mostly sentence stuff for syntax Flashcards
Sentence?
A sentence has been described as a group of words whose meaning seems complete in itself; and others have defined a sentence as a group of words that expresses a complete thought.
Simple sentence
Composed of a single main clause.
It will contain (not necessarily exclusively) one subject and one finite verb.
eg. “The short-tailed, long-haired Abyssinian pedigree cat with the rather grand name of Arthur of Geneve had been sitting on the Etruscan camel-skin mat in front of the roaring log fire.” (1 noun phrase, 1 verb phrase, 2 adverbial phrases)
Fun stylistic notes (?) on simple sentences:
A series of simple sentences can help suggest tension; they can also create a sense of straightforwardness and clarity. Simple sentences are also a major aspect of the register used by and when speaking to the very young or to a learner of English.
Compound Sentence
A sentence that contains two or more main clauses linked.
This is often by a coordinating conjunction but can also be done with things like semicolons.
Fun stylistic notes (?) on compound sentences:
It is an important grammatical structure as it allows a writer or speaker to use a single sentence that combines and communicates two or more related ideas.
once again, children will eat that shit up.
Compound sentences are also a useful way of adding sentence variety to a text.
coordination
the process of linking two ideas (into a sentence?).
This is often done with compound sentences.
Complex sentence
1 independent clause and at least 1 dependent clause.
Fun stylistic notes (?) on complex sentences:
found less often in speech.
can seem like a more formal register text?
minor sentences
technically grammatically incomplete.
often occurs in speech.
if someone asked what you are doing and you replied “just sitting down” that would be one.
4 sentence moods/functions
declarative
imperative
interrogative
exclamatory
most common sentence structure for declaritive
Subject Verb Object/OO (C is also acceptable)
most common sentence structure for interrogative
typically will use an auxillary verb BEFORE the subject. (this means that they aren’t doing that thing where they have all of the verbs next to eachother)
eg. “do you want any?”
most common sentence structure for imperitive
they might lack a subject eg. “sit down” (despite this, it is implied that the subject is you)
intransitive verb
verb that does not require an object for it to make sense
transitive verb
verb that needs an object as it is transferring an action from subject to object
