution. Avoid using many in your writing. You
need them only to emphasis a few points. Many exclamatory sentences begin with “wh”
expressions: what and how.
For
example:-
1.
What
a good news!
2.
How
magnificent a how!
Note
that it is wrong to use two exclamation marks in a sentence.
It
is wrong to say: Oh! it is marvelous!
It
is better to say: Oh, it is marvelous!
(Comma) (Exclamation mark)
Some
exclamatory words can stand alone. For example, we can have:
Great!
Splendid!
Marvelous!
4. Conditional
sentence
This
is also known as the “if clause” or
the “conditional clause”. The
conditional sentence describes the relationship between two events or
activities. In this sentence, the relationship between the action in the main
clause and that of the subordinate clause depend on each other.
Note:- A main clause
is a full sentence that can stand on its own while the subordinate clause
cannot.
Example
1.
If
it rains today, the road will be bad
Situation 1 Situation 2
In
the sentence above, situation 1 must occur before situation 2 can occur. We can
therefore say that the if (subordinate) clause shown the possibility while the
second (main) clause conveys the result.
Remember
that the subordinate clause can be in the beginning or the second part of the
complex sentence. It must be separated by a comma if it begins a complex
sentence.
END
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